(FREE) PAINE IN THE MORNING: 10 things you need to know this Thursday – March 31, 2022

There is also a full, ad-free video podcast of this broadcast available to Paine.TV members HERE.

Learn more about joining our community HERE.

Economists warn Americans should budget an extra $5,200 this year to combat effects of inflation – Bloomberg economists say that Americans should considering budgeting an extra $5,200 this year — or $433 monthly — in order to fight the effects of inflation.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index has indicated that prices across the board have skyrocketed at the fastest pace since 1982. – READ MORE

Saudi Arabia: Riyadh Can’t Guarantee Oil Supply Due to Houthi Attacks – Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday recent attacks on Saudi oil facilities by Yemen’s Houthi terrorists have compromised Riyadh’s ability to supply the globe with sufficient energy, the Associated Press reported.

Speaking at the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.)-sponsored World Government Summit in Dubai on March 29, Bin Salman referenced “attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Saudi oil facilities, including a wave of drone and missile strikes on Friday [March 25],” according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). – READ MORE

Socialist Cuba’s Latest ‘Superfood’: Cockroach Milk – A local Communist Party-controlled radio station in Cuba published an article on Monday promoting the consumption of “cockroach milk,” a substance it admitted had a “rancid taste” but could become the new “superfood.”

Cuba, once the wealthiest country in Latin America, has been an impoverished communist dictatorship since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. It has struggled with intense food shortages in the past five years due to mismanagement under second-in-command “President” Miguel Díaz-Canel, who answers to the Castro family and has repeatedly asserted that his being named president would not in any way change the leadership of the country. Díaz-Canel’s leadership has led to severe shortages of bread, basic meats like chicken and beef, and cooking oil, among other products. – READ MORE

Austin Airport Warns It May Run Out Of Jet Fuel – We recently warned that Europe is about to be hit with an unprecedented shortage of diesel, as gas stations run dry of the vital liquid (according to the CEOs of the world’s largest independent energy merchants), but little did we know that the first actual crisis would hit in America’s own back yard and not just anywhere but the state synonymous with commodity extraction: on Monday, airport officials in Austin, Texas warned of an impending jet-fuel shortage amid a surge in travel to and from the state’s capital city.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which is ranked No. 29 in the U.S. based on 2021 passenger traffic, issued a fuel-shortage alert on Monday and urged airlines to carry extra fuel or send in more supplies via tankers, said Sam Haynes, a spokesperson. – READ MORE

Germany Scrambles To Ration Gas After Refusing To Make Payments In Rubles – Now that Moscow has doubled down on its demands that its European “partners” pay for its oil and gas in rubles instead of euros (which, as the bloc already demonstrated, can be easily confiscated in the name of “sanctions”), the German government is digging in its heels as the payment dispute threatens to precipitate problematic energy shortages in Europe’s largest economy.

The FT reported Wednesday that German Energy Minister Robert Habeck has activated the “early warning phase” of Germany’s gas emergency law, which was adopted to help ration supplies in the face of a severe shortage. The decision will alert German consumers and businesses to do what they can to conserve energy. – READ MORE

Health Minister Fears Wave Of Unvaccinated Ukrainian Refugees Entering Germany – Federal health minister Karl Lauterbach has expressed fears about a wave of unvaccinated Ukrainian refugees entering Germany.

Lauterbach joined other public officials in voicing concern over “huge vaccination gaps” amongst Ukrainians. – READ MORE

Buried Halfway Into a 40-Page Report, WHO Reveals New Vaccine Side-Effect Many Have Yet to Recover From – Amid pushes for a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization has said it is looking into reports of hearing problems stemming from the vaccines.

According to NBC News, the WHO has reported 367 cases of tinnitus among people who had received a COVID-19 vaccine. – READ MORE

Illinois Governor Invested In Company With $2.6 Billion In State Contracts – Amid the national debate over whether members of Congress should be able to trade stock, the governor of Illinois is demonstrating how prevalent conflicts of interest are for elected officials who own securities.

In 2020, Gov. JB Pritzker’s trust bought stock in the health insurance company Centene Corp. That same year, Illinois gave $2.6 billion worth of Medicaid contracts to Centene Corp. – READ MORE

Ketanji Brown Jackson Disagreed with Expert Witness’s Definition of Pedophilia – Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed with her expert witness’s definition of pedophilia during a hearing while serving as Vice-Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

At a February 2012 sentencing commission hearing, Jackson debated the definition of pedophilia with expert witnesses Gerald Grant, a digital forensics investigator; James Fottrell, a U.S. Department of Justice criminal child exploitation expert; and Dr. Gene Abel, founder of a medical group that works to identify pedophiles. – READ MORE

The Government Made This Fake News Broadcast About a Nuclear Attack on Indianapolis – In December of 1986, the Pentagon, the CIA, FBI, the Department of Energy, and just about every other federal agency you can think of came together in Indianapolis for an enormous training exercise code-named Mighty Derringer. The plan was to simulate a nuclear terrorist incident and explore how every agency would react and whether they would cooperate. To enhance the verisimilitude of the war games, the U.S. government went so far as to record a fake news broadcast about a nuclear bomb exploding in Indianapolis.

Until now, no one outside of the government has seen the video.

Gizmodo obtained the Mighty Derringer footage through a Freedom of Information Act request with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which operates under the Department of Energy. – READ MORE