(FREE) PAINE IN THE MORNING: 11 things you need to know this Thursday – June 30, 2022

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Food and fuel prices likely to remain high for the foreseeable future – The high grocery bills that have hit American pocketbooks for over a year now are likely to continue, thanks to several anomalous circumstances related to corn yields, experts say.

Due to wet weather, the war in Ukraine, and issues still lingering from the pandemic and the government shutdown, corn will be grown and harvested at much lower levels than in previous years, affecting food and fuel supplies alike. – READ MORE

Exxon CEO Warns That Consumers Will Pay For Hasty Energy Transition –ExxonMobil expects all new cars sold two decades from now to be electric vehicles. But the U.S. supermajor also believes that people will “pay a high price” in this rush to renewables without providing the energy the society currently needs, Exxon’s chief executive Darren Woods told CNBC’s David Faber in an interview last week.

Exxon joins many other oil producers who say that governments and policymakers need to balance the drive to lower carbon emissions with the people’s current need for affordable energy. The recent underinvestment in traditional energy sources is a blow to energy supplies, which leads to high prices and record-high gasoline prices, Exxon’s CEO told CNBC. That’s the latest warning from the oil industry that policymakers should look at the short-term energy needs while planning for a low-carbon future. – READ MORE

‘Voltage Irregularity’ Brings Down Energy Agency’s Servers, Leaving It Unable to Update Gas Price Data – The website for the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), a statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy, admitted on Monday that a “voltage irregularity” caused hardware failure on parts of the agency’s processing servers, ultimately affecting its ability to release data since June 17.

The EIA said on Monday that it would not be releasing an update for gasoline and diesel fuel data on Monday due to hardware failures that had persisted for ten days at the time. The agency noted that it is “still in the process of system restoration.” – READ MORE

California DOJ Data Leak Revealed Names, Addresses of All the State’s Concealed Carry Permit Holders – A California Department of Justice (DOJ) data leak Monday revealed names, addresses, ages, and other information related to the state’s concealed carry permit holders.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the leak was tied to the DOJ Firearms Dashboard. – READ MORE

Suspected California drug traffickers arrested with 150K fentanyl pills released by court commissioner – Tulare County Court Commissioner Mikki Verissimo of California signed an order to release two suspected drug traffickers recently arrested with 150,000 fentanyl pills in their possession, Fox News confirmed Tuesday.

Officials arrested Jose Zendejas, 25, and Benito Madrigal, 19, during a traffic stop on Friday and transported them to the Tulare County Pre-Trial Facility on charges of possession, transportation and selling of illegal drugs, but they were released over the weekend. – READ MORE

Army recruitment down 23% amid mandates, as Army tosses requirement for high school diploma – No high school diploma? Be all you can be in the military. No COVID shot after years of meritorious service? Goodbye, as we ask illegal aliens to take your place. That is the state of play in the U.S. military.

The time has come for Republican “defense hawks” to finally show some concern for the quality, morale, and mission of the military, not just throw endless money at it while the military self-immolates, expels those who don’t get Pfizer’s shot, and then complains that it can’t meet its recruiting goals. Last week, the Military Times reported, “The Army has hit 40% of its recruiting goals this year, with the struggle to fill the ranks seemingly so grim the Defense Department reduced its planned total force size because prior recruiting goals were out of reach.” – READ MORE

Fauci Suffers “Much Worse” COVID Symptoms After ‘Paxlovid Rebound’ – Fully-vaxx’d and double-boosted mask-admirer Anthony Fauci is suffering.

Two weeks ago, we reported that President Biden’s chief medical adviser had COVID. – READ MORE

Rich New Yorkers Undergo Bizarre Surgical Procedure To Cut Pee Breaks On Way To Hamptons – Wealthy New Yorkers headed to the tony Hamptons are getting a surgical procedure that allows them to endure bumper-to-bumper traffic without having to pee, according to Insider.com. One doctor says he is doing up to a dozen of the operations per week as summer beach season moves into full swing.

“A lot of people have problems with this issue,” Dr. David Shusterman, a New York City urologist who’s been advertising the procedures with the tagline “Race to the Hamptons, not to the bathroom,” told the outlet. “They come out to the Hamptons and have to stop four or five times on the way, but can’t find a restroom.” – READ MORE

Big business fighting bill intended to stop selling America out to China – Major American businesses and trade groups are fighting newly proposed legislation intended to protect U.S. industries deemed critical to national security from China.

A bipartisan group of senators and representatives proposed legislation for inclusion within the Bipartisan Innovation Act (BIA) on June 13 that intends to protect American manufacturing power within industries considered vital to U.S. national security, the lawmakers said in a joint statement. However, organizations with vested business interests in China reportedly intend to fight the legislation, according to The Wall Street Journal. – READ MORE

The Federal Bureau Of Tweets: Twitter Is Hiring An Alarming Number Of FBI Agents – Twitter has been on a recruitment drive of late, hiring a host of former feds and spies. Studying a number of employment and recruitment websites, MintPress has ascertained that the social media giant has, in recent years, recruited dozens of individuals from the national security state to work in the fields of security, trust, safety and content.

Chief amongst these is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI is generally known as a domestic security and intelligence force. However, it has recently expanded its remit into cyberspace. “The FBI’s investigative authority is the broadest of all federal law enforcement agencies,” the “About” section of its website informs readers. “The FBI has divided its investigations into a number of programs, such as domestic and international terrorism, foreign counterintelligence [and] cyber crime,” it adds. – READ MORE