(FREE) PAINE IN THE MORNING: What you need to know this Wednesday – December 7, 2022

Here’s what you need to know today, Wednesday – December 7, 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.

Did Biden Seal a ‘Clandestine’ Saudi Oil Deal to Manipulate Prices Ahead of the Midterms? – Back in July, a seemingly desperate President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia on a high-stakes trip where he met the Saudi Royal family, including the controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The president took a lot of heat for the trip for several reasons, including his scheduled meetup with the crown prince, who had previously signed off on the murder of WaPo journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden was also criticized for appearing to use the trip to request help from a foreign nation on the oil production front, though the White House denied that was the case. – READ MORE

Democrat Head Of Armed Services Committee Says Ukraine Oversight Push “Russian Propaganda” –  Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the head of the House Armed Services Committee, said Saturday that the growing calls for more oversight of the billions of dollars the US is spending on Ukraine are “part of Russian propaganda.”

While the majority of Republicans strongly favor continuing to arm Ukraine, even the more hawkish GOP members have said they favor increased oversight for the aid. Smith said that the concern from Republicans for more transparency “makes me a little crazy.” – READ MORE

PepsiCo To Lay Off Hundreds After Price-Hikes As Consumer ‘Strength’ Questioned – Up until now, the majority of layoffs have been focused in technology firms and banks, as talking heads proclaim ‘the consumer is still strong’.

However, tonight’s news that no lesser staple than PepsiCo is to announce a major belt-tightening suggests the pain is spreading much more broadly across the US economy. – READ MORE

Cronyist Journalism Measure Could Prompt Facebook To Ban News – The worst ideas in Congress never die; they just get sneaked into unrelated bills. This week, that means lawmakers are reportedly trying to burrow a bad media protectionism bill into defense spending authorization. It’s called the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), and it’s a doozy of bad incentives and state favoritism.

In short, the JCPA would suspend antitrust rules for “publishers of online content” so they could “collectively negotiate with dominant online platforms regarding the terms on which content may be distributed.” The latest version states that “digital journalism provider(s)” can engage in joint negotiations with large tech platforms “regarding the pricing, terms, and conditions by which the covered platform may access the content of the eligible digital journalism providers that are members of the joint negotiation entity.” It also sets up rules for these negotiations and mechanisms for enforcing their terms. – READ MORE

DOE Touts $200M Grant to Lithium Battery Company as Boon to American-Made Clean Energy. The Company Operates Primarily From China. – President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy is touting a grant to a lithium battery company as a move that would help herald the shift to green energy and ensure the United States is cultivating domestic sources of energy. It did not say, however, that the Texas company receiving the grant operates primarily from China and is under scrutiny from American financial regulators.

The DOE announced in October that it would give the $200 million award to Microvast Holdings to build a battery separator facility in Tennessee, using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. At the time, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the grant would “supercharge the private sector to ensure our clean energy future is American-made.” – READ MORE

Secret Service: Chinese Hackers Stole Millions in Coronavirus Benefits – The Secret Service recently disclosed that hackers linked to the Chinese Communist Party stole at least $20 million in coronavirus relief benefits.

While it is known that theft of state unemployment funds related to the Chinese coronavirus was committed, this is the first time the U.S. government has publicly acknowledged that thievery was also committed by foreign, state-sponsored cybercriminals, according to a report by NBC News. – READ MORE

Banks Developing Technology To Track Gun Purchases Under Guise Of Flagging Potential Mass Shooters – Banks have been working on technology to “identify potential mass shooters” by tracking gun-related purchases and filing “Suspicious Activity Reports” with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

According to comments made by Amalgamated Bank Chief Executive Officer Priscilla Sims Brown at the New York Times DealBook conference on Wednesday, the strategy would employ credit card companies to more closely track gun purchases, Bloomberg reports. – READ MORE

Colorado Senate President Eyes Gun Control Grab: ‘Pretty Much Everything Is on the Table’ – Democrats in the Colorado legislature are eyeing a massive gun control push to include an “assault weapons” ban and changing the state’s red flag law.

The Colorado Sun reported Colorado Senate president Steve Fenberg’s (D-Boulder) observation that “pretty much everything is on the table.” – READ MORE

Alberta, Manitoba, and Other Provinces Refuse to Take Part in Justin Trudeau’s Gun Grab – Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and other provinces are refusing to take part in implementing Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s gun grab.

On September 28, 2022, Breitbart News reported that Trudeau’s “assault weapons” ban includes confiscatory policies that required police cooperation, and that Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro made clear he would not enforce it. – READ MORE

Attention CA Residents: Gov. Newsom Gives Your Private COVID Vax Records to a ‘Consulting Firm’ – Per reporting via the Los Angeles Daily News, DNC darling and 2024 presidential hopeful Gov. Gavin Newsom has passed Californians’ vax status to an outfit called Street Level Strategy, apparently for the purpose of prodding “vaccine-hesitant” residents into getting vaxxed and haranguing the already-vaxxed to get boosted.

Political consulting firm Street Level Strategy, LLC, a custodian of Californians’ private medical records, bills itself as “a public affairs firm that specializes in grassroots mobilization, community organizing, digital organizing, and strategic consulting for a range of clients including Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and trade associations.” – READ MORE

Anthony Fauci Admits Daughter Worked for Twitter and He Spoke Directly to Zuckerberg During Censorship Deposition – Dr. Anthony Fauci feigned ignorance throughout his November 23 deposition as part of Louisiana and Missouri’s lawsuit against the Biden administration and federal officials, asserting that he is disassociated from social media. Yet, the public health official admitted he talked to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg about pushing vaccines and noted that one of his daughters worked as a software engineer at Twitter.

Fauci, who said “I don’t recall” 174 times throughout the deposition, faced questions on his own personal concerns about “what people might be saying on social media” about the Chinese coronavirus’s origin. Yet, Fauci feigned ignorance, claiming to be “disassociated” from social media. – READ MORE