News for June 11 — BioNTech Vaccine Side Effects Lawsuits

BioNTech vaccine side effects lawsuit: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-06-11/biontech-faces-first-german-lawsuit-over-alleged-covid-vaccine-side-effects . There is very little evidence of significant side effects of the COVID mRNA vaccines.

600,000 Americans lost Medicaid coverage, so far: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/medicaid-unwinding-state-data-coverage-loss/ . These coverage losses will continue over the next year. We do need to know why these people are not filing the paperwork. CBO projects 3 million people will lose Medicaid coverage during this process, raising the US uninsured rate from 8.3% to 9.3%: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/medicaid-unwinding-state-data-coverage-loss/ .

Profiting off the debt ceiling deal: https://fortune.com/2023/06/04/debt-ceiling-bill-insider-trading-mountain-valley-pipeline-equitrans-midstream/ . A stock trader made a $7.5 million profit by buying stock options of Equitrans Midstream Corp., a company heavily involved with the stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline. When the debt ceiling bill included provisions reinvigorating the pipeline, Equitrans stock jumped. As there was no public information about this possible provision of the bill, the stock option purchase creates suspicions of insider trading. So far, no action has been taken against the trade.

Will more banks fail?: https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/06/32809121/soros-fund-management-chief-executive-says-additional-banks-will-fail-there-are-more-problems-under . I’m not fond of what this woman said – we need confidence in the banking system, not pot shots. But what she said may have merit if we rephrase it. What she is saying is that the feds may raise capital requirements based on recent troubles, and those increased capital requirements could put some of the little guys under. That is a real risk, because the Fed did stuff like this after the savings and loan crisis.

I had a number of S&L’s as pension clients in the 1980’s, and the Fed forced one of my clients to take on a struggling competitor, putting their losses on the balance sheet as goodwill. But 2 years later the Feds said goodwill was no longer an asset, and forced my client out of business. There were lawsuits over this stunt, but the S&L never returned.

WSJ: China’s deleveraging will hurt growth: https://www.wsj.com/articles/fueled-by-long-credit-binge-chinas-economy-faces-drag-from-debt-purge-e4621859 . As interest rates rise, of course people look to delverage.

WSJ: Ukraine makes small gains Sunday: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-russia-war-offensive-maps-c718da1a . More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-counteroffensive-notches-small-gains-after-costly-early-assaults-288c7907 .

OJ going to Florida Monday to seek attorneys to represent him in court: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-florida-monday-search-expanded-legal-team/story?id=100002004 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-to-appear-in-court-in-miami-tuesday-amid-flurry-of-probes-337d4350 . Still more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-special-counsel-signal-early-strategies-for-criminal-case-45e6752c . This tells you that any attorney with a brain sees the problems in representing OJ after seeing the indictment. If Jack Smith can prove even half of what the indictment says (and he surely can), OJ is toast. And here’s Exhibit A for any attorney considering this: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/11/john-eastman-disbarment-trial-trump-00101407 . UPDATE: In a remarkable turn, Bill Barr said exactly the same thing I said above – word for word: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4044906-gallego-calls-kari-lakes-remarks-on-trump-indictment-dangerous/ .  FURTHER UPDATE: OJ freaked out over Barr’s comments – excellent!!!: https://www.mediaite.com/trump/gutless-pig-trump-goes-ballistic-on-bill-barr-over-devastating-fox-news-takedown/ .

Gallego calls Kari Lake’s remarks “dangerous”: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4044906-gallego-calls-kari-lakes-remarks-on-trump-indictment-dangerous/ . They were more than dangerous, but as he likely will be running against her, he’s striking the proper tone.

Former Scottish National Party leader arrested, released without charge: https://apnews.com/article/scotland-nicola-sturgeon-arrested-party-5bc263b37c06ac7e46f8bfb89a9e5454 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/scotlands-ex-leader-nicola-sturgeon-arrested-in-party-finances-probe-186a108b . This may not be over.

George Soros cedes control of $25 billion empire to younger son: https://apnews.com/article/george-soros-alex-soros-osf-philanthropist-95e7a9858981b8a0b303402176025cb5 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/george-soros-heir-son-alexander-soros-e3c4ca13 .

Oldest child survivor of plane crash says mom lived for 4 days: https://apnews.com/article/colombia-plane-crash-jungle-children-survivors-b522276c1af57aa15c836efadc287b46 . This horrific experience for the children was worse than we initially knew.

China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since 2019: https://apnews.com/article/china-cuba-spy-base-us-intelligence-0f655b577ae4141bdbeabc35d628b18f . The Journal retrieves some credibility here. As reported here earlier, the administration strictly and strongly denied the Journal reporting. That apparently means that some portion of the reporting was not correct, because the administration now indicates that a spy base is already operating in Cuba. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-says-china-has-had-cuba-spy-base-since-at-least-2019-42145596 .

Unabomber Ted Kaczynski did die by suicide: https://www.aol.com/news/ted-kaczynski-known-unabomber-died-174752886.html . By the way, “Unabomber” stands for UNiversity and Airline BOMBing targets.