🌞 Biden’s Laptop – March 18 2022

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00am ET. 

• Markets: Stocks continued their upward momentum, propelled by the Fed’s determination to curb inflation with a series of rate hikes this year. Oil jumped back up above $100 a barrel. 

The Lead: Arms Wrestling

credit: getty

A new report shows that France and other European nations have been selling weapons to Russia even though they are not supposed to. 

In 2014, the European Union issued an embargo on selling weapons to Russia but that did not stop member countries from doing so. An investigation found that France exported €152 million worth of military equipment to Russia and issued more than 70 licenses to export arms.

Not only France. The report showed that 10 other EU nations did the same. 

In the U.S., the House of Representatives passed a law on Thursday to end trade relations with Russia and Republicans introduced a law in the Senate to ban imports of uranium.  

What are we supposed to do with this information? Use it as proof that very few are as blameless and surprised by this conflict as they may seem. 

Hunter Biden: The Media Cover-Up

credit: nytimes

The New York Times is admitting that the Hunter Biden laptop and the exposé of his emails are authentic. This is a little head-spinning so let’s break it down. 

Hunter Biden is the son of President Biden. In the weeks before the 2020 Presidential election, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani claimed to have records from Biden’s laptop showing inappropriate connections to foreign governments, including Ukraine. In the wake of that revelation, the media began to call these emails a Russian smear campaign. Twitter and Facebook started blocking users from sharing or discussing this story. The media fell in line, reporting that it was Russian disinformation. 

Giuliani at the time was not helpful, acting increasingly unhinged. It made the story seem so cooked and crooked. 

Only now The New York Times admits that the emails were authenticated by the recipients and that their investigation confirms that the laptop was recovered from a Delaware repair shop. This was corroborated by people close to the ongoing FBI investigation about Biden’s foreign affairs. (Sidenote: The FBI is investigating Hunter Biden.)

The New York Times never actually reported that the story was Russian disinformation but it did not verify the story either. Many other media outlets reported that it was disinformation and have not retracted that line. 

This is wrong. The media fell in line to suppress a story that would look bad for candidate Joe Biden, manipulating voters away from a story they had the right to know. The mainstream media and social media owe us an explanation that we are unlikely to get. 

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The Orbeez Challenge

credit: orbeez

A new trend for the kiddos is called the Orbeez challenge. It involves taking little liquid balls and shooting them at unsuspecting people with toy guns. 

Police are warning kids to knock this crap off. Shooting people with anything is illegal. Police arrested a 19-year-old who did this to an Amazon delivery driver while he was driving. In another incident, kids shot at a man who was trimming trees and the pellets broke his skin and left welts. 

Orbeez are designed as manipulative toys for young children. The game, Orbeez Challenge, has nothing to do with guns. This is another reminder that teenagers’ brains are not fully developed. 

Dangerous Chemicals

credit: shutterstock

An independent laboratory says that a known carcinogen has been found in hundreds of U.S. personal care products. 

The chemical is called benzene. Even the Food and Drug Administration admits that it is bad news and has called it “life-threatening.” Yet the lab, Valisure, says that it is present in hand sanitizers, sunscreens, deodorant, dry shampoos, conditioners, antiperspirants, you name it. An independent study found it in 27% of consumer products, 27% of sunscreens and almost 50% of spray-on body sprays.

The FDA allows companies to use benzene and it doesn’t have to be listed amongst the ingredients. Manufacturers can say that they have no reports of adverse events because how do you know that your sunscreen gave you cancer? 

“The time lag between exposure and cancer can be a long period of time,” a researcher from the Environmental Working Group said. 

News By The Numbers

$8.5 billion. That is how much Amazon paid to acquire movie studio MGM. 

4%. That is the current average mortgage interest rate in the U.S. This is the highest it has been since 2019, pre-pandemic. 

5.1%. That is how much Allstate is raising prices for auto insurance. They say it is because of inflation. Since 2021, the company has implemented 41 rate increases. 

$3.5 trillion. That is how many stock options will expire today. Wall Street is calling this a “triple witching event.” 

What's Trending?

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Happy Holi is trending because that is today. It is the Hindu festival celebrating the coming of spring using color. 

Hogwarts Legacy is trending because a trailer for the upcoming role-playing game was released and it’s great! 

Nobel Peace Prize is trending because European politicians are trying to nominate Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenzky, even though nominations ended January 31. 

Four-leaf clover is trending because yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. And just so you know, a four-leaf clover is not a shamrock. A shamrock has three leaves and it was used by Catholics to teach the trinity doctrine of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. 

Today's Live Show

JOIN US TODAY AT 9AM EASTERN TIME

Join us on today's live morning show.  Today we're looking at the media cover-up of the Hunter Biden story, the new sanctions bill gives President Biden the power to sanction anyone in the world, and bio labs story in Ukraine keeps getting darker. All of that and more on today's show. Click here to RSVP and I'll see you at 9 AM Eastern. 

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