Flash flooding in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/libya">Libya</a> has killed thousands of people and left at least 10,000 unaccounted for. As of Tuesday, emergency services on the ground say that at least 2,300 people have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66785466" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a>, and that number is expected to rise.
The flooding was caused by heavy rain brought on by Cyclone Daniel, which has proven to be the deadliest Mediterranean storm on record. Daniel battered much of the eastern Mediterranean for roughly a week and killed several dozen people across Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey before dissipating over Egypt on Tuesday. 
However, northeastern Libya has taken the brunt of the damage, particularly the coastal city of Derna, home to about 90,000 people. Libyan officials report that the area received nearly 16 inches of rainfall on Sunday and Monday – in a typical year the city gets less than 11. 
The storm caused two dams south of the city to collapse, resulting in an overflow of the Wadi Derna river and 10 foot high floodwaters, according to <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/sep/11/storm-daniel-unleashes-deadly-flooding-in-eastern-/">eyewitnesses</a>.
“The damages are very serious,” Issam Abu Zureibah, the interior minister for the Tobruk government in eastern Libya, <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/sep/11/storm-daniel-unleashes-deadly-flooding-in-eastern-/">told</a> Saudi media. “There are areas that were swept away entirely into the sea.”
Libya has been divided by rival factions since the U.S.-backed overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and internal conflicts appear to have led to a serious neglect of local infrastructure, which likely contributed to the collapse of the dams.
<div id="attachment_619237" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-619237" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-619237 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Libyan_Civil_War.svg_-600x576.png" alt="" width="600" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Libyan_Civil_War.svg_-600x576.png 600w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Libyan_Civil_War.svg_-300x288.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Libyan_Civil_War.svg_.png 700w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />Image by Ali Zifan Via Wikimedia Commons</div>
Derna has also traded hands several times – the city briefly fell under the control of the Islamic State terror group in 2014 before they were ousted by another Islamist group the following year. The Libyan National Army, which controls much of eastern Libya, took control of the city in 2019 after months of fighting. According to Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, the LNA has been distrustful of the locals ever since.
“This mistrust might prove calamitous during the upcoming post-disaster period,” he <a href="https://apnews.com/article/derna-libya-floods-storm-daniel-95379b164871d97fb74b1cd1bcb5640c">said</a>.
The LNA government, as well as its U.N.-backed, Tripoli-based rival and various international aid groups such as the Red Crescent, have offered aid to the city, but many of the roads into and out of Derna have been badly damaged, hampering evacuation efforts and slowing the emergency response.

TOPSHOT-LIBYA-WEATHER-FLOODS

Thousands Killed In Libyan Flash Floods After Tropical Storm

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/communist-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a> officials have announced a considerable cash reward for any information that could lead to the arrest of eight dissidents who fled the country &#8212; including three former lawmakers.
A bounty of 1 million <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hong-kong">Hong Kong</a> dollars (roughly $125,000 USD) has been placed on eight pro-democracy activists who fled the city in the aftermath of a government crackdown on the Hong Kong protests of 2019-2020. The dissidents, who currently reside in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, have been accused of violating Hong Kong’s national security law, which criminalized calls for secession or subversion of the Chinese government.
“Our action is to tell everybody that endangering national security is not something we will tolerate,” Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee told the press during a weekly briefing.
Hong Kong was seized from China by the British during the First Opium War and was administered as a British colony for nearly a century and a half. During that time it became a major trading center, and for decades it was consistently ranked highly on measures of economic freedom and human development.
Hong Kong was ceded back to China in 1997 after a 99-year lease for a portion of the territory expired. Britain was technically entitled to parts of Hong Kong in perpetuity, but for political and logistical reasons, agreed to transfer control of the entire territory to the Chinese Communist Party on the condition that Hong Kong would retain some autonomy for at least 50 years.
Hong Kong continued to function as a western-style democracy within China, and was governed as a &#8220;special administrative zone,&#8221; but over the subsequent decades, the Chinese central government began exerting more and more influence in the city’s internal affairs. Interference in local elections and a bill that would allow citizens of Hong Kong to be extradited to the mainland sparked massive pro-democracy and anti-government protests in 2019.
Those protests were met with a severe government crackdown, and the bounties placed by police on the eight dissidents are larger than many active bounties placed on <a href="https://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/06_appeals_public/wanted/index.html">rapists and murderers</a>.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-7029">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Anna Kwon, one of the eight dissidents named by police, told TIME magazine that she has to be increasingly careful where and how she travels, and has limited her ability to engage with other members of the Chinese diaspora.
“The Hong Kong authorities are trying to rile up a mob mentality among pro-Beijing supporters,” she <a href="https://time.com/6292047/hong-kong-activists-arrest-warrants-bounties/">said</a>. “It’s a usual tactic from the Chinese Communist Party to pit people against people.”
“During the 2019-20 protest movement, I was followed, struck by a car, assaulted with pepper spray and arrested on multiple charges,” Ted Hui, former member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and another of the eight dissidents with a bounty on their heads, said in an editorial in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-put-a-bounty-on-my-head-hong-kong-arrest-ccp-democracy-activist-prison-sentence-d5eed82f">The Wall Street Journal</a>. “260 people, as young as 15 and as old as 90, have been arrested for national-security offenses that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.”
China has come under increasing scrutiny for its targeting of overseas dissidents &#8212; late last year, watchdog organizations exposed <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/China-s-100-plus-secret-police-stations-span-from-NY-to-Tokyo#:~:text=China%20has%20set%20up%20at,said%20in%20a%20December%20report.">more than 100 secret Chinese police stations</a> that were illegally operating in 53 countries, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-arrest-two-men-for-running-illegal-overseas-police-station-for-communist-china-in-nyc-doj">including the U.S.</a>
&nbsp;

China Scraps Yuan Peg To U.S. dollar

China Places Six-Figure Bounty On Overseas Dissidents

Beijing

Communist China

Crime

Freedom

World

A float that appears to take inspiration from “Johnny The Walrus,&#8221; a book written by Daily Wire host and children’s author Matt Walsh, won first place at a local parade in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alaska">Alaska</a>, only for one of the judges to recoil in horror online.
The competition was held as part of the Golden Day festival in Fairbanks, Alaska, which hosts the largest parade in Alaska. Local school board candidate Michael Humphrey entered a giant inflatable Walrus into the parade’s political float competition, with a campaign sticker on its side and &#8220;Johnny&#8221; plastered on the front.
After the decision, one of the judges took to social media to respond to nascent outrage.
“So it turns out that the best political float was an anti-trans float. The judges had no idea. We had two floats to choose from for political. You know what I hate? Hateful people,” the judge <a href="https://mustreadalaska.com/johnny-the-walrus-gets-first-place-for-political-float-in-fairbanks-then-the-parade-judge-had-a-meltdown/">tweeted</a>. “We both feel sick about it and especially on how it reflects on our community to those who don’t know that the judges DID NOT HAVE CONTEXT.”
The book “Johnny The Walrus” tells the tale of a spirited young man who imagines himself as a walrus and then is pressured to medically transition into his fantasy by “the internet people.” The book was published in 2022 and quickly became a <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10757193/Amazon-staffer-works-tears-sale-childrens-book-featuring-transgender-allegory.html">bestseller</a>, specifically in Amazon’s LGBTQ Books category, which was the subject of much hand-wringing.
Humphrey, a marine veteran, self described conservative Christian and father of six, has pledged on his <a href="http://humphreyforschoolboard.org/">campaign page</a> to “[Protect children by stopping the spread of radical gender ideology” and “[create] opportunities for more parental involvement in school.”
“Please help get the word out about this disgusting candidate and ensure he does not get elected,” one anonymous Facebook user demanded. “He is running against incumbent Tim Doran.”
Walsh, for his part, seemed quite pleased when he became aware of the controversy.
“This is awesome,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1681063057823334400?s=20">tweeted</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is awesome. A school board candidate in Fairbanks won first place in a local parade for his Johnny the Walrus float. The judges were libs who only realized after the fact that the float was based on my children’s book, which caused massive meltdowns
 <a href="https://t.co/vwMtlahSQd">pic.twitter.com/vwMtlahSQd</a>
&mdash; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1681063057823334400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;

TOPSHOT-NORWAY-ANIMAL-WALRUS-FREYA-OFFBEAT

Johnny The Walrus Wins Float Contest, Judge Flips Out

Alaska

LGBTQ

Matt Walsh

School Board

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/youtube" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a> has determined that uncensored footage of male genitalia does not violate its terms of service, but “misgendering” does.
On July 2, a video by “gay sex educator” Kevin Leonardo, &#8220;Removing BUTT HAIRS Using NAIR Cream &#8211; A Visual Guide!&#8221; was brought to the attention of the TeamYouTube Twitter account. During the video, Leonardo exposes his testicles and anus while demonstrating how to use the aforementioned products.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
sorry to hear this! have you already reported this content? if not, the first step is to do that here: <a href="https://t.co/XBYch5Glr1">https://t.co/XBYch5Glr1</a> thank you!
&mdash; TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamYouTube/status/1675636695444725762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The video was posted on June 25 and subsequently went viral as a result of widespread disgust and backlash on Twitter &#8212; it has 14 million views, nearly five times as many as Leonardo’s next most popular video, and according to reporting by <a href="https://www.thepublica.com/youtube-refuses-to-remove-video-of-man-displaying-his-anus-says-no-violation-of-policies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Publica</a>, it has been disliked more than 167,000 times.
Two days later, Team YouTube responded to the user who brought the video to their attention, and said that in reviewing the video, they did not believe it violated their community guidelines, although they did age restrict it so that only adults could see it.
“Posting your genitalia on YouTube is okay but misgendering someone isn&#8217;t?” the user asked.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
while we understand your frustration, it&#39;s important for us to maintain a balance between free speech and protecting our community, so content that doesn&#39;t violate our policies will remain up. thanks for understanding
&mdash; TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamYouTube/status/1676439707067076608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“While we understand your frustration,&#8221; YouTube responded, &#8220;it&#8217;s important for us to maintain a balance between free speech and protecting our community.”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1688648178298000&amp;usg=AOvVaw10v0UGh9BJZV8inaPuI6t7">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
That concern for free speech only extends so far. Within 24 hours, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson was informed that one of his podcasts did violate YouTube’s terms of service policy, and would not be allowed on the site.
A conversation between Dr. Peterson and women&#8217;s rights advocate Helen Joyce was taken off the platform last month, and after a manual review, the company determined that it would stay down because it violated YouTube’s “hate speech policy.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
YouTube <a href="https://twitter.com/YouTube?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YouTube</a> justifies its utterly inexcusable pernicious invisible self-righteous and counterproductive censorship&#8230; 
Hey Peasants Your woke corporate overlords think you&#39;re too stupid to separate wheat from chaff yourselves <a href="https://t.co/KKN0tgizt7">pic.twitter.com/KKN0tgizt7</a>
&mdash; Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1676623754934333445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;We know this is probably disappointing news,&#8221; YouTube&#8217;s community guidelines team said, &#8220;but it&#8217;s our job to make sure that YouTube is a safe place for all.&#8221;
During the conversation, Peterson and Joyce discussed the effects of gender ideology on Western civilization and the “dangers of a quickly growing transhumanist ideology.” A 2022 study found that the number of trans-identifying teenagers had <a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2022/06/10/study-estimates-transgender-youth-population-has-doubled-in-5-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubled</a> since 2017 from 0.7% to 1.4% &#8212; trans-identifying individuals have consistently been found to have <a href="https://healthnews.com/news/transgender-people-face-higher-suicide-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">elevated suicide rates</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thousands</a> of minors in the United States have been prescribed cross sex hormones to treat their gender dysphoria, which can cause <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5979264/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sterility</a> and other irreversible physical changes.
A conversation between Dr. Peterson and Democratic President candidate Robert F. Kennedy was also <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/youtube-removes-video-rfk-jr-jordan-peterson-misinformation-rcna90060" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removed</a> last month for allegedly spreading “vaccine misinformation” &#8212; Kennedy has been highly skeptical of the efficacy of the COVID vaccines and has made his opposition to vaccine mandates and COVID-era policies a major part of his campaign.
Other Daily Wire podcasts have also been restricted on the popular video sharing platform. &#8220;The Matt Walsh Show&#8221; was demonetized on YouTube in April due to Walsh’s coverage of TikTok influencer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/dylan-mulvaney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dylan Mulvaney</a> &#8212; among his myriad crimes, Walsh referred to Mulvaney with biologically accurate pronouns.
“Over the last few months [The Daily Wire] has received ~200 violations from [YouTube] across our accounts for [Matt Walsh], [Ben Shapiro], [Candace Owens], [Michael J. Knowles], [Jordan B. Peterson], [Andrew Klavan] and [Brett Cooper]. Almost all are over coverage of the trans debate,” Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing tweeted last month.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
1/14 Over the last few months, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> has received ~200 violations from <a href="https://twitter.com/YouTube?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YouTube</a> across our accounts for <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MattWalshBlog</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealCandaceO</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@michaeljknowles</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jordanbpeterson</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewklavan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@andrewklavan</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/imbrettcooper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@imbrettcooper</a>. Almost all are over coverage of the trans debate. 🧵
&mdash; Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeremyDBoreing/status/1667995042223476738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Meanwhile, Leonardo’s channel remains in good standing with the social media giant &#8212; if anything, the controversy has only made his channel more popular. His newer videos have garnered millions of views, orders of magnitude more than most of his previous work &#8212; most of that content is similarly centered around anal sex.
Dr. Peterson summed up his thoughts on his podcast’s suspension thusly: “Your woke corporate overlords think you&#8217;re too stupid to separate wheat from chaff yourselves.”

Big Tech Logos

‘Misgendering’ Violates YouTube’s Guidelines, Exposing Genitals Apparently Doesn’t

'Misgendering' Violates YouTube's Guidelines, Exposing Genitals Apparently Doesn't

Big Tech

Censorship

Jordan Peterson

Pornography

The Daily Wire

U.S.

YouTube

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pennsylvania" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pennsylvania</a> Governor Josh Shapiro dropped his previous demands for a $100 million school vouchers program from the state budget after fierce opposition from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/teachers-unions">teachers unions</a> and other Democrats.
The voucher program was supported by the Republican-controlled state Senate, but stalled in the Democratic state House. While the budget contained many Democratic priorities, such as increased spending for education and state funding for legal defense (Pennsylvania is currently the <a href="https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2023/04/pa-public-defense-gov-shapiro/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only state</a> that does not fund public defenders – that responsibility rests with its counties), the voucher program faced fierce opposition from the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the largest teachers union in the state. That opposition was enough to stall the state budget past its June 30 deadline, leading Shapiro to back down.
“Our Commonwealth should not be plunged into a painful, protracted budget impasse while our communities wait for the help and resources this commonsense budget will deliver,” Shapiro said. “Knowing that the two chambers will not reach consensus at this time to enact [the voucher program], and unwilling to hold up our entire budget process over this issue, I will line-item veto the full $100 million appropriation and it will not be part of this budget bill,” Shapiro <a href="https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2023/07/pennsylvania-budget-josh-shapiro-education-school-vouchers-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
School choice was a <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/midterms-2022-here-are-the-issues-pennsylvania-voters-care-about-the-most" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major</a> issue in the Keystone state’s gubernatorial race in 2022 – second only to crime. According to the state’s own assessments, in 2021, 78% of 8th-graders were <a href="https://spn.org/articles/pennsylvania-lifeline-scholarships-improve-education-access/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not proficient</a> in math and 47% were not proficient in language arts.
In early September, fairly late in the campaign, Shapiro broke with many Democrats by quietly voicing his <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-democrat-defects-on-school-choice-josh-shapiro-pennsylvania-lifeline-scholarship-education-savings-account-teachers-union-election-11663615562" target="_blank" rel="noopener">support</a> for “adding choices for parents and educational opportunity for students and funding lifeline scholarships like those approved in other states and introduced in Pennsylvania.&#8221; His Republican opponent, Doug Mastriano, proposed his own voucher program that would have also cut education spending significantly. Mastriano&#8217;s proposal was <a href="https://www.wesa.fm/education/2022-09-16/pennsylvanias-largest-teachers-union-denounces-mastrianos-plan-to-cut-education-spending" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denounced</a> by the PSEA as &#8220;devastating.&#8221;
Shapiro’s preferred program, the Lifeline Scholarship, would’ve given students from low performing public schools $7,000 in education vouchers to spend at a school of their family’s choice, including private schools. The proposal was supported by Republicans and some Democrats from districts with poor public schools, but was <a href="https://www.mcall.com/2023/06/23/josh-shapiro-private-school-vouchers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">categorically rejected</a> by most state Democrats, as well as <a href="https://www.psea.org/voucherletterrelease" target="_blank" rel="noopener">teachers unions and other interest groups</a>.
“PSEA is absolutely opposed to ‘lifeline scholarships’ or any other tuition voucher scheme,” Richard Askey, President of the PSEA, <a href="https://www.psea.org/VouchersRelease06232023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> as the budget deadline neared in late June. Citing a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/02/09/pennsylvania-school-funding-lawsuit/#:~:text=In%20a%20786%2Dpage%20ruling,obligation%20to%20educate%20young%20people." target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruling</a> from a Pennsylvania court that said the state had “unconstitutionally” failed to fund schools in poor communities, Askey called the voucher program a “distraction” and a “terrible idea” that would interfere with the state’s constitutional mandate to educate its youth.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1688648178298000&amp;usg=AOvVaw10v0UGh9BJZV8inaPuI6t7">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
“Diverting one cent of taxpayer money to a tuition voucher scheme for private and religious schools is absolutely irresponsible, no matter what name you call it,” Askey said.
In 2022, the PSEA donated <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/03/17/will-teachers-unions-political-contributions-prevent-school-choice-in-pennsylvania/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over $1 million</a> to Democratic candidates for the state legislature, as well as $775,000 to Shapiro and over $300,000 to Republican candidates.
&nbsp;

Josh Shapiro Sworn In As Governor Of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Governor Caves To Teachers Union On School Choice

Education

Pennsylvania

School Choice

Teachers Unions

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pentagon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pentagon</a> has reportedly overestimated the value of weapons and equipment it has sent to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ukraine">Ukraine</a> by $6.2 billion dollars over the last two years, and it intends to make up the shortfall in future shipments.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-war-weapons-surplus-funding-72eeb6119439146f1939d5b1973a44ef" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to</a> Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, an internal review found that the military had used the estimated cost to replace the transferred equipment instead of the value recorded in the Pentagon’s books. That discrepancy resulted in a $3.6 billion shortfall this fiscal year, and a $2.6 billion shortfall in FY 2022.
Since that money has already been allocated by Congress, the Pentagon has the authority to make up the difference without further appropriations. Conveniently, this windfall comes as FY 2023 comes to a close and existing Congressional funds for the war effort were running low.
“It’s just going to go back into the pot of money that we have allocated for the future Pentagon stock drawdowns,” Singh said.
The revelation also coincides with the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive into Russian-occupied territory that began earlier this month. The counter-offensive thus far has largely been exploratory as Ukraine forces begin to probe the Russian line for weaknesses. Russia has responded by launching an increasing number of drone attacks on Kyiv. The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65818705" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kakhovka</a> hydroelectric dam was demolished early in the fighting, triggering a mass evacuation and an “ecological disaster.”
Over the course of the war, the U.S. has approved $113 billion in aid for Ukraine, and $40 billion in military aid. The last aid package, passed by Congress last December, was meant to last through the end of FY 2023 in September, but unanticipated costs brought on by the counter-offensive may exhaust those funds more quickly.
While President Biden has publicly insisted that the U.S. will support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia, Republicans in Congress and souring public opinion could limit future aid as the war continues with no clear end in sight.
<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/22/biden-f-16s-ukraine-g7-00098243" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Last month</a>, Biden approved efforts by the U.S. and its allies to transfer F-16 fighters to Ukraine and to train their pilots to fly them, following a pattern of reluctant escalation in the amount of long range equipment being sent to the war-torn nation.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-102078">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
On Tuesday, Moscow claimed that the Ukrainian military was planning to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-warns-ukraine-against-striking-crimea-with-us-british-missiles-2023-06-20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strike targets in Russian-held Crimea</a> using British and American missile systems, and warned that Russia would retaliate if that happened. Crimea is claimed by Ukraine, but was annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014 after an internationally condemned invasion.

Pentagon

Pentagon Accounting Error Gives Extra $6.2 Billion In Aid To Ukraine

Department of Defense

Global Politics

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Viral internet personality <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-hosts-dissect-the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-controversial-internet-star-andrew-tate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Tate</a> has been indicted by a Romanian court on charges of rape, human trafficking, and forming an organized crime ring to sexually exploit women.
Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate were arrested alongside two Romanian women, their alleged co-conspirators, in December 2022, and were released from prison and moved to house arrest in March 2023. Prosecutors <a href="https://www.diicot.ro/mass-media/4082-comunicat-de-presa-2-20-06-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allege</a> that the defendants began operating a human trafficking ring in 2021, and lured seven women into the scheme with the so-called “loverboy method,” promising marriage or cohabitation in a loving relationship before forcing the women to produce pornography for their business.
“[The women] were later transported and housed in buildings in Ilfov county [Romania] where, by exercising acts of physical violence and mental coercion (through intimidation, constant surveillance, control and invoking alleged debts), they were sexually exploited by group members by forcing them to perform demonstrations pornographic in order to produce and disseminate through some social media platforms,” the indictment alleges.
The indictment also alleges that one of the defendants repeatedly raped one of their victims in March 2022.
Tate and his co-defendants have categorically denied the charges.
“The case that has been put against me is completely and utterly fabricated,” Tate said in an interview with the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65959097">BBC</a>. “ I’m never going to be found guilty of anything.”
Tate is a former kickboxing champion who first gained media notoriety after his appearance on British reality TV series &#8220;Big Brother&#8221; — Tate was removed from the show after <a href="https://twitter.com/12xClout/status/1561030908047769600">video emerged</a> of him striking a woman before appearing to beat her with a belt. Tate <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3641710/Big-Brother-kicked-Andrew-Tate-video-beating-ex-girlfriend-belt-emerged-lady-friend-claim-just-bit-fun.html">said</a> that the footage depicted consensual roleplay and that he was “still friends” with the woman involved.
Tate later became a prominent social media influencer with millions of followers on various platforms. Tate’s primary claims to fame were his apparently luxurious lifestyle and his controversial beliefs on sex and relationships. Tate has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/06/andrew-tate-violent-misogynistic-world-of-tiktok-new-star">said</a> that women are the property of men, “belong in the home” and bear some responsibility for being sexually assaulted. He has also condemned western society for devaluing traditional masculine roles.
“You can’t slander me because I will state right now that I am absolutely sexist and I’m absolutely a misogynist, and I have f*** you money and you can’t take that away,” Tate <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/andrew-tate-final-message-banned-b2151544.html">said</a>.
Tate was removed from most major social media platforms after a concerted <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/technology/andrew-tate-banned-tiktok-instagram.html">deplatforming campaign</a> in August 2022. His Twitter account was reinstated after Elon Musk acquired the company and he currently has 6.9 million followers.
Tate and his brother are British-Americans with dual citizenship who moved to Romania in 2017, reportedly because of the country’s lax law enforcement. According to the <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/romania/">U.S. State Department</a> Romania is the primary center of human trafficking in Europe.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not a f*** rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free,&#8221; Tate <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/gammasecretkings/comments/u3ih83/andrew_tate_explains_the_primary_reason_he_moved/">said</a>, while decrying the #MeToo movement and spurious claims of rape and sexual assault. “In Eastern Europe, none of this garbage flies.”
When Tate was arrested last year, police seized 15 luxury cars, 14 luxury watches, several properties, the equivalent of $100,000 in various currencies and nearly $400 million worth of Bitcoin.
“[I&#8217;m] sure this case has absolutely nothing to do with stealing my wealth,” Tate <a href="https://twitter.com/Cobratate/status/1671105531430273029">tweeted</a> after the indictment.
A Romanian judge will have 60 days to review the case before it is either thrown out on procedural grounds or brought to trial. According to the BBC, any trial in this case is expected to take years to resolve.

Andrew Tate

Andrew Tate Charged With Human Trafficking And Rape

Europe

Human Trafficking

Sex Trafficking

Social Media

Several dozen Midwestern teachers discussed ways to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transition</a> their students&#8217; gender without alerting parents in an online chatroom this week.
Roughly 30 teachers and administrators from various states including Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio met in an online chatroom hosted by the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center (MAP), an organization that has received millions of dollars in federal funding. <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12202901/Midwest-teachers-trade-tips-subversively-quietly-transitioning-kids-without-telling-parents.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Mail</a> gained access to the four-hour workshop, which was centered on reviewing various new educational statutes to “remedy the marginalizing effects and disrupt problematic policies.”
Kimberly Martin, DEI coordinator for Royal Oaks Schools in Michigan, described her efforts to hide elements of social transition, such as changing a student’s name, from their parents.
“We&#8217;re working with our record-keeping system so that certain screens can&#8217;t be seen by the parents … if there&#8217;s a nickname in there we&#8217;re trying to hide,” Martin said.
Jennifer Haglund, counselor for Ames Community Schools in Iowa, condemned Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds for signing a law in March barring males from competing on female sports teams and bragged about her personal activism for LGBTQ causes.
“I know that I have my own right code of ethics, and that doesn&#8217;t always go along with the law,” Haglund said.
“The stakes are very high for trans youth,” Shea Martin, an Ohio-based teacher and contributor to far-Left blog Radical Teacher, said. “I think that requires working subversively and quietly sometimes to make sure that trans kids have what they need.”
Martin also said she had worked against “laws that prohibit or restrict trans advocacy.” Martin also said that in discussion with elementary aged students, teachers should avoid treating “reinforced heterosexuality as the norm.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-102078">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Gender ideology has become an increasingly controversial issue in the United States — a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/poll-support-for-gender-binary-increases-in-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent poll</a> by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 65% of Americans say that there are only two genders, up from 59% in 2021, with support for the gender binary increasing in virtually all demographic cohorts. Furthermore, a plurality of those polled, 36%, opposed teaching transgenderism at any level in K-12 education.
Hundreds of laws have been introduced in red and purple states to limit sexually explicit drag performances in public, ban books with explicit sexual content from school libraries, prevent males from competing in girls and women’s sports, and prevent minors from being given cross-sex hormones or body modification surgeries, among other things. These laws have been decried as “anti-LGBTQ” by activist groups such as the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights">ACLU</a> and the <a href="https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/roundup-of-anti-lgbtq-legislation-advancing-in-states-across-the-country">Human Rights Campaign</a> and by the Biden White House, fueling intense national debate.
MAP is part of the Great Lakes Equity Center and operates in 13 different states: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. It covers over 7,000 school districts and more than 11 million students. The states and localities under its jurisdiction have a wide range of stances on issues surrounding sex and gender.
According to the Daily Mail, MAP receives federal funding under Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and last November it received more than $8 million from the Department of Education.

St. Paul, Minnesota. March 6, 2022. Because the attacks against transgender kids are increasing across the country Minneasotans hold a rally at the capitol to support trans kids in Minnesota, Texas, and around the country.

Midwestern Teachers Trade Tips On ‘Subversively & Quietly’ Transitioning Kids

Midwestern Teachers Trade Tips On 'Subversively & Quietly' Transitioning Kids

gender ideology

Parents rights

Public Schools

Woke Culture

One of the highest level meetings between the U.S. and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china">China</a> in years was hailed by American officials as “direct and productive” and “candid” after months of escalating tensions between the two powers.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday for talks with his counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, after a previously scheduled meeting in February was canceled. The meeting marked the first time a cabinet level official had visited China since 2019, before the start of the COVID pandemic.
According to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anthony-blinken-china-trip-high-stakes-diplomatic-talks/">CBS</a>, the meeting on Sunday lasted for five and a half hours and was followed by a two hour working dinner. U.S. officials hoped to use the talks to reestablish senior level communications, “express candid views” and explore “areas of potential cooperation.”
&#8220;We&#8217;ve made progress on all three of those goals … we covered almost the entire waterfront of the relationship,&#8221; they said.
Earlier talks in February were canceled after the incursion of a Chinese spy balloon into U.S. airspace – said balloon crossed the continental United States and passed over several military installations before finally being downed off the coast of South Carolina on February 4. That provocation, combined with years of trade wars, increased tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwanese strait, and an increasing body of evidence that suggests the COVID-19 pandemic began in a Chinese government lab have all contributed to Sino-American relations being “at the lowest point” they’ve ever been, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-china-relations-blinken-afb39654e07ff1022bf8a3bf8296c686">according to</a> the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
According to a <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinkens-meeting-with-peoples-republic-of-china-state-councilor-and-foreign-minister-qin-gang/">statement</a> from the State Department, during the meeting Blinken “emphasized the importance of diplomacy and maintaining open channels of communication across the full range of issues to reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation.”
The exact details of the talks are not known, but it was widely expected that the two diplomats would discuss the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the export of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fentanyl-mexico-china-united-states-46fade6f948b46ac43299aab272699d7">Chinese fentanyl</a> into the US, and trade disputes, amongst other things.
For their part, Foreign Minister Gang <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65941659">said</a> that Taiwan was the &#8220;most prominent risk&#8221; for U.S.-China relations, and he also described the island as one of &#8220;China&#8217;s core interests.”
The People&#8217;s Republic of China claims Taiwan as an integral part of its territory but the island has been effectively independent since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Since then, the island has established itself as an economic and technological powerhouse, and it is currently the world’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/special-report/2023/03/06/taiwans-dominance-of-the-chip-industry-makes-it-more-important">premier manufacturing center</a> for advanced semiconductors, which are crucial components in both civilian and military hardware. Taiwan currently produces about 60% of the world’s semiconductor chips and roughly 90% of cutting edge chips. 
The US has attempted to reduce its dependence on Taiwanese chips by promoting domestic semiconductor production, but for the foreseeable future Taiwan remains a vital supply of a resource used in all advanced computers.
 Furthermore, the U.S. has maintained a strong de facto alliance with Taiwan dating back to before the end of the Second World War – back when its government controlled all of China under Chiang Kai Shek. The U.S. recognized the nationalist government in Taiwan as the legitimate government of all of China until 1979, when the U.S. and Communist China established diplomatic relations. Since then, the U.S. has retained a policy  of “<a href="https://www.rand.org/blog/2023/01/strategic-ambiguity-may-have-us-and-taiwan-trapped.html">strategic ambiguity</a>” the question of Taiwan, theoretically acknowledging it as a territory of China while informally recognizing its independence, sending Taiwan military hardware and heavily suggesting, although never confirming, that it will intervene militarily if China ever attempted to invade the island.
China has been increasingly aggressive with both naval and aerial incursions into Taiwanese territory in recent months, and some observers, such as former National Security Advisor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-relationship-with-china-worse-than-with-soviet-union-during-cold-war-former-national-security-adviser-says">H.R. McMaster</a>, “may portray a bit of weakness,” in the face of Chinese aggression.
However, China has refused to respond to U.S. overtures for months, and potentially has its own reasons to come to the negotiating table. The Chinese economy is deteriorating: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/15/1182377255/the-unemployment-for-young-people-in-china-hits-a-record-high-in-may">youth unemployment</a> has reached historically high levels, the Chinese <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/31/new-warning-signs-emerge-for-chinas-property-market.html">housing market</a> is increasingly unstable, and the country has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-factory-output-consumption-highlight-slack-post-covid-economic-momentum-2023-05-16/">yet to fully recover</a> from its draconian COVID-19 lockdowns. Furthermore, its aging and shrinking population pose long term structural economic problems. Stabilizing trade with America and its allies could buttress the economic growth which has long been a source of stability and political legitimacy for the ruling regime.
Talks will continue Monday and Blinken has expressed hopes that he will be able to personally meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming months.

Secretary Of State Antony Blinken

U.S. Cheers ‘Candid’ Talks With China After Months Of Rising Tensions

Antony Blinken

China

Taiwan

Technology

Trade War

A columnist for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/usa-today">USA Today</a> compared Republican investigations into alleged misconduct by Hunter Biden to stigmatizing and abusing an addict.
The column opens with an emotional description of a teary intervention held by the Biden family to help their son Hunter, who at the time was addicted to crack cocaine – Hunter reportedly spent thousands of dollars on the drug in a matter of weeks and was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-fact-check-hunter-biden-not-dishonora/fact-checkhunter-bidens-military-discharge-was-administrative-not-dishonorable-idUSKBN26M6QI">discharged</a> from the Navy after testing positive for cocaine in 2014.
“My son – like a lot of people, like a lot of people you know at home – had a drug problem,” then-candidate Biden said during the 2020 campaign. “He’s overtaken it, he’s fixed it, he’s worked on it. And I’m proud of him.”
“For most Americans addiction is a private family affair,” <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/12/hunter-biden-addiction-american-families-opioid/70222851007/">USA Today</a> columnist Michael Collins opined. “Hunter Biden’s struggles have played out in public and in the political sphere inhabited by his father. Further complicating matters: Republicans have repeatedly sought to use the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s private affairs, and at times even his drug addiction, as part of their campaign to portray the Biden family as corrupt.”
The column was published in the wake of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/alleged-biden-bribery-scheme-comer-says-fbi-has-more-informant-docs-plans-to-see-them">revelations</a> that a highly credible source had testified to the FBI that Hunter and Joe Biden were involved in an alleged international bribery scheme where they were each funneled millions of dollars through at least 20 shell companies. Of particular note was the allegation that $5 million was transferred to the Bidens from Ukrainian energy company Burisma, around the same time that then-Vice President Biden used his influence to get a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma fired.
“‘You’re not getting the billion dollars,’” Biden <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=797504800724150">said,</a> recounting a threat he made to withhold U.S. aid if the Ukrainian government did not comply with his demand. “‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor’s not fired, you’re not getting the money.’&#8230; Well, son of a b****, he got fired.”
In a speech on the Senate floor today, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said that the continued investigation into the Biden family had uncovered evidence, recorded on a 1023 form provided by a confidential human source, that foreign nationals had compromising material on both Joe and Hunter Biden related to their alleged overseas dealings.
“The 1023 produced to that House committee redacted reference that the foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversation with them. Seventeen such recordings,” Grassley <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senator-reveals-fbi-informant-file-references-17-biden-audio-recordings">said</a>.
The column characterized the investigations as political mudslinging, and, in the words of one recovering addict, “probably the most despicable thing I’ve seen in my life.”
“If some Republican’s child had these issues and a Democrat did the same thing, I’d say the same thing,” said Brandon Swinehart, a former addict who lived on the streets of San Francisco for two years. “This has nothing to do with competency or being president. This is someone’s family. It’s a family affair. Please stay out of it.”
The column focused on how Hunter Biden&#8217;s drug addiction has often been brought up by Republicans in conjunction with and as supporting evidence for allegations of corruption – and insinuated that such tactics were politically motivated smears. The column even included praise for Hunter Biden’s openness about his experience, noting that his public addiction and recovery could lessen the stigma surrounding a common social ill.
“There’s really no one who is immune to this,” said Alexis Pleus, whose son Jeff Dugon died of a heroin overdose. “It doesn’t matter – race, class, gender, what your income is, in the public eye, out of the public eye. Anyone can be affected. No one should be judged for this. Absolutely no one.”
Biden himself has reiterated such arguments.
&#8220;I&#8217;ll bet you there&#8217;s not a family you know that didn&#8217;t have somebody in the family who had a drug problem, or an alcohol problem,&#8221; the president said in an interview with CBS in early 2021.

President Biden Hosts The Annual White House Easter Egg Roll

USA Today Frames Biden Investigations As GOP Battering An Addict

Drugs

Hunter Biden

Joe Biden

Media

USA Today

Record drug shortages across the United States are delaying potentially <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/health-care">lifesaving treatments</a> for thousands of patients around the country.
Congress and the White House are scrambling to address a shortfall in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/prescription-drugs">prescription drugs</a> — everything from painkillers to cancer treatments. 
“Hospitals all across the country, on a regular basis &#8211;sometimes weekly &#8212; have to review which drugs are in short supply or not available that week.” Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSpwCI2oz4g&amp;t=44s">said</a> in an interview with MSNBC. 

The shortage is being most acutely felt in the generic drug market, which accounts for nearly 90% of U.S. prescriptions. The exact number of drugs being affected depends on who you ask &#8212; according to a <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Drug-Shortages-HSGAC-Majority-Staff-Report-2023-03-22.pdf">Senate</a> report at the end of last year, the U.S. reached a peak level of 295 active drug shortages, although as of March, the FDA claims there are <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/22/health/drug-shortages-senate-report/index.html#:~:text=New%20drug%20shortages%20in%20the%20US%20increased%20nearly%2030%25%20between,shortages%2C%20according%20to%20the%20report">130</a>. The American Society of Health reports <a href="https://www.ashp.org/drug-shortages/shortage-resources/drug-shortages-statistics?loginreturnUrl=SSOCheckOnly">301</a> drug shortages as of the first quarter of 2023.
According to the FDA, the average drug shortage lasts for about 18 months, but some shortages have stretched on for over 15 years.
Some of the medicines that have been in short supply include <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/adderall-shortage-pharmacies-still-unable-stock-enough-drug-patients-rcna80260">Adderall</a>, Tylenol, various antibiotics including <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/10/1168699514/strep-is-bad-right-now-an-antibiotic-shortage-is-making-it-worse">amoxicillin</a>, saline mixtures used in<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/drug-shortages-at-record-high-security-risk-senate-report/"> IVs</a>, and almost <a href="https://www.kmbc.com/article/cancer-drugs-among-top-5-most-affected-by-shortages/43883752?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot">two dozen</a> kinds of anti-cancer drugs.
That last group is especially troubling because, unlike some other drugs in short supply, patients don’t have a lot of alternate options for treatment. Chemotherapies for breast cancers, ovarian cancers, lung cancers, bladder cancers, and some forms of leukemia have been delayed or disrupted, sometimes with fatal consequences.
According to one recent survey by the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, doctors in 35 different states said they had little to no supply of multiple chemotherapy drugs, including specialists at cancer centers. According to Laura Bray, founder of the non-profit Angels for Change, which helps micro-source rare medications for patients, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/11/health/chemo-drug-shortages/index.html">9 out of 10</a> oncologists say the shortages have caused patient harm up to and including death. With less medicine and the same number of patients who need it, doctors around the country have been having many hard conversations about who does and doesn’t get their dose.
With dozens or hundreds of active shortages, there is no single overriding factor that explains all the shortfalls, but several trends have emerged.
Some drugs, like Adderall and Ozempic, are skyrocketing in popularity due to alternative uses, exhausting limited supplies. Adderall is meant to treat ADHD but is abused by some students and professionals to increase concentration on various cognitively demanding tasks. Ozempic is meant to treat Type-2 diabetes but has been used as a &#8220;miracle weight loss drug.&#8221; Supply hasn’t caught up with the surge in demand.
Other observers have attributed the shortages to disruptions in the global supply chain. Exact statistics are difficult to come by &#8212; part of the problem is that the supply chain for some pharmaceuticals is not totally transparent, to the point where regulators don’t even know for sure where everything comes from &#8212; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/health/drug-shortages-cancer.html">the FDA actually petitioned Congress for more resources to figure that out.</a>
Near as the Senate can tell, though, about 80% of “pharmaceutically active ingredients” – the most important part of any drug – are manufactured outside the U.S. If these foreign sources had their economies locked down or started hoarding supplies, that could completely gut our supply chain. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/22/health/drug-shortages-senate-report/index.html#:~:text=New%20drug%20shortages%20in%20the%20US%20increased%20nearly%2030%25%20between,shortages%2C%20according%20to%20the%20report">China</a> has often been highlighted as a prominent and problematic international supplier and many lawmakers view this as a serious strategic weakness of the United States.
Other observers have claimed that the problem is more domestic in nature &#8212; they say doctors have a tendency to overprescribe antibiotics to patients that don’t actually need them, which makes them less available and less effective for patients who do.
&#8220;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/health/new-report-suggests-panic-buying-of-medications-by-patients-and-providers-caused-drug-shortages#:~:text=In%20terms%20of%20what%20caused,needed%20amid%20fear%20and%20confusion.">Panic buying</a>&#8220; has also been blamed – a perceived shortage can become a self-fulfilling prophecy as consumers rush to buy up all available supply.
But while all these immediate causes have drawn considerable attention, some are claiming that more basic market forces are to blame.
Many lifesaving drugs <a href="https://qualitymatters.usp.org/whats-driving-drug-shortages-during-cold-and-flu-season">aren’t very profitable</a> to make – with some bringing in only pennies per dose. Those narrow margins discourage newcomers from entering the sector, and if there are supply chain issues that make the product more expensive, established players are more likely to cut corners or stop making them altogether.
There’s been an upward trend in the number of drug shortages over the last few years, while the prices of generic drugs have dropped 50% since 2016.
Several factors have prevented drug prices from shifting as a function of supply and demand
The pharmaceutical market is highly consolidated – while there are thousands of hospitals and pharmacies, most get their supplies from a small number of intermediary firms. A review by a healthcare analytics company called IQVIA found that 3 buyers purchase 90% of all generic drugs. With so few potential customers, each one has substantial leverage over what price they’re going to pay.
The U.S. government is a major player in healthcare, and lawmakers have passed <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/explaining-the-prescription-drug-provisions-in-the-inflation-reduction-act/">limits</a> on how much companies are allowed to charge for various drugs.

A spike in respiratory illness has caused a shortage of children’s liquid acetaminophen and ibuprofen, stressing parents, on November 30 in Chevy Chase, MD.

U.S. Faces Massive Shortage Of Prescription Drugs

Health

Health Care

Prescription Drugs

A combination of physical therapy and neurological implants has restored a man’s control over his lower body after 12 years of paralysis.
Gert-Jan Oskam was living in China in 2011 when he was in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed from below his hips. Now, a combination of brain and spinal implants have acted as a &#8220;digital bridge,&#8221; bypassing damaged parts of his spinal cord to help him to stand and walk, even over steep inclines. 
At first, he was walking with the aid of a walker. However, the treatment also seems to have induced neurological recovery — more recently, Oskam has regained the ability to walk with crutches, even when the implant was turned off.
“For 12 years I’ve been trying to get back my feet,” Oskam <a href="https://dnyuz.com/2023/05/24/a-paralyzed-man-can-walk-naturally-again-with-brain-and-spine-implants/">said</a> in a press briefing on Tuesday. “Now I have learned how to walk normal, natural.”
The researchers who made the recovery possible outlined the technology behind the &#8220;digital bridge&#8221; and its limitations in a study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06094-5">Nature</a>. The brain-spine interface (BSI), which wirelessly connects two implants in the sensorimotor cortex to the spinal implants, used machine learning to translate the electrical signals in Oskam’s brain to the desired movements and sent those signals over the damaged portions of the spine and down to the muscles in his legs.
“We’ve captured the thoughts of Gert-Jan, and translated these thoughts into a stimulation of the spinal cord to re-establish voluntary movement,” Dr. Grégoire Courtine, a spinal cord specialist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, and leader of the research team <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/science/paralysis-brain-implants-ai.html">told</a> the press on Tuesday.
The study noted that the BSI could be calibrated within minutes, used independently at home, and had proven reliable over the year. 
“However,” the study noted, “this recovery required wearable motion sensors to detect motor intentions from residual movements or compensatory strategies to initiate the preprogrammed stimulation sequences. Consequently, the control of walking was not perceived as completely natural. Moreover, the participants showed limited ability to adapt leg movements to changing terrain and volitional demands.”
There have been numerous advances in this field in the last few years — in 2016 another team led by Dr. Courtine was able to overcome paralysis to allow monkeys with damaged spinal cords to walk — the same year, another brain implant treatment was able to give a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/health/paralysis-limb-reanimation-brain-chip.html">quadriplegic </a>man limited control over one of his hands under laboratory conditions. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0649-2">Another</a> scientific team led by Courtine in 2018 was able to simulate brain signals using electrical-pulse generators to allow partially paralyzed people to walk and ride bicycles, and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35132264/">other procedures</a> in 2022 allowed patients to walk, swim and cycle within a day of treatment.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
The subtleties of some brain signals are still difficult to read, limiting the ability for finer movements, and the researchers do not believe that the technology as it stands now is well suited for treating upper body paralysis. The treatment also requires several invasive surgeries and extensive physical therapy.
That being said, Oskam can now move around his home, enter and exit cars, and stand, resulting in an increased quality of life. Oskam reportedly said that for the first time, he feels like he&#8217;s in control.
The research team is optimistic that further advances will make their treatments more widespread. 
“This is our true objective,” Dr. Courtine said, “to make this technology available across the world for all the patients who need it.”

Robot or human body enhancement concept. Artificial intelligence with face in abstract world

Neural Implants Help Paralyzed Man Walk Again

Artificial Intelligence

Science

Menu

Michael Whittaker