Policy Analysis ReportRevised Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) CharterCharter Evolution: 2024 Renewal → December 2025 Amendment → 2026 RenewalExecutive SummaryThis report analyzes the three ACIP charter instruments issued between April 2024 and April 2026: the original 2024 charter renewal, the December 2025 amendment signed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the 2026 charter renewal notice published in the Federal Register on April 6, 2026. Taken together, these documents reflect a period of significant structural and substantive change to the committee, driven partly by the transition in HHS leadership and partly by the ordinary renewal cycle.Four principal findings emerge from this analysis:• Structural expansion: The December 2025 amendment was the pivotal instrument, increasing voting membership from 15 to up to 19 and formally establishing a Vice Chair position.• Mission broadening: The 2026 renewal subtly but meaningfully expands ACIP’s stated mission to include reducing symptomatology, not only preventing disease.• Publication softening: The 2026 renewal changes mandatory MMWR publication of adopted recommendations to discretionary, a shift with potential downstream policy implications.• Affiliate stability: Non-voting liaison membership (30 organizations) and ex-officio membership (6 federal agencies) remained unchanged across all three instruments. Workgroup structure and guidance also remained unchanged.The full updated 2026 charter text — which may include additional changes not visible in the Federal Register renewal notice — is expected to be posted on CDC’s website on or after April 6, 2026. This analysis should be revisited upon publication of that document.Background and Document OverviewACIP is a federal advisory committee established in 1964 under Section 222 of the Public Health Service Act. It is governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and operates under a charter renewed every two years by the Secretary of HHS. ACIP’s recommendations on vaccine use — once adopted by the CDC Director — carry significant legal weight: they define coverage mandates under the Affordable Care Act and determine the vaccine list for the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program.Documents AnalyzedIt is important to note that the 2026 document is a Federal Register renewal notice, not a stand-alone charter text. It satisfies the 41 C.F.R. § 102-3.60(a) public interest determination requirement and contains justification language, but does not reprint the full charter provisions. The complete updated charter text will be a separate document.Key Changes Across the Three Instruments1. Committee MembershipThe most consequential structural change occurred in the December 2025 amendment, not in the 2026 renewal.On June 9, 2025, HHS Secretary Kennedy dismissed all 17 then-sitting ACIP members. The December 2025 amendment — which expanded the membership ceiling to 19 — was executed in this context. The 2026 renewal confirms the expanded structure going forward.2. Mission and ScopeThe 2024 charter and December 2025 amendment defined ACIP’s mission identically: to advise on vaccines “for effective control of vaccine-preventable diseases.” The 2026 renewal introduces new language.The addition of ‘and/or decrease symptomatology’ is a substantive expansion. It shifts ACIP’s mandate from a disease-control frame to one that also encompasses symptom mitigation — a broader and more clinically flexible standard. This change could affect how ACIP evaluates vaccines for diseases where sterilizing immunity is not achievable.The 2026 renewal also adds that ACIP should identify ‘areas where additional data or evaluation would be useful to inform future recommendations’ — a new research-gap identification function not present in prior versions.3. Recommendation Publication ProcessA notable change appears in the language governing the publication of ACIP recommendations after the CDC Director's adoption.Changing 'are published' to 'may be published' converts MMWR publication from a requirement to a discretionary act. The MMWR has historically been the authoritative vehicle through which ACIP recommendations become public and legally operative for insurance coverage mandates. This change warrants close monitoring.4. Operating CostsReported operating costs shifted significantly across the three instruments, though the accounting methodology also changed, making direct comparison difficult.The dramatic increase in staff costs between the 2024 charter ($372K) and the December 2025 amendment ($1.76M) — a more than four-fold increase — corresponds with the expanded membership ceiling and the broader committee restructuring. The 2026 renewal restructures cost reporting into new categories per the public-interest determination format, making year-over-year comparisons imprecise.5. Affiliate and Workgroup StructureNo changes were identified in either the affiliate/liaison membership list or the workgroup structure across any of the three instruments.• The 30 non-voting liaison organizations are identical in the 2024 charter and December 2025 amendment. The 2026 renewal notice does not reprint the list but contains no indication of changes.• The 6 non-voting ex-officio federal agency representatives are unchanged.• Workgroup governance is established in the separate ACIP Policies and Procedures document (June 2022), which has not been updated. Charter language on subcommittees is identical across all three instruments.• The 2026 renewal forward priorities do reference continuing to “implement consistent procedures across the ACIP work groups” — signaling potential procedural refinements ahead, but no changes yet enacted.Consolidated ComparisonPolicy Implications and ConsiderationsNear-Term•Monitor whether adopted recommendations continue to be published in the MMWR consistently. Any deviation from historical practice would affect the automatic insurance coverage trigger under ACA Section 2713.MMWR Publication Discretion•Track how the expanded mission language (’decrease symptomatology’) is applied in ACIP deliberations, particularly for respiratory viruses and vaccines with limited sterilizing efficacy.Symptomatology Standard•The complete updated charter, expected on or after April 6, 2026, should be reviewed for any additional provisions not visible in the Federal Register renewal notice — particularly the liaison membership list and subcommittee provisions.Full 2026 Charter TextMedium-Term•The current ACIP Policies and Procedures document dates to June 2022 and predates the membership expansion and leadership changes. An update is likely needed to reflect the 19-member structure, Vice Chair role, and any new workgroup procedures. The 2026 renewal’s forward priorities suggest this is anticipated.Policies & Procedures Update•With the expanded voting membership and new member appointments, workgroup composition will change. Monitor whether the two-ACIP-member minimum and conflict-of-interest provisions continue to be observed.Workgroup Composition•ACIP’s statutory role in establishing the VFC vaccine list is unchanged. However, disruption to ACIP’s normal operations (from membership turnover) could affect the timing of VFC schedule updates.VFC Program ContinuityLonger-Term•The next renewal is due April 1, 2028. If membership composition and committee culture continue to shift, the 2028 renewal will be a key indicator of the trajectory of ACIP’s role in federal immunization policy.Charter Renewal Cycle•The combination of discretionary MMWR publication and the expanded symptomatology mandate may invite legal challenges to the ACA coverage mandate if recommendations are adopted but not published. This is an area for legal monitoring.Legal Standing of RecommendationsConclusionThe 2024–2026 charter cycle represents the most significant period of change in ACIP’s recent history. The December 2025 amendment — signed by HHS Secretary Kennedy in the wake of his dismissal of all sitting members — was the structural pivot point, expanding membership from 15 to 19 and formalizing the Vice Chair role. The 2026 renewal consolidates those structural changes while introducing two substantive policy shifts: a broadened mission scope (adding symptom reduction) and a softened publication requirement (making MMWR publication discretionary rather than mandatory).What has not changed is equally notable. The affiliate membership list, ex officio representation, workgroup governance framework, and three-meetings-per-year cadence are all carried forward intact. This suggests that while the committee’s composition and certain policy parameters have shifted, its foundational operating architecture remains in place.This analysis is based on the three charter instruments available as of April 3, 2026. The full updated 2026 charter text — to be posted on CDC’s charter webpage — should be reviewed upon publication for any additional provisions. The ACIP Policies and Procedures document (June 2022) should also be monitored for anticipated updates.Thanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.ShareMalone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.


Dire Straits: Part 3 Ch 2

Dire Straits: Part 3 Chapter 2The Impact on the Global Economy - Getting to Net Zero and Lockdown 2.0By Justine Isernhinke, Fellow and Head of Geopolitics and UAP Research, The Malone InstituteMalone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The Illusion of Safety- the UAE’s bubble has burst at a cost of $120 BillionDubai, part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as an international haven, isdeadright now. Expats have fled, flights are reduced, and hotels are selling rooms at rock bottom prices. Since the war started, more than$120 Billionhas been wiped from market capitalization on the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges in the last month, while over 18,400 flights have been canceled.For reasons that remain vague, Iran targeted Dubai and the UAE from the start of the war. Two-thirds of Iran’s missiles have been launched in the direction of the Emirati nation. Dubai’s international airport was hit several times, and its world-famous Fairmont hotel on Palm Jumeirah was struck in full view of many residents. By March 28, Iran had launched 398 ballistic missiles, 1,872 drones, and 15 cruise missiles at the UAE, making it the most targeted country after its close ally Israel.Hotel bookings collapsed, prices have been slashed, and wealthy expatriates have reportedly paid up to $250,000 for private evacuation flights.By the end of March, Dubai’s real estate index had fallen by at least 16 percent. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate transactions have dropped 37% year-on-year, while sales have plunged by more than 50% compared with February 2026.Some properties are now being sold at discounts of 10 to 15% by those seeking a rapid exit.The war has also introduced “considerable risk” to Dubai’s future population growth, which now expects growth of just 1% this year and around 2% annually through 2031, well below the recent 4% trend.An empty restaurant in DubaiDubai Tourism is taking a massive beating. Since almost 90% of Dubai’s population are expats, most areconsidering fleeingif they are able. Dubai’s economy might be one of the biggest losers in this war.So sensitive is the fact that Dubai is no longer a safe place, that the government cracked down on anyone posting footage of the attacks.By way retaliation, the UAE hasimposed a banon the entry and transit of Iranian nationals through Dubai.The directive denies Iranian passport holders permission to enter or transit via Dubai International Airport. The restriction applies broadly to all Iranian citizens, including those holding valid UAE residency visas across all categories as well as holders of UAE visit and tourist visas.The notice also says Iranian nationals currently outside the UAE, including residents, will be denied entry into the country, with the measure reflected in official application responses.The dispute between Iran and Dubai took another surprising twist. Dubai’s exchange houses have long given the IRGC and the Iranian Quds Force access to the hard currency needed to finance Iran’s proxy groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and militias in Iraq. This week Dubaiarresteddozens of IRGC-linked money changers, which threatens the terrorist networks that took years for Iran to build.Air Travel taking a Nose-DiveAt the same time as Dubai and Abu Dhabi are facing an existential threat, the aviation sector, a cornerstone of the economy of the UAA, has taken a direct hit. Dubai International Airport (DXB), one of the world’s busiest airports, normally handles around 95 million passengers annually. This far outstrips London’s Heathrow which accommodates around 83 million passengers a year.Nor is Dubai alone within the Gulf as a major hub. Rival airports in Abu Dhabi and the Qatari capital, Doha, are not quite as busy, but they still on average handle some 87 million passengers between them. Under normal circumstances, these three Gulf airports together handle more than 3,000 flights every day, the majority of them operated by the local carriers, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.The Middle East accounts for about 5% of global international arrivals, and around 10% of US passengers traveling to Asia pass through hubs in the region.But the conflict in the Middle East has had a dramatic impact on global aviation. At first there was the paralysis of flights through this busy airspace, leaving aircraft at other major hub airports grounded and hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded. Then, DXB suffered damage from Iranian strikes and had to shut down completely on March 1. It is back to operating but the impact is both literal and financial.In a single day, more than 3,400 flights were cancelled across Dubai, Al Maktoum, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Emirates and Etihad suspended operations, with losses expected to run into the billions.With some airspace closed, airlines including Emirates and Qatar Airways have had toreroute flights, burning more fuel. Direct Europe-Asia routes are already under pressure, with many forced through a narrow corridor over Georgia and Azerbaijan or onto longer southern paths. Longer routes and diversions lead to higher costs for air travelers.As jet fuel prices increase, airlines will be affected depending on whether or not they hedged fuel prices, locking in rates based on prior oil prices. US carriers have little to no hedging whilst some European and Asian airlines (Singapore Airlines and Qantas) have locked in prices for part of their fuelAir traffic in the region remainsheavily disrupted. Emirates is flying roughly 70% of its pre-war schedule. Etihad has reinstated 50% of its pre-war operations. Qatar is at 20% of its pre-war schedule. Qatar sent 20 of its largest aircraft toSpainfor long-term storage, to ensure their safe-keeping during the war.According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the conflict is costing the tourism sector at least$600 milliona day in lost international visitor spending. Before the war broke out, the WTTC had forecast that travelers would spend $207 billion in the Middle East in 2026. The blow to the travel and tourism could translate into higher flight and hotel prices — but how much higher is still unclear.Notwithstanding the risks, Dubai International Airport has persisted with flights and remainsopen.Closer to home, the CEO of United Airlinesannouncedthat the airline is operating on the assumption that oil prices could rise to $175/barrel, forcing the carrier to cut 5% of its planned capacity and remove routes. Scott Kirby is concerned that the annual fuel bill of United could rise to $11 billion which would be more than twice the profit that the airline earned in its best year.If the Strait of Hormuz situation doesn’t get resolved in the next 2 weeks, it’s thought that at least half of all the flights in Asia will likely getcancelledover the next 2 months due to the sky-rocketing oil prices. Australia and some Southeast Asia countries will get hit the hardest. Even if an airline is willing to pay the fuel premium it will take them 40+ days to order in the jet fuel cargoes from Europe and US, as opposed vs 15-16 days from the Asian refineries in Singapore and Korea from where they usually import them. You cannot magically conjure up a jet fuel supply if the Asia refineries can’t produce them.South Korea’s largest carrier,Korean Air, has entered emergency management mode, becoming the third Korean airline to do so following T’way Air and Asiana Airlines as jet fuel prices surge. Bankruptcies are next.Mass cancelations of flights have begun worldwide.The Telegraphreported earlier this week that around 7% of all scheduled flights for one day were cancelled — this is more than 7,000 departures. In North America, the share of cancellations reached 14.6%.Prices that are more than double what they were, coupled with a reduction in supplies able to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, could lead to a serious shortage of aviation fuel in less than a week.Jet FuelPrices in the past month:The cost of air tickets has already risen by 15-20% in recent weeks, and demand is starting to decline.Thelast knownjet fuel shipment from the Middle East bound for the UK is due to dock on Thursday this week. It’s one ship. The Libyan-flagged Maetiga, loaded with jet fuel from Saudi Arabia. After that there are currently no other UK-bound cargoes from the region visible on the water.The UK phased out Russian jet fuel supplies and replaced them with fuel routed through the Strait of Hormuz. That route is now effectively closed.Europe sources around 40% of its jet fuel through the Hormuz chokepoint. The UK is particularly exposed, both directly and through imports routed via the Netherlands and Belgium.Britain’sLondon Heathrowis thehighest-riskmajor airport in Europe for jet fuel from April as US-Israel war on Iran continues. Heathrow, with 1,300 flights daily, will struggle ‘the most and the earliest’ with jet fuel as shortage worsens and price surges.The impact on Food SecurityThe Gulf States, for whom cargo ships have all but ceased to arrive, import approximately80-90% of their food- 70% arrives by ship through the Strait of Hormuz. The Gulf nations have strategic reserves of vital foods to cover4-6 months of needs, which were created years ago as concerns about food supplies increased during past crises and disasters. Some perishable items like bananas can be flown in but that leads to high prices. Container prices have also leapt from $1,500 to $4,000 per container (for context, the typical cost of moving a container from Shanghai to Europe is around $2,700 – 3,600 including costs).But hoarding, price spikes and https://www.ifpri.org/blog/the-iran-war-potential-food-security-impacts/ are inevitable unless the Strait is opened soon. We could see Gulf statessubsidizingfood at a time when the Gulf States will be short on cash from the halt on oil sales.Worldwide there will be serious impacts on the food supply. Approximately20-50%of the international trade in fertilizer exports for urea, sulphur, phosphate and ammonia ship through the Gulf.The spring planting season has begun across the Northern Hemisphere, but farmers face soaring fertilizer prices (typically nitrogen fertilizer – also referred to as urea). The The Fertilizer Institutepredictsthat US farmers will be short some 2 million tons of urea this spring. The United States is currently the world’s top LNG producer, which supports a robust domestic fertilizer industry. However, the US stillimportsabout25% to cover the spring planting surge.About 15% of fertilizer imports to the U.S. are from the Middle East, and about half the global supply of the key ingredient urea comes from the region, along with 30% of ammonia, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.Fertilizers are generally applied just before or at planting, so crops miss key early growth stages and yields can fall when deliveries are delayed, even if supplies improve later. The impact is already being felt in the United States and Europe, where the main planting season is underway, and it is expected to hit the first planting season in much of Asia in the coming months. Fertilizer shortages and price hikes hit farmers hard, forcing them to use less and leading to reduced yields. Even short delays canreducemaize yields by about 4% in a season.“We’re being told that many of our farmers that haven’t preordered their fertilizer and paid for it may not even obtain the fertilizer that they’re going to need during the season or for spring planting.That’s why this situation is so serious.”~Zippy Duvall, President of the American Farm Bureau FederationMany American farmers haven’t yet secured fertilizer for this year’s planting season.New Orleans granular urea prices. The most widely used nitrogen fertilizer are up 89% since December to $660 per short ton. By comparison, the 2022 peak during the Russia-Ukraine war was $910 per short ton. Top exporters China and Russia are also curbing crop nutrient sales, tightening supply further at the worst possible time, right before the spring planting season.Meanwhile, Australia’s top fertilizer input plant had to beshutfor two months to repair damage caused by a power outage. Very bad timing for Australian farmers.Talking of food, it’s important to be aware of another significant risk in the Gulf states for those nations that depend on water desalination. Desalination plants are dotted along the shoreline of the Persian Gulf. The six Gulf states now count for some3,401operational desalination plants, comprising 19% of all desalination facilities worldwide. Collectively, these plants canchurn out22.67 million m3 of desalinated water each day—enough to fill over 9,000 Olympic-size swimming pools—representing 33% of global daily production capacity.The statistics are profound and highlight just how vulnerable these countries are. Qatar derives99%of its drinking water from its network of desalination facilities, and for Kuwait and Bahrain over 90%. For Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, thefigures are86%, 70%, and 42%, respectively. Cities such as Doha, Dubai, Manama, and Kuwait City would not be possible without desalination.If the water in the Persian Gulf is contaminated either through oil leaks from a sinking tanker or through radiation fallout from an Iranian nuclear reactor, the contamination would be millions of lives at actual and imminent risk.Price of PlasticFrom one barrel of crude, we get these petroleum products:@BBCMore than 99% of global plastics are derived from fossil fuels, including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene—two of the most widely used materials.Oil permeates our lives in so many ways, that we cannot disintermediate the substance from our lives as easily as the Climate Change movement had thought with the ban on plastic straws. It’s everywhere and in every part of our supply chain. Even if you’ve managed to purge your life of most plastic, almost all food is packed with some form of plastic. About $20 billion to $25 billion worth of petrochemical products pass through the Strait annually. The Middle East accounted for over 40% of polyethylene exports in 2025.It’sestimatedthat the Strait’s closure could disrupt nearly 1.2 million barrels per day of global naphtha export flows, further tightening feedstock availability for the production of petrochemicals. This has sent Asia’s naphtha refining margin above $400 a ton over Brent crude from about $108 a ton before the conflict started. This means that higher packaging costs may drive up food prices in two to four months as companies work through existing inventory.·Polyethylene (PE): Prices have risen sharply, with some reports indicating increases of 10 cents in March.·Polypropylene (PP): Prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchange have risen over 38% since late February 2026.·PVC: Prices are rising, with some additives seeing increases of up to 50%.· General Trends: Resin prices continue to be volatile, often tracking higher crude oil and feedstock costsPrices for plastic resins have already surged by double digits across most manufacturing categories in the past 30 days, according to thePlastics Exchange, an independent clearinghouse that tracks transaction data for the resin market.This is likely to push up prices for products such as disposable cutlery, bottled drinks and garbage bags in the coming weeks.Plastics are widely used across industries, from packaging to factories, making cost increases difficult to trace directly in final product prices. In the car manufacturing, the impact may take less than a year to materialize, as pricing is typically governed by longer-term contracts.The Middle East accounts for roughly aquarterof global exports of these plastics, meaning logistical disruptions in the region have a significant impact on pricing.Data from Plastics Exchange show that resin prices have surged by double digits over the past 30 days across multiple manufacturing sectors.The chief execution of Plastics Exchange, Michael Greenberg has described the current monthly increase in polyethylene prices as the largest in 25 years.Formosa Plastics hasdeclaredforce majeure from April 1.Sadara Chemical, a $20 billion joint venture between Saudi Aramco and US giant Dow Chemical, hasshut downall production at its Jubail complex indefinitely, citing supply chain disruptions. Sadara is one of the world’s largest integrated petrochemical facilities, with an annual production capacity exceeding 3 million metric tonnes of chemicals and plastics. It produces ethylene, propylene, polyethylene and other key industrial chemicals used in everything from packaging to construction.If you can stomach another Bloomberg hit, this podcast covers the impact in a less serious way:Aluminumproduction in the Gulf has halted as well:The Components of CrudeCrude oil is amixture of hydrocarbons,from light methane (CH₄) to heavy C20+ molecules.In a refinery distillation :• Light molecules rise. Natural gas, LPG, gasoline.• Mid-range chains condense in the middle. Kerosene, jet fuel, diesel.• Heavy long chains stay lower. Lube oils, fuel oil, residuals.The longer the carbon chain, the higher the boiling point. The higher the boiling point, the heavier the product. From C1 to C22+, the refinery separates value by physics. Temperature becomes money.Every liter of fuel is a controlled sorting of molecules by boiling point.Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) relies on highly engineered, capital-intensiveinfrastructuredesigned to ensure security of supply, flexibility, and market optionality.20% of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait. Similar to that of oil. Supply disruptions will be as impactful as those of oil.An LNG import and regasification terminal typically integrates several critical components:• Marine unloading facilities allowing LNG carriers or FSRUs (floating storage regasification unit) to safely berth and transfer cargo• Cryogenic transfer systems operating at -162°C to move LNG from ship to shore• Full-containment LNG storage tanks providing strategic buffer and seasonal flexibility• Regasification units converting LNG back into gaseous form using seawater, ambient air, or closed-loop systemsHigh-pressure send-out pipelines connecting terminals to national gas grids, utilities, and power plants• Safety systems including flare stacks, exclusion zones, and continuous monitoringBeyond engineering, LNG terminals play a strategic role:• Enable diversification away from pipeline dependency• Support energy security during demand peaks or supply shocks• Create trading optionality between regional gas markets• Anchor long-term off-take, tolling, and capacity contracts• Act as gateways between global LNG flows and domestic consumptionIn today’s energy landscape, LNG infrastructure is not just physical capacity, it is geopolitical leverage, price stability, and strategic flexibility.Taiwan – LNG and HeliumTaiwan’s grid now relies on LNG for up to 48 percent of its power generation, up from around 17 percent in 2006. Taiwan relies on imports to meet95 percentof its energy needs in 2025, includingover 99 percentof its demand for oil and natural gas.To address the supply shortfall the war has created, Taiwan has assured the public that it has about150 daysof oil supply in reserve and has secured sufficient supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet consumption needsthrough April– that being about 11 days of LNG reserves. As a comparison, South Korea stores at least 52 days of LNG and Japan holds about three weeks of stockpiles, it said.Taiwan has attempted to mitigate the risks of its reliance on natural gas imports by diversifying LNG suppliers. Nevertheless, Qatar still accounts foraround a thirdof the island’s LNG imports, meaning an extended Strait of Hormuz closure, production stoppage or the usual summer surge in electricity demand could createsevere energy shortagesif shipments through the Strait of Hormuz don’t resume soon.Aside from energy dependence, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry depends on chemicals, components, machinery and other materials from abroad, including helium and sulfur. The conflict could choke off key supplies vital for chipmaking and spike the cost of power in Taiwan.Any interruptions to the nation’s helium, one-third of which is processed in Qatar, sulfur, which is made through oil and gas refining would affect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, it said.“A disruption in the Strait of Hormuz wouldn’t automatically halt chip production, but it could ripple through power costs, materials supply, and the economics of building AI infrastructure,”Shawn Kim, head of Asia technology research at Morgan Stanley, told Bloomberg.Helium and MRIsThe estimated 50,000 MRI machines operating worldwide. Each onerequires liquid heliumcooled to minus 269 degrees Celsius to keep its superconducting magnets functional. A single non-operational MRI eliminates 20 to 30 patient scans per day. Until the conflict started Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility produced a third of the world’s supply as a byproduct of liquefied natural gas. Ras Laffan was struck by Iranian missiles on March 18. Fourteen percent of its helium capacity is permanently destroyed. Repairs will take three to five years.Helium is also critical for AI.Consequently, Helium prices have doubled. India’s hospitals are already reporting MRI cost spikes and scan delays. European facilities are rationing non-urgent diagnostics. Air Liquide has warned customers of unfulfilled orders. And 200 cryogenic containers holding 41,000 litres each are stranded in the Persian Gulf with 35 to 48 days before their cooling systems fail and the gas vents irreversibly into the atmosphere.“Here is the connection that should stop every health minister, every defence secretary, and every AI executive in their tracks. The same helium that cools the MRI magnet scanning a child’s brain for a tumour in Mumbai also cools the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine printing the two-nanometre transistor in Hsinchu that powers the AI model selecting bombing targets over Isfahan. Hospitals and semiconductor fabs are now competing for the same shrinking pool of the same molecule at the same temperature. The war has created a zero-sum allocation between healing and killing, and the molecule does not care ”which one wins.”~Shanaka Anslem Perera “The Last Molecule Standing”Facing a significant helium shortage of ~30%, the US industrial and medical gas supplier Airgasdeclareda force majeure, stating they would only meet up to 50% of their normal monthly helium demand amid the Iran War and would add asurchargeof $13.50 per hundred cubic feet above the contracted price Hundreds of specialized cryogenic containers, each costing $1 million, are now stuck in the Middle East.Damage to the Kuwait-flagged Al Salmi crude oil tanker. © Photograph: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation/ReutersShip-building and ship costsAside from astronomical insurance rates and war risk premiums, international maritime trade is vulnerable to a number ofother factorsthat push prices higher:·Tanker charters:For a big Suezmax-class crude carrier, the average “earnings” (a standard indirect indicator of charter costs) has more than tripled since the start of the war to over $300K/day. For LNG carriers, the measure also tripled to $90/day on a reference US to Japan route. VLCCs are in super demand. With 61 VLCCs stuck inside the Persian Gulf and 55 more waiting in various areas outside the Strait ,there are currently 116 vessels which are essentially withheld from the fleet right now, causing theupward pressureseen in rates.·Oil shipping:Like jet fuel,the cost ofshipping oiljumped - from $46 per metric tonne for shipping crude from the Gulf to China on a giant VLCC class tanker to $64 at the end of March. This assumes ships are loading, which doesn’t seem to be happening.·Ship fuel surge:The price of bunker fuel that powers ships went from $525 per tonne on the eve of war to $936 as of March 31. Price is not the only issue. Availability is. Fuel shortages are likely if the war persists. https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/security/shipowners-fear-fuel-shortages-if-iran-war-continues·Container costs:The cost of shipping one container has risen by 20-50%. The 4 major global shipping companies (Denmark’s Maersk Line, Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), France’s CMA CGM and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd) all increased rates including implementing an emergency fuel surcharge. https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/shipping-costs-spiral-iran-war-prompts-new-surcharges-4128606Thanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.ShareMalone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.


Friday Funnies: When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Thanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.ShareTrue story:The ability of a cow to swing her head as a lethal weapon… you only have to experience once, to know just how lethal…Malone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Have a great day folks!The image of the Apollo 11 landing site was taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiterhttps://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/apollo-11-landing-site-39408/JGMThanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.Share

Summary: That's Amore


Sunday Strip: Cow Pies

Malone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.True Story…Thanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.ShareMalone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Cause 100 pound baby animals and their mamas are so much fun!A day of moving horses, farm chores, working on the garden, and riding Jade.  Plus, our friend Nina’s birthday party is today.  It is going to be a busy one!JGM

Summary: and blue haired damsels


Homesteading: Crop Selection, Pest Control, and Real Food

There was a time when the kitchen garden was not optional. It was not decorative, and it certainly was not a weekend hobby. It was how families fed themselves. Whether called truck gardening, market gardening, or simply “the garden out back,” it represented a direct relationship between people and their food.Malone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The term “truck gardening” comes from the old English word for barter or trade. These were small-scale, intensive operations designed to produce vegetables for local markets. Close to towns, close to customers, and deeply tied to the rhythms of season and soil. Nothing fancy. Just productive land and people who knew how to use it. When you go to your local farmer’s market, those vendors most likely have some form of a truck garden. Seek those farmers out; they represent a genre of people working to do good, who can feed you and your family real food.The kitchen garden is the household version of that system. Smaller, more personal, but built on the same principles. Diversity, seasonality, and attention. In many ways, it is the most practical entry point into homesteading. You do not need hundreds of acres. You need a manageable piece of ground, access to water, and a willingness to learn.The problem today is not that we cannot do this. It is that most people no longer know where to start. The good news is that the fundamentals are straightforward and, once learned, tend to stick.Below is common-sense advice for a successful vegetable garden, available only to paid subscribers:Read more

Summary: Kitchen Gardens That Work:


You Are Eating Plastic. Every Single Day.

Something has quietly entered your body that was never meant to be there. It’s in your blood. It’s in your lungs. Scientists have now found it in human brain tissue, in the placenta, in the hearts of patients who just had strokes. It’s plastic. Microscopic plastic particles. And the emerging science suggests we should all be paying very close attention.This is not a fringe concern or a conspiracy theory. In just the past two years, a wave of peer-reviewed research has moved microplastics from an environmental footnote to a serious public health conversation. And for those of us who have been asking hard questions about what is in our food, our water, and our environment, the findings are sobering. Not surprising, but sobering.“Although data is still quite limited, maybe all these epidemics that we have (obesity, cardiovascular disease, everybody getting cancer) are related.” – Dr. Desiree LaBeaud, Stanford MedicineWhat Are Microplastics, and Where Do They Come From?Microplastics are plastic fragments smaller than 5 millimeters, many invisible to the naked eye. They shed from larger plastic items as they degrade: water bottles, food packaging, synthetic clothing, car tires, paint. Others are manufactured tiny from the start, added to toothpastes, cleansers, and cosmetics as “microbeads.”An estimated 10 to 40 million metric tons of these particles are released into the environment every year. They are now in every ecosystem on Earth, from Antarctic ice to coral reefs, from mountain peaks to ocean trenches. And they are, without question, in us.Scientists estimate that the average adult ingests the equivalent of one credit card’s worth of plastic every week, through food, water, and the air we breathe. Bottled water is a particularly concentrated source: recyclable plastic bottles contain up to 118 particles per liter. Shellfish eaters ingest roughly 11,000 microplastic particles per year. Salt, sugar, tea bags, and canned goods are all contaminated. If you are eating processed food out of plastic packaging, you are eating plastic.Malone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Where They Go in the BodyOnce inside, microplastics don’t simply pass through. The smallest particles, called nanoplastics, are absorbed into tissues and organs. Researchers have now detected microplastics in:• The brain and brain tissue• The heart and arterial plaque• The lungs• The liver• The bloodstream• The placenta (meaning fetuses are exposed before birth)• Bone marrow and urineA landmark 2025 animal study used real-time imaging to show microplastics physically moving through the brain and blocking blood vessels. The researchers were careful to note it would be “premature” to assume the same happens in humans, but they called the potential neurological effects “concerning.” That is the language of scientists being cautious. Read between the lines.The Health Risks: What the Science Is FindingThe most alarming study to date was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in early 2024. Researchers studied patients undergoing surgery to remove plaque from their arteries. Those who had microplastics embedded in their plaque were significantly more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke, or death in the following two years compared to those who didn’t. This is not a rodent study. This is direct human evidence of harm.Patients with microplastics in their arterial plaque had a significantly higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and death. (New England Journal of Medicine, 2024)Beyond cardiovascular disease, the research points to a troubling array of potential harms:• Chronic inflammation, the root driver of most modern disease• Oxidative stress and DNA damage at the cellular level• Disruption of the gut microbiome• Hormonal and endocrine disruption, linked to reproductive disorders• Immune system suppression and dysregulation• Elevated cancer risk, particularly colon and lung cancer• Possible neurotoxicity and contribution to neurological conditionsStanford researchers have found that microplastics get inside the cells that line blood vessels and cause “major changes in gene expression,” meaning these particles are altering how our genes behave, not just sitting inertly in our tissues. They also carry toxic chemical additives (phthalates, bisphenols, flame retardants) that leach out once inside the body, compounding the harm.Children are at particular risk. Their organs are still developing, their exposure relative to body weight is higher, and they are more likely to crawl on plastic-covered floors, mouth plastic toys, and drink from plastic bottles and sippy cups.Why This Matters for the MAHA MovementFor years, parents, physicians, and independent researchers who raised questions about the safety of plastics in food packaging, baby products, and water supplies were dismissed as alarmists. The mainstream narrative was that regulatory agencies had it covered. They did not.The FDA still allows an enormous range of plastics in food contact materials. Industry lobbied successfully for decades to keep microbeads in consumer products, and the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 only addressed one narrow category. The plastics that shed from your water bottle, your to-go container, your coffee cup lid? Those remain unregulated.This is a Make America Healthy Again issue at its core. The chronic disease epidemic (rising rates of heart disease, cancer, infertility, autoimmune conditions, metabolic disorders) did not come from nowhere. Environmental toxins, including plastics, are part of the picture. The research is now catching up to what many have long suspected.The question is no longer whether microplastics are in our bodies. They are. The question is what we do about it.What You Can Do Right NowAvoiding microplastics entirely is not realistic. But you can meaningfully reduce your family’s exposure with deliberate choices:• Switch to glass, stainless steel, or ceramic for food storage and water bottles• Never heat food in plastic containers, as heat accelerates plastic breakdown and particle release• Filter your tap water (which typically has fewer microplastics than bottled water)• Reduce packaged and processed foods; buy whole foods and cook at home• Limit shellfish consumption if microplastic exposure is a concern for your family• Choose natural fiber clothing (wool, cotton, linen) over synthetic fabrics• Vacuum and ventilate your home regularly, as household dust is a significant indoor source• For infants: use glass bottles, minimize plastic teats, and avoid plastic teething toysThe bigger fight is systemic. We need regulatory agencies that prioritize human health over industry convenience. We need transparent labeling of plastics in food-contact materials. We need independent, publicly funded research not beholden to the plastics industry. And we need policymakers willing to follow the science wherever it leads, even when it implicates ubiquitous, profitable products.The science on microplastics is still developing. Researchers are the first to acknowledge that direct causal evidence in humans is limited because such studies are hard to conduct and take time. But the weight of evidence is building rapidly, and the precautionary principle (the idea that we should not wait for absolute proof of harm before acting when the signals are this consistent) is exactly the framework a health-conscious movement should demand.We did not wait for the full body of evidence before removing lead from paint and gasoline. We should not wait here either.Thanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.ShareSources: Stanford Medicine (January 2025) • New England Journal of Medicine (March 2024) • Frontiers in Environmental Science (2025) • Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (2025) • World Economic Forum Global Risks Report (2025) • PubMed / NIH peer-reviewed literature

Summary: The science on microplastics is no longer fringe — and what it’s finding should concern every American who cares about their family’s health.


Friday Funnies: "If You Ain't Sweating by 10 AM,

Thanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.ShareMalone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.”You don't need therapy, you need to build a deck”"Don't trust nobody who's nice to you but rude to the waiter."Another wam day here - Rob is already sweating outside doing chores and I am soon to join him!Have a great day folks!JGM

Summary: you're wasting the Lords daylight."


Dire Straits

Dire StraitsWhen Geography, Geology, and Geopolitics collide (Part 1)By Justine Isernhinke, Malone Institute Fellow and Head of Geopolitics and UAP researchMalone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.In early March, approximately 3,200 vessels, including oil and liquefied natural gas tankers dropped anchor in the Persian Gulf and have still not moved. 20,000 seafarers remain trapped with the ships. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz went from ~138 ships a day to less than 5 a day, halting one-fifth of the world’s energy supply between oil and liquid national gas (LNG). Yet only 21 vessels have been attacked by Iran.TheJoint Maritime Information Centre, JMIC, has published an advisory note every day since the outbreak of war and maintains that the Strait of Hormuz remains at acritical level.When traffic through the Strait slows down or stops, it affects energy prices, shipping costs, insurance rates, worldwide supply chains and almost everyperson on earth that needs to buy gas, order hay for the horses, purchase a MacBook or a chai latte. In other words, all of us. Robert’s wife, Jill, recently discussed this very impact in herarticleon the coming shortages.When reports came in that the Strait of Hormuz was shut, I became curious as to how Iran was able to block the Strait given that between Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, the country’s leadership was being deconstructed before our eyes.When President Trump’s post came out about naval escorts and funding insurance, I decided to do a deep-dive into the subject. Why would money matter? Surely it was a case of merely eliminating Iran’s navy.Well, of course nothing is so simple.Welcome to the world of international trade and global shipping.First to note, there isn’t a physical Iranian blockade or a conventional Iranian navy that’s torpedoing tankers and stopping shipping. President Trump is correct - Iran’s navy is lying at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. As Pete Hegseth joked - we’re letting Iran use half of the ocean: the bottom half.However, we have a vortex of geography, a dying theocracy held together by dispersed command-and-control, random asymmetric warfare tactics, extortion, currency wars, British ship insurers, zero naval escorts and the resulting real-time unravelling of the global order.For all its faults, 60 Minutes provides a fairly decent summary of the situation:In addition to the JIMC Advisories, you can get watch the Strait of Hormuz traffic in real time based off a ship’s AIS (automatic identification system):https://www.marinetraffic.comGiven the complexity of this situation, I’ve broken this article into 4 parts addressing the overlapping web of issues:Part 1: Understanding the Geography, the importance of the Strait and Asymmetric Warfare:Part 2: Why what London does mattersPart 3: Economic FalloutPart 4: Military optionsGeography - The Lord of all ChokepointsA way to thinking of international shipping is to consider the world economy as your body, and the shipping as your circulatory system bringing in fresh oxygenated blood into all organs and limbs of your body.Chokepointsin shipping jargon specifically mean narrow channels along widely-used global sea routes that are critical to global energy security. Think of a chokepoint as one of your main arteries. If your femoral artery gets blocked, you develop health problems immediately, if not life-threatening.The inability of oil to transit a major chokepoint, even temporarily, can create substantial supply delays and raise shipping costs, potentially increasing world energy prices. Although most chokepoints can be circumvented by using other routes—often adding significantly to transit time and some chokepoints have no practical alternatives.The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most vulnerable chokepoints. It is approximately 33-39 km wide (21-24 miles) at its narrowest point, connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It is the only meaningful passage for maritime traffic from the eight countries in the oil-rich Gulf to the Indian Ocean.When it comes to transiting the Strait itself, Hormuz traffic has to flow into a single narrow Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) with two lanes and a buffer between them, whose locations and size have been selected to give large tankers the maximum possible space in which to maneuver, and the smallest possible number of corners to turn. The navigable shipping lanes are much narrower: each lane is 2 nautical miles wide (about 3.7 km), separated by a 2-nautical-mile buffer zone. So the total effective channel used for tanker traffic is about 6 nautical miles (11 km) across.This means that even if the “closure” lifts, we cannot get every tanker or ship out overnight. It’s going to take weeks if not months.Prior to the war, oil tankers carried approximately 20 million barrels of oil each day through the Strait, including diesel, jet fuel, gasoline and other products like urea, sulphur and helium. The whole world uses100 million barrelsof oil each day, so the Strait of Hormuz is 20% of the world’s oil PER DAY. The volumes that transit the Strait have no alternative means of exiting the region other than a handful ofother outletsfor oil exports from the region (such as pipelines) which are limited, leaving 88% all oil leaving the Persian Gulf requiring transit on water via the Strait of Hormuz. The economic vulnerability of this cannot be overstated.Asymmetric WarfareAn oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, March 11, 2026.APIran hasknownfor decades that it cannot defeat the US via symmetric warfare - meeting the US across a level-playing battlefield. For 47 years, Iran has planned for this confrontation with the “Great Satan” (i.e. the USA) knowing that geography was on its side.Consequently, Iran’s tactics for “closing” the Strait of Hormuz are dare one say, psychological? Instead of a full, sustained physical blockage, Iran has leveraged a risk-averse insurance industry, uncertainty through asymmetric warfare, and selective disruption. This approach creates a de facto closure for most commercial traffic—especially Western-linked vessels—while allowing limited exceptions for Iran’s own oil exports or allies like China.Over the decades, Iran has built a layered anti-access strategy centered on mines, submarines, anti-ship missiles, swarm craft, and air defenses to complicate any US campaign in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters. The design is less about decisive victory and more about stretching US missile defenses, logistics, and political tolerance long enough to shape escalation on Tehran’s terms.The Emergence of Iran’s Dual Military StructureUnlike other countries, where the armed forces, even though split into separate divisions, is essentially cohesive and roll under one command-control center. However, there is a unique institutional split in Iran between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, and the traditional military, the Artesh.As explained on a recentHidden ForcesPodcast, the IRGC was created as an ideological militia to protect and guard the Islamic Revolution. When Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980 kicking off the 8 year Iran-Iraq War, the Islamic Regime had already started purging the conventional military, known as the Artesh, and only had an embryonic IRGC. The immediate need for combatants forced the Regime to allow both institutions to coexist, and both ended up developing independently through eight years of brutal conflict.After 1988, a joint staff command was created with both militaries retaining separate identities, but the IRGC, the beloved offspring of the Regime, received preferential treatment in resources, political influence, and constitutional authority to engage in politics. The IRGC developed multiple factions and subdivisions, including separate intelligence organizations for internal operations, external operations, and the overseas Quds Force.Consequently, the IRGC evolved to control vast sectors of Iranian life—telecommunications, industry, oil exports, sanctions-busting, internal security, missile programs, and nuclear development— while the Artesh remained deliberately apolitical andunder-resourced. This has also had the effect of leading to the IRGC becoming increasingly corrupt, with commanders building personal business empires through sanctions-busting and illicit economies. The IRCG consists of 150,000 members and Artesh about 350,000.This split between the IRGC and the Artesh is operationally meaningful in wartime. The regular Iranian Navy is deployed for a broader Gulf of Oman presence and long-range deployments. The IRGC Navy is dedicated to the Persian Gulf and Strait, purpose-built for harassment and denial of operations in the Persian Gulf’s shallow, island-cluttered waters, where geography compresses distances and partly neutralizes the advantages of a superior conventional force. Paired with “mosaic” decentralization meant to keep local commands lethal even under heavy electronic attack and decapitation pressure, geography and tactics create leverage - at a global scale.This matters because the US seeks to compress the battle space through rapid suppression of air defenses, maritime surveillance dominance, and the destruction of launchers. Iran’s answer isdispersion, redundancy, and volume: many small launch points, many cheap shooters, and enough mid-tier systems to complicate every phase of a U.S. air-sea campaign.As expected, at the start of the war, the IRCG and politicians declared the Strait “closed” and threatened to target any ship attempting passage. Iran then attacked a handful of vessels with its drones, missiles, and unmanned surface vehicles.Iran maintains a varied and extensive arsenal ofmissiles.The above image from Al Jazeera doesn’t even take into account the missile which Iran shot towardsDiego Garcia, over 4,000km awayThe IRGC, as opposed to the conventional Iranian Naval Forces, has been using explosive-ladenuncrewed surface vessels(USVs) — often called “kamikaze” or “suicide” drone boats — in attacks on commercial shipping. These are small, high-speed speedboats modified to carry hundreds of kg of explosives, remotely controlled (or GPS-guided), and designed to ram and detonate against targets like tankers.These vessels are low-profile, agile, and hard to detect on radar, sometimes stored in IRCG “missile city”tunnels. Exact models aren’t always publicly detailed, but they’re conceptually similar to Ukrainian or Houthi explosive USVs.During attacks, like the strikes on tankers (e.g., Safesea Vishnu or MKD VYOM), drone-released video captured the USV approaching and impacting, often showing a fast-moving small boat creating a wake before explosion/fireball.However, Iran does not need to attack more than one ship a day or every few days to create the psychological deterrence it seeks.An oil tanker or LNG carrier hit by a cheap IranianShahed drone, at a cost of$35,000, is literally turned into a floating bomb. Russia took this design of drone, improved it and made 4 million drones in a year to hit Ukraine with.There have been reports that Iran has laid naval mines in the Strait and adjacent waters, especially on the Omani shoreline to compel vessels to sail closer to the Iranian coastline. Mines are a low-cost, high-impact asymmetric tool that can render areas hazardous even if not fully deployed as the fear of hitting a mine outweighs the risk of ignoring them. Whilst the U.S. has taken out Iranian mine-laying vessels and storage sites on Kharg Island, the threat persists, complicating navigation and insurance.Iran has also deployed widespread GPS jamming/spoofing in the region to distort ship positions, increase the risk of collision risk, and force reliance on less accurate systems.Operating electronically blind, with the threat of attack or hitting a mine, combined with the odd ship “going dark” (turning off AIS transponders to traverse the Strait at night - what mariners call a “Leeroy Jenkins”) only amplifies confusion and danger, deterring ship captains.Iran avoids full closure to preserve its own oil exports (critical for revenue, especially to China). It targets bypass routes (e.g., strikes on UAE’s Fujairah terminal and warnings to other Gulf ports) and threatens pipelines/terminals to widen economic pain. This turns geography into a “global economic weapon,” pressuring the U.S. and allies without needing total military dominance.Iran’s naval and air defense strategy fuses mines, submarines, coastal anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles, swarm tactics, andlayered SAMs to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a high-risk “magazine-drain” fight, designed to pressure U.S. carriers, Aegis destroyers, tankers, and supporting ISR and tanker aircraft through saturation and dispersed, survivable launchers (Picture source: Tasnim).Iran’s most credible path to success, therefore, is not to maintain an intact air defense umbrella across its territory. It is to preserve enough mobile launchers, dispersed missile batteries, and a decentralized command elements to keep pockets of risk alive long enough for its maritime denial strategy to take effect.Iran’s defensive design for a clash with the United States is built less around winning decisive naval or air battles and more around manufacturing sustained friction at every layer of the campaign. The intent is to pull U.S. forces into a dense, overlapping threat environment where time, interceptor inventories, and political tolerance become the real centers of gravity.Tehran’s architecture aims to force carrier air wings, Aegis destroyers, and regional airbases to fight for access step-by-step, while its most survivable launchers keep operating after fixed sites and static radars have been hit. The decisive question is not whether Iran can reliably sink a carrier or permanently bar stealth aircraft, but whether it can keep the Strait of Hormuz unsafe, keep U.S. strike packages stressed, and keep U.S. missile defense magazines bleeding long enough to shape escalation on Iran’s terms.The United States retains overwhelming superiority in ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnoissance), precision strikes, and battle management. Yet Iran’s defensive strategy is designed to exploit geography, apply economic pressure on its neighbors, compress engagement timelines, and impose cumulative cost. In a conflict defined by escalation management and political thresholds, Tehran’s objective is clear: not a decisive battlefield victory, but the creation of sustained operational friction that forces Washington to reconsider the price of prolonged intervention in the Gulf.The video below breaks down how Iran is shutting down the Strait of Hormuz without needing to physically “close” it, what the IRGC Navy can still do with missiles, mines, drones, fast attack craft, and explosive drone boats:Asymmetric warfare matters because it affects decisions made in London and that in turn affects the flow of traffic through the Strait.In Part 2, I take a deep-dive into Lloyd’s of London and why Trump’s move is going to ruffle some feathers.Thanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.Share

Summary: When Geography, Geology and Geopolitics collide (Part 1)


Trotskyites and The Wuhan Lab Leak

The World Socialist Website (WSWS) is a communist advocacy organization whose articles are frequently republished by Google News. One might wonder why Google News considers the WSWS newsworthy, given that the Trotskyist movement is a branch of Marxist socialism based on the ideas of Leon Trotsky. From their website:The WSWS is the online publication of the world Trotskyist movement, the International Committee of the Fourth International, and its affiliated sections in the Socialist Equality Parties around the world.The standpoint of this website (WSWS) is one of revolutionary opposition to the capitalist market system. Its aim is the establishment of world socialism. It maintains that the vehicle for this transformation is the international working class, and that in the 21st century the fate of working people, and ultimately mankind as a whole, depends upon the success of the socialist revolution.Their recent article, based on an interview with the infamous Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance and an analysis of COVID origins , titled “The Wuhan “lab leak” fraud and the institutionalization of anti-science: An interview with Dr. Peter Daszak”,does not constitute an analysis. It is advocacy dressed up as certainty. It does not persuade by evidence. It persuades by smear tactics, omission, framing, and repetition of claims that no longer hold up against the current public record.The author identifies as a physician but has no bio or according to PubMed, any peer-reviewed publications. He does not list his education or workplaces. His writing often reflects his anti-American ideology and relies on selectively presented facts rather than balanced public health assessments.Start with the foundation of the article. It presents Daszak as a persecuted scientist, “censored” and cast out without cause. That is simply not true. He was formally debarred by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for five years after a documented process and a two-year-long Congressional investigation into his wrongdoings. He was given multiple opportunities to respond. His submissions were reviewed. You cannot erase the very well-researched Congressional report and call it arbitrary. This is an example of dishonest narrative construction.  Otherwise known as a lie, based on propaganda.From there, the article builds a familiar story: the lab-leak hypothesis is a fraud, the science is settled, and dissenters are cranks or political actors. That story might have held in early 2020. It does not hold in 2026.The most basic problem is that the article ignores where the U.S. government has actually moved. The intelligence community remains formally divided, but that is only part of the picture. The FBI and Department of Energy have leaned heavily toward a lab origin. The CIA has now shifted in that direction. A House Select Subcommittee, after a two-year investigation, concluded that a laboratory origin is the most likely explanation. The White House itself now states plainly that COVID-19 likely arose from a lab-related incident tied to research in Wuhan.The WSWS hit piece on Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the NIH and Acting Director of the CDC, waves away the entire body of recent U.S. government assessments and replaces it with the claim that the lab-leak hypothesis is “devoid of evidence.” That is not a serious position. It is willful blindness.The second premise is more subtle and more misleading. The article places significant weight on the WHO and the 2021 WHO-convened origins study, as if that settles the matter. But even the WHO does not make those claims now.The early WHO reporting on the origins of COVID-19 was not neutral science. It was shaped, constrained, and in key ways compromised by conflicts of interest, limited access, and political reality. The conclusions were never as clean or as authoritative as they were presented.Start with the structure of the investigation itself. The WHO did not walk into Wuhan as an independent body with full access. It negotiated its entry with the Chinese government, operated under jointly agreed terms, and relied heavily on data, interviews, and site visits controlled by Chinese authorities.  Even the majority of the scientists tasked with the investigations were from China. That alone should have imposed caution on any firm conclusion.The WSWS article presents “weight of evidence” as if it means “case closed.” It does not. That missing information from China is not a minor detail. It is the entire problem.Which brings us to the third and most glaring omission: China’s role. The article treats the evidentiary record as if it were complete and transparent. It is neither. WHO has repeatedly stated that China has not provided critical early data, including genetic sequences, animal-sampling details, and information on work and biosafety conditions at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The U.S. intelligence community has said the same in its own language: Beijing has hindered the investigation and resisted sharing information. If China were truly innocent, don’t you think they would have been glad to cooperate with the WHO or other nations to discover the truth?Any honest discussion of origins in 2026 has to start there. We are not arguing over a clean dataset. We are arguing over a partial record shaped by systematic non-cooperation. The WSWS piece cites an early WHO report as an authority while quietly ignoring WHO’s own more recent statements about missing data and early selective reporting. This is structurally misleading.The article also leans heavily on the claim that certain features of the outbreak, such as multiple early lineages linked to the Huanan market, make a lab origin essentially impossible. That is rhetoric, not science.And then there is the fallback: attack the messengers. Dr. Bhattacharya is dismissed as someone who “played epidemiologist.” Ridley is reduced to a caricature of class and background. This is not accidental. When an argument relies on discrediting people rather than engaging with evidence, it signals weakness. The irony is that this tactic is used to avoid confronting the uncomfortable reality that official institutions, not just “fringe voices,” have moved toward the lab-leak hypothesis. Read what the WSWS writes about Dr. Bhattacharya and fume, as I did:Bhattacharya, a physician and health economist whoplayedepidemiologist during the pandemic to promote mass infection, and Ridley, a coal baron with a history of climate change denial, are not Galileo. They are the inquisitors—backed by the power of the state and the Trump administration’s dismantling of public health. As Morris concludes: “These are not the heirs of Galileo. …The difference is that this time, the Inquisition has the keys to the NIH.”For the record, Jay Bhattacharya is a physician, economist, and, for many years, a professor at Stanford University. Trained in both medicine and economics, he focuses his research on public health policy, infectious disease epidemiology, and the economics of healthcare.  Bhattacharya has also studied population health, aging, and government responses to health crises. He has a strong publication record in all of these topics.Matt Ridley is a British science writer, journalist, and member of the House of Lords. He is the author of several popular science books, includingThe Rational OptimistandGenome, which explore evolution, innovation, and human progress. Ridley has written extensively on genetics, economics, and the origins of COVID-19, and has been a prominent voice arguing that a laboratory-related origin of the virus is plausible.There is also the issue of Peter Daszak’s statement in the written interview. What comes through most clearly from Daszak’s own statements in that article is a pattern of overreach and omission. He leans heavily on absolutes, claiming there is “zero evidence” the Wuhan Institute of Virology had a progenitor virus and treating the lab-leak hypothesis as if it has no credible scientific basis, when even U.S. intelligence agencies now lean in that direction. He inflates supporting evidence for zoonotic spillover into certainty, arguing that market-linked lineages make a lab origin effectively impossible, which goes well beyond what the data actually show.At the same time, Dr. Daszak recasts the scrutiny of his own work as a “fabricated controversy,” omitting the fact that he was formally debarred after a documented review process, not simply targeted at random. Perhaps most telling is what he leaves out: no acknowledgment of his direct ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its gain-of-function research program, no recognition of missing data from China, and no engagement with the shift in U.S. government assessments. The result is not a balanced defense, but a narrative built on falsehoods.Finally, the article collapses multiple distinct questions into one. It treats the absence of proof of a genetically engineeredbioweaponas proof that all laboratory-associated scenarios are disproved. These are not the same thing. A lab-associated incident could involve a naturally occurring virus, field sampling, or adaptation work, including gain-of-function, and not be a bioweapon. Blurring those distinctions allows the author to claim victory on one front and declare the entire debate over.Put all of this together, and the pattern is clear. The article dismisses Daszak’s debarment and malfeasance, ignores the shift in U.S. government assessments, launders the WHO’s qualified statements into false certainty, and soft-pedals the central problem of Chinese non-transparency. The author and Daszak then smear those who are working to investigate the true origins. It replaces a complex scientific issue that leans heavily towards a laboratory leak with a fabricated, clean ideological story.  A storyline that exonerates the CCP.There is credible, well-founded data, grounded in intelligence and congressional investigations, to conclude that a laboratory-associated origin is the most likely explanation. And the absence of key data is not incidental. It is the defining feature of the problem.That is the honest state of play. The WSWS article does not reflect that reality. It tries to close the case by force of rhetoric. In doing so, it reveals more about its own commitments and conflicts of interest than about the origin of COVID-19.The WSWS operates from a rigid anti-imperialist, communist lens. In practice, that means reflexive and exaggerated skepticism as well as a hatred toward U.S. intelligence, Western institutions, and even America itself, combined with a tendency to frame global conflicts as narratives driven by American power.And when you run that framework through questions like the origins of COVID, something predictable happens. The conclusions often land in the same place as CCP messaging. Similar ideologies, different motivations, same endpoint.My question is, why does Google continue to publicize this communist propaganda rag?Malone News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Thanks for reading Malone News! This post is public so feel free to share it.Share


Blue Zone BS

The Blue Zones concept, popularized by Dan Buettner through his books and theLive to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zonesdocumentary series, has captured a wide audience. It offers a clean, compelling narrative: certain populations live exceptionally long lives, and their plant-based diets are the key. It is an appealing idea. But when you look more closely, the foundation begins to wobble.Much of the data comes from regions like Okinawa, Sardinia, and Ikaria, where birth records were historically inconsistent or incomplete. That matters. When documentation is weak, age inflation, whether accidental or not, becomes a real issue. Demographers have pointed out that some of these regions report more centenarians than in similar regions with far better record-keeping systems. That alone should make one pause.Then there is the problem of narrative. The Blue Zones framework elevates a plant-based diet, particularly the eating of beans, as the central driver of longevity. To be fair, Buettner does equate exercise and community as important factors in longevity, but the emphasis on a plant-based diet is not based in reality. These populations lived physically demanding lives. They ate less, not because of discipline, but because food was limited. They were embedded in tight-knit families and communities. They were not consuming ultra-processed foods or large amounts of sugar. In other words, they lived in a completely different metabolic and social environment from ours. To describe a plant-based diet as the key factor to longevity is to oversimplify to the point of distortion.Buettner takes observational snapshots of traditional societies and turns them into a modern prescription. The problem is that those societies were and are not vegan, not static, and not controlled experiments. He misrepresents their diet as being plant-based to the point of absurdity. They ate what was available, including animal foods, and they lived in a completely different metabolic and social environment.Yes, even the diet itself is misrepresented. These were not uniformly plant-based populations. Sardinians consume sheep and goat products. Okinawans eat pork. Coastal communities rely on fish. And yes, they also eat chicken and mammalian meat, just not the way we do now. Poultry, lamb, goat, and occasional pork or beef are typically eaten in small amounts. Fish is often eaten.What is now marketed as a Blue Zone diet is Buettner’s reinterpretation, shaped as much by ideology as by history. It is also worth noting that Buettner’s own beliefs reflect a particular set of cultural and political ideologies that tend to favor plant-forward, sustainability-focused frameworks, which may further shape how the data are presented.As an example,In Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, Dan Buettner highlights an elderly man from Costa Rica as a kind of living proof of the Blue Zones thesis. It makes for great television. But as evidence, it is thin.What you are seeing is an anecdote presented as if it were representative data. One man, however vigorous, does not establish causation. He is, by definition, a survivor. We are not seeing the many who lived under similar conditions and did not make it to that age. That is classic selection bias.Then there is the bundling problem. His life reflects constant physical activity, a tight family structure, limited exposure to processed foods, and historically lower caloric intake. Those factors travel together. You cannot isolate one, such as eating beans and corn regularly, and declare that the explanation. Yet that is exactly how the narrative is framed.The diet itself is also cleaned up for the camera. Yes, in this region, beans, corn, and local produce often center on the traditional “three sisters” of corn, beans, and squash, but that is just one element of their diet. This population was not and is not vegan. They eat a lot of animal protein, particularly beef.Cattle were introduced in Costa Rico by the Spanish in the 16th century, shortly after colonization began in the early 1500s. From that point forward, livestock, especially cattle, became a central part of rural life, particularly in regions like Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula.Over time, this evolved into a distinct ranching culture. The Costa Ricansabanero, essentially the local equivalent of a cowboy, has long been a recognizable figure, managing cattle on horseback, working open pasture, and living a physically demanding, outdoor life. That tradition continues today.So when the Blue Zones narrative highlights elderly men from Nicoya working the land, it is not a recent phenomenon or a plant-based agrarian system. It is a long-standing mixed agricultural and cattle culture, where animal foods, including beef, have been part of the local diet for centuries.That historical context matters. It reinforces the point that these populations were never purely plant-based. Their diets reflected availability, seasonality, and a working landscape that included livestock, not an ideologically constructed eating pattern.Yet the presentation subtly shifts toward a plant-based ideal that is a more modern interpretation than a historical reality. This also reflects a climate-change ideology, not based on fact, but on propaganda.The climate argument is layered on, drawing on separate modeling studies rather than the Blue Zones themselves. So what you get is a narrative that sounds coherent, but is actually stitched together from different domains and presented as a single unified truth. The link between longevity and climate change gets inserted into your brain before you even have a chance to analyze the logic gaps.And there is the quiet issue of age verification. In parts of rural Latin America, record-keeping has not always been precise. That does not invalidate every case, but it does introduce uncertainty that rarely makes it into the storyline.What you end up with is a familiar pattern. A compelling individual is used to anchor a broader claim. Observation is turned into prescription. Complex, interlocking variables are simplified into a single takeaway. It feels coherent. It is easy to remember. But it is not how rigorous evidence works.And this is where the comparison to the Mediterranean diet becomes instructive. The traditional Mediterranean pattern, the one that earned its reputation, was not built on refined carbohydrates. It was grounded in vegetables, legumes, fish, modest amounts of whole grains, and liberal use of olive oil, with refined carbs typically making up perhaps 10 to 20 percent of calories, often less. It also included poultry and mammalian meat, but in limited, context-driven ways, far from the daily, center-of-the-plate servings common today. Bread and pasta were present, but they were not the centerpiece of every meal, and they were far less processed than what we see today.Contrast that with the modern Mediterranean-style diet, which can easily push 25 to 40 percent or more of calories from refined carbohydrates, including white bread, large pasta servings, and packaged foods carrying a Mediterranean label, and the metabolic profile begins to look much closer to a standard Western diet than to anything traditional.The pattern here is consistent. Whether we are talking about Blue Zones or the Mediterranean diet, what gets marketed is a simplified, sanitized version of a much more complex reality. The common thread in the original settings was not a specific macronutrient ratio, such as beans, or even a plant-based diet. It was whole foods, lower caloric intake, minimal exposure to industrialized diets, and physical work.JGMMalone News is a reader-supported publication. 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Summary: and what matters