☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Sunday, July 17, 2022 ☙ EMPTY HANDED 🦠

Summertime causes clots; coincidences on Italian beaches; Biden empty-handed after Saudi trip; farmer protests spread; German energy giant on the brink; China cuts fertilizer exports; lots more...

Good morning, loyal C&C subscribers, and Happy Sunday! I have a jam-packed roundup for you today, drafted at the Marriott’s beautiful terrace as the final day of the Mom’s for Liberty conference gets underway. Today’s roundup: now summertime causes clots; covid coincidences on Italian beaches; Biden empty-handed after Saudi trip; German energy giant on the brink; China shutters fertilizer experts for food security; widespread unrest in Panama; and a half-decent Times article summarizing the world’s economic woes.

🗞*COVID NEWS AND COMMENTARY* 🗞

💉 The UK Telegraph ran a story Friday headlined, “Your Blood Thickens and then Clots: What Extreme Heat Can Do to Your Body.” The sub-headline calls for a new declaration of emergency: “Experts say we need to start thinking of high temperatures as a natural disaster.”

High temperatures. In other words, SUMMERTIME gives you blood clots.

💉 That’s probably what happened in Italy this month, where beach season combined with Sudden Adult Death Syndrome caused some pretty crazy coincidences, like this one:

Link with receipts: https://rairfoundation.com/sudden-and-unexpected-at-least-11-vacationers-drop-dead-on-italian-beaches-in-24-hours/

Weird! If only we had a giant, well-funded health agency to investigate coincidences like this.

🔥 Reuters ran a story yesterday about Biden’s bleak pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia headlined, “Biden Ends Trip With U.S.-Saudi Relations on the Mend but Few Other Wins.” A second Reuters article about the meeting, published this morning, carries the headline, “Biden Disputes Saudi Account of Khashoggi Murder Discussion.”

Whoops. A dispute already. That didn’t take long.

In a presser following Biden’s official meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Biden bragged about giving the Prince a stern talking to about killing that luckless journalist Kashoggi. You believe that, right? Reuters said officials with the Kingdom first denied that Biden ever brought Kashoggi up to begin with, and then immediately noted the U.S. has no room to talk after Abu Graib.

Uh oh. Who to believe? Biden or the Crown Prince? It’s a tough call.

Anyway. Biden also said he expected gas prices to come down in the next few months, but stopped short of announcing any kind of deal with the Saudis. Which means, there was no deal. Biden got nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. He went to see the Crown Prince and came back empty handed.

I wonder if Biden wishes he hadn’t made such a song during the campaign about turning the Crown Prince into a worldwide pariah? Embarrassing! I suppose it’s possible Biden doesn’t even remember saying that. A bunch of leftwing activists do, though.

🔥 ZeroHedge ran an article this morning headlined, “German Energy Giant Warns Of Insolvency ‘Within Days’, Starts Draining Gas From Storage.”

Remember the old story about the grasshopper and the ants?