Peter Marks Issues Veiled Threat to America About Man-Made Biological Threats

 By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Last week, Peter Marks, Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), resigned after being given the option to leave voluntarily or be fired. His resignation letter revealed his deep-rooted anger against the new administration for wanting to conduct proper safety testing on injectable products:

Yesterday, Peter Marks went on CNN and appeared to make a veiled threat to America regarding man-made biological threats:

QUESTION: I know one of your biggest concerns as you leave the FDA, and I know you're resigning, but obviously not by choice. You wanted to continue doing your work is biowarfare. That that is a big concern you have because of what RFK Jr is doing in terms of firings. Biowarfare? What are you talking about?

PETER MARKS: So let me just back it up, if you don't mind, for one quick sec. I just didn't regulate vaccines. I also regulated innovative biologic products. By leaving, I leave behind what we did with cell gene therapies that could have helped people, for instance, kids with cancer who had no other treatments, adults with sickle cell disease.

I leave behind people who were doing their best to try to speed up treatments for rare diseases. And I also leave behind a group, now gutted, that was ready to respond to natural and man made threats.

At any given time, there are many, many viruses that could come, things like Ebola and others that could be very dangerous to our country. We had a group that was prepared to deal with those. Additionally, I can't go into all the details, but there are man made threats that we were prepared to deal with.

Having that capacity means that today I believe we are weaker and as a nation, and I believe our adversaries know that we are weaker as a nation because we don't have that capacity.

What are the “man-made threats” that he “can’t get into all the details” with? It’s obvious that the purpose of making such insidious threats is to undermine confidence in the new HHS administration and scare the American people. These statements reaffirm the wise choice to remove him from making public health decisions.

However, this isn’t the first time that prominent public figures heavily invested in vaccine development have warned of imminent bioweapon attacks:

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Former White House COVID Czar Warns of an Impending Age of Bioweapons and Pandemics

Ashish Jha claims "lots of people" are creating bioweapons, calls for vaccines against pathogens that don’t exist, and urges a "responsibility" to combat vaccine 'misinformation'.

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Bill Gates Laughs Uncontrollably While Warning of Bioweapon Attacks

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The information supporting these statements should be urgently obtained, including any details about the possible intentional release of laboratory-modified pathogens. Who are the “lots of people” working on new bioweapons, according to Ashish Jha? This needs to be investigated as soon as possible, and a global moratorium on gain-of-function research should be implemented to prevent another man-made pandemic:

A Call to Ban Gain-of-Function Research

Nicolas Hulscher, MPH and Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

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November 11, 2024

By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH and Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

Read full story

According to a United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) document, as of 2007, the U.S. had 1,356 BSL-3 biolabs and 15 BSL-4 biolabs—these numbers are almost certainly much higher today (exact figures unavailable). These labs often house modified pathogens (viruses, bacteria, fungi) with pandemic potential and conduct reckless gain-of-function experiments, risking man-made pandemics that can claim millions of lives. This is one of the greatest threats to global and national security.

Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-peter-marks-issues-veiled

Hassett defends tariffs: Not ‘big effect’ on US consumer

 National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett defended President Trump’s sweeping global tariffs that have stoked concerns about the United States economy.

During a Sunday interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Hassett said he doesn’t believe there will be a “big effect on the consumer in the U.S.,” noting that over 50 countries are also “coming to the table” to negotiate.

“So the fact is, the countries are angry and retaliating — and, by the way, coming to the table,” he said. “I got a report from the [U.S. Trade Representative] last night that more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation, but they’re doing that because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff.”

“I don’t think that you’re going to see a big effect on the consumer in the U.S., because I do think that the reason why we have a persistent long-run trade deficit is these people have very inelastic supply,” Hassett added.

Hassett is defending Trump’s general 10 percent tariff on goods imported to the U.S., along with other targeted tariffs on various U.S. trading partners. After Trump announced the tariffs, the markets plummeted. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,200 points and the S&P 500 lost 10 percent over the course of two days. 

The president has vehemently defended the tariffs, saying on Saturday that the end result will serve as an “economic revolution.”

“HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/5234661-trump-economic-adviser-defends-tariffs/

So long to Biden’s ‘environmental justice’ scams — Team Trump is tackling REAL threats to water, air

 For too long, politicians and bureaucrats have been fleecing the public purse under the guise of “environmental justice” — a favorite leftist buzzword. 

Instead of directly fixing actual environmental problems with our precious taxpayer dollars, the Biden Environmental Protection Agency lit them on fire to fund cronies and activist groups. 

Under the Trump administration, that’s coming to an end — and as EPA administrator, I’ve gone on the road to help put the president’s promises into practice.

Many American communities are suffering with serious unresolved environmental issues, but under the “environmental justice” banner, the previous administration’s EPA showered billions on ideological allies, instead of directing those resources into solving environmental problems and making meaningful change. 

Take, for example, a group called Climate Justice Alliance, which argues that environmental justice “travels through a Free Palestine.”

No surprise, the Biden administration tossed CJA an obscene award of $50 million to “confront the legacy of environmental harms” — not to take any action related to cleaning America’s air, land and water. 

In fact, that was 50 million fewer dollars dedicated to protecting our environment.

I canceled this grant as soon as I was confirmed as the 17th administrator. 

Self-dealing and conflicts of interest tainted billions of dollars in grants dispersed in a swift effort by the Biden EPA that purposefully reduced government oversight.

One Biden EPA staffer described the agency’s frantic multibillion-dollar spending spree at the end of the administration’s term as “tossing gold bars off the Titanic.” 

Those “gold bars” were awarded to just eight pass-through nongovernmental organizations — including one tied to Georgia activist Stacey Abrams.

That group received $2 billion, more than 20 million times the organization’s 2023 reported income of $100. 

Another beneficiary group had a man on the inside, former EPA employee Jahi Wise, who created and ran the “gold bar” fund — and dished out $5 billion to his former employer. This was just the tip of the iceberg.

It is fundamentally disturbing how far-reaching and widely accepted this waste and abuse has been in our federal government.

So-called leaders and public servants placed their own agendas ahead of the needs of Americans. 

Under President Trump, it’s a dereliction of duty we will not tolerate. That’s why I have canceled over $22 billion in environmental-justice and DEI grants and contracts at EPA.

This administration strongly believes in clean air, land and water for every American.

“Environmental justice” is no substitute for actually resolving environmental challenges directly. We will no longer allow this abuse to continue.

Instead of handing off the responsibility of environmental stewardship to unqualified NGOs, or prescribing every last solution from behind a desk in Washington, DC, I am visiting communities across our country, working with our state and local partners on the ground and meeting with Americans to understand the issues they face.

Last month I traveled to St. Louis, Mo., where residents are still paying the price for decades of mismanaged radioactive waste left over from the Manhattan Project over 80 years ago. 

Community members living near the West Lake Landfill Superfund site told me and Sen. Josh Hawley about their struggles with an array of radiation-linked diseases.

Hopeful newlyweds have been denied their dreams of having children, and many feel their only path to the American Dream and a healthy future is to leave the homes they love. 

Neighborhoods like this have been ignored for far too long. The Biden EPA preferred to fill the pockets of leftist cronies rather than take care of long-overdue cleanups like this. 

EPA’s core mission is to protect human health and the environment.

Nationwide, we need federal funding to advance that core mission: for new water infrastructure to ensure safe waterways and drinking water, air monitoring to ensure clean air, Superfund and brownfield remediation to protect community health and emergency responses to help rebuild in the face of unthinkable disaster. 

Tens of millions for “climate justice through a free Palestine” doesn’t do a thing to help Americans overcome real-world environmental challenges. 

When President Trump speaks about a golden age for America, it is for everyone.

Under this administration, EPA is serving all Americans with equal dignity and respect — and providing real environmental solutions, not false “justice.” 

Lee Zeldin, who represented Suffolk County in the US House of Representatives, serves as administrator of the EPA.

https://nypost.com/2025/04/04/opinion/so-long-to-bidens-environmental-justice-scams-team-trump-is-tackling-real-threats-to-water-air/

Trump's Tariffs Could Be A Boost To Middle East's Struggling Economies

 Via Middle East Eye

The Middle East’s poorer countries have been struggling with warped, barely functioning economies for decades. Jordanians and Egyptians watched Southeast Asia develop manufacturing industries that lifted millions out of poverty, whereas they withered under bloated governments, layers of red tape and an elite engaged in rent-seeking.

Donald Trump’s decision to tear up the global trading system on Wednesday with a torrent of tariffs is, therefore, being met with a mixed reaction in these countries. "We have lived through all this before. It’s not new for us," an Egyptian paper manufacturer who wished to remain anonymous, told Middle East Eye. "You could even say we have an advantage now because everyone else just got more expensive."

AFP/Getty Images

Indeed, countries like Vietnam and Cambodia were slapped with 46 percent and 49 percent tariffs, respectively. Because the Trump administration calculated its tariff rate based on the difference between how much stuff the US buys from and sells to its trading partners, cheap manufacturing powerhouses that had their acts together got hit hardest.

Countries like Jordan and Egypt have been trying to get into the game of low-skilled manufacturing for years but have been outcompeted by Southeast Asia. Although all countries will feel the sting if Trump’s tariffs spark a global recession, some sniff out an opportunity in a chaotic new world.

“The Southeast Asian tariffs are the ones that will make a difference for Egypt and the Middle East,” Hisham Fahmy, the CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, told Middle East Eye.

“This is absolutely a boost for Egypt’s garment industry. One of the main exporters just sent me a message saying this is good for us, but we have to see.”

Egypt was hit with just a 10 percent tariff rate, the lowest baseline introduced by the Trump administration.

'Trump just made it easier for Egypt'

On the surface, Egypt doesn't have much to attract industrialists.

Its economy is in a crisis, having been decimated by inflation and successive currency devaluations. The drop in the Egyptian pound’s value has made importing raw materials more costly for Egyptian manufacturers, and the country has been suffering from electricity rationing.

Egypt’s exports to the US have never been that impressive. Garments and textiles make up 51 percent of its total exports. Iron and steel come in next at barely nine percent.

But experts say that in Trump's world, all Egypt needs to do is be cheaper than Southeast Asia in low-skilled manufacturing. The prime example is the garment industry, which is fairly mobile and requires relatively little up-front investment. 

“Trump has just made it easier for Egypt, with all our corruption and more expensive labor costs to compete with Asia,” the paper manufacturer told MEE.

Egypt’s manufacturing industry goes back to the days of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Ottoman governor who fashioned the modern Egyptian state in the early 19th century. By WWII, Egyptian manufacturing was well established but in the hands of Greek, Italian and Armenian industrialists. When Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew Egypt’s monarchy in 1952, he nationalized the factories and imposed trade restrictions - not unlike Trump.

Hosni Mubarak unleashed post-Soviet-style crony capitalism on Egypt. By then, its market had already been overrun with cheap imports. In sum, Egypt’s manufacturing sector is creaky and old, but it has a foundation to build on if global supply chains adjust to Trump's tariff in the medium to longer term. 

The situation is more complicated in Jordan. Jordan's economy keeps spinning thanks to a vast government patronage system backed by American aid, but it has some manufacturers. 

Jordan has a small garment industry that has struggled to compete with Egypt and especially Turkey. However, some manufacturers have carved out a niche for themselves exporting to the US by capitalising on Jordan’s Free Trade Agreement with the US.

Jordan and nearshoring

Jordan’s bilateral trade with the US, a small $5.4bn, is paltry from the US perspective, but for Jordan, it is a lot, Nael al-Husami, CEO of the Amman Chamber of Industry, told MEE. Jordan’s exports to the US have been growing in recent years. US goods imports from Jordan totalled $3.4bn in 2024, up 15 percent from 2023.

“For the US, Jordanian exports are meaningless, but if these tariffs continue, we will be affected. We lost our privileges of the FTA,” Husami told MEE. Jordan has benefited from exporting potash, a fertiliser, to the US amid the war in Ukraine.

One of the most prominent companies exporting to the US in Jordan is Petra Engineering Industries, a manufacturer of customised heating and cooling, or HVAC systems. MEE visited the plant in 2022 when Jordan hoped to benefit from trade tensions between the US and China.

A Jordanian executive speaking to MEE on the condition of anonymity said that even with the 20 percent tariff rate imposed on Jordan, relative to China and the European Union, Jordan will remain competitive. “Everyone is getting tariffed. Jordan’s tariff rate is not nearly as bad as other countries,” the executive said.

“The tariff is going to be a killer for Jordanian exporters who are doing tenders and have merchandise with specific profit margins locked in. But most Jordanian exporters won’t feel it because they are just selling and shipping from the factory floor. The American consumer will pay a higher price,” the executive said.

Executives in the Middle East say other countries like Morocco could also pinch new business thanks to Trump's tariffs.

The North African country is primed to pounce as companies look for easy options to re-orient supply chains with limited investment. Morocco is already the leading car manufacturer in Africa and could snag more business from Europe and potentially Canada and Mexico. Morocco was slapped with a 10 percent tariff by Trump. 

So, as Trump’s tariffs turn the tables on the global trading system, the Middle East may be the least bad place to be for making relatively cheaper products.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/trumps-tariffs-could-be-boost-middle-easts-struggling-economies

Malaysia Pushes for Coordinated Southeast Asia Tariff Response

 

Malaysia will lead efforts to coordinate a regional response in Southeast Asia toward US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the country’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said.

“Malaysia, as Asean chair, will lead efforts to present a united regional front, maintain open and resilient supply chains, and ensure Asean’s collective voice is heard clearly and firmly on the international stage,” Anwar said during a video address posted on his social media channels, including Facebook, late on Sunday.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-06/malaysia-pushes-for-coordinated-southeast-asia-tariff-response

Bessent Defiant on Tariffs as He Rejects a US Recession

 

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday struck a defiant tone in the face of global financial markets selling off sharply in response to new US tariffs, arguing the new duties were necessary and rejecting the idea that they would cause a US recession.

“I see no reason that we have to price in a recession,” Bessent told NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-06/bessent-strikes-defiant-tariff-tone-as-he-rejects-us-recession