23 Comments

Just out of curiosity, don’t other countries produce infant formula? I’m thinking Canada, Mexico, various European nations, Australia, Japan, …

Wouldn’t (shouldn’t) it be possible during the 21st Century to find a way to enable other sources to fill the gaps?

Expand full comment

Not only is infant formula made in other countries, but the same companies which make formula in the US have production facilities overseas.

Why not import to cover the shortage? FDA regulations.

International sources are not subject to FDA regulations, and only a few have "pre-clearance" to import formula into the US.

As I said in the article, government would be most helpful by just getting out of the way

Expand full comment

Tell people to check the weston-price foundation. They have a home-made formula.

Expand full comment

Sounds like a sensible solution for most.

Expand full comment

Peter, off topic, but just checking: do you by chance know a more private and less corrupt alternative than Google Docs?

Kirsch is running a survey, but he is running it from a Google Docs platform, and I wondered if you might have real world exp. in this area?

Maybe Mailfence?

Expand full comment

Mailfence does secure email, much like protonmail does.

There are alternatives to Google Docs. The one that makes a point of touting user privacy and security is SSuite Office Online.

I don't have any real experience with the alternatives because I try to avoid doing things in the cloud, period. OpenOffice on a Linux desktop works for me!

Expand full comment

Btw, ProtonMail can and will turn you over. They did so with a French activist.

And they also killed one of my accounts, when I was still messing around with Twitter. ::shrugs::

Expand full comment

As MailFence states up front--they have to obey the law just like everyone else. MailFence is subject to Belgian law, and if a Belgian court asks for user data, Mailfence is going to give it up. They tell you that right up front.

You aren't going to find any online services that are completely beyond the reach of a court order.

Expand full comment

The "law" is made by the American Security State and will soon have us all herded into concentration Vaccine Re-education Camps as seen in the serial novel, Gas Tank-29.

Expand full comment

That depends on how many people are willing to endure civil war first.

Which is the variable the Security State seems to be overlooking. As we've seen with declining inoculation rates, with the celebratory mood that accompanied ending the mask mandates on modes of travel, and with the entire phenomenon of "pandemic fatigue", compliance does not extend forever.

The big question: If an American city is placed under extreme lockdown vis-a-vis Shanghai, will there be compliance as in Shanghai or will there be mass uprising?

If the federal government especially keeps pushing its authoritarian ambitions, civil war in this country is almost inevitable. Frankly, I'm somewhat surprised that it hasn't already happened.

Expand full comment

Smart! Thank you.

Yeah, Kirsch is just trying to do these surveys, and he has a pretty large following, but he is running them on Google Docs, which....ehh...

Expand full comment

Has he talked about getting off Google Docs?

Expand full comment

He asked me to help find an alternative. This is not my world, but that's why I asked you.

I want to see these surveys with MASSIVE participation, and I admire how he is trying to do research rather than just bitch about how shitty the Alphabet Agencies are.

Expand full comment

There are a couple of dimensions to running the surveys. One is the front end. The other is the data storage. Without knowing what his needs/expectations are it's tough to make any solid recommendations.

However, here's the company propaganda on SSuite Office Online

https://blog.ssuiteoffice.com/articles/ssuiteoffice/finding-the-best-free-online-office-suite-that-is-also-safe-and-secure.htm

If he needs something that's more of a straight up comparison to Google Docs, you could take a look at WPS Docs

https://www.wps.com/wpsdocs/

And here's a review comparing its features with Google Docs.

https://comparisons.financesonline.com/wps-office-vs-google-docs

Drop Box has an interesting editing app it calls Paper

https://www.dropbox.com/paper

There's Coda, which is strives to be universal online document and collaboration tool.

https://coda.io/welcome

I don't know what he's looking for specifically, so let me emphasize that I am NOT recommending any of these. These are the cloud solutions he might want to test drive.

Expand full comment

Don’t worry, Gates manufactured the problem, so he could fix it w his Biotech poison pablum

Expand full comment

They are going to get the kids one way or another....no formula or taking the jab...... :(

Expand full comment

We're from the Gòvernment. We're here to help...said no philanthropist ever.

As a Canadian, I was aware that my gov't was over involved. I didn't realize how much.

Did Americans have any idea just how much of their lives was under government control?

Expand full comment

Some did. More now.

Expand full comment

Great article, Peter. But you are far too kind.

This is more "terrorism" of the American people by those whose "oath" is to protect us.

None more so than infants, especially before they are born.

Babies are last in America, except for the one place they are first, Planned Parenthood!

Expand full comment

I am an extreme libertarian by political inclination. I go with Henry David Thoreau's proposition: "that government is best which governs not at all."

Whether these shortages are the result of malice rather than stupidity is a question. However, regardless of which one it is, these shortages are a powerful evidence against government intervention in just about anything.

Expand full comment

The brilliant experts at the federal bureaucracies have been preoccupied with other more pressing matters of late:

1) preventing a disaster in November

2) reinforcing the Diversity, Inclusion & Equity narrative

3) fanning war flames in Ukraine

4) saving the climate

5) saving Roe v Wade.

Just a year ago, the US Stae Department was congratulating itself by flying a ‘pride’ rainbow 🌈 flag in Kabul. That sure worked out well.

Expand full comment

I’d say incompetence instead of stupidity.

Expand full comment