GOV/MIL Main "Great Reset" Thread

[marsh]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

An Unjustified Fear Of Nuclear Energy Is Holding The Industry Back

MONDAY, AUG 15, 2022 - 06:45 AM
Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com,

Energy security has now become a central focus for governments around the world as energy prices soar, and this new focus has seen a revival of interest in nuclear power.

While nuclear power does have problems associated with its cost and its environmental impact, the safety issues that are frequently pointed to by detractors are greatly exaggerated.

The U.S. Department of Energy expects demand for nuclear reactors to reach $1 trillion globally, although any nuclear accident could set the industry back drastically.

Governments are backing nuclear power in a big way but fears of disasters still linger, with any mishap having the potential to derail the big nuclear resurgence. As governments get behind nuclear projects for the first time in several decades, in order to boost their energy security, many continue to be fearful of nuclear developments for both safety and environmental reasons.

But will leaders be able to convince the public of the need for nuclear energy as part of a green transition? Nuclear energy was hailed years ago as the cleaner alternative to fossil fuels that could provide reliable energy to countries around the globe. But as it was increasing in popularity, with several major global developments being achieved, three notable disasters undermined the potential for widespread nuclear development. The events of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979; Chernobyl in 1986; and Fukushima in Japan in 2011 led to a movement away from the development of nuclear projects in favor, largely, of fossil fuels.

However, with growing energy insecurity being felt worldwide, in response to sanctions on Russian oil and gas; a rapid movement away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives; and a rise in energy prices, several governments are putting nuclear power back on the agenda. With its carbon-free energy producing capabilities, it appeals to governments who have made ambitious carbon pledges, while offering them greater mid-term energy security than other renewable energy projects that may take longer to be developed at the scale required to meet growing demand.

In the U.S., nuclear energy accounts for around 20 percent of the country’s power, and 50 percent of its carbon-free power. And with major public and private investments being pumped into research and development, countries around the world are hoping to build more efficient, lower-cost, and smaller nuclear reactors than what we have traditionally seen. If all goes well, the U.S. Department of Energy expects demand for nuclear reactors to reach $1 trillion globally.

But according to several energy experts, just one incident could radically worsen the already negative public perception of nuclear power. A multitude of studies deem nuclear energy the safest form of electricity generation, and yet many people around the world who have lived through nuclear disasters are still opposed to the development of new nuclear projects due to the danger associated with them. Others believe that nuclear power is not as green as it is made out to be, as although it creates carbon-free power, there is still the problem of waste management.

So, why are we so scared of nuclear power? Despite a lack of public understanding of nuclear technology, meaning that it can sometimes be confused with nuclear weapons, there was a general optimism around nuclear energy when it first emerged several decades ago. It seems that the current negative public perception of nuclear power stems mainly from the nuclear disasters that were seen around the world in real-time.

Although relatively few died during these incidents compared to deaths worldwide from other energy operations, the incidents were widely televised and the fear of the unknown spread rapidly. Governments responded to them differently compared to other energy disasters, mainly because it was not known how many people should be evacuated and the best way to respond to the disaster on the ground. This made people more panicked than when other events occur, such as an explosion on an offshore oil platform or a fire at a refinery. The overreaction by political powers in the face of a nuclear incident has led to widespread mistrust of nuclear technology. Furthermore, the portrayal of nuclear disasters in several TV series and movies has exaggerated the dangers associated with nuclear power.

In reality, the nuclear incidents that caused the fear resulted in relatively few deaths. No one died due to radiation in the Three Mile Island or Fukushima disasters, and fewer than 50 died during and following Chernobyl. While this may sound like a lot, if this is the only nuclear incident that resulted in deaths during the current lifespan of nuclear energy production, the figure is much lower than other energy sources, particularly fossil fuels that continue to create deadly air pollution.

Perhaps the only way to improve public perception of nuclear energy is through re-education that highlights the relative safety of the technology compared to other energy operations. In addition, as the public and international organizations put pressure on state governments to go green, better marketing of nuclear energy could help shift the public perception, as people begin to see the carbon-free energy source as necessary for a green future. However, for now, governments are feeling the mounting pressure to ‘get it right’, with the potential for any mishap to add to the long-term demonization of nuclear power.

 

[marsh]

Recession Back On: NY Fed Manufacturing Unexpectedly Craters In 2nd Biggest Drop On Record | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Recession Back On: NY Fed Manufacturing Unexpectedly Craters In 2nd Biggest Drop On Record​

MONDAY, AUG 15, 2022 - 05:51 AM
So much for any optimism that the US economy can avoid a hard landing.
One (business) day after the UMich survey hinted that economic optimism is set to jump amid collapsing inflation expectations, moments ago the New York Fed's Empire State Manufacturing Survey unexpectedly cratered from 11.1 to -31.3, slicking through consensus expectations for a 5.0 print like a hot knife through butter, and suffering the 2nd biggest monthly drop on record.



The big miss of the month's first regional manufacturing survey was driven by a decline across all indicators, but especially by a sharp drop in the forward looking New Orders which tanked to -29.6 from +6.2, while the shipments index plummeted nearly fifty points to -24.1, indicating a sharp decline in both orders and shipments, and strongly hinting that a hard-landing recession is inevitable and that, for all the posturing, a Fed rate cut is imminent after all.



Some more details:

• Manufacturing activity declined significantly in New York State, according to the August survey. The general business conditions index plunged forty-two points to -31.3, the second largest monthly decline in the index on record, and among the lowest levels in the survey’s history.
  • Twelve percent of respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, and forty-four percent reported that conditions had worsened.
• The new orders index dropped thirty-six points to -29.6, and the shipments index plummeted nearly fifty points to -24.1, indicating a sharp decline in both orders and shipments.
• The unfilled orders index fell to -12.7, indicating that unfilled orders shrank for a third consecutive month.
• The delivery times index declined to around zero, indicating that delivery times held steady, the first month they have not lengthened in nearly two years.
• The inventories index fell to 6.4, signaling that inventories increased marginally.

Mocking the relentless data fudging by the politicized BLS, the report showed that the index of employees moved down eleven points to 7.4, pointing to a small increase in employment, and the average workweek index fell to -13.1, indicating a decline in hours worked. The prices paid index fell nine points to 55.5, its lowest level in over a year, indicating a deceleration in input price increases. The prices received index was little changed at 32.7.

Looking ahead, the index for future business conditions came in at 2.1, suggesting that firms were not optimistic about the six-month outlook. The indexes for future new orders and shipments were positive, but remained at low levels. On the other side, employment is expected to pick up - which makes zero sense considering expectations of plunging inflation - and delivery times are expected to decline over the next six months. Only modest increases in capital spending and technology spending are planned for the months ahead, which of course means, much more stock buybacks.

 

[marsh]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

CBO: Actually, The "Inflation Reduction Act" Will Cause More Audits For Working Class​

MONDAY, AUG 15, 2022 - 03:05 PM

Authored by Jazz Shaw via HotAir (emphasis ours),

A disturbing pattern has emerged when it comes to the messaging we’re seeing out of the White House in general and the Press Secretary in particular.

They seem to believe that if you keep saying something that’s wrong over and over again, it will eventually either become true, or at least people will start to believe it.

That’s truly been the case with the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” that just passed in the House on a party-line vote. ‘This bill will lower inflation.’ (No, it will probably increase inflation or possibly not affect it.) ‘The bill will reduce the deficit.’ (Nope. That’s not what the models show.) ‘This bill will raise GDP.’ (Care to try again?) And then there’s the latest claim that the massive army of new IRS agents, many of them heavily armed but not trained in firearms handling very well, will not result in more audits of working-class people and will only impact those making more than $400k.
They’ve said it over and over again. But the Congressional Budget Office begs to differ. (Free Beacon)

A Congressional Budget Office report found that the Internal Revenue Service will collect billions of dollars from auditing low- and middle-income Americans under the White House-backed “Inflation Reduction Act,” contradicting Biden administration claims, according to Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Fox News confirmed the report, finding the CBO informed congressional Republicans that, under the act, audits of taxpayers making under $400,000 will account for about $20 billion in additional revenue.

The news comes after high-ranking Biden administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, assured Americans that the IRS would not increase audits of people earning under $400,000.

There was a time when the members of Congress didn’t generally make too many claims about the fiscal impact of new legislation until the CBO had scored it. Apparently, that quaint practice is no longer part of the day-to-day routine on the Hill. The CBO estimates that audits of people making less than Joe Biden’s claimed minimum income will produce an additional $20 billion in revenue for Uncle Sam. That’s a lot of money even in these days of freewheeling deficit spending. And it directly contradicts what the White House has been telling us. Of course, it’s too late now.

I will agree that there have been some inaccurate claims about this bill making the rounds, particularly in conservative circles. The nearly 90,000 new IRS workers will not be hired all at once, for example. They will be hired over a period of ten years and some of them will replace current agents who will retire. But there will still be tens of thousands of new workers and many will come in the door very soon.

The climate portion of the bill isn’t 100% hot garbage, though at least 90% of it certainly is. There will be some funding for improvements to the energy grid infrastructure and the easing of some regulatory hurdles for the construction of nuclear power plants. But most of those positive aspects of the plan will be effectively wiped out by all of the green energy subsidies and new fees imposed on the fossil fuel industry.

But at the end of the day, the claimed purpose of this legislation is little more than a bad joke being played on the taxpayers. The supposed “inflation reduction” claims have already been fully debunked. The Wharton School of Business concluded that the bill’s impact on inflation will be “statistically indistinguishable from zero.” And it will actually have a negative impact on GDP for many years to come.

These people in Congress and the White House are standing there on the world stage and lying to your faces in broad daylight. Yes, I realize that a story about politicians lying is generally a “dog bites man” type of report. But they could at least try a little harder to fool us, couldn’t they?

 

[marsh]

Dems’ Climate Bill Includes Massive Tax Break For Mining Industry

The Democrats' $369 billion climate spending bill includes tax breaks for the mining industry, an industry that climate activists routinely oppose, to mine "critical minerals."

dailycaller.com

Dems’ Climate Bill Includes Massive Tax Break For Mining Industry

JACK MCEVOY
August 15, 2022

The Democrats’ $369 billion climate spending bill includes tax breaks for the mining industry, an industry that climate activists routinely oppose, to mine “critical minerals” to accelerate the Biden administration’s renewable energy transition.

The “Inflation Reduction Act” will allow U.S. mining companies to write off 10% of their operating costs if they produce any amount of “critical minerals,” which are materials critical to national security and the economy that are vulnerable to foreign supply disruptions, according to the text of the bill. The section creates a new advanced manufacturing production tax credit, which will apply to each “eligible component” manufactured within the United States, and in the case of critical minerals, the tax credit would be equal to 10% of the company’s costs associated with the production of the critical minerals. (RELATED: Here’s What Americans Will Get From The Climate And Tax Bill Democrats Just Passed)

In order to be eligible for the tax break, mining companies must produce at least one of a slew of minerals, including lithium, cobalt and nickel, which are often used to make electric car batteries and batteries used to store solar and wind energy.

Companies that extract critical minerals on federal lands will pay no royalties, unlike coal mining or oil drilling, according to the bill. Democrats also included $500 million in funding for the Defense Production Act in the bill which will assist the Biden administration in subsidizing more mineral projects.

President Joe Biden is working to expand the use of renewable energy technologies that require vast amounts critical of minerals, according to a June press release. Growing international tensions, as well as rising commodity prices and supply chain bottlenecks, are encouraging the U.S. to ramp up its domestic acquisition of “critical minerals.”

A mine worker walks toward the mine shaft at the Resolution Copper exploratory mine shaft 10 facility in Superior, Arizona, U.S., March 30, 2021. Picture taken March 30, 2021. REUTERS/Caitlin O’Hara

Currently, China dominates the rare earth minerals market, accounting for 60% of global cobalt production in 2019, according to a 2021 International Energy Agency report. China’s share of mineral refining is also around 35% for nickel, 50% to 70% for lithium and cobalt and nearly 90% for all other rare earth elements.

Previously, environmentalists have worked to halt crucial rare earth mineral mining projects despite the fact that they are becoming increasingly necessary for the Biden ambitious administration’s climate plan, which looks to cut 65% of carbon emissions by 2030.

The package also provided significant tax breaks and incentives to wind, solar and battery developers which Democrats and climate activists hope will slow climate change.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

 

[marsh]

REPORT: Leo DiCaprio Used Dark Money To Annoy People With Climate Lawsuits

Leonardo DiCaprio used his non-profit to award funds to dark money groups who engaged a law firm to bother people with nuisance climate-related lawsuits.

dailycaller.com

REPORT: Leo DiCaprio Used Dark Money To Annoy People With Climate Lawsuits


Actor,Leonardo,Dicaprio,At,The,Los,Angeles,Premiere,Of,His
Shutterstock/ Featureflash Photo Agency

KAY SMYTHE

August 15, 2022

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly used his non-profit to award funds to dark money groups, which then funneled the money to a law firm that files nuisance climate-related lawsuits.

Communications between philanthropist Dan Emmett and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) climate professor Ann Carlson revealed that they worked with law firm Sher Edling to raise money to sue oil companies over alleged climate change deception, according to Fox News Digital. Emmett told Carlson in 2018 that she could tell prospective donors that the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation had become “serious supporters” of Sher Edling’s ongoing litigation, Fox continued.

The lawsuits filed by Sher Edling were said to be supported by the Collective Action Fund for Accountability, Resilience, and Adaptation at the time, Fox News reported noted. This fund was managed by the Resources Legacy Fund (RLF), a dark money group, according to Fox News.

Emmett and Carlson reportedly discussed how Sher Edling’s director of strategic client relationships, Chuck Savitt, had sought support from the philanthropist, noting that they had received such financial support from DiCaprio’s foundation CEO, Terry Tamminen, between 2016 and 2019, the outlet continued.

“Chuck Savitt who is heading this new organization behind the lawsuits has been seeking our support,” Emmett reportedly wrote in an email to Carlson on July 22, 2017. “Terry Tamminen in his new role with the DiCaprio Foundation has been a key supporter.”

The emails were sent roughly two months prior to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’s announcement of $20 million in grants for various climate and conservation efforts, Fox News reported. The announcement was subsequently deleted, but archives shared by Fox News show that the RLF received funding “to support precedent-setting legal actions to hold major corporations in the fossil fuel industry liable.”

Sher Edling received more than $5.2 million from RLF between 2017 and 2020, Fox News continued. The firm predominantly filed suits on behalf of cities and states, including California, Delaware, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York City, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Baltimore, and Honolulu against major oil companies.

“Wanted to let you know that we filed the first three lawsuits supported by the Collective Action Fund on Monday,” Savitt told Emmett in one of the emails reviewed by Fox News.

Savitt reportedly wrote that, “these precedent setting cases call on 37 of the world’s leading fossil fuel companies to take responsibility for the devastating damage sea level rise – caused by their greenhouse gas emissions – is having on coastal communities.”

Carlson, now a senior Biden administration official, exchanged the emails with Emmett while co-director of UCLA’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Fox News continued. The Government Accountability and Oversight (GOA) office obtained the correspondence between the parties, the outlet noted.

“Obviously, the donors created — including DiCaprio — several purported arms’ lengths,” attorney Chris Horner, who is representing GAO in the case involving the emails, told Fox News Digital. “This model used a couple of pass-throughs, by which DiCaprio and, it appears, Dan Emmett and others could run things, including DiCaprio’s foundation and Resources Legacy Fund, and they’re not seen as financing the assault.”

The MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, JPB Foundation, and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation have donated to the Collective Action Fund since 2017, Fox News reported. (RELATED: EARTH DAY: New Study Shows Many Protected Areas Don’t Benefit Wildlife)

“From 2017 to 2020, Sher Edling received grants from RLF to pursue charitable activities to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the accuracy of information they had disseminated to consumers and the public about the role their products played in causing climate change,” RLF spokesperson Mark Kleinman told Fox News Digital via email. “RLF receives support from many funding entities, and its board of directors and staff make all decisions as to where the funding goes,” the spokesperson noted.

Sher Edlings, Emmett, Tamminen, and Earth Alliance, an organization that absorbed the Leo DiCaprio Foundation in 2019, did not respond to Fox News or Daily Caller requests for comment.

 

[marsh]

Activist Investment Firm Pushes California Oil And Gas Producer To Curb Oil And Gas Production

Kimmeridge Energy Management Company is pressuring the California Resources Corporation, an energy producer, to curb its production to increase its profits.

dailycaller.com

Activist Investment Firm Pushes California Oil And Gas Producer To Curb Oil And Gas Production

JACK MCEVOY
August 15, 2022

Kimmeridge Energy Management Company, an energy investment firm focused on advancing net zero emissions targets, owns a stake in California Resources Corporation, an oil and gas producer, and is pressuring the energy company to curb its production to increase its profits, Reuters reported.

The activist investment firm owns more than three million shares in California Resources, representing about a 4% stake, and is in discussions with the company’s management in recent weeks about how to increase its valuation, sources told Reuters. Kimmeridge is encouraging California Resources to divest from its Huntington Beach oil and gas properties in Orange County, which it believes could be worth around $800 million if the land is sold to real estate developers. (RELATED: Coal Plants Are Being Kept Online To Prevent Blackouts As Green Transition Falters)

Kimmeridge is also advising California Resources to concentrate more on its carbon capture operations to meet net zero emissions targets, according to Reuters.

Kimmeridge entirely focuses on investing to accelerate the energy sector’s transition towards “net zero energy” goals in order to be “environmentally responsible,” according to its website. The firm believes that investing in projects that are environmentally and socially responsible creates long-term value and reduces risk.

Kimmeridge’s actions come amid the rise of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investing strategies that often push companies to curb emissions and divest in fossil fuels to comply with international climate goals.

Despite high domestic crude and natural gas prices, California Resources’ shares have lagged behind peers this year as investors have shifted funds to other producers with higher growth rates that can capitalize on the commodity price upswing, Reuters reported. The stock has gained 7.7% this year, giving it a market capitalization of $3.5 billion, compared to the S&P energy index’s 41.4% gain.

Kimmeridge and California Resources did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

 

[marsh]

(Europe)

https://www.agweb.com/markets/pro-farmer-analysis/drought-magnifying-europes-economic-struggles

Drought Magnifying Europe’s Economic Struggles
Europe

(AgWeb)
By PRO FARMER EDITORS August 15, 2022

A severe drought is magnifying Europe’s economic risks by disrupting crop yields, energy production and trade flows at a time when the continent is already facing soaring food and fuel prices, along with a possible energy crunch this winter. Several regions in Europe are facing severe droughts this summer, caused by the combination of a lack of precipitation and high temperatures since May.

The European Commission estimated in July that nearly half of the European Union and large parts of the United Kingdom were experiencing “warning” levels of drought, with unusually dry conditions set to persist through September across most of Europe. Water shortages are particularly severe in the northern Italian lowlands, central Germany, eastern Hungary and northern Spain, as well as the southern, central and western regions of France, Portugal and the Netherlands. Scarce rain is affecting river discharge and depleting stored water volumes, impacting the energy sector for both hydropower generation and cooling systems of power plants. Low water supplies and high heat are also reducing crop yields, while dangerously low levels in river channels are hurting trade flows by forcing cargo vessels to sail with reduced loads.

European sunflower production is down, compounding a global cooking oil shortage, and grain mills along the Rhine will likely close soon. Cows are producing less and lower-quality milk, and the impacts could get worse as the production of corn dips way below last year’s yield.

 

[marsh]

("Regenerative Agriculture Practices")

https://www.agweb.com/news/business/technology/forground-bayers-digital-platform-beyond-just-carbon

Broader than carbon alone, ForGround aims to encompass regenerative agricultural practices and technologies and then connect those in-field decisions to downstream companies and their sustainability goals.
Broader than carbon alone, ForGround aims to encompass regenerative agricultural practices and technologies and then connect those in-field decisions to downstream companies and their sustainability goals.
(Bayer)

By MARGY ECKELKAMP August 15, 2022

Bayer references it has learned a lot through its Bayer Carbon Program, and as an expansion from that, the company is launching ForGround.

Broader than carbon alone, ForGround aims to encompass regenerative agricultural practices and technologies and then connect those in-field decisions to downstream companies and their sustainability goals.

“As a global leader in agriculture, Bayer is uniquely positioned to help drive lasting change by working directly with farmers and businesses through leveraging our global scale to reduce our impact on the planet and support farms for generations to come”, said Leo Bastos, Head of Global Commercial Ecosystems, Bayer CropScience. “We know that better harvests and a better future start with healthy soils and investing in farmers' success – and believe that the ForGround platform will help them make the transition to more sustainable practices – and ensure agriculture is part of the climate solution.”

ForGround is described as a farmer-first digital platform designed to provide tools, resources, discounts and additional revenue opportunities.

For example, at launch, here are the available features:

Best-in-class practice transition support with agronomic support, evidence-based field studies & trials, curated content & events, like-minded community and trusted network of leading experts

Connection to potential new revenue streams for adopting these new practices (i.e., Bayer Carbon Program)

Reduced transition cost barriers, including incentives and rewards such as a free subscription to Climate FieldView Plus (Climate FieldView is Bayer’s industry-leading digital farming app, allowing even deeper understanding of farmers’ fields)

This initial launch (first announced August 15, 2022) is for the U.S. with global expansion planned in the future.

The regenerative agriculture practices include:

improved soil health
increased water availability
fewer inputs3
increased weather resiliency
less soil erosion

One goal is the program is connect on-farm practices through the supply chain to increase transparency of food production. The companies participating in ForGround can offer farmers incentive programs via Climate FieldView.

“ForGround is a key commercial piece of how we are working to achieve our goals of reducing our customers' in-field carbon emissions in major agricultural markets by 30 percent and becoming carbon neutral in our own operations by 2030. Supporting regenerative agriculture goes beyond our own sustainability commitments and together with farmers and other companies we can transform value for collective impact”, concludes Bastos.

 

[marsh]

(Comment: In my experience representing family farmers and ranchers, NRDC was NOT our friend)

Regenerative Agriculture 101

NRDC interviewed more than 100 farmers and ranchers who are building healthy soil and growing climate-resilient communities across the country. This guide incorporates much of what we learned.

www.nrdc.org

What Is Regenerative Agriculture?
As a philosophy and approach to land management, regenerative agriculture asks us to think about how all aspects of agriculture are connected through a web—a network of entities who grow, enhance, exchange, distribute, and consume goods and services—instead of a linear supply chain. It’s about farming and ranching in a style that nourishes people and the earth, with specific practices varying from grower to grower and from region to region.

There’s no strict rule book, but the holistic principles behind the dynamic system of regenerative agriculture are meant to restore soil and ecosystem health, address inequity, and leave our land, waters, and climate in better shape for future generations.

It’s important to appreciate that this is not a new idea and not all who practice these principles use the label. In fact, Indigenous communities have farmed in nature’s image for millennia. “The regenerative agriculture movement is the dawning realization among more people that an Indigenous approach to agriculture can help restore ecologies, fight climate change, rebuild relationships, spark economic development, and bring joy,” says Arohi Sharma, water and agriculture policy analyst at NRDC. Sharma is part of the team from NRDC’s Nature program that interviewed more than 100 regenerative farmers across the United States to inform recommendations on creating a food system that can help fight our climate crisis.

Regenerative Agriculture Is a Philosophy
At its core, regenerative agriculture is farming and ranching in harmony with nature. Practitioners take a broader view of their role in the world, especially in terms of soil and nutrient cycles. “We need to realize that working landscapes provide not just products but also ecosystem services like carbon sinks, water recharge, and evolutionary potential,” says Leonard Diggs of Pie Ranch, an incubator farm where he teaches regenerative agriculture. “We need agriculture that does not lose our carbon and does not deplete our people.”

By contrast, the industrial agricultural system that dominates Western food and fiber supply chains incentivizes practices that promote soil erosion at a rate of 10 to 100 times higher than soil formation; nutrient runoff and harmful algal blooms in freshwater and coastal systems; and monocropping and other threats to local biodiversity, including critical pollinators. These systems compartmentalize natural resources and focus on the yields of individual crops.

Regenerative Agriculture Principles
“When we speak with farmers and ranchers focused on regenerative agriculture, they tell us that their notion of ‘success’ goes beyond yield and farm size,” says Lara Bryant, deputy director of water and agriculture at NRDC. “It includes things like joy and happiness, the number of families they feed, watching how the land regenerates and flourishes, the money saved from not purchasing chemical inputs, the debt avoided by repurposing old equipment, and the relationships built with community members.” Below are some of the principles they utilize to achieve these goals.

Nurture Relationships Within and Across Ecosystems
Regenerative growers foster and protect relationships—between people, lands, waterbodies, livestock, wildlife, and even microbial life in soil.

For instance, when we took animals out of cropping systems (a practice that started with poultry in the 1950s and expanded to beef and pork in the ’60s) and separated them into confined facilities and feedlots, we introduced a host of ethical and ecological problems, including the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria and harmful algal blooms. But fostering relationships between animals and the land can help cycle nutrients, increase water retention (from the organic matter left behind by animal manure), and curb weed and pest problems without the use of chemicals.

Prioritize Soil Health
While the techniques for caring for the soil vary with the context of each farm, generally, regenerative growers limit mechanical soil disturbance. Instead, they feed and preserve the biological structures that bacteria, fungi, and other soil microbes build underground—which provide above-ground benefits in return.

Reduce Reliance on Synthetic Inputs
Regenerative farmers and ranchers make every effort to reduce their reliance on synthetic inputs, such as herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers. In the process of prioritizing soil health, many growers naturally use fewer chemical inputs. Instead, as beneficial insects and wildlife return and diverse crop and livestock rotations disrupt weed cycles, the ecosystem becomes more resilient. And with fewer toxic chemicals, there are reduced human health risks as well as increased financial independence from avoiding the recurring costs of synthetic inputs.

Nurture Communities and Reimagine Economies
Many regenerative farmers begin their practice with the aim of growing healthy food for their families and communities. They consider it essential to treat their farmworkers, apprentices, and other laborers with respect, and to provide on-farm staff with fair wages and a seat at the decision-making table. And many of these growers have a deep appreciation of the social and historical contexts in which they operate. They acknowledge how unjust policies have shaped American agriculture, even though our food systems were built by Black and Indigenous communities.

Social Inequities in American Agriculture
For many practitioners, regenerative agriculture is an approach to remedying long-standing social injustices, including systemic discrimination that has denied farmers and ranchers of color access to land tenure and support services.

“These interviews—and these principles—helped our team realize that advocating for regenerative agriculture needs to address social, cultural, and historical issues,” says Ellen Lee, NRDC program associate.

Back in 1920, there were nearly one million Black farmers in the United States. But after more than a century of land theft, racist polices, and discrimination, that number is closer to 45,000 today—out of an estimated 3.4 million farmers, according to census data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). White farmers, by contrast, now own 98 percent of the land in America. And yet, even as we acknowledge that historic racial and gender inequities have contributed to unequal access to wealth and land ownership, “doors continue to be closed to many Black farmers,” notes John Wesley Boyd Jr., president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association. “Our members face enormous challenges—including a system that disproportionately leaves them behind.”

At the federal level, steps have been taken to address equitable access to land, training, and credit and to support underserved producers—including funding and directives to shift the decades-long legacy of racial discrimination at USDA. But significant work remains. “The way we see it, regenerative agriculture goes beyond on-farm practices and techniques to encompass broader social and cultural components,” says Lee. “Policies that advance regenerative agriculture should avoid exacerbating deep-seated inequities.”

(Read more at website)

 

[marsh]

10 Regenerative Agriculture Practices Growers Should Follow

Plant diversity & crop diversity are practices that every grower should follow for increased soil health. Read our 10 regenerative agriculture practices.

heliae.com

10 Regenerative Agriculture Practices Every Grower Should Follow

Posted on 28 Apr 2020 at 08:35h in (edited advertising material)

10 Regenerative Agriculture Practices Every Grower Should Follow

Worrying about bad crops due to poor soil should be a thing of the past. Modern farming that uses regenerative agriculture techniques have found greater success through 10 simple, but highly effective, practices. Learn about these practices, along with benefits to soils, crops, the environment, and the positive economic benefits.

Reduced or No-till Farming Practices
Cover Cropping
Composting
Increasing Crop Diversity
Organic Annual Cropping
Soil Microbe Food
Animal Integration
Managed Grazing
Silvopasture
Agroforestry

What is Regenerative Agriculture?
In 2014, a senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official addressed a forum marking World Soil Day. It was announced that if current topsoil degradation rates continue unchecked, all topsoils would be depleted in 60 years. As it takes 1,000 years to generate 3 centimeters of topsoil naturally, action needs to be taken now to avoid this from occurring. This announcement also pointed out that sustaining topsoil is not enough. We need to adopt practices that can regenerate soils to meet the food needs of an ever-growing world population. Regenerative agricultural practices are instrumental in helping us meet these challenges.

At its core, regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach designed not just to sustain soils but also to regenerate them, improving soil health as the central foundation.

Relation to Soil Health
Our recommended practices center around soil health. Soil health starts with adopting regenerative practices that encourage abundance and diversity of soil microbes. It is these soil microbes that drive processes resulting in a rich cascade of beneficial soil health and structure effects including; improved soil aggregation, water penetration, increased water retention, improved nutrient retention, and availability to plants, decreased soil erosion, reduce agricultural run-off, increased CO2 capture from air and sequestration to soil. All these together promote more vigorous and productive crops, while also regenerating rapidly depleted soils. These are not just ideals.

The principles behind regenerative agriculture are sound, and the results are surprisingly strong as outlined in a series of peer-reviewed agriculture journals described by Washington State University’s Natural Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources.

LEARN ABOUT THE FUTURE OF SOIL HEALTH
Adopting Regenerative Practices on your Farm
Using the described practices, you will increase biodiversity both above and below the ground. This will serve to enrich your soils, sequester CO2 from the atmosphere into your lands while at the same time increasing crop resilience to climate instability and improving resource utilization, crop quality, and yield.

These positive effects will have a lasting positive environmental, social, and economic impact on farming communities around the world. “The number one priority in regenerative organic agriculture is soil health. Soil health is intrinsically linked to the total health of our food system. Soil health affects everything from plant health to human wellbeing and the future of our planet.” (Regenerative Organic Agriculture - Rodale Institute). The time to correct the global degradation of soils around the world is now!

10 Best Regenerative Practices

#1 – Reduced or No-till Farming Practices
Key Point: Fewer disruptions to soil allows more diverse soil microbes that provide better soil structure for your plants to grow.

When soils are left undisturbed, abundance and diversity of soil microbes increase, driving improved soil microbiome communities and soil structure. These improvements provide both ecological benefits as well as resiliency to crop stressors, crop quality, and ultimately yield.

Ecologically, these practices improve soil structure, reducing both wind and water erosion of soils, reduce agricultural run-off into watersheds, and aid in soil carbon sequestration. On the farm, as some regenerative agriculture theories suggest, growers adopting reduced or no-till practices may see many changes that will benefit their bottom lines economically while rebuilding their soils for future generations. Changes you will see with reduced or no-till practices include increased water penetration and retention, greater soil nutrient retention and availability to crops, less soil crusting, and increased soil organic matter over time. All of these contribute greatly to crop vigor, resiliency to crop stressors, and ultimately, crop yield. Additionally, there are cost reduction opportunities for growers, including reduced tilling soils, reduced requirements for fertilizers, and more efficient use of water resources.
Altogether, reduced or no-till practices are key regenerative agriculture practices that will provide valuable benefits in both the near term as well as rebuilding soils for generations to come.

References:

Soil Health: Principle 2 of 5 – Minimizing Soil Disturbance | NRCS North Dakota

Cover Crop Performance and Adaptation Trials at PMCs | Natural Resources Conservation Service

www.nrcs.usda.gov

#2 – Cover Cropping
Key Point: By allowing continual plant and root growth in your soil, you are providing the soil with better nutrients to reinvigorate other plants.

Promoting more continual plant and root growth in soils is also a key to soil health and regenerative agriculture. Cover cropping, as some regenerative agriculture theories state, systems can fix CO2 from the atmosphere, sequestering carbon as organic matter in the soils, feed carbon plant root exudates into the soil that promote soil biology, add nutrients to soils, and reduce soil erosion.

Many crops can be used depending on locations and soil needs. Cover crops can be excellent scavengers of excess nutrients left in the soil after crop harvest. They can incorporate the nutrients into their biomass, store, and then recycle excess nutrients until needed at the beginning of the next planting season. Cover cropping will also reduce potential fertilizer leaching into watersheds and groundwater and help to reduce agricultural run-off.

Leguminous cover crops can be used to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil, reducing the need for nitrogen fertilizers the next season.

In some permanent crop systems, cover crops can be interspersed between rows. Keeping soils covered reduces the risk of possible soil erosion, suppresses weeds, and can even provide pollinator habitat. Cover cropping is a key tool that can help to sequester carbon from the atmosphere into soils, recycle nutrients, reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers, reduce agricultural run-off, and promote better soil biology and structure. This is a key tool that can add value to your bottom line while also regenerating your soils for optimal crop productivity and health.

References:

USDA NRCS - Natural Resources Conservation Service | NRCS North Dakota

Cover Crop Performance and Adaptation Trials at PMCs | Natural Resources Conservation Service

www.nrcs.usda.gov

5 principles of building soil

Resilient Ag Landscapes: A soil scientist breaks down the concepts and how they apply to Nebraska agriculture.

www.farmprogress.com

#3 – Composting
Key Point: Using compost to rebuild depleted soils allows for natural and sustainable growth.

Building soil organic is essential for rebuilding depleted soils. Composted biological materials such as crop residue, food waste, and animal waste to build soil organic matter are crucial in regenerative agriculture. These materials contain carbon, that when incorporated into soils breaks down slowly, building stable organic matter. The conversion into stable organic matter takes time.

Compositing can accelerate the decomposition of these materials, creating compost products that can be more immediately available for soil microbes and plants to utilize. Composting processes can be driven by bacteria, fungi, earthworms, nematodes, and other organisms. In addition to adding carbon/organic matter back into soils, composts provide fertilizer value to your soils and crops in forms that are available over more extended periods than conventional fertilizers.

References:

Composting | NRCS

#4 – Increasing Plant Diversity
Crop YieldKey Point: Historically, areas that grew a variety of plants and crops built healthier soil naturally before large scale farming focused more on specialized areas for the same crops year in and year out. Crop rotation plays a critical role in trying to mimic the natural diversity of native plant balances.

Before modern, large scale, intensive agricultural practices, native plant and soil ecosystems co-evolved naturally to achieve a balance that could support a vast diversity of plants grown in the same soil. These perennial crops built stable organic matter in our soils over millennia. This diversity of plants produces a variety of carbon plant exudates that supply carbon to soil biological organisms, as well as a diversity of contributions to soil nutrient profiles.

With the advent of larger-scale annual monoculture, this diversity disappeared, creating imbalances in our soils. The imbalances led to the need for increasing specific nutrients in the form of fertilizers, the degradation of healthy balanced soil biology, degradation of soil structure, and rapid depletion of soil organic matter. Crop rotation plays a critical role in trying to mimic the natural diversity of native plant balances in a way that mimics in part, some of the original benefits that native plant diversity can bring to the soils. When thinking about crop rotations, it is important to consider how one crop can benefit the next rotation from a nutritional standpoint, but also the diversity within a crop type (ex. warm-season grass crops which could include corn, sorghum, Sudan grass).

Crop rotations adding to the diversity of crops, will add to the diversity of soil microorganisms and create soils that assure crop resiliency and optimum yield over time. This practice of incorporating plant diversity also aids in the development of soil microbiome diversity, key to soil health and regenerative agricultural practices.

References:

Soil Health: Principle 3 of 5 – Plant Diversity | NRCS North Dakota

5 principles of building soil

Resilient Ag Landscapes: A soil scientist breaks down the concepts and how they apply to Nebraska agriculture.

www.farmprogress.com

Part 1 of 2

 

[marsh]

Part 2 of 2

# 5 – Organic Annual Cropping
Key Point: By focusing less on industrial-scale production, yearly crops can help organically strengthen the soil.

With the advent of industrial-scale agriculture and mass production of inexpensive fertilizers, many connections with sustainable agriculture fundamentals (such as soil health and biodiversity), fell to the wayside. It has since taken on a secondary role in expanding the agricultural product to meet the growing demands of feeding an ever-increasing world population. While these efforts were, and still are, critical, it has become clear our annual cropping systems must change to regenerate soils at the same time we are meeting these significant global challenges. The previous practices are critical to achieving these goals.

There are also other practices developed over the past 30 years with the organic agricultural movement. Throughout this movement, we have learned that industrial-scale organic annual cropping is possible without compromising yield or quality. Many of these now traditional organic practices can play an integral role in annual cropping, reintroducing practices that rebuild soil health and reduce the requirements they need for synthetic fertilizer pesticides. Although the organic industry is rapidly growing and now estimated to be a $43bil market, only 1% (one percent) of all farmland in the United States is in organic production. Overcoming the challenge of adapting organic practices on farmlands has many problems, both economically and politically. Still, as more and more farms adapt organic growing practices that support the regeneration of soils, this represents a considerable opportunity.

Often growers have concerns about the 3-year transition period and how they can remain productive and profitable during this period. soil microbe food Organic production helps accelerate crop productivity during this transition, reducing economic risk, while accelerating the benefits of healthy biodiverse soils.

#6 – Soil Microbe Food
Key Point: Our product provides a complex carbon food that feeds and provides a strong foundation for soil health.

While the core of regenerable agriculture is soil health, carbon, microbial abundance, and diversity play a role in the health and sustainability of our soils. Without these, we would be farming in a soil devoid of all the essential benefits that living soil ecosystems provide. While the previous practices are critical, product can assure the maximum benefits of these practices. Soil Microbe Food provides a complex carbon food source that is immediately available to soil microbes upon application to fields.

Products are based on a unique microalgae strain, isolated from soils. Whether from land or the sea, microalgae serve as a foundational carbon food source, fixing CO2 from the atmosphere, to provide the carbon building blocks of the planet’s living organisms. These products are available as very fine suspension of single-celled microalgae that are pasteurized and have a two-year shelf life.

By improving soil health, the resiliency of crops to various stresses is improved. This is important as crops are continually being expected to perform under more and more extreme environmental challenges. Another advantage of healthy soils is with increasing resource limitations with key crop resources, such as water, soils can better retain for more effective crop utilization.

#7 – Animal Integration
Key Point: As some regenerative agriculture theories claim, reintroducing livestock to agricultural crops, instead of keeping them separate, gives natural opportunities for nutrient cycling.

For as long as time, livestock and agricultural crops have co-existed in mutually beneficial relationships. With the increasing industrialization of agriculture, livestock production has separated physically from crop production in forms such as concentrated animal feed operations. These types of operations can result in many challenges, including treatment and disposal of animal wastes, water quality, animal health, and risk of contaminating watersheds and aquifers.

Integrating animal grazing with crop production makes sense in many ways—animal grazing after annual crop harvest aids in the conversion of high carbon residues to low carbon organic manure. Grazing on cover crops can allow more nutrient cycling from crop to soil and carbon sequestration into your soils. This practice will mitigate many of the challenges and risks associated with concentrated animal feeding operations.

It is believed that these benefits to soil health, animal health, and the environment make animal integration a key practice for regenerative agricultural practices.

References:

Soil Health: Principle 5 of 5- Livestock Integration | NRCS North Dakota

5 principles of building soil

Resilient Ag Landscapes: A soil scientist breaks down the concepts and how they apply to Nebraska agriculture.

www.farmprogress.com

#8 – Managed Grazing
Key Point: As some regenerative agriculture theories claim, animals help speed forage growth through carefully selected grazing.

In managed grazing, divisions of a forage field are created. The divisions can be created using portable fences. The animals can then be shifted between the divisions periodically depending on the number of animals, the speed of forage growth, and the size of the divisions. Animals are then shifted between divisions periodically to allow recovery and re-growth of a division prior to animal rotation. This practice will reduce soil erosion, improve water penetration, and reduce run-off, while at the same time provide quality livestock nutrition. Additionally, this practice will provide all the benefits of the continual plant and root growth to soil health and sequester carbon to build organic matter in the soil.

Managed rotational grazing is a critical regenerative agriculture practice that will improve soil health, nutrient and carbon cycling, grazing crop quality, animal health, and water retention while reducing soil erosion and run-off.

References:

Solution: Rotational Grazing | NRCS

file:///C:/Users/mmiller/Downloads/Silvopasture_Information_Sheet_381.pdf


#9 – Silvopasture
Key Point: As some regenerative agriculture theories claim, livestock grazing and tree growth create opportunities for accelerated cycling of nutrients.

Silvopasture is the integration of livestock grazing and trees grown on the same land. Essentially, it establishes grazing within a managed tree product operation. Silvopasture creates additional benefits beyond traditionally managed grazing though; this practice creates additional revenues and cost reductions for the tree operations. Native perennial forage crops are often planted between the trees. Animals obtain nutrition from the forage crops and accelerate the cycling of nutrients and carbon to the soils. This practice can also provide shade in hot summer and protection from wind and elements to the animals. The tree operation benefits nutritionally from the manures, from improved soil health and from the additional cash flow of the integrated livestock operation.

This synergistic regenerative agriculture practice improves soil health, provides animal and plant nutrition, and provides an additional revenue stream for tree operations.

References:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/nac/practices/silvopasture.php

file:///C:/Users/mmiller/Downloads/Silvopasture_Information_Sheet_381.pdf


#10 – Agroforestry
Key Point: Cropped in between trees, agroforestry allows for a wider variety of crops to be yielded during a season.

While agroforestry includes silvopasture, the practice employs a broader array of tools with the goal of altering large agriculture landscapes in ways that provide broad environmental, social, and economic impacts. In addition to silvopasture, agroforestry incorporates cropping between the rows of trees, forest farming, riparian forest buffers between crops fields watersheds, and windbreaks.

When combined in a deliberate planned and managed fashion, these practices increase plant diversity, soil health, reduce agricultural run-off, guard against soil erosion, and provide habitat for native flora and fauna to thrive. Economically these practices provide additional revenue streams by employing practices such as forest farming, growing a second crop between rows of a tree crop, utilizing wildlife that thrives in riparian forest buffers, and allows for the integration of grazing with tree operations.

Reference:

Agroforestry

Agroforestry is the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits. It has been practiced in the United States and around the world for centuries.

www.usda.gov

 

[marsh]

https://www.agweb.com/news/livestock/beef/peel-hay-supplies-tight-record-hay-prices

Peel: Hay Supplies Tight; Record Hay Prices

By DERRELL PEEL - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY August 15, 2022

The August Crop Production report released recently by USDA-NASS included forecasts for hay production in selected states and the U.S. Total production of alfalfa hay in 2022 is forecast at 49.1 million tons, down 0.3 percent from 2021 levels and 13.6 percent below the ten-year average from 2011-2020. All other hay production for 2022 is forecast at 67.7 million tons, down 4.6 percent year over year and down 7.4 percent from the ten-year average. Total 2022 U.S. hay production is forecast at 116.8 million tons, down 2.9 percent from one year ago and down 10.1 percent from the 2011-2020 average. Alfalfa and other hay prices are forecast at record levels in 2022.

Drought reduced hay production in 2021 with continued impacts in 2022.

May 1 hay stocks were down 6.9 percent year over year but were down 16.9 percent from the 2011-2020 average. The total hay supply for the 2022-2023 hay crop year (May-April) is the sum of May 1 (beginning) hay stocks and 2022 hay production. The total hay supply is projected to be down 3.4 percent year over year and is down 11.0 percent from the ten-year average (Table 1).

May hay stocks
Among six of the top ten hay states, either reduced May 1 stocks or reduced 2022 hay production or both are contributing to significant reductions in hay supplies (Table 1). Low May 1 stocks reflects carryover drought impacts from 2021. Reduced 2022 hay production is the result of drought and/or high input costs including fertilizer and fuel. The effects are cumulative.

For example, in Texas, which had relatively less drought 2021, May 1 stocks were up 33.3 percent year over year but a 28.7 percent decrease in hay production this year results in a 22.5 percent reduction in 2022 hay supply.

Nebraska is in a similar situation. In contrast, South Dakota had severe drought in 2021 leading to a 50.5 percent decrease in May 1 2022 stocks.

South Dakota is seeing a 65.5 percent year over year increase in hay production in 2022. However, because of drought last year, total 2022 hay supply is up just 17.4 percent year over year compared to the 32-year low in 2021. Montana, like South Dakota, is also seeing recovery in hay production in 2022 (from drought-reduced production last year), up 13.3 percent year over year. However, severely reduced carryover from last year means that total Montana hay supplies are down 0.9 percent from last year and are at the lowest level since 1989. Oklahoma had both reduced May 1 stocks and reduced hay production in 2022 leading to a 17.2 percent reduction in 2022 hay supplies and the lowest hay supply since 2012. In Missouri and Kentucky, where drought has not been a factor, reduced 2022 hay production is likely the result of high fertilizer prices and reduced input use.

Eight of the top ten hay states are also top ten beef cow states including Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Montana and Kentucky. These eight states had 15.7 million beef cows on January 1, 2022. The other two, California and Idaho, are the number one and three dairy cow states, respectively. With the growing season winding down amid continuing drought, the 2022 hay supply data illustrate why so much herd liquidation has occurred this year. It also speaks to the continuing challenges that cattle producers will face to get through the winter before the 2023 growing season could provide the next opportunity for improved forage conditions.

 

[marsh]

(Mexican Cartels)


(No summaries given. Have not watched)

Frank Gaffney: The Cartels’ Advances Into America Pose Threat To Entire Nation 5:46 min

Frank Gaffney: The Cartels’ Advances Into America Pose Threat To Entire Nation​

Bannons War Room Published August 15, 2022

^^^^^
Ramirez Live From Violence-Ridden Tijuana On The Cartel Wars Taking Place Next To US Southern Border 10:02 min

Ramirez Live From Violence-Ridden Tijuana On The Cartel Wars Taking Place Next To US Southern Border​

Bannons War Room Published August 15, 2022

^^^^
'America Is At War And Losing': Bergquam Reports On Cartel 'Terrorist Organizations' Attacking US 5:53 min

'America Is At War And Losing': Bergquam Reports On Cartel 'Terrorist Organizations' Attacking US​

Bannons War Room Published August 15, 2022

^^^^
Oscar Ramirez: 19 Cartel Members Arrested In Mexico As Cartel Wars Rage On 5:03 min

Oscar Ramirez: 19 Cartel Members Arrested In Mexico As Cartel Wars Rage On​

Bannons War Room Published August 15, 2022

 

[marsh]

‘Largest Drop Ever’: Cortes Explains Crucial Indexes To Understanding The American Economy 13:45 min

‘Largest Drop Ever’: Cortes Explains Crucial Indexes To Understanding The American Economy​

Bannons War Room Published August 15, 2022

(No summary give. Bannon - - The economy is absolutely imploding for the working class who are not going to allow them to put them in servitude. Screen grab graphics posted in lieu of)

5.4 million people believe they are going to be evicted or foreclosed upon during the next two months.


real income not keeping pace with inflation -3.27%


Mortgage rates exploding real wages declining


Lowest level of housing affordability since the 1980s.

The American economy is in a worsening place - the deceleration is intensifying. The hour is late (from tipping into a depression) but it can be fixed.

Jamie Dimon: "storm clouds" and 40-60% chance of either a hard recession or "something worse"

Bannon - food an energy eating up so much of income people late pay credit cards and mortgages. Small business can barely make payroll so late on rent.

^^^^^

Mass Evictions and Foreclosures Loom

Crashing Real Wages and persistent Inflation squeeze Americans in a financial vise.

stevecortes.substack.com

Mass Evictions and Foreclosures Loom​

Crashing Real Wages and persistent Inflation squeeze Americans in a financial vise.​

Steve Cortes
13 hr ago

Retirees who live in the bucolic Paradise Village retirement community outside of San Diego, CA recently received shocking news. Their recurring bills for rent and other fees will reportedly vault higher by an astounding $1,000 or more per month. Prior to the increase, total costs per apartment started around $3,000 per month.

The local Fox affiliate interviewed a daughter of elderly residents who reacted with indignation: “I’m livid. I cannot believe someone would do this. My mom and her husband are 85 years old, on a fixed income.” The management company responded that the huge increases were compelled to “offset the rising cost of food, labor, and supplies.”

Unfortunately, this Paradise Valley story is hardly isolated. In fact, prepare for evictions and foreclosures to explode in America in the coming months as a toxic financial one-two punch of crashing real wages combines with sky-high inflation to force millions of Americans out of their homes.

A July survey from the Census Bureau, reported by Bloomberg News, found that a staggering “5.4 million households, or 40% of households that are not current on their rent or mortgage payments, said they were likely to be evicted or foreclosed on in the next two months.”

The confluence of severe economic pressures increasingly puts vulnerable citizens into a financial vise. On the income side of the ledger, Americans now endure 16 straight months of falling Real Wages, meaning pay adjusted for inflation. Even if paychecks tick higher, the added earnings cannot keep pace with prices for consumer staples galloping at 40 year record pace.

For example, the latest CPI report -- which the White House actually bragged about -- showed a blistering hot overall Consumer Price Index increase of 8.5%. Within that report, details showed food prices soaring at the hottest velocity since 1979.

Here is the chart depicting the plunge in Real Wages under Biden, reaching -3.02% in July:


Source: Y Charts

Such a precipitous and sustained loss of real income crushes the actual buying power of all Americans, and especially working-class citizens who see their lifestyles decline measurably every single month. The weight of this destruction of prosperity compelled millions of workers to turn to the dangerous practice of loading up on high interest credit cards to cope with the inflation explosion. Total credit card debt in the Second Quarter of this year jumped $46 billion, the highest clip in 20 years.

That credit card debt becomes far more untenable with interest rates rising materially because of the Biden inflation surge. Concurrently, that massive ascent in interest rates also forces mortgage rates far higher than just months ago.

Here is a chart on 30-year mortgage rates going back 5 years, contrasting the President Trump years vs. the present Biden spike in rates: (pay wall)

 

[marsh]

NO Need to Panic Over Man-Made Climate Change: Physicist & Engineer Brian Catt 3:47 min

NO Need to Panic Over Man-Made Climate Change: Physicist & Engineer Brian Catt​

The Vigilant Fox Published August 15, 2022

"If they [the climate alarmists] were to go and look at the natural history of the Earth, which has all been unraveled since these climate myths were created by the UN, they'd find that actually what is happening now is almost totally normal."

 

[marsh]

(FBI)
John Solomon Reports The Latest On The FBI Whistleblowers 2:55 min

John Solomon Reports The Latest On The FBI Whistleblowers​

Prime Time with Dr. Gina Published August 15, 2022

John Solomon reports that the FBI whistleblower allegations are serious enough that the DOJ Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, is engaging with some of the allegations being brought forth.

^^^^
Congressman Declares He's "Going to War" Over Political Weaponization of FBI .50 min

Congressman Declares He's "Going to War" Over Political Weaponization of FBI​

Just the News - Not Noise Published August 15, 2022

U.S. Representative (R-KY), James Comer, says he’s "going to war" with the federal intelligence community if House Republicans win back the majority in November.

 

[marsh]

Five Ways to Fight the Deep State Without Sparking a Civil War 54:38 min

Five Ways to Fight the Deep State Without Sparking a Civil War​

The JD Rucker Show Published August 15, 2022

Anger is high. It's probably going to get even worse. The Deep State and their cronies want America First patriots to lash out and do stupid things so they have a reason to round us up. But we can and should be doing what it takes to fight them without giving them exactly what they want: Civil War.

 

[marsh]

500 Illegal Migrants Entered Eagle Pass Texas This Morning .43 min

500 Illegal Migrants Entered Eagle Pass Texas This Morning​

Dinesh D'Souza Published August 15, 2022

Absolutely shocking!

 

[marsh]

(Canada)

Greenpeace is calling on the Liberals to cut fertilizer emissions even further 8:51 min

Greenpeace is calling on the Liberals to cut fertilizer emissions even further​

Rebel News Published August 15, 2022

^^^^^
On a recent Rebel News DAILY Livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Adam Soos discussed Greenpeace calling on the federal government to cut fertilizer emissions even further. What impacts would these policies have on our food supply, for Canada and the world?

FULL REPORT: Greenpeace is calling on the Liberals to cut fertilizer emissions even further

Greenpeace is calling on the Liberals to cut fertilizer emissions even further​

'This is really bad, not just for Canadians, but for the rest of the world — because Canada feeds the world, especially the developing world.'

• By Rebel News
• August 15, 2022

The Trudeau Liberal government recently announced plans to force a major reduction of greenhouse gas emissions associated with fertilizer use in Canada, in a similar manner to the policies that sparked nationwide protests from farmers in the Netherlands. The Hill Times reports that according to the environmental group Greenpeace, that isn't enough.

On a recent Rebel News DAILY Livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Adam Soos discussed Greenpeace calling on the federal government to cut fertilizer emissions even further.

Commenting on the plan to reduce fertilizer usage and production in the name of the climate, Sheila said:

This is really bad, not just for Canadians, but for the rest of the world — because Canada feeds the world, especially the developing world, because what people don't know is not only are we the world's largest exporter of Canola... but we're the world's largest exporter of pulses: so chickpeas, lentils; and that is an absolute food staple in the developing world because it's cheap, it's dry, it's portable and you can store it forever and it's calorically dense.

And if our food production collapses here, things are going to be tough for Canadians, people are going to be experiencing food insecurity. But when you think about who this hurts the most, it's the Canadian poor and the developing world because we cannot give them the calorically dense, dry, portable, easily stored food that they need.

So yeah, it's it's not going to be good.

 

[marsh]

Mayor Adams Has To Redistribute NYC City Funds After Influx Of Illegal Migrants
.32 min

Mayor Adams Has To Redistribute NYC City Funds After Influx Of Illegal Migrants​

Dinesh D'Souza Published August 15, 2022
They asked for it

 

[marsh]

Psychologist Sounds Alarm Over "Social-Emotional Learning" (SEL) 19:44 min

Psychologist Sounds Alarm Over "Social-Emotional Learning" (SEL)​

The New American Published August 15, 2022

Beware of the "social-emotional learning" (SEL) craze that has spread through schools nationwide, warns Truth in Education Board member Dr. Robert Jones (PsyD) in this interview on Conversations That Matter with The New American magazine's Alex Newman. While very difficult to define--if not impossible--SEL proponents use nice language to make it palatable. However, it lacks "operational validity," and cannot be properly defined or even measured. "It's like trying to nail jell-o to the wall," he said, adding that it allows virtually any agenda to be pushed on children surreptitiously. Many SEL backers are also openly promoting far-left political agendas, gender fluidity, and highly controversial values. SEL is also instilling "artificial self esteem" in children, which is producing all sorts of problems including depression and anxiety. "Our children deserve better than this," added Dr. Jones.

To learn more about Truth In Education, go to Truth In Education – Restoring Integrity in the Classroom

 

[marsh]

The average American is spending an extra $717 a month due to Bidenflation .34 min

The average American is spending an extra $717 a month due to Bidenflation​

The Post Millennial Clips Published August 15, 2022

The average American is spending an extra $717 a month due to Bidenflation

 

[marsh]

Was the FBI warrant given to Trump unconstitutional? 5:26 min

Was the FBI warrant given to Trump unconstitutional?​

Glenn Beck Published August 15, 2022

There’s a problem with the FBI warrant given to Donald Trump before his Mar-a-Lago home was raided, Glenn says, that may make it entirely unconstitutional. The warrant seems to be, ‘pretty much,’ a general warrant for the former president’s entire house. So what is a general warrant and why does the Fourth Amendment protect AGAINST them? That answer goes all the way back to King George III and our Founding Fathers. In this clip, Glenn and Stu explain...

^^^^^^

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zyPjN4Ect8
8:47 min

Why Glenn has never been THIS TERRIFIED for America before

Glenn Beck

America is in a very dangerous place. The far-left is doing everything it can to create the ‘extremists’ it can't seem to organically find, and many on the right have had enough. That’s why Glenn has never been THIS terrified for America before. So while we DO need a plan of action to save the country, Glenn says, that plan must adhere 100 percent to the Constitution. If we abandon it, lash out in anger, or give the far-left any reason to brand us as dangerous, we will lose, he explains. We are so close to November. Don't give the crazies what they want.

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qZsJLKOAyM
45:52 min

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Outlook | Davos | #WEF22​

Aug 15, 2022


World Economic Forum

Major shocks exacerbate divisions within and across countries, with every wave of disruption impacting vulnerable communities the most. How can governments and businesses prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion to deliver durable solutions to the most pressing social and economic challenges in the decade ahead?

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnZiTxfKA3c
59:06 min

Urban Decay + Rampant Crime = Societal Devolution​

Streamed live 13 hours ago

Lionel Nation

(No summary given and have not yet watched. Lionel is likely acquired taste, but I have not seen a lot of analysis about this topic, which will grow in importance as food and housing insecurity increases.)

 

[marsh]

Rep. Jason Smith: Inflation Reduction Act Includes ‘$27 Billion for a Climate Slush Fund for the EPA’ – 3 Times Its Annual Funding

The $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress last week, includes a $27 billion climate slush fund for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is three times as much as what the EPA gets a year in funding, Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said on Sunday.

cnsnews.com

Rep. Jason Smith: Inflation Reduction Act Includes ‘$27 Billion for a Climate Slush Fund for the EPA’ – 3 Times Its Annual Funding​

By Melanie Arter | August 15, 2022 | 3:15pm EDT

(CNSNews.com) – The $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress last week, includes a $27 billion climate slush fund for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is three times as much as what the EPA gets a year in funding, Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said on Sunday.

“There's hundreds of millions of dollars to pay big, woke corporations to make their buildings green. That does zero for the supply chain crisis. There's $27 billion for a climate slush fund for the EPA. That is three times the amount of what EPA has a year in funding. That does zero to lower interest rates,” he told Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Watch on website 6:27 min

“It provides $7.5 billion for tax credit for electric vehicles, and people who make up to $300,000 a year qualify, but it also pays those wealthy people $1.3 billion in tax credit to sell their used electric vehicles. The waste goes on and on. It's a disaster,” the congressman said.

Smith called the bill “a disaster for everyday Americans who are suffering and struggling to just put food on their table and clothes on their backs.”

“This bill will only make inflation increase and will prolong the inflation crisis that we're in. We're currently at an inflation of 13.7% since Joe Biden's taken the oath of office. This bill will spend over $745 billion. It will add taxes and budget offsets of $599 billion, and who benefits from this? Wealthy Americans and the big corporations, and who will pay for this?” he asked.

“Low- and middle-income families with more tax increases and more audits. It's a disaster for America. You cannot spend your way out of inflation, and you definitely can't tax yourself out of it, out of a recession, but this is the Democrats' recipe, is basically pass a climate bill that spends more than $400 billion for their pet projects,” the congressman said.

On President Biden’s claim last week that there was zero inflation in July, Smith said that the Biden administration “administration makes all kinds of weird statements.”

“They said that the original Build Back Better bill would cost zero as well, but it cost $5.1 trillion. I would tell him to talk to any hard working American and to see what they think inflation is. In fact, they know that going to the grocery store, everything's costing more,” the congressman said.

“That same fuzzy math that he used to try to say inflation’s zero percent, if you use those same numbers, bread would be up 33%. Eggs would be up 51. Electricity up 22% under the same math year to year. Inflation just this week came back at 8.5%. He's probably given the wrong advice once again,” he said.

On the Inflation Reduction Act, Smith said, “According to joint tax, almost half of the entire taxes coming out of the $599 billion will be paid by people making less than $400,000 a year.

He said that “it seems that most Americans are going to face the heat of this horrible tax and spending piece of legislation.”

The congressman also said that Republicans are rallying behind former President Donald Trump after the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago and because of the anticipated hiring of 87,000 IRS agents to the federal government.

“I'll tell you right now people are getting behind President Trump, because they do not like the heavy hand of government going after individuals whether it's a former president or whether it’s just an everyday American,” Smith said.

“That is why they are so upset and so worried with about 87,000 more IRS agents to look underneath every one of their couch cushions. They don't like what happened on Monday to president trump. They don't want that to happen to themselves either,” he said.

 

[marsh]

A WEF Op-ed Is Calling for Global Censorship. We Really Need to Cut Ties With These Commies

pjmedia.com

A WEF Op-ed Is Calling for Global Censorship. We Really Need to Cut Ties With These Commies​

BY KEVIN DOWNEY JR. AUG 15, 2022 10:33 AM ET

I’ve always said that most institutions with the words “international” or “world” in their titles are globalist, pinko organizations. Examples include the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Economic Forum (WEF). This does not include Ihop and their delicious boysenberry syrup.

An op-ed article appeared on the WEF website, claiming there is a need for a form of global censorship. It doesn’t say, “We need global censorship,” because the commies are too clever to be that blunt. They offer to shred our rights the way the bolshies always have, by saying it’s for the betterment of the people. In this case, they call for cracking down on “the radicalization of extreme opinions, the spread of misinformation and the wide reach of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).”

The article begins with a note that was clearly added after the op-ed was posted, which reads:

Readers: Please be aware that this article has been shared on websites that routinely misrepresent content and spread misinformation. We ask you to note the following:

1) The content of this article is the opinion of the author, not the World Economic Forum.

2) Please read the piece for yourself. The Forum is committed to publishing a wide array of voices and misrepresenting content only diminishes open conversations.

As we can clearly see, the WEF has already decided which sites spread “misinformation.” Also, if the WEF is into a “wide array of voices,” perhaps I’ll submit an op-ed on how I believe WEF founder Klaus Schwab is a lizard person.

Let’s talk about the aforementioned “radicalization of extreme opinions” first. Though I think I’ve already answered this question, who gets to pick which opinions are and are not “extreme”? The FBI recently decided that various patriotic flags are signs of “militia violent extremists.” That means your memaw’s weekly pinochle game night might get raided because of that traitorous Betsy Ross flag flying on the porch.

If the WEF wants to chase down Antifa sometime when they’re planning one of their violent hissy fits, I’m cool with that. But I don’t see that happening, and Twitter allows them to plan their riots and threaten people on its app without repercussions. If the pinkos at Twitter won’t crack down on the Democrats’ brownshirts, I don’t see how “global censorship” will make a difference.



I asked my Magic 8 Ball if allowing globalists to decide which opinions are “extreme” and what is and isn’t “disinformation” is a good move for the people of earth. It replied, “Better not tell you now.” I fear my Magic 8 Ball has been compromised.

I have an idea: How about we just keep the First Amendment? While we’re talking about global moves, maybe other countries, like Canada, can allow their people the same freedom. Before you know it, freedom will ring worldwide—but I don’t think that’s what the WEF is looking for.

The WEF doesn’t need to focus on internet bullying. If someone is abusing me online, I can block them. I admit that I have had extremists try to radicalize me on the internet, but then I just stopped having Facebook fights with libtards.

And I would love it if the WEF chased down international pedophiles to disrupt “the wide reach of child sexual abuse material,” but first, they’d have to audition for the job. They could win the gig today by simply exposing Jeffrey Epstein’s list of kiddy-diddlers. They won’t, of course, because (I suspect) many global elites are in on it.

 

[marsh]

Jamie Dimon: Get it through your "thick skulls." We need natural gas

Exports and imports both... natural gas gets us to the future

hotair.com

Jamie Dimon: Get it through your "thick skulls." We need natural gas​

JAZZ SHAW Aug 15, 2022 11:01 AM ET

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon runs an operation that is not opposed to efforts to “fight climate change,” however you care to define that. The company has come out in favor of the Paris Climate Accord and announced plans to reach “zero carbon” in its investment portfolio by 2050. But he’s clearly had it with some government policies that are currently driving the American oil and gas industry toward extinction. In particular, Dimon sees natural gas as a lower-carbon bridge to carry us forward as we work on the expansion of green energy alternatives.

This week, he asked reporters, “Why can’t we get it through our thick skulls? America boosting oil and gas production is not against climate change.” It may have been a bit grammatically awkward, but you get the point. Like many of us who keep an eye on the energy debate and as someone who is heavily invested in the subject (both figuratively and literally), Dimon realizes that we need an “all of the above” energy policy and will need one for decades to come. (Business Insider)

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said this week that US natural gas production does not conflict with long-term emission reduction targets, Yahoo Finance first reported.

“We should focus on climate. The problem with that is because of high oil and gas prices, the world is turning back on their coal plants. It is dirtier,” Dimon said on a client call Tuesday, per the Saturday report.

“Why can’t we get it through our thick skulls, that if you want to solve climate [change], it is not against climate [change] for America to boost more oil and gas?” he continued.

To be fair to his critics, it’s true that JPMorgan Chase is heavily invested in a number of energy interests. One recent report claims that the company has invested more than $300 billion into companies in the oil and gas industry between 2016 and 2020. But that’s because the industry has historically been a very profitable one and a sound investment. JPMorgan isn’t in business to lose money, after all.

But Dimon is correct when he speaks of how natural gas in particular is not incompatible with the carbon emission reduction goals currently being touted by the government. Natural gas is far cleaner than coal and has already done a great deal to reduce emissions in the United States. It’s also massively cheaper than wind and solar energy when those industries aren’t being propped up by huge taxpayer subsidies. (Which just happened again in the “inflation reduction act.”)

The more recent (relatively) development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has only expanded the possibilities. Domestically, it offers the opportunity to more quickly and easily ship natural gas to developing areas without needing to have new pipelines constructed. It also presents opportunities for exports, particularly to Europe. These supplies give European countries viable alternatives to Russian supplies.

Along those lines, Joe Weisenthal, a nuts and bolts economist and one of the least partisan people I’ve ever interviewed, made this observation about the Liquified Natural Gas export market and its potential impact not just on the American economy, but the global energy crisis as well.



As it turns out, Dimon has been beating this drum since long before Russia invaded Ukraine.

In his 2021 letter to shareholders, Dimon said “national security demands energy security for ourselves and for our allies overseas,” noting that “using gas to diminish coal consumption is an actionable way to reduce CO2 emissions expeditiously.”

He added that the US needs “immediate approval for additional oil leases and gas pipelines, as well as permits for green energy projects” in order to achieve energy security while also reaching long-term climate goals.

If the American government focuses on nothing but so-called green energy and pushes the oil and gas industry into lockdown mode, the lights are going to go out. It’s just that simple. We don’t produce enough non-fossil fuel energy to keep half of our power grid lit up. This isn’t some political talking point. It’s just math. People on the left might want to listen a bit more carefully to what Jamie Dimon is saying. After all… he’s one of your own. And he didn’t get where he is today by being stupid.

 

[marsh]

BLM suspends most oil/gas leases in Colorado

In the middle of an energy crisis

hotair.com

BLM suspends most oil/gas leases in Colorado
JAZZ SHAW Aug 15, 2022 8:51 AM ET

I should probably clarify that title a bit up front because this is one of the infrequent cases where the initials “BLM” do not refer to the Black Lives Matter movement. We’re talking about the Bureau of Land Management, an agency that wields far more power than it probably should without attracting nearly as many headlines. Under the direction of the White House, BLM has the ability to block off huge tracts of federal land and impose daunting fines on people for various sins of “land mismanagement.” But they also have the power to shut down the leasing of public land for energy exploration. That’s what they’re doing in Colorado now, putting the brakes on scheduled federal leases to the oil and gas industry. Part of the reason they are citing involves a small, plump bird. (Yahoo News)

The Bureau of Land Management will pause oil and gas leasing on 2.2 million acres of Colorado public land after environmental groups alleged its current management plan failed to consider climate impacts, according to a settlement. [Sue and Settle.]

The agreement was filed Thursday in Colorado federal court and requires the government to conduct a new environmental analysis of the climate impacts of oil and gas leasing on public lands in southwestern Colorado. The government also agreed to consider how the leases may impact the endangered Gunnison sage-grouse and its habitat.

The Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and others said in an August 2020 lawsuit that BLM had violated the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the government to take a hard look at the environmental impacts of its leasing decisions, when it approved the current 20-year plan.

If I was framing this story for Twitter it would probably go something like this:

Government: We need to produce more energy and reduce prices for you.
Also Government: We’re stopping oil and gas leases in Colorado to save the Gunnison sage-grouse.

BLM is responding to demands from some of the usual suspects whenever fossil fuel exploration questions arise. These include The Sierra Club, Citizens for a Healthy Community, and the Western Environmental Law Center. Their primary claim, assuming you couldn’t have guessed for yourself immediately, is based on climate change. They claim that the current BLM plan for the regions in question in Colorado fails to take into account the impact of the drilling leases on carbon emissions. Of course, the existing plan that was already approved was put in place under the Trump administration, so it has to go, at least in the minds of the environmentalists.

And then there’s the Gunnison sage-grouse. This otherwise unremarkable little bird has become something of a rockstar in the green energy world. The habitat for the bird has been cited in successful lawsuits to halt energy exploration and pipeline projects in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Invoking any potential threat to the ranges where the birds live can apparently sway the minds of courts in nearly every state where they live.

The thing about the Gunnison sage-grouse is that it’s a subspecies of a family of birds that are fairly ubiquitous around the country and generally aren’t all that endangered. We have various prairie chickens, spruce grouse, ruffed grouse, and at least three types of Ptarmigan, all of which basically fill the same ecological niche. Unless you live in a major urban area or out in the middle of a desert, you could probably go find one with little more than a short drive and a brief hike.

As we’ve discussed here repeatedly, we are facing an energy crisis in the United States and around the world unlike any seen in the modern era. And government “green energy” policies such as the ones that just passed in the supposed “inflation reduction act” are pushing the oil and gas industry to the brink in terms of viability. We need to bring our oil and gas production levels back up to where they were only three years ago, but the government continues to use any excuse to thwart them. I don’t know about you, but if I have to choose between the Gunnison sage-grouse and keeping the lights on, I’ll find some other birds to photograph in my spare time.

 

[marsh]

The Basic Math Problem that Undoes Global Warming Hysteria

If someone proposes a solution to an

www.americanthinker.com

August 15, 2022
The Basic Math Problem that Undoes Global Warming Hysteria
By Maker S. Mark

If someone proposes a solution to an "existential problem" that has no chance of success, should we be forced to take the problem seriously?

If the climate alarmists truly believe there is a climate emergency, then they should be able to answer the first basic question about "the plan." Are the numbers in the plan even remotely achievable? Remember: based on their screeching, we have only twelve years before we all die from "man-made climate change."

To answer that question, let's break part of the plan into the most basic math problem: can we replace 25%, 50%, or 75% of the cars on the road in ten years? To understand the theoretical possibility, we will simplify this to how many years will it take to replace all vehicles on the road in the U.S.

I will start with how many vehicles are on the road today in the U.S. According to this link, in 2020, there were 286 million. I will round that to 300 million to simplify the math.

How many total vehicles are sold every year in the U.S.? This link answers that an average of a little fewer than 15 million vehicles are sold in the U.S. every year (assuming sold vehicles and production capacity are related).

How many electric vehicles are produced in the US? From this link, we produce fewer than 1 million. I will round up to one million for my calculation.

The simple math problem is, how many years will it take to replace all the cars in the U.S. with electric vehicles (total in the U.S. rounded up / average production volume per year)?

It is 300M / 15M/year = 20 years. This assumes two important things: first, there are no new additions into the economy of drivers and vehicles. Second, that we can convert all production to electric vehicles overnight.

If you believe that we are all going to die in 12 years, we are eight years too late in converting to all electric vehicles even if the underlying assumptions were possible.

This simple math problem shows that the people that are screaming the loudest do not have a serious solution to the existential problem of "man-made climate change." The automobile situation in the U.S. alone cannot be resolved in twenty years, let alone in ten years.

Here is where the math gets a little more fun:

If we are currently producing 1 million electric vehicles a year, and we are struggling to attain the materials to hit that number, what is the maximum number of electric vehicles we can produce without a "magic wand"?

I will be generous and say we can at best expect to triple production to 3M a year. If we need 300M to be produced (300M / 3M/year = 100 years), that means that it will take 100 years just to replace all the vehicles on the road. Companies are already struggling to get the minerals needed for batteries. When we try to go from 1M to 2M, it will get worse and more expensive. I can't even image the costs and environmental impact of trying to go from 2M to 3M. My prediction is that in ten years, the best we can hope to achieve in the U.S. is replacing 10% to 15% of the vehicles on the road with electric vehicles.

Unserious people, who can't do this basic math, definitely cannot comprehend the complex science involved in studying the climate. The numbers don't lie. Their solution will not solve the "man-made climate problem" without a magic wand to replace every vehicle in the U.S. in one or even two generations.

Members of the Biden administration have taken to saying we need the pain to get the gain. I demonstrate for you now that it is not possible to produce enough vehicles in 12 years or in 25 years. Therefore, this is definitely all pain and no gain. By destroying the U.S. fossil fuel industry, it does seem they are determined to destroy the U.S. economy from within.

Therefore, why are they pushing this agenda and this ridiculous solution? If you believe that the "man-made climate catastrophe" is around the corner, how will destroying the U.S. and the world economy help? Simple answer is "it won't." The U.S. is the most innovative nation in the history of the world. If you take us out of the equation, serious problems cannot be solved.

For those who say the globalists have a plan, I can assure you based on this high-level math that they do not have a serious plan to address "man-made climate change" (if they really believe it). It will probably take trillions of dollars injected into the world economy and thirty to forty years to replace all gas-powered vehicles with electric (assuming we can find the minerals and components to manufacture the batteries).

Without the magic wand referenced repeatedly by globalists, there is no way to produce enough electric vehicles to make a difference. The real question then becomes, why are they pushing to convert to electric vehicles (it won't help in time) to solve an "existential problem"? I think we have to "follow the money" to find out.

Personally, I will continue the work on the math problems and real science to dispel the myth of "man-made climate change." I recommend we not listen to people who are unwilling or unable to complete basic math problems when solving for this so-called crisis. The unserious solutions will do nothing to help an unserious problem.

 

[marsh]

Warren food pantry storage container firebombed, police investigating

The food pantry serves 1,500 families every month.

www.fox2detroit.com

Warren food pantry storage container firebombed, police investigating​

By Fox 2 Staff
Published August 14, 2022 8:12PM

FOX 2 Detroit

WARREN, Mich. (FOX 2) - A food pantry in Warren needs your help after a massive amount of their food supply was destroyed in a fire.

An unknown person broke into the Harvest Time Christian Fellowship storage container on Saturday and firebombed it.

The container stored canned goods and other food items. The food pantry serves 1,500 families every month.

"It doesn't make send why someone would hurt someone who does something good for the community," said Pastor Curtiss Ostosh

If you have any information, you are asked to contact Warren police at 586-574-4700.

 

[marsh]

Record low birthrate in Norway this year

What is happening?

petersweden.substack.com

Record low birthrate in Norway this year​

What is happening?​

Peter Imanuelsen
Aug 13

As you might know if you have followed my Substack, something weird has been happening with the birthrates worldwide recently.

Mysteriously, all over the world the birthrates have collapsed at the same time and the experts seem to have no idea what is going on.

For example, in Stockholm it was down some 14%, in Germany it was down 12% and in Taiwan it was down a whopping 27%. Now something is going on that seems to have affected the birthrate in many countries across the world simultaneously.

"It is a drastic and remarkable reduction beyond the usual. We have never seen anything like this before, that the bottom just falls out in just one quarter" said Gunnar Andersson, professor in demographics at Stockholm University to Dagens Nyheter.

It would be on thing if it only happened in one country. But when it happens in many countries simultaneously, something weird is going on.
If you want to read about it in detail, I highly recommend you read my previous article on the subject here:

The Freedom Corner with PeterSweden
Something weird is happening with the birth rates.
Here is something that really should be talked about more, but I am struggling to find news outlets that are willing to talk about it. We are talking about the birth rate. The climate change fanatics often talk about "overpopulation" and that we need to have less children to save the planet, but the fact is that we are facing an under population crisis. Many countries in the West has fertility rate so low that fast forward there will be a population collapse! We need more babies born, not less…
Read more
a month ago · 51 likes · 6 comments · Peter Imanuelsen
Now I have come across some information about the birthrates in Norway so we can compare how they are doing with the rest of the world.

Norway now has the lowest birthrate on record.​

So Norway too has since a decrease in the number of births this year, however it doesn’t seem to be as bad as it has been in many other countries, so let’s take a closer look.

Interestingly, the birthrate actually rose for the first time in 12 years in 2021 during the pandemic. However during the first quarter of 2022, the birthrate has fallen to new record lows.


Screenshot from SSB on the Norwegian birthrates.

In the first quarter of 2022 there was born 12 869 babies, compared with 13 726 in 2021. In other words, this is a decrease by 6.2%. But we need to keep in mind here that 2021 saw an increase in the number of births compared with the years before.

So if we look at 2019 which was before we got any pandemic restrictions, there was 13 407 babies born. Even compared with 2019 we then see a 4% decrease in births compared with this year.

Now it could be that more people decided to have babies in 2021 and we are seeing a compensatory drop this year.

According to an expert at the Norwegian health authorities this decrease could be explained because women take more education nowadays and that secularization and increased housing prices contribute to lower birthrates.

In any case the birthrate is down in Norway, but not nearly as much as in other countries where we have seen 2 to 3 times bigger drops. The interesting thing is that the birthrate appears to have dropped more among younger women as you can see on this chart here.


Screenshot from SSB.

This correlates with what I found in the Britain where some younger women did not appear to have as many babies as they normally would, again read more about that in my previous article here:

The Freedom Corner with PeterSweden
Something weird is happening with the birth rates.
Here is something that really should be talked about more, but I am struggling to find news outlets that are willing to talk about it. We are talking about the birth rate. The climate change fanatics often talk about "overpopulation" and that we need to have less children to save the planet, but the fact is that we are facing an under population crisis. Many countries in the West has fertility rate so low that fast forward there will be a population collapse! We need more babies born, not less…
a month ago · 51 likes · 6 comments · Peter Imanuelsen

Another thing I saw when looking into the birthrate statistics is that there appears to have been an increase in the death rate in Norway this year.
11 900 people died in the first quarter of 2022, compared with only 10 100 in 2021. That’s a whopping 18% increase.


Screenshot from SSB on the death rate in Norway.

Now it should be said that death rate in Norway was actually lower than normal during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, only to increase dramatically in 2022.

”The death rate was artificially low in 2020 and into 2021 due to restrictions against the corona pandemic. These helped protect the most vulnerable among us and did so that more people got to live longer than during more normal circumstances. Now most of the restrictions are gone, and for the third quarter in a row the death rate was higher than during the same period a year before” says Espen Andersen at SSB, the Norwegian statistics bureau.

So births are down. The death rate is dramatically up.
What is going on here?

 

[marsh]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Escobar: The Second Coming Of The Heartland

MONDAY, AUG 15, 2022 - 07:15 PM
Authored by Pepe Escobar,

It’s tempting to visualize the overwhelming collective West debacle as a rocket, faster than free fall, plunging into the black void maelstrom of complete socio-political breakdown.

The End of (Their) History turns out to be a fast-forward historical process bearing staggering ramifications: way more profound than mere self-appointed “elites” – via their messenger boys/girls – dictating a Dystopia engineered by austerity and financialization: what they chose to brand as a Great Reset and then, major fail intervening, The Great Narrative.

Financialization of everything means total marketization of Life itself. In his latest book, No-Cosas: Quiebras del Mundo de Hoy (in Spanish, no English translation yet), the foremost German contemporary philosopher (Byung-Chul Han, who happens to be Korean), analyzes how Information Capitalism, unlike industrial capitalism, converts also the immaterial into merchandise: “Life itself acquires the form of merchandise (…) the difference between culture and commerce disappears. Institutions of culture are presented as profitable brands.”

The most toxic consequence is that “total commercialization and mercantilization of culture had the effect of destroying the community (…) Community as merchandise is the end of community.”

China’s foreign policy under Xi Jinping proposes the idea of a community of shared future for mankind, essentially a geopolitical and geoeconomic project. Yet China still has not amassed enough soft power to translate that culturally, and seduce vast swathes of the world into it: that especially concerns the West, for which Chinese culture, history and philosophies are virtually incomprehensible.

In Inner Asia, where I am now, a revived glorious past may offer other instances of “shared community”. A glittering example is the Shaki Zinda necropolis in Samarkand.

Afrasiab – the ancient settlement, pre-Samarkand – had been destroyed by the Genghis Khan hordes in 1221. The only building that was preserved was the city’s main shrine: Shaki Zinda.

Much later, in the mid-15th century, star astronomer Ulugh Beg, himself the grandson of Turkic-Mongol “Conqueror of the World” Timur, unleashed no less than a Cultural Renaissance: he summoned architects and craftsmen from all corners of the Timurid empire and the Islamic world to work into what became a de facto creative artistic lab.

The Avenue of 44 Tombs at Shaki Zinda represents the masters of different schools harmoniously creating a unique synthesis of styles in Islamic architecture.

The most remarkable décor at Shaki Zinda are stalactites, hung in clusters in the upper parts of portal niches. An early 18th century traveler described them as “magnificent stalactites, hanging like stars above the mausoleum, make it clear about the eternity of the sky and our frailty.” Stalactites in the 15th century were called “muqarnas”: that means, figuratively, “starry sky”.

The Sheltering (Community) Sky
The Shaki Zinda complex is now at the center of a willful push by the Uzbekistan government to restore Samarkand to its former glory. The centerpiece, trans-historical concepts are “harmony” and “community” – and that reaches way beyond Islam.

As a sharp contrast, the inestimable Alastair Crooke has illustrated the death of Eurocentrism alluding to Lewis Carroll and Yeats: only through the looking glass we can see the full contours of the tawdry spectacle of narcissistic self-obsession and self-justification offered by “the worst”, still so “full of passionate intensity”, as depicted by Yeats.

And yet, unlike Yeats, the best now do not “lack all conviction”. They may be few, ostracized by cancel culture, but they do see the “rough beast, its hour come out at last, slouching towards…” Brussels (not Jerusalem) “to be born”.

This unelected gaggle of insufferable mediocrities – from von der Leyden and Borrell to that piece of Norwegian wood Stoltenberg – may dream they live in the pre-1914 era, when Europe was at the political center. Yet now not only “the center cannot hold” (Yeats) but Eurocrat-infested Europe has been definitely engulfed by the maelstrom, an irrelevant political backwater seriously flirting with reversion to 12th century status.

The physical aspects of the Fall – austerity, inflation, no hot showers, freezing to death to support neo-Nazis in Kiev – has been preceded, and no Christianized imagery need apply, by the fires of sulphur and brimstone of a Spiritual Fall. The transatlantic masters of those parrots posing as “elites” could never come up with any idea to sell to the Global South centered on harmony and much less “community”.

What they sell, via their Unanimous Narrative, actually their take on “We Are the World”, is variations of “you will own nothing and be happy”. Worse: you will have to pay for it – dearly. And you have no right to dream of any transcendence – irrespective if you’re a follower of Rumi, the Tao, shamanism or Prophet Muhammad.

The most visible shock troops of this reductionist Western neo-nihilism – obscured by the fog of “equality”, “human rights” and “democracy” – are the thugs being swiftly denazified in Ukraine, sporting their tattoos and pentagrams.

The dawn of a new Enlightenment
The Collective West Self-Justification Show staged to obliterate its ritualized suicide offers no hint of transcending sacrifice implied in a ceremonial seppuku. All they do is to wallow in the adamant refusal to admit they could be seriously mistaken.

How would anyone dare to deride the set of “values” derived from the Enlightenment? If you don’t prostrate yourself in front of this glittering cultural altar, you’re just a barbarian set to be slandered, law-fared, canceled, persecuted, sanctioned and – HIMARS to the rescue – bombed.

We still do not have a post-Tik Tok Tintoretto to depict the collective West’s multi-wallowing in Dante-esque chambers of pop Hell. What we do have, and must endure, day after day, is the kinetic battle between their “Great Narrative”, or narratives, and pure and simple reality. Their obsession with the need for virtual reality to always “win” is pathological: after all the only activity they excel in is manufacturing fake reality. Such a pity that Baudrillard and Umberto Eco are not among us anymore to unmask their tawdry shenanigans.

Does that make any difference across vast swathes of Eurasia? Of course not. We just need to keep up with the dizzying succession of bilateral meetings, deals, and progressive interaction of BRI, SCO, EAEU, BRICS+ and other multilateral organizations to get a glimpse of how the new world-system is being configured.

In Samarkand, surrounded by mesmerizing instances of Timurid art coupled with a development boom that brings to mind the East Asian miracle of the early 1990s, it’s plain to see how the heart of the Heartland is back with a vengeance – and is bound to dispatch the pleonexia-afflicted West to the swamp of Irrelevancy.

I leave you with a psychedelic sunset facing the Registan, at the razor’s edge of a new sort of Enlightenment that is leading the Heartland towards a reality-based version of Shangri-La, privileging harmony, tolerance and most of all, the sense of community.

 

[marsh]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Monsoon Rainfall Waterlogs Vegas, While Pacific Northwest Braces For Heat Dome

MONDAY, AUG 15, 2022 - 08:30 PM

Wild weather across the western part of the US has sparked one of the worst monsoon seasons in Las Vegas in a decade, while California and parts of the Pacific Northwest brace for a heat dome that could push power grids to the max.

Late last week, intense thunderstorms flooded parts of southern Nevada, including Vegas. Videos on social media show floodwater pouring into at least one casino while parking garages were transformed into rivers. This comes two weeks after another storm wreaked havoc on Sin City.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1558231675192188928

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1558231675192188928
.34 min

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1558827795236769792

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1558827795236769792
1:21 min

Clark County officials report the latest series of storms in the Vegas metro area has meant the wettest monsoon season in a decade. Besides the flooding, this is good news for the region suffering from extreme drought.

"That makes this the wettest monsoon season in ten years," the National Weather Service tweeted.

Meanwhile, near-record heat is expected this week in California's Central Valley and parts of the Pacific Northwest as a heat dome builds across the region, worsening the drought-stricken area and pushing power grids to critical levels.



California's Central Valley could record temperatures as high as 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Another pocket of heat will scorch western Washington.



Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster with the Weather Prediction Center, said Sacramento could hit 105 Fahrenheit by mid-week, and Redding could record 109 Fahrenheit.

"It is going to be well above average," Oravec said. "The heat will also eventually spread to the Northwest and Northern Plains."

A linger heat dome over California could stress power grids. Demand is expected to peak Monday at around 43.8 gigawatts and could even jump to 45.2 gigawatts by mid-week, said grid operator California Independent System Operator.

In anticipation of increasing cooling demand, Southern California's SP15 hub's on-peak power prices soared 29% to $149.70 a megawatt for Monday, the highest in nearly a year.



Gary Ackerman, an independent energy consultant who founded the Western Power Trading Forum, told Bloomberg that power-supply shortfalls are unlikely at this point.

However, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a regulatory body that manages grid stability, recently warned before the summer that power supplies in the Western US could be overwhelmed by soaring demand due to extreme heat. We might add decarbonization efforts of grids have made things worse.

 

[marsh]

Profits soar as Europe flocks to South African coal 1:52 min

PROFITS SOAR AS EUROPE FLOCKS TO SOUTH AFRICAN COAL​

• WATCH
• South Africa's coal sales to Europe rose eight-fold during the first half of 2022 compared with last year as demand for the fossil fuel surged ahead of a ban on Russian coal, Thungela Resources said. Reuters 08/15/2022

 

[marsh]

Ep. 2850a - The [WEF] Is Panicking, People Are Waking Up, The People See It Now

Help Melt Body Fat Away With This Special Keto Powder! Click Here--> http://ketowithx22.com Try it today for 51% OFF ^^^ Countries are now gas lighting the people about inflation, this will not work. The younger generation is getting it, they are…

www.bitchute.com

EP. 2850A - THE [WEF] IS PANICKING, PEOPLE ARE WAKING UP, THE PEOPLE SEE IT NOW​

• WATCH

Countries are now gas lighting the people about inflation, this will not work. The younger generation is getting it, they are realizing what inflation really is. The [WEF] is now concerned because they cannot control the narrative and the people are waking up.

All source links to the report can be found on the x22report.com site.

 

[marsh]

The divide between city and farmland on Dutch farmer rebellion 5:57 min

THE DIVIDE BETWEEN CITY AND FARMLAND ON DUTCH FARMER REBELLION​

• WATCH

The political divides between city dwellers and people who live in rural areas are commonly talked about, so I’m here in Amsterdam to find out what urban residents think about the Dutch Farmer Rebellion.

^^^

The divide between city and farmland on Dutch farmer rebellion

The political divides between city dwellers and people who live in rural areas are commonly talked about, so I’m here in Amsterdam to find out what urban residents think about the Dutch Farmer Rebellion.

www.rebelnews.com

The divide between city and farmland on Dutch farmer rebellion​

The political divides between city dwellers and people who live in rural areas are commonly talked about, so I’m here in Amsterdam to find out what urban residents think about the Dutch Farmer Rebellion.

• By Lewis Brackpool
• August 15, 2022

As you may have been aware, protests have sparked across the Netherlands.

In fact, these protests have been going on since 2019, when the Dutch government declared a nitrogen emission crisis, meaning that farmers would have to cut livestock by up to 50%. It also entailed emission caps, i.e. reducing fertilizer usage, and caused worry among farmers about whether they would be forced to give up their land to the state.

Fast-forward to the present day and the situation has escalated. The protests have grown substantially, though the government is not backing down on its push toward the United Nations' Agenda 2030 goalposts. The farmers are continuing to rally to show their discontent with the Dutch government and the World Economic Forum-pushed blueprints.

My questions to the residents of Amsterdam: if the farmers are forced to give up their land to the state, is this policy really about climate change or perhaps something else? Do they support the farmers? And do the urban residents of Amsterdam feel the tension in the Netherlands between the state and the farmers?

 

[marsh]

Dr Reiner Fuellmich "They are trying to kill us" 2:18 min

DR REINER FUELLMICH "THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL US"​

• WATCH

^^^^^
From his Telegram site

​

 

[marsh]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

WEF's "Global Intelligence Collecting AI" To Erase Ideas From The Internet​

MONDAY, AUG 15, 2022 - 08:55 PM

Via '2nd Smartest Guy in the World' Substack,

The World Economic Forum is becoming a little concerned. Unapproved opinions are becoming more popular, and online censors cannot keep up with millions of people becoming more aware and more vocal. The censorship engines employed by Internet platforms, turned out to be quite stupid and incapable. People are even daring to complain about the World Economic Forum, which is obviously completely unacceptable.

So, WEF author Inbal Goldberger came up with a solution: she proposes to collect off-platform intelligence from “millions of sources” to spy on people and new ideas, and then merge this information together for “content removal decisions” sent down to “Internet platforms”.

To overcome the barriers of traditional detection methodologies, we propose a new framework: rather than relying on AI to detect at scale and humans to review edge cases, an intelligence-based approach is crucial.
By bringing human-curated, multi-language, off-platform intelligence into learning sets, AI will then be able to detect nuanced, novel abuses at scale, before they reach mainstream platforms. Supplementing this smarter automated detection with human expertise to review edge cases and identify false positives and negatives and then feeding those findings back into training sets will allow us to create AI with human intelligence baked in. This more intelligent AI gets more sophisticated with each moderation decision, eventually allowing near-perfect detection, at scale.

What is this about? What’s new?

The way censorship is done these days is that each Internet platform, such as Twitter, has its own moderation team and a decision making engine. Twitter would only look at tweets by any specific twitter user, when deciding on whether to delete any tweets or suspend their authors. Twitter moderators do NOT look at Gettr or other external websites.

So, for example, user @JohnSmith12345 may have a Twitter account and narrowly abide by Twitter rules, but at the same time have a Gettr account where he would publish anti-vaccine messages. Twitter would not be able to suspend @JohnSmith12345’s account. That is no longer acceptable to the WEF because they want to silence people and ideas, not individual messages or accounts.

This explains why the WEF needs to move beyond the major Internet platforms, in order to collect intelligence about people and ideas everywhere else. Such an approach would allow them to know better what person or idea to censor — on all major platforms at once.

They want to collect intelligence from “millions of sources”, and train their “AI systems” to detect thoughts that they do not like, to make content removal decisions handed down to the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and so on. This is a major change from the status quo of each platform deciding what to do based on messages posted to that specific platform only.

For example, in addition to looking at my Twitter profile, WEF’s proposed AI would also look at my Gettr profile, and then it would make an “intelligent decision” to remove me from the Internet at once. It is somewhat of a simplification because they also want to look for ideas and not only individuals but, nevertheless, the search for wrongthink becomes globalized.



This sounds like an insane conspiracy theory from hell: WEF collecting information on everyone everywhere, and then telling all platforms what posts to remove, based on a global decision-making AI engine that sees everything and can identify individual people and ideas beyond any given platform.

If someone ever said that it would be contemplated, I would probably think that this person is insane. It sounds like a sick technological fantasy.

Unfortunately, this crazy stuff is real, is in a WEF agenda proposal that is officially posted on their website’s “WEF Agenda” section. And WEF is not messing around.

You will have no voice and you will be happy!

Of course, this AI content moderation slots straight into the AI social credit score system. And if your social credit score dips below whichever technocommunist AI thresholds as set by the elites, then all kinds of punishments will be meted out, from slashed UBI credits to bug-food rationing to an early granting of the “freedom” to be euthanized.

Do NOT comply.

 

[marsh]

(Norway Another plea to prepare)

Norsk Prepper | Message to Norwegians / Europeans: Why You Need to Take Action Now 10:43 min

NORSK PREPPER | MESSAGE TO NORWEGIANS / EUROPEANS: WHY YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION NOW
WATCH