GOV/MIL Main "Great Reset" Thread

marsh

On TB every waking moment

marsh

On TB every waking moment
CDC Director Commissions 'Reorganization' of the Agency Following Criticism for COVID-19 Missteps 2:17 min

CDC Director Commissions 'Reorganization' of the Agency Following Criticism for COVID-19 Missteps​

Red Voice Media Published August 18, 2022
Rochelle Walensky: "We learned some hard lessons over the last three years, and as part of that, it's my responsibility, the agency's responsibility, to learn from those lessons and do better."

^^^^^
Rand Paul: CDC Needs to ‘Step Back and Get into the Advice Game, Not the Mandate Game’ 2:19 min

Rand Paul: CDC Needs to ‘Step Back and Get into the Advice Game, Not the Mandate Game’​

Red Voice Media Published August 18, 2022

PAUL: “… like so many things at the CDC, the left has misdiagnosed the problem and they are going to misapply the solution. It wasn’t that they acted too sparingly—the problem was that they acted too quickly and not based on science.”
 
Last edited:

marsh

On TB every waking moment
1660870004959.jpeg on the CDC restructuring

Dr. Malone: CDC’s Misconduct Has No Oversight due to Administrative State’s Lack of Accountability 8:26 min

Dr. Malone: CDC’s Misconduct Has No Oversight due to Administrative State’s Lack of Accountability​

Bannons War Room Published August 18, 2022

^^^
Dr. Harvey Risch Discusses Trivial Self-Report Released By CDC Riddled With Errors In Logic 10:01 min

Dr. Harvey Risch Discusses Trivial Self-Report Released By CDC Riddled With Errors In Logic​

Bannons War Room Published August 18, 2022

^^^^^
Dr. Wolf: The CDC’s Revamp Is ‘Concerning’ for Americans due to Push Towards Authoritarianism 11:11 min

Dr. Wolf: The CDC’s Revamp Is ‘Concerning’ for Americans due to Push Towards Authoritarianism​

Bannons War Room Published August 18, 2022

^^^^
Edward Dowd On CDC Misdirection Of Failure Handling COVID-19 2:17 min

Edward Dowd On CDC Misdirection Of Failure Handling COVID-19​

Bannons War Room Published August 18, 2022
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Seeding The Sky: Can Scientists Manipulate The Weather To Benefit Agriculture?​

By CLINTON GRIFFITHS August 18, 2022

Growing population centers and increasing resource demands are pushing scientists in search of additional water sources. Desalination, drilling water reclamation and deep aquifer exploration are often the first draws from the well of ideas. However, technology seeks to tap atmospheric rivers, bringing rain and the promise of renewal.

Weather modification is the pursuit of technology or land management practices that ultimately alter, support or encourage a preferred atmospheric outcome. It can be done to improve or encourage rainfall; increase mountain snowpack; and suppress hail, lightning and flooding.

“People have almost a primordial urge to try to control the weather,” says Andrew Detwiler, president of the Weather Modification Association. “It’s been in the human psyche for millennia, but what we think of today is much more modern.”

Weather modification is happening already. At least 10 states are currently seeding clouds or studying its possibility to help support cities and continue agricultural production.
Types of Weather Modification

ARID EXPANSION​

Meteorologists and climatologists often say drought begets drought and there’s at least some evidence a causal loop is forming. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences raises the possibility of a climatological precipice in the southwestern U.S. as a drought that started in 1999 and continues to expand. The authors worry about the brink becoming the baseline.

In 2022, variable Sierra snowpack, dwindling Colorado and Rio Grande river levels, a vanishing Great Salt Lake, falling well levels along the Ogallala and the slow disappearance of the nation’s largest reservoir of Lake Mead all com-bine to flash warning signs that farming, or even living west of the nation’s dryline, is a generational uncertainty.

WATCHING THE CLOUDS​

Heat soaks through the soles of Carlon Stapper’s boots as they crunch across the landscape of loose rocks and stubble, baking in the monochromatic expanse of the west Texas Edwards Plateau. A herd of goats shuffle away hunting new slivers of shade beneath the relentless summer sun.

“There’s nothing growing at this point,” Stapper says. “There’s no grass and even some of our brush didn’t leaf out this year.”

His ranch, in western Crockett County along the Pecos River, raises Angora goats, which are typically well suited for the region’s climate. This year they’re feeding a protein supplement because of the drought.
Photo: Carlon Stapper

“I wholeheartedly believe in the technology,” says Stapper, a 10-year board member of the West Texas Weather Modification Association. “There just haven’t been many opportunities because to enhance the clouds, we have to have clouds first.”

TECHNOLOGY TAKES FLIGHT​

The dull drone of the engine buzzes the sky as a yellow air tractor sets its sights just below a cumulonimbus cloud puffing its cauliflower shaped lungs toward the heavens.

Mounted just off the wing’s trailing edges are rows of nozzles — pistols ready to fire a positively charged mist of water into the sky. As the airplane feels the tug of the cloud’s updraft, the seeds of another Texas rain are sent charging through its core.

“If you introduce the right kind of particles into this supercooled area of the cloud, they can cause water droplets to freeze and additional ice crystals to form from excess water vapor in the cloud,” explains Detwiler, also a longtime university professor in North and South Dakota. “When you have a mixture of ice particles and cloud droplets, the liquid drops evaporate, and the ice particles grow becoming big enough to precipitate out.”

The reality of weather modification has long been wisps of foggy science promising on-demand solutions while delivering statistical maybes or anecdotal actualities. First developed after World War II, cloud seeding has been attempted off and on for decades.

“We have long-term statistical evidence from Idaho Power that cloud seeding has put more snow in the mountains,” says Eric Snodgrass, principal atmospheric scientist for Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Dryness on the Move States Using Weather Modification

FLARES AND LASERS​

Traditionally done with wing- or rocket-mounted silver iodide flares, new technology is finding its way into the industry.

In Dubai, scientists are trying lasers mounted on drones to coax excited water particles together ending with their fall from the sky. In Texas, teams are trying calcium chloride flares.

“These particles are very hygroscopic. When you release them into a cloud, they attract moisture very quickly,” says Jonathan Jennings, meteorologist for the West Texas Weather Modification Association.

In addition, Jennings has been working with Dan Martin, a research engineer with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, to test a recently patented technology using water.

“We’re using tap water, but we’re charging it as it exits the nozzle,” Martin says.

These experts say seeded clouds average between 5% to 15% more precipitation flux (how hard and how much it rains) compared with the non-seeded counterparts. In early trials, Martin’s positively charged water is beating that number.

“We’re seeing about 25% to 30%,” he says. “That is just from the initial data set, and we hope to at least confirm that this year.”

Long-running droughts has communities in the U.S. and abroad giving cloud seeding a fresh look. Jennings sees it as a long-term water management strategy to help bank water supplies in wet years, so it is available during years with less rain.

“If we can take an area that gets maybe 5" of rain a year and turn that into 10" a year, then you change the game,” Martin adds.

It’s also less expensive than other freshwater systems, such as desalination, reclamation and aquifer pumping. Jennings says their studies show 1 acre foot of water seeded by traditional silver iodide flares costs less than $10 compared with desalination at $2,000 or more.

CLOUDED IN CONTROVERSY​

Since its inception, altering rainfall via cloud seeding methods have been controversial.

“There’s a budget to moisture; if it’s taken anywhere along the path, then you’re only left with your local recycled moisture,” Snodgrass says.

Jennings says they aren’t taking rain from one place to give to another, they’re simply enticing the clouds to rain more when they do.

“What we’re doing allows clouds to grow larger and last longer, anywhere from a 15-min. extended lifetime in small clouds to upward of 45 minutes in larger clouds,” Jennings says.

He’s also adamant they aren’t making it hail. In fact, Martin’s new charged water project is being tested for hail suppression in North Dakota.
“Every year there’s $10 billion in property damage due to hail; $1 billion of that directly affects agriculture,” he says. “Our system converts the cloud moisture into rain and with less water available you get pea-sized hail rather than golf-ball sized hail.”

MODIFIED FOR GOOD​

Intentional or not, humans have helped shape today’s weather patterns. Now they’re looking at technology to protect their future. These experts say rather than spotty coverage in a handful of states, a well-funded and nationally coordinated approach would have a bigger impact.

“If you can provide more rainfall on arable land for crops then, hopefully, we can increase yield from the limited area we have available,” Martin says.
That’s what Texas rancher Stapper hopes as he eyes his brown pastures.
“We’re learning more and doing a better job with the clouds all the time,” he says. “We can’t do anything else to get rain other than this and pray."
...............................................................

Restoring the Sinai​

The Weather Makers is a group focused on regenerating the ecosystem in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

“Back in the day, 4,000 to 8,000 years ago, it used to be quite a green oasis,” says Pieter van Hout, a stakeholder manager with The Weather Makers.

If the Egyptians approve, the plan is to dredge Lake Bardawil, desalinate those soils with plants and freshwater in hopes of returning that soil to the land where plants can start to grow again. Essentially, Van Hout says, you restart the region’s water cycle: “If you have the right amount of vegetation then you have enough moisture in the air, and then you have enough to condensate and come down as precipitation.”

The Weather Makers point to the Loess Plateau in China. Once brown and degraded, it’s now a lush green valley where plants and animals thrive.

“The proposition is not that the entire planet can be green,” van Hout says. “It’s about degraded landscapes because those you can regenerate.”
Loess Plateau


(Comment: I remember that our Bd. of Sups. was requested by PG&E to approve cloud seeding to increase rainfall over Lake Shasta, We declined to approve because we did not know how this would effect rainfall over farmlands north of there, snowpack in the mountains and how aluminum particles would effect health.)
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Nutrient Reductions, Atrazine Changes: Bill Northey Shares Insights​

By MARGY ECKELKAMP August 18, 2022

Iowa Agribusiness Association CEO Bill Northey joined AgriTalk on the heels of an important nutrient management announcement and field trip with EPA officials.

Northey celebrated the recent $250,000 grant given to Iowa Nutrient Research & Education Council (INREC), to improve water quality and support Iowa’s

Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
“This grant will continue our work,” Northey says. “We’re also looking at some nitrogen rate studies that would help us understand how to improve nitrogen management for Iowa farmers.”

He says it will be a combination of in-field practices (cover crops, reduced nitrogen rates or split nitrogen applications) as well as edge of field activities (nutrient reduction wetlands, bioreactors, and saturated buffers) Iowa farmers will use to meet their goals.

He notes recent studies supporting how Iowa farmers have significantly reduced phosphorus leaving their fields and milestones in adoption of conservation practices.

“If you look at all the conservation practices that are out there, that change from 30 years ago is tremendous,” Northey says. “The Nutrient Reduction Strategy started not just quite 10 years ago, and at that time, we had maybe less than 20,000 acres in cover crops in Iowa. Now, we’re around 3 million acres of cover crops.”

Audio on website 12:00 min

As a former USDA Undersecretary, Northey shared some insights into the $19.5 billion in conservation funding included in the Inflation Reduction Act, with one of the climate initiatives prompting USDA to estimate 89 million acres of cropland exceed the nitrogen loss threshold required.

So does this mean manufacturers, retailers and farmers should expect rate mandates?​

“Any regulatory kind of scheme is probably a risk, but I would think that it's a small risk,” Northey says. “One of the things I learned at USDA is ideas are easy, implementation is tough. So how would you implement that? How would you say what the rate should be everywhere? Frankly, in some years I've got a 5% organic matter soil it may release 250 pounds of nitrogen to grow that crop and I don't need a lot more than that to be able to grow the crop but some years it releases less than 100 pounds.”

Northey adds government intervention at that level of a rate reduction would be difficult to monitor and penalize.

“Besides, it'd be inefficient thing for the government to try and manage when the farmer wants the same thing–not any more than you need and to grow a great crop,” he says.

Field trips to ag retailers can be valuable tools in illustrating best practices already being done.​

Also this week, Northey and his team helped host a group of officials from the EPA at the New Century FS location in Melbourne, Iowa. They toured the facilities, and particularly did some show-and-tell sessions about how the site is operated, the type of technologies used to ensure professional application of pesticides, and their safety considerations and containment structures for product storage.

Northey says this time together at a retail location was particularly helpful given the current comment period for new atrazine regulations.

“EPA has reduced the level of Atrazine that could appear in water, and in a way that would probably require a lower limit to the amount of atrazine that could be used, and it would certainly add more complexity in its use and the way you show your compliance,” Northey says.

He notes atrazine is used in more than 90 different products at low levels to add efficacy to a product and add weeds controlled to a tank mix.

“We talk to retailers, and they say that if we lose atrazine, we would see a lot more tillage because that’s what is remaining to be able to control some of these weeds,” he says. “EPA assures us that's not what they're after. They're not after more tillage. But certainly farmers need choices, and if some of the choices are taken off the table that's a real worry to our farmers and our retailers.”
 
Last edited:

marsh

On TB every waking moment

INREC Announces Grant From Google to Improve Water Quality​

By NEWS RELEASE August 18, 2022
On August 17, at the Iowa State Fair, the Iowa Nutrient Research & Education Council (INREC) announced a $250,000 grant from Google that will bolster INREC initiatives to improve water quality and support Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy.

The grant was announced by INREC Executive Director Ben Gleason and Google Regional Head of External Affairs Dan Harbeke.

“Iowa continues to lead on soil health and water quality and grants like this one only help to accelerate our progress. I’m grateful for the investment made today by Google as we work towards achieving the goals of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy,” said Governor Kim Reynolds.

Iowa is home to the most productive cropland in the world, producing one-eleventh of the nations’ food supply and is the largest producer of corn, pork and eggs. The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy was first in the nation, and public/private partnerships demonstrate Iowa’s leadership in water quality.

INREC worked closely with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and Iowa State University to develop novel, first-in-the-nation progress measurements including the INREC survey of ag retailers to measure in-field nutrient reduction practices and the Iowa BMP Mapping Project to map structural conservation practices across the state.

“We appreciate the leadership by INREC and the investment by Google and the more than 350 other statewide public and private partners who are helping us work toward reaching the water quality and soil conservation goals outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “We are always eager to welcome new partners, both rural or urban, who want to work collaboratively with us to reach more Iowans and help deploy and install proven water quality practices.”

Currently, INREC is supporting ISU’s nitrogen initiative to develop cutting edge nitrogen management tools utilizing precision technology, farm data collection, and supercomputing and modeling. INREC applies data and science through education and outreach from fertilizer retailers to farmers leading to healthier waterways.

"Farmers are the original stewards of the land,” said Elizabeth Pishny, External Affairs and Strategy at Google. “We are proud to partner with INREC on their work with growers, crop advisors, and ag retailers to promote innovation in nutrient management and conservation."

The Google grant will help further INREC’s mission to measure and demonstrate environmental progress in Iowa farming practices, foster innovation and development of new environmental technologies to reduce nutrient losses, and enhance dedicated outreach and education to assist Iowa farmers in achieving environmental goals.

“We greatly appreciate the tremendous support from Google to leverage existing projects to enhance future science and technology as INREC supports Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy,” said Roger Zylstra, farmer and chair of the INREC board of directors. “This support will expand our public/private partnerships to improve water quality.”

Google has called Iowa home for more than a decade and its first data center in Council Bluffs came online in 2009. Since then, Google has invested more than $5 billion in Iowa and established a long-term commitment to the state. Google has created jobs for more than 900 people at its Iowa facility and has awarded more than $3 million to local schools and nonprofits in Iowa.

INREC strategically brings together farm and commodity organizations, fertilizer and crop production companies, agricultural retailers, and crop advisers in a formal organization to help lead the environmental efforts of agriculture in Iowa. Non-profit members include Agribusiness Association of Iowa, Iowa Certified Crop Advisors, Iowa Corn Promotion Board, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, and Iowa Pork Producers Association.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Farm Groups React to PEB Recommendations, Look at Next Step in Rail Dispute​

Rail Issue 081822
By MICHELLE ROOK August 18, 2022

Video on website 2:31 min

The Presidential Emergency Board has released it's report to the White House. The group was tasked with finding a solution to the labor dispute between Class I railroads and the labor unions. The board offered a handful of recommendation. Topping the list was a bump in salaries for rail workers.

National Grain and Feed Association officials called the 24% wage increase over five years a fair compromise. Max Fisher, is their Chief Economist, “You may be asking, Where does that stand with respect to what were the two sides we're at. So the rail carriers were at 17% is what they were offering. And the real labor, what they were requesting was 31%. So 24% is right in between those two figures.

The PEB also suggested the railroad pay a $1000 service recognition bonus annually verses the $1000 signing bonus they had proposed. Plus an increase in health benefits, additional personal days and changes in how travel expenditures are reimbursed.

Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director for the Soy Transportation Coalition says the recommendations aren't binding and the parties have 30-days to accept or reject them. During that time, the labor unions are prevented from going on strike. He says, “So around the middle of September there's going to be a decision made by those 2 parties and if they don't make the right decision, it could really wreak havoc when it comes to agriculture because that's the eve of our harvest.”

The earliest possible date a strike could take place is September 16 and Steenhoek says they're hopeful the recommendations will result in productive negotiations between railroads and rail workers to avoid any disruptions. He says, “We need to have our supply chain operating on all cylinders that particularly includes our railroad industry. If we don't it's going to be one more barrier to profitability for farmers in the U.S.

He says the lack of reliable rail service has been an issue for months now and the labor disputes have only added to the problem. So agriculture needs a resolution.

If no agreement is reached during the next 30 days, Congress can step in and mandate the PEB recommendations or some other settlement. Congress could also impose additional cooling off periods to avert a strike.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Increase Soil Carbon Sequestration With Edge Of Field Practices​

Farmers across the United States are successfully implementing edge of field practices to better manage water and reduce nutrient and sediment loss from their fields.
Farmers across the United States are successfully implementing edge of field practices to better manage water and reduce nutrient and sediment loss from their fields.(© Liam Munroe for TNC)

By SPONSORED CONTENT August 18, 2022
Decades of scientific research tells us that improving nutrient management and rebuilding soil health in farm fields can increase productivity for farmers and deliver a range of conservation benefits. But research also tells us that we need to focus on improving conditions at the edge of the farm fields, too.

Edge of field practices are designed to slow, filter, and process water running off farm fields, both above and below the surface. In addition to providing water quality benefits, they also store more carbon; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; enhance water storage, pollinator and wildlife habitat; and increase streambank stabilization. Edge of field practices include:
  • Vegetated buffers provide a transition zone between the crop field and a water feature. Farmer benefits: The vegetation slows surface runoff, filters pollutants, and reduces erosion. Learn more.
  • Grassed waterways are an erosion control practice. Farmer benefits: This provides a stabilized flow path for water through a farm field. Learn more.
  • Prairie strips are integrated with or planted at the edge of crop fields. Farmer benefits: These reduce nutrient and sediment loss while benefitting birds, pollinators and other wildlife. Learn more.
  • Constructed wetlands are an engineered ecosystem designed to optimize specific wetland characteristics and functions to improve water quality. Farmer benefits: Constructed wetlands can be designed to treat surface and/or subsurface flows. Learn more.
  • Saturated buffers resemble a traditional buffer, but it is designed to capture and treat water from underground tile drains. Farmer benefits: As water seeps slowly through the buffer, high organic matter in the soil promotes denitrification. This improves water quality on-farm and in communities downstream. Learn more.
  • Two-stage ditches are trapezoidal drainage ditches with added floodplain benches that slow water flow. Farmer benefits: The ditches promote sediment and nutrient retention and bank stability. Learn more.
“We need to harness the larger landscape by creating conservation opportunities at the field edge,” says Kris Johnson, Ph.D., director of agriculture with The Nature Conservancy in North America. “Through the implementation of conservation and stewardship practices at the edges of farm fields, we can realize water quality and climate goals—a crucial but under-utilized conservation opportunity.”

Outsized Opportunities For Nutrient And Water Management
Farmers across the United States are successfully implementing edge of field practices to better manage water and reduce nutrient and sediment loss from their fields. They have seen the benefits first-hand, and their experiences demonstrate the crucial role well-managed farms can play in solving environmental challenges.

“Water management is a critical component when thinking about optimizing production and minimizing risks, Keegan Kult, executive director of the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition. “Edge of field practices are designed in a way to work with a farmers drainage system to maintain or enhance in-field productivity, while minimizing the nutrients escaping the field. Drainage water management and now automated drainage water management can even show a farmer a return on their investment when properly sited.”

Edge of field practices can be paired with in-field conservation practices to support farm productivity and profitability while maximizing the conservation benefits. In fact, scientists with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) estimate that approximately 550,000 acres of restored and constructed wetlands could help treat nutrient loss from 50 million acres of cropland, improving the health of lakes and rivers across the country.

Edge of Field Practices


In addition to the staggering water quality benefits offered by this suite of practices, TNC scientists also estimate that wide-spread implementation of restored and constructed wetlands could sequester 7.4 million tons of soil organic carbon adjacent to working lands over a 10-year period. Such practices could be a revenue stream for farmers who enroll in ecosystem services markets, as well as a boon to climate change mitigation efforts gaining momentum across the food and agriculture industry.

Yet, to achieve environmental benefits at these large scales, more farmers must adopt edge of field practices. This isn’t always easy. There are barriers to adoption: up-front costs, technical issues, and misconceptions about the role that these practices can play on productive, profitable farms.

Farmers Using Edge Of Field Propose Paths To Scale
How do we overcome barriers and help farmers adopt edge of field practices on a larger scale and at a faster pace? In 2020, TNC, the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) and Meridian Institute came together to find answers.

The three organizations convened 26 leaders, including farmers who are early adopters of edge of field practices; representatives from environmental and conservation nonprofits, commodity groups, professional associations and agriculture and food companies; and current and former public agency staff.
Building upon a shared base of knowledge, the group developed Leading at the Edge: A Roadmap to Advance Edge of Field Practices in Agriculture.

Featuring successful and innovative case studies from across the nation and recognizing the accomplishments of individuals and organizations, the edge of field Roadmap is a blueprint for collaborative action implement these practices on a larger scale and at a faster rate.

“The Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition was excited to participate in the Roadmap to raise awareness of these underutilized practices,” said Kult one of the partners that met virtually over the course of six months in 2020 to develop the Roadmap.

The edge of field Roadmap is a call to action for partnerships, conservation groups, policy makers, farmers, farm organizations, supply chain companies and other agricultural stakeholders. Working collaboratively, stakeholders can elevate public awareness of edge of field practices and the role they play in helping to improve the sustainability of the U.S. food system and help the business and government sectors meet environmental goals.

Together, we can transform our agricultural landscape for the benefit of our producers, our communities and the environment we all share. Learn more at nature.org/EdgeofField.

(Comment: After all this "nutrient management" and "carbon sequestration," will the farm still be profitable? Will that be it or will they keep demanding more and more? Will yields decrease? Will yield carrying capacity to supply the US population be sufficient? Will grant programs and voluntary goals turn into forced EPA regulations?)
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Biden’s Wind Power Push Could Wipe Out Nearly Half Of Golden Eagle Population By 2050: REPORT​

JACK MCEVOYENERGY & ENVIRONMENT REPORTER
August 18, 20222:52 PM ET

The Biden administration’s push to increase the number of wind turbines in the American West is killing significant portions of the golden eagle, potentially endangering the existence of one of the two eagle species that are native to North America, according to the Associated Press.

President Joe Biden is ramping up wind energy developments which scientists say could lead to 20,000 golden eagle deaths over a ten-year period, equal to roughly 50% of the species’ population, which is about 40,000, according to the AP, citing a United States Geological Survey (USGS) study. The number of wind turbines nationally more than doubled in the last ten years to roughly 70,000, with development encroaching on prime golden eagle habitat in states including Wyoming, Montana, California, Washington and Oregon, reported the AP.

“As we increase wind development across the U.S., that risk is increasing,” Bryan Bedrosian, conservation director at the Teton Raptor Center in Wilson, Wyoming, told the AP. “Wind mortality wasn’t a thing for golden eagles 10 years ago.”

The expansion of wind power is a key part of President Joe Biden’s climate agenda that seeks to replace fossil fuels with green energy sources like wind turbines in order to achieve net-zero carbon emissions economy-wide by 2050. The Democrats’ $369 climate bill, which Biden passed into law on Tuesday, will entice developers to invest in wind projects through tax breaks and subsidies.

Turbine blades that are hundreds of feet long collide with golden eagles in the air, killing them; furthermore, golden eagles are also killed by power lines and other structures related to wind energy, according to the AP.

Government officials collect golden eagle death numbers via an online system used by government agencies, companies, scientists, tribes and private groups, according to the AP. However, officials refuse to reveal exactly how many eagles are killed by wind farms, arguing that it is critical law enforcement information.

Wind farm owners across the country were given federal permits in 2021 that would allow them to get away with incidentally killing up to 170 golden eagles although the companies must make sure at least one eagle death is prevented elsewhere with every loss, the AP reported.

NextEra Energy, a Florida-based energy company, pleaded guilty in April to criminal violations of wildlife protection statutes in federal court in Wyoming after its wind turbines killed more than 100 golden eagles in eight states, according to the AP. Three large wind power companies have been found guilty of killing eagles in the past ten years.

It is estimated that more than one million birds a year are killed by wind turbines, according to the conservationist NGO, the Sierra Club.

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

marsh

On TB every waking moment

‘Incongruities In Morality’: Biden’s Climate Activist Allies Aren’t Happy With Massive Spending Bill​

JACK MCEVOYENERGY & ENVIRONMENT REPORTER
August 18, 202210:46 AM ET

Activists on President Joe Biden’s environmental justice council are frustrated by what they consider to be concessions to the oil and gas industry included in the Democrats’ huge climate spending bill, according to Politico.

Two members of the White House’s “environmental justice” council are complaining that fossil fuel provisions outweigh the impact of $369 billion that the bill puts towards green energy and environmental justice programs, Politico reported. The activists argue that provisions to auction federal lands for drilling, as well as pipeline permitting reform and funding for carbon capture technology, will expose minority and underprivileged communities to more pollution.

The leasing measures will harm minority and economically disadvantaged communities that are located near the Gulf Coast’s oil and gas facilities, Robert Bullard, member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University, told Politico.

The plan gives $60 billion to financing environmental justice, which is the highest amount the federal government has ever provided for the cleanup of pollution in minority communities and low-income areas, according to the Democrats’ summary of the bill; however, Biden’s allies are not fully satisfied with the funding.

“What we have to do is get a commitment that this is not the end of our work on climate justice and that we have to work better and harder to ensure that those big gaping holes that are left in this bill are filled with justice,” Bullard told Politico.

Activist organizations also are urging Biden to declare a climate emergency in order to strengthen executive actions to fight climate change. They assert that such measures are necessary as modeling done by Democratic Sen. Chuck of New York’s office demonstrates that the new law will fall far short of Biden’s objectives for lowering U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to Politico.

“Somehow, we’re both a bargaining chip and the people that can save the day when it comes to elections,” Maria Lopez-Nuez, deputy director of organizing and advocacy with the Ironbound Community Corp., and a member of Biden’s White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, told Politico. “Those are incongruities in morality that cannot last for very long.”

Biden promised to address racial inequity and climate change simultaneously, incorporating ideas for “environmental justice” into his ambitious climate agenda.

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

theruminator

Contributing Member

Biden’s Wind Power Push Could Wipe Out Nearly Half Of Golden Eagle Population By 2050: REPORT​

JACK MCEVOYENERGY & ENVIRONMENT REPORTER
August 18, 20222:52 PM ET

The Biden administration’s push to increase the number of wind turbines in the American West is killing significant portions of the golden eagle, potentially endangering the existence of one of the two eagle species that are native to North America, according to the Associated Press.

President Joe Biden is ramping up wind energy developments which scientists say could lead to 20,000 golden eagle deaths over a ten-year period, equal to roughly 50% of the species’ population, which is about 40,000, according to the AP, citing a United States Geological Survey (USGS) study. The number of wind turbines nationally more than doubled in the last ten years to roughly 70,000, with development encroaching on prime golden eagle habitat in states including Wyoming, Montana, California, Washington and Oregon, reported the AP.

“As we increase wind development across the U.S., that risk is increasing,” Bryan Bedrosian, conservation director at the Teton Raptor Center in Wilson, Wyoming, told the AP. “Wind mortality wasn’t a thing for golden eagles 10 years ago.”

The expansion of wind power is a key part of President Joe Biden’s climate agenda that seeks to replace fossil fuels with green energy sources like wind turbines in order to achieve net-zero carbon emissions economy-wide by 2050. The Democrats’ $369 climate bill, which Biden passed into law on Tuesday, will entice developers to invest in wind projects through tax breaks and subsidies.

Turbine blades that are hundreds of feet long collide with golden eagles in the air, killing them; furthermore, golden eagles are also killed by power lines and other structures related to wind energy, according to the AP.

Government officials collect golden eagle death numbers via an online system used by government agencies, companies, scientists, tribes and private groups, according to the AP. However, officials refuse to reveal exactly how many eagles are killed by wind farms, arguing that it is critical law enforcement information.

Wind farm owners across the country were given federal permits in 2021 that would allow them to get away with incidentally killing up to 170 golden eagles although the companies must make sure at least one eagle death is prevented elsewhere with every loss, the AP reported.

NextEra Energy, a Florida-based energy company, pleaded guilty in April to criminal violations of wildlife protection statutes in federal court in Wyoming after its wind turbines killed more than 100 golden eagles in eight states, according to the AP. Three large wind power companies have been found guilty of killing eagles in the past ten years.

It is estimated that more than one million birds a year are killed by wind turbines, according to the conservationist NGO, the Sierra Club.

The White House and USGS did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
And don't forget all the birds that migrate on the east coast. They want to put these things in the Atlantic.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

US Officials Approved 94% Of Tech Exports To China In 2020

SarAH WEAVER
August 18, 2022

The U.S. approves nearly all semiconductors, aerospace components, artificial-intelligence technology and other technology items exported to China, according to Commerce Department data analyzed by the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. approved 94%, amounting to 2,652, of technology exports to China in 2020, according to the data. In 2021, 88% of tech exports were approved. Of the $125 billion worth of exports the US sends to China, officials require a license for only half a percent.

Amid concerns that China is building up a powerful arsenal of advanced technologies, Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, a bill that included $52 billion in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and $200 billion in tech research. (RELATED: CCP-Linked TikTok To Crack Down On Election ‘Misinformation’, Partners With US Gov)

Overseas orders from China for semiconductors rose by 58% in 2021, Bloomberg reported. China is spending $150 billion by 2030 on production of semiconductors. China is the world’s largest chip manufacturer.

Steve Coonen, the Pentagon’s former top China export-control analyst, reportedly resigned due to America’s lax policy on trading with China.

“I have no problem trading with or feeding China,” he said in an email announcing his resignation, according to the WSJ. “I have a huge problem with arming China.”

1660874793083.png

The Chineses Communist Party’s (CCP) ties to the U.S. government run deep. An exclusive report from the Daily Caller News Foundation found that several CCP members were employed by a think tank formerly headed by Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns. Between February 2015 and November 2021, Burns’ think tank employed at least 20 policy experts who were CCP members
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
(Germany)

German Energy Apocalypse Update​

eugyppius
9 hr ago
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch...9b9-a644-4483-852a-1f96ae470a79_2190x1221.png
Germany’s second most important source of energy is natural gas. We produce almost none of it ourselves, and yet it is crucial for electricity generation, for our industry, and to heat our homes.

Prior to the Ukraine war, we got about half of our natural gas from Russia. Since the imposition of sanctions, the Russian regime has retaliated by reducing supply drastically; right now, the crucial Nord Stream 1 pipeline is operating at 20% capacity. At first Gazprom pleaded (disingenuously) that the reduced flow was down to routine maintenance. Germany responded by asking Canada to violate their own sanctions and return to Germany a Nord Stream 1 turbine that had been sent there for repairs. The Canadians agreed, and that turbine is now sitting farcically in Mülheim, awaiting Russian import clearances that will never come.

Robert Habeck, our Economic Minister, meanwhile refuses to even consider opening the fully functional Nord Stream 2, because that would be giving a victory to Vladimir Putin. Nor can Germany contract with the Norwegians for more natural gas, because they demand long-term contracts, while German energy doctrine regards fossil fuels as a temporary transitional step on the way to renewables.

Finally, as we struggle to build our meagre gas reserves for the winter, our power stations are burning more gas than ever before. It turns out they’re selling the electricity to the French, who have taken a great many of their nuclear plants offline for maintenance.

What awaits us, as a consequence of this multidimensional folly, is another winter of economic destruction: Our lockdown-battered economy will face serious contraction as industrial production plummets, many Germans will have problems heating their homes, and municipalities will be forced to curtail basic services like outdoor lighting. But, at least we’re hurting Vladimir Putin, somehow.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW5Q4774czM
11:05 min

EXPOSED: Big Gov FAILS to contain HUGE COVID relief fraud​


Glenn Beck

When you have a federal government that operates as if it has an unlimited checkbook, it’s not rocket science to assume some fraud will be involved. But the amount of fraud that took place after D.C. administered HUGE COVID relief checks and programs is SHOCKING. Glenn describes the BILLIONS of dollars of fraud that took place, the failure of government to control it today, and he explains why this is just another example to NOT trust Big Gov…
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlu87qM1EtE
46:16 min

Safeguarding the Future of the Internet | Davos | #WEF22

Aug 18, 2022


World Economic Forum

Concerns are rising about the need to safeguard the internet against threats of fragmentation and protectionist measures. At the same time, governments and businesses are coming to terms with the reality that everyone is a potential target in this new context for cybersecurity. How can multi stakeholder approaches help us preserve cyber stability and prevent a potential splinternet?
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EloEAy30kqk
15:49 min

What’s REALLY inside Democrats' HUGE climate/inflation bill​

Aug 18, 2022


Glenn Beck

By now, most Americans know the Democrats’ ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ bill will not ACTUALLY reduce inflation or miraculously end climate change. But you may not be aware of several, specific clauses — HIDDEN deep inside the bill’s 700+ pages — that exist simply to benefit the Democrat Party (like huge payouts to special interest groups that helped Joe Biden win the White House, for example). Economist Stephen Moore, Co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, joins Glenn to detail what he found hidden inside this HUGE bill…
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igqdCYAd4dE
6:54 min

China Forcing Companies To Halt Production Due To Heat Wave ( Toyota & More )​



The Economic Ninja

China Forcing Companies To Halt Production Due To Heat Wave ( Toyota & More )

^^^
See post #6558

China's Power Crisis Worsens As More Factories Suspend Operations​

 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
'That Should Have Gone Down': Life Insurance Companies Across the Board See Staggering Increase in Death Benefit Payouts 3:52 min

'That Should Have Gone Down': Life Insurance Companies Across the Board See Staggering Increase in Death Benefit Payouts​

Red Voice Media Published August 18, 2022

Del Bigtree: “$1 billion over the year where we had this supposed deadly pandemic. Our savior cure comes in. Now, $1 billion more is being paid out than even that year. It’s really — it’s astounding.”

Includes bar charts from various US life insurance carriers.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
The Looming World Food Crisis – Prof. Don Huber, Plant Scientist And Biowarfare Expert 29:31 min

The Looming World Food Crisis – Prof. Don Huber, Plant Scientist And Biowarfare Expert​

The New American Published August 18, 2022

Dr. Don M. Huber is Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. He is also a colonel (US Army, retired) and a graduate of the US Army Command & General Staff College and Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He retired in 1995 as Associate Director of the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center (Colonel) after 41+ years of active and reserve military service. Dr. Huber is an active scientific reviewer; international research cooperator with projects in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and Russia; and a consultant to academia, industry, and government. He is author or co-author of over 300 journal articles, Experiment Station Bulletins, research presentations, book chapters and review articles; 3 books, and 84 special invited publications.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Drought Is Driving European Energy Markets Toward Disaster

THURSDAY, AUG 18, 2022 - 06:30 PM
By Irina Slav of OilPrice.com

Energy markets and nature seem to have it in for Europe. Record-breaking gas prices, rising coal prices, and droughts that interfere with electricity generation in some key markets have combined to push electricity contracts in the EU to record highs as uncertainty about the coming winter deepens.

Reuters reported earlier this week that a number of power forward contracts traded in the EU hit highs because of what increasingly looks like a perfect energy storm, affecting every energy source in one way or another.

"A number of factors are adding up: The market is uncertain about whether (French utility) EDF will increase nuclear availability enough for winter, which explains the price differences between the two countries [France and Germany]," Rystad Energy analyst Fabian Ronningen told Reuters.

EDF has had to significantly reduce the capacity utilization rate of its nuclear power plants because droughts in France have reduced water availability for cooling the reactors. But the drought came on top of earlier problems: reactor corrosion that prompted the utility to close some of them earlier this year, effectively reducing the supply of electricity available for sale on the domestic or regional market.

Meanwhile, in Germany, wind output is low, and so is the water level of the Rhine—a key transport route for things like coal, for example. Germany's economy is quite dependent on this crucial shipping corridor, but when the water level is critically low, shippers simply cannot load the usual volume of cargo, meaning that coal and other commodities are reaching their destinations in smaller mounts and more slowly.

The drought is also affecting hydropower output, adding to worries about future supply. Because of the drought, Norway, which generates more than two-thirds of its electricity from hydropower, announced it would curb electricity exports, threatening supply for other European countries at the worst possible time. In the UK, there's talk about blackouts.

Meanwhile, Gazprom's gas flows to Europe remain much lower than usual, with the Russian state major warning this week that gas prices on the spot European market could top $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters. Recently, spot prices broke the $2,500 barrier.

"European spot gas prices have reached $2,500 (per 1,000 cubic meters). According to conservative estimates, if such a tendency persists, prices will exceed $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters this winter," Gazprom said.

The European Union has been quick in switching from Russian gas to U.S. LNG amid the Ukraine crisis, but speed has not been enough: U.S. LNG export capacity is not limitless, and producers also have other clients, in Asia. As the winter season approaches, Asian buyers have become more willing to pay hefty premiums for any LNG, which has intensified competition for a limited number of LNG tankers.

No wonder, then, that electricity prices in some parts of Europe have hit records. Even less wonder that industries are beginning to buckle, per a recent Bloomberg report. The report noted that Germany's year-ahead electricity contract rose to more than 530 euros per MWh earlier this week, which constituted a 500-percent increase over the past 12 months. No industry can absorb such a price shock unscathed, and German industry didn't.

Germany had to pay the equivalent of more than $15 billion to bail out one of its biggest gas utilities, Uniper, earlier this year. Chemicals giant BASF warned that a gas shortage could wreak havoc on the industry. Aluminum and zinc smelters are closing, and so are fertilizer plants, all because of record gas and electricity prices.

Relief is not in sight unless one considers the filling up of gas storage caverns in Europe a form of relief. The EC had set a target of 80 percent for storage fill rates by October 1. Member-states are on track to hit this target ahead of schedule, but this has come at a cost: the EU's gas bill this year is ten times higher than it normally is, at over $51 billion.

What's more, storage alone will not be enough to keep European economies going through the winter months. The EU will need more gas as regular supply. Besides the U.S., there are few other places it can get it. It could be why the head of the German energy regulator warned the EU's biggest economy would need to reduce gas consumption by a fifth to avoid shortages and rationing in the winter.

"The longer these price rises go up, the more this will be felt across the economy," Daniel Kral, senior economist at Oxford Economics, told Bloomberg this week. "The magnitude of the increase and magnitude of the crisis isn't comparable to anything in the past few decades."

It is unfortunate that Europe is experiencing one unprecedented crisis after another. And it could yet get worse as the oil embargo against Russia kicks in at the end of the year.

Analysts have warned that this could lead to higher prices for oil. This will, in turn, add to upward electricity price pressure due to the switch from gas to oil some utilities in Europe have implemented to shield themselves from prohibitive gas prices.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

It Begins: TMZ Promotes Cricket Protein Powder

By Jim Hoft
Published August 18, 2022 at 9:54pm

The globalists and the left-wing media will not stop convincing people to eat bugs.

“If you’re sick of that post-protein-shake bloat or tired of heavy powders and supplements that leave you feeling overly full and sluggish, try this out instead!” This is the very first line that you come across on TMZ’s website in their advertisement for a protein powder alternative made from crickets.

TMZ is now advertising protein supplements produced by Human Improvement that are made with cricket powders.

Human Improvement tried a variety of protein combinations before settling on one cricket powder. They tried on a blend of organic pumpkin protein, pea protein, and brown rice protein.

“Cricket protein is high in fiber and prebiotics and is not only easy to digest but research shows it may actually help boost gut-health,” the company said.

“Cricket protein is one of the most sustainable and nutritious protein sources on earth. Not only is it a complete protein that is high in B12, iron, and prebiotics but it also requires a fraction of the resources used by traditional animal protein sources,” Human Improvement wrote.

“In fact, crickets emit 99.9% less greenhouse gases, use 90% less water, and 93% less land than livestock to produce the same amount of protein,” it added.

“While using crickets to make protein powder may turn heads at first, it’s actually much better for our bodies and the environment than other powders and supplements that we ingest daily,” TMZ wrote on its website.

“In fact, it’s more nutritious than plant protein and more sustainable than whey – packed with clean ingredients that taste great and go easy on your gut. You’ll never taste the crickets, but you’ll definitely notice the benefits,” it added.

It can be recalled that the globalists and the left-wing media tried to convince people to eat bugs, as reported by The Gateway Pundit.

A South African entrepreneur is innovating new ways of turning ‘mopane worms’ into flour to be used for protein bars and protein smoothies.

Wendy Vesela, the chemical engineer behind the push for people to eat the caterpillars, said the bugs can also be used as pizza toppings.

The World Economic Forum openly calls on the peasants to eat bugs and weeds for ‘environmental reasons.’

Global elites at the WEF also promoted fake ‘meat’ produced from a 3D printer as “a taste of the future.”

WEF gave three reasons why peasants should eat lab-grown meat:

Every year, billions of animals are raised and slaughtered for food.
This uses huge amounts of water and energy.

Some experts believe alternatives could be better for people and the environment.

In July, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) broke the news that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) proposed funding a feasibility study to feed “fake meat” to the Navy, TGP reported.

“Funding in the NDAA, provides a pilot program to feed fake meat to the Navy,” Rep. Greene wrote on her Twitter.

“As if recruitment isn’t hard enough right now getting young people to join our woke military requiring vaccines, the Navy is going to have it extra hard bc apparently Bill Gates is designing the menu,” she argued.

1660885623874.png
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

John Kerry’s Office of Special Presidential Climate Envoy Redacts Every Staffer’s Name in Response to FOIA Request

By Cristina Laila
Published August 18, 2022 at 9:21pm

Who did John Kerry hire (paid for by taxpayer money) to work in the ‘Office of Presidential Climate Envoy’?

Joe Biden’s ‘Special Presidential Climate Envoy’ John Kerry has been operating in secret for the past year-and-a-half.

Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) filed a FOIA lawsuit in an effort to obtain emails between John Kerry’s office and various climate change groups.

The emails turned over to PPT from John Kerry’s office were heavily redacted.

Not one staffer’s name was revealed.

What is John Kerry hiding?

Fox News obtained the documents from PPT.

“It hardly seems in the public interest, in fact it appears the antithesis of serving the public interest, to hide the names of government officials who are communicating with controversial outside activist organizations that are attempting to influence government policy,” PPT director Michael Chamberlain told Fox News Digital.

Fox News reported:

The office of Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry redacted each of the names and emails of their staffers in emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Fox News Digital obtained the documents from government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), which revealed the correspondence between Kerry’s office and several recipients, including nearly 20 climate change groups.

PPT was only able to obtain the documents after suing Kerry’s office over unfulfilled FOIA requests. However, the emails have every staffer’s name and email redacted.

“The State Department’s attempts to keep from the public the names of every one of their employees involved in these communications stands in stark contrast to the attorney general’s declaration that ‘transparency in government operations is a priority of this administration,'” Chamberlain continued.

“State’s attempts to conceal the identities of the officials participating in these conversations was so excessive they first attempted to conceal the name of the person whose documents we requested in the first place,” he added.

According to the documents, the redactions were made under the FOIA exemption (b)(6) for “personal privacy information.”

It is unclear why Kerry’s office is redacting the names and emails of the federal employees he oversees, who are all paid with taxpayer dollars.

The FOIA redactions only raise more questions than answers and could hint at controversial hires in the office — a pre-eminent feature across the Biden administration.

The most ‘transparent’ administration in US history (besides Barry Obama’s).

(Comment: I wonder how many were WEFers)
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
‘Equity’ Is a Communist Tactic That Destroys Nations: Cultural Revolution Survivor Lily Tang Williams 1:07:40 min

‘Equity’ Is a Communist Tactic That Destroys Nations: Cultural Revolution Survivor Lily Tang Williams​

“Under Mao’s Cultural Revolution, they can find something you wrote, something you said many years ago, and then demonize you as an ‘oppressor.’ … You lose your job. You go to camps. You go to struggle sessions.

Have you seen the struggle sessions in America today? It’s called less whiteness training.”

Lily Tang Williams is a survivor of communist China’s Cultural Revolution and now a congressional candidate for New Hampshire’s 2nd district.

“I see the writing on the wall,” she says. From statues being toppled to the push for “equity” to people losing their businesses and their careers because they refused the COVID vaccines, America is descending into the same kind of authoritarianism she fled from, Williams says.

“I thought I was having PTSD. I would literally wake up in the middle of the night. … This is like the Cultural Revolution all over again.”
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Bill Gates’ Sinister Plan to Force You to Eat “Fake Meat”​

By The Expose
Global Research, August 18, 2022
The Expose 17 August 2022

Bill Gates owns more farmland in the U.S. than any other private farmer, having purchased a total of 242,000 acres. Is the purchase of this land all part of his plan to force you to eat lab-grown synthetic meat?

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest charitable foundation in the world, has an agricultural agenda that supports agrochemicals, patented seeds, fake meat and corporate control — interests that undermine regenerative, sustainable, small-scale farming. One of the key players in this agenda is the widespread adoption of synthetic meat.

Imitation meat company Impossible Foods was co-funded by Google, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, and Gates has made it clear that he believes switching to synthetic beef is the solution to reducing methane emissions that come from animals raised on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).


The strong recommendation to replace beef with fake meat is made in Gates’ book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need,” which was released in February 2021. In an interview with MIT Technology Review, he goes so far as to say that people’s behaviours should be changed to learn to like fake meat and, if that doesn’t work, regulations could do the trick.

Gates, by the way, invests in fake meat companies and is buying up U.S. farmland at a frenzied pace. Ultimately, the Gates empire “will own everything.”

Gates Invests in Fake Meat Companies

According to Gates, in order to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, fake meat will “be required.” He told MIT Technology Review:

“In terms of livestock, it’s very difficult. There are all the things where they feed them different food, like there’s this one compound that gives you a 20% reduction [in methane emissions]. But sadly, those bacteria [in their digestive system that produce methane] are a necessary part of breaking down the grass.

And so I don’t know if there’ll be some natural approach there. I’m afraid the synthetic [protein alternatives like plant-based burgers] will be required for at least the beef thing.”

He then mentions Memphis Meats, which is producing synthetic meat in a lab via mass culturing stem cells from animals, often in a solution containing bovine serum, hormones, growth factors and other food additives. PR campaigns have gone so far as to call lab-grown meat “clean meat,” but research published in Environmental Science and Technology suggested it could actually require more intensive energy use compared to conventional meat.

Gates says he thinks Memphis Meats will be too expensive to become widespread, “But Impossible and Beyond have a road map, a quality road map and a cost road map, that makes them totally competitive.” He’s referring to Impossible Foods, a leader in the fake meat industry that is producing plant-based “meat.”

Impossible Foods holds 14 patents, with at least 100 more pending. Beyond Meat is another leading producer of fake “beef,” “pork” and “chicken” products, which announced in 2020 that it would start producing some of its products in China.

What many aren’t aware of, however, is that Gates is either personally invested in, or invested in via Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Beyond Meats, Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats and other companies he actively promotes. Gates told MIT:

“As for scale today, they [Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat] don’t represent 1% of the meat in the world, but they’re on their way. And Breakthrough Energy has four different investments in this space for making the ingredients very efficiently …

Now I’ve said I can actually see a path. But you’re right that saying to people, ‘You can’t have cows anymore’ — talk about a politically unpopular approach to things.”

Gates isn’t stopping at fake meat, though. He’s also recently backed a biotechnology start-up company called Biomilq, which is developing lab-cultured breast milk.

Gates: All Rich Countries Should Eat 100% Fake Beef

Whether or not it’s “unpopular” doesn’t matter, apparently, as Gates said he thinks rich countries should all be eating fake meat. When asked whether he thinks plant-based and lab-grown meats could “be the full solution to the protein problem globally,” he says that, in middle- to above-income countries, yes, and that people can “get used” to it:

“I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time. Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behaviour of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand.

So for meat in the middle-income-and-above countries, I do think it’s possible.

But it’s one of those ones where, wow, you have to track it every year and see, and the politics [are challenging]. There are all these bills that say it’s got to be called, basically, lab garbage to be sold. They don’t want us to use the beef label.”

The irony of Bill Gates — who lives in a 66,000-square-foot mansion and travels in a private jet that uses up 486 gallons of fuel every hour — talking about how to save the environment isn’t lost on everyone.

The Nation criticized Gates’ contradictions, including the fact that, as a result of buying staggering amounts of farmland, he’s a major contributor to carbon emissions. His jet-setting lifestyle also makes him a carbon “super emitter”:

“According to a 2019 academic study looking at extreme carbon emissions from the jet-setting elite, Bill Gates’s extensive travel by private jet likely makes him one of the world’s top carbon contributors — a veritable super emitter. In the list of 10 celebrities investigated — including Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, and Oprah Winfrey — Gates was the source of the most emissions.”

Gates Is the Largest Farmland Owner in the US

image-196.png


Bill Gates owns more farmland in the U.S. than any other private farmer, having purchased a total of 242,000 acres — much of it considered some of the richest soil in the U.S. — in the past few years. Conventional agriculture represents one of the greatest sources of pollution on the planet.

An estimated 80% of soil carbon in heavily farmed areas has already been lost, due to destructive ploughing, overgrazing and the use of soil-destructive, carbon-depleting chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The jet-travel study alone pointed to Gates as one of the most problematic carbon emitters, without considering agricultural emissions. The Nation noted:

“The study only looked at Gates’s jet travel, but might have also considered Gates’s emissions from his farmland, which includes large tracts of corn and soybeans, which typically goes to feed animals (often on factory farms) — a particularly carbon-intensive model of agriculture.”

Christine Nobiss, the founder of the Great Plains Action Society, which is led by Indigenous people, accused Gates of colonization: “Bill Gates is smart enough to understand — he’s smart, he can do the math — that no one single person needs that amount of land. He’s basically participating in the never-ending cycle of colonization.”

She’s among those who have suggested Gates give away his farmland as an act of reparations and as a way to ensure it’s used for sustainable food production, but as The Nation noted, that’s not going to happen:

“Not that Gates is going to give up his vast farmland. Nor is he going to sell any of his houses — including his 66,000-square-foot mansion outside Seattle. He’s also not going to get rid of his private jet — a Bombardier BD-700 Global Express that consumes 486 gallons of fuel each hour. But, Bill Gates writes, he is going to start buying ‘sustainable jet fuel.’”

No Private Property for Americans, Except Gates

So what does Gates intend to do with all that farmland? That remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that when you own the land, you also own the water that’s beneath it, and with his vast amounts of land, he can grow all the genetically engineered soy necessary to create the fake meat he’s so heavily pushing.

For those who control resources like food and water, power is limitless, and control of the food supply is part of “building back better.” Founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Klaus Schwab first started circulating the idea of The Great Reset, of which “build back better” is an integral part.

WEF has partnered with the EAT Forum, which will set the political agenda for global food production. The EAT Forum was cofounded by the Wellcome Trust, which in turn was established with the financial help of GlaxoSmithKline.'

EAT collaborates with nearly 40 city governments across Africa, Europe, Asia, North and South America and Australia, and maintains close relationships with imitation meat companies such as Impossible Foods. Gates is also a supporter of The Great Reset, which is curious since his massive accumulation of wealth and land is the opposite of what The Great Reset promotes.

In truth, wealthy technocrats will not redistribute their own wealth during the reset, but will only continue to grow their financial empires as the rest of the world consents to giving up their privacy and ownership of all property.

In fact, EAT developed a Planetary Health Diet that is designed to be applied to the global population and entails cutting meat and dairy intake by up to 90%, replacing it largely with foods made in laboratories, along with cereals and oil. As Summit News reported:

“[While] billionaire philanthropists and technocrats are acquiring land at an accelerating speed, they appear to be telling the general public that in the future private property will virtually cease to exist. In his books, World Economic Forum founder and globalist Klaus Schwab makes clear that the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ or ‘The Great Reset’ will lead to the abolition of private property.

That message is echoed on the WEF’s official website, which states, ‘Welcome to the year 2030. Welcome to my city — or should I say, ‘our city.’ I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances or any clothes.’

Apparently, you won’t be allowed to own any private property and your only recourse will be to live in a state of permanent dependency on a small number of rich elitists who own everything. That used to be called feudalism, which is a form of slavery.”
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Here Is Why 37 Percent of U.S. Farmers in the Western Half of the Country Are Killing Their Own Crops and Livestock

BY MICHAEL SNYDER August 18, 2022

Food doesn’t just magically show up at the grocery store. If farmers and ranchers do not produce it, we do not eat. I know that I have been writing about the rapidly growing global food crisis a lot lately, but that is because this really is a big deal. All over the globe, agricultural production is going to be below expectations in 2022. As a result, those of us that live in wealthy countries will pay much more for food in 2023, while many of those that live in poor countries will either deeply suffer or die. In fact, children are already dropping dead from starvation in large numbers in some parts of Africa, but most Americans haven’t heard about this because they aren’t showing it on the news.

Of course this isn’t just a crisis for poor countries on the other side of the planet.

Here in the United States, the food that is not being grown in 2022 will cause immense economic pain in 2023.

There are 17 western states that collectively produce almost half of our food, and right now those 17 states are being absolutely devastated by the worst multi-year megadrought in 1,200 years…

The 17 states including and north of Texas, up along the Central Plains to North Dakota and west to California are vital to the U.S. agricultural sector, supporting nearly half of the nation’s $364 billion production by value. This includes 74% of beef cattle, responsible (in total) for 18% of U.S. agricultural production by value; 50% of dairy production, responsible (in total) for 11% of U.S. agricultural production by value, over 80% of wheat production by value and over 70% of vegetable, fruit and tree nut production by value. Drought conditions, which have persisted well into 2022, put production of these commodities at risk, along with the stability of farms, ranches and local economies reliant on crops, livestock and downstream products and services for income.

The American Farm Bureau Federation wanted to know how farmers in that half of the nation are faring during this drought, and so they conducted a survey.

And what they discovered is extremely alarming. Here is one example…

This year’s drought conditions are taking a harder toll than last year’s, as 37% of farmers said they are plowing through and killing existing crops that won’t reach maturity because of dry conditions.

Do you understand what that is saying?

37 percent of all farmers in the western half of the country are killing their own crops because those crops won’t even reach maturity because of the endless drought.

I was absolutely floored when I first saw that figure.

And that same survey also found that staggering numbers of ranchers in some western states have been selling off their cattle…

Farmers in Texas are being forced to sell off their cattle herds earlier than normal due to extreme drought — as water sources dry out and grass burns up. Farmers in the Lone Star state reported the largest reduction in herd size, down 50%, followed by New Mexico and Oregon at 43% and 41% respectively.

The cattle that are being slaughtered now are helping to stabilize short-term beef prices.

But in the long run we will see a much smaller cattle population and far higher beef prices.

In fact, some beef producers in Oklahoma are warning that “cheap ground beef could eventually top $50 per pound”…

Thanks to the unending economic symptoms of the pandemic and 2022’s inflation double-punch, average beef prices are currently about twice what they were in 2019. Add in the deepening widespread drought, a shortage of hay and feed, skyrocketing prices, transport costs, and various other metrics, some Southwest Oklahoma beef producers suggest cheap ground beef could eventually top $50 per pound.

Could you imagine paying 50 dollars for a pound of ground beef?

Even now, we are being told that U.S. consumers are increasingly switching to chicken…

Inflation-weary shoppers are pulling back on buying pricey steaks and switching to cheaper chicken at the grocery store.

Tyson (TSN), the meat processing giant, said Monday that “demand for chicken is extremely strong,” while demand for its higher-priced cuts of beef has softened.

Of course it isn’t just the United States that is moving into unprecedented territory.

We just learned that there will be crop losses in France of up to 35 percent…

France’s fruit and vegetable crops have fallen by nearly 35% due to the extreme drought this summer, Jacques Rouchausse, president of the French national association of vegetable producers, Legumes de France, said on Tuesday.

“We have losses on the yields. For the moment, we estimate that these losses are between 25% and 35 percent. We have to stress that if we want food sovereignty, if we want food security, we really have to find ways to continue producing on our territory,” Rouchausse said on air of Radio Franceinfo.

Yesterday, I discussed the fact that there will be crop losses in the UK of up to 50 percent in some cases.

And in Italy, it is being reported that there will be crop losses of up to 80 percent in certain areas.

As global food supplies get tighter and tighter, the wealthy countries will have enough money to import the food that they need.

But what will the poorer countries do?

At this point, tens of millions of Africans are already dealing with severe food shortages…

Drought is gripping the Horn of Africa, leaving some 26 million people facing food shortages in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia over the next six months. More than 7 million livestock animals have already been wiped out. Across East Africa as a whole, some 50 million people are facing acute food insecurity.

This is a crisis that isn’t going away.

Not too long ago, UN Secretary General António Guterres openly admitted that it is likely that there will be “multiple famines” in 2023…

In a video message to the meeting, UN chief António Guterres commended the partners for joining forces at what he called “this critical moment”, noting that the number of people who are severely food insecure has doubled in the last two years.

“We face a real risk of multiple famines this year. And next year could be even worse. But we can avoid this catastrophe if we act now,” said Mr. Guterres.

Of course this is exactly what I have been saying for years.

Global famine is coming. There is no way to avoid it, and it is going to turn the entire global economy upside down.

When you know that a global famine is coming, the prudent thing to do is to get prepared. So I hope that all of you are taking action while there is still time to do so.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
1660890033259.jpeg

Are Governments and Globalist Elites Stealing Food to Store Away for Themselves?​

We've seen odd coincidence after odd coincidence hitting our economy, lifting inflation and pointing us toward a near-future in which food will be scarce. But some people are getting ready.

by S.D. Wells.
August 18, 2022

There was a time not too long ago when a speculative article like the one below would be a bit too far for me to publish. Things have changed. Do we really think the government and/or the globalist elites would NOT use any means necessary to take care of themselves and their cronies? The massive influx of “coincidences” are being largely ignored by not just corporate media but even most in “conservative” media.

Over the last few months, I’ve been accused several times of making my sites too “fringe.” Before the Plandemic and the stolen election, we were building a purely America First news outlet for political commentary. Our traffic numbers were rising very quickly, peaking in March, 2020, with over 12 million views between the various sites. But as it became crystal clear that there was far more to the story than just voting out RINOs and Democrats, I transitioned to add more speculative articles. This has not been beneficial for us financially since it got us blacklisted on all of the Big Tech platforms, but I refuse to let money get in the way of the truth.

I bring all of that up because we are facing multiple conspiracies that are being used to usher in The Great Reset. It isn’t just a handful of leaders controlled by the World Economic Forum or the little-covered Council for Inclusive Capitalism. The elites “in the know” are doing whatever they can to not only prepare themselves but also to force the masses into a state of complete dependency.

That’s the part that S.D. Wells missed in his article below. Yes, the globalist elites want to be ready so they can thrive when the rest of the world suffers in the near future. But considering the massive amounts of food they’re accumulating, far more than what would be necessary for them to use within their small groups, it’s crystal clear that they anticipate a future in which food is used to control the masses. They will make us compliant to their draconian demands if we want to get our block of cheese from their breadlines. And while they’re eating the steaks they’re hording, they’ll expect us to get our protein from crickets.

US FIRST: Most of the Food “Recalls” During the Pandemic Are Actually Foods Being Diverted to Government Storage Bunkers for the Rich and “Elite”

The “uber-rich” of the world have an “escape plan” in place for the upcoming food shortage apocalypse, and they aren’t even spending their own money to prepare. Most of the food “recalls” for salmonella, e-coli, and “metal shavings” found in products is actually just a way to divert storable foods to the freezers and basement pantries of the rich and elite, who are all planning well for the food shortage apocalypse.

Even Bloomberg News has reported that many of the world’s elite, including US government officials, are securing underground bunkers for riding out a new world war, another pandemic, or a nuclear holocaust.

The latest food recall to fit this bill was the frozen pizza recalled by Home Run Inn Frozen Foods, saying they found over 13,000 pounds of frozen meat pizza product “contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically metal.” And guess who’s getting ready for the next scamdemic right now? Yes, that’s right, Bill and Melinda Gates can’t fill their bunkers quick enough with frozen foods and clean water for the next plandemic. How many more food recalls are fake?

No reports of injuries or adverse reactions due to consumers swallowing metal shavings in pizza, maybe because it’s a hoax to reroute foods​

There have been no confirmed reports of injuries or adverse reactions due to the consumption of the Home Run Inn Frozen Foods pizzas that allegedly contained metal fragments. Maybe none of them got eaten and they’re all just fine, stocked up in bunker freezers for the elite to eat during the upcoming Plandemic II. Worried about Monkey Pox? Stock up your freezer now. Worried about Omicron variant of Wuhan bat-jumping Flu? Stock up on those “recalled” frozen pizzas.

Have you got your doomsday bunker prepared yet? What are you waiting for, the day there are zero supplies to do it? Foods that are being “recalled” and disappearing from the supply chain are being rerouted to elitist bunkers around the world, as you read this. The uber-rich are planning ahead, buying food, water filters, weapons, ammo, alternative power supplies, SAT phones and more.

Water Wars erupting across the world right now, as the elitists plan ahead​

If you don’t think that the supply chain erosion, mass inflation and food shortages aren’t also planned, then you are naïve. Take a close look at how everything is falling apart, and why, and you will see that it’s all carefully manipulated so. The elitists that are in charge of government, Big Ag and Big Pharma are creating shortages in every arena, including food, clean water, fertilizer, fuel, money and natural medicine.

It’s not just the Water Wars that have begun, but food wars and weapon wars too. Most of the money and weapons going to Ukraine have been diverted, stolen, re-routed to elitists and smugglers. The Biden administration coordinates all this corruption.

When the lakes dry up and the rivers run dry, you can bet your last block of gold that the elitist bunkers will be heavily stocked with clean, potable water for the apocalypse. Have no doubt.

The pandemic (plandemic) was just a taste of what’s to come. Remember the toilet paper shortage? Remember the gasoline shortage and those lines?
Get ready for mile-long lines at the grocery stores that only last a couple of days, until those shelves are all bare. Then what? The trucks will stop delivering when there’s no fuel available, and if the internet goes down, so will everyone’s access to their money.

Tune your food news frequency to FoodSupply.news and get updates on more toxic foods and food shortages coming to stores near you.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

How Much Of The U.S. Has China Already Infiltrated Right Under Our Noses?

BY: JOHN MAC GHLIONN
AUGUST 18, 2022

Through land grabs, media partners, and spies, the Chinese assault is less of a swift invasion and more of an endless infiltration.

Numerous pieces have been published discussing the inexorable rise of China, and the likelihood of the Chinese economy overtaking the United States’ economy. More concerning, though, is the fact that Chinese companies closely aligned with Beijing are directly influencing operations in the United States. They are buying up land, influencing news and media networks, and shaping the narratives on college campuses. The Chinese assault is less of a swift invasion and more of an endless infiltration.

Land Grabs
Fufeng Group, a company with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), recently acquired 300 acres of prime farmland in North Dakota for $2.6 million. China now owns well over 192,000 agricultural acres in the United States.

On July 25, obviously concerned by Fufeng’s purchase, Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota asked the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to “provide clarity on whether this land purchase has national security implications.”

Burgum’s fears are most definitely warranted. Over the last decade, Chinese ownership of farmland in the United States has increased dramatically. To compound matters, only a handful of states ban foreign ownership of farmland. Since 2016, a mysterious billionaire by the name of Sun Guangxinhas spent tens of millions of dollars buying land in Texas. Sun’s ties to the CCP are well known.

In truth, Chinese ownership of American farmland is just one part of the disturbing equation. Residential real estate is the second part. China now accounts for roughly a quarter of total foreign investment, in U.S. residential real estate, according to Market Watch. The Chinese are now the largest foreign buyers of U.S. homes and this has been the case for close to a decade.

Chinese Media Partners
The next step in Chinese infiltration involves corporate media. Take CNN, for example. It’s owned by CNN Global, which is part of Warner Bros. Discovery. This multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate has close ties to China.

Three other highly influential networks, NBC News, CNBC, and MSNBC, are owned by Comcast. As Harold L. Vogel, a former professor of finance and economics at Columbia, wrote last year, Comcast’s reliance on the Chinese market cannot be emphasized enough. From “major feature film releases to a theme park, and to NBA basketball games,” Comcast is beholden to the CCP.

Furthermore, Comcast owns Universal Pictures. In 2016, Universal announced that it was partnering with Perfect World, a Chinese entertainment company. It has co-financed dozens of movies with Universal, including “Jason Bourne” and “The Northman“, one of the biggest movies of 2022. The Chinese connection runs even deeper. Last year, Universal Studios opened a theme park in China’s capital, Beijing.

Then, there’s ABC News, owned by The Walt Disney Company. The American multinational may very well be headquartered in Burbank, California, but it can currently be found residing in China’s pocket.

Spies on College Campuses
Ownership comes in many forms. It’s not just farmland, real estate, media empires, but also ownership of minds. This is where Confucius Institutes come into play. These public educational and cultural promotion programs are funded and arranged currently by the Chinese International Education Foundation, a shady organization affiliated with the CCP.

During his time in office, Donald Trump made a genuine effort to close as many of these institutes as possible. However, despite warnings from numerous Republican lawmakers, the Biden administration undid some of Trump’s work. According to a recent piece published by Voice of America (VOA), at least 28 institutes that were previously closed have recently reopened under new names.

As the VOA piece notes, On July 1 of last year, “one day after its Confucius Institute closed, the College of William and Mary established the W&M-BNU Collaborative Partnership with Beijing Normal University.” The Chinese university, we’re told, “was the American school’s former Confucius Institute partner.” Nothing, it seems, has changed but the name. New face, same dangerous ideas and philosophies.

The Daily Signal recently reported the CCP-backed institutes have simply rebranded themselves. They have “retained their function of promoting the interests of the Chinese Communist Party in the United States.” These institutes are synonymous with espionage. According to Christopher Wray, the 8th and current director of the FBI, Chinese spying in the U.S. has become so problematic that the FBI now launches at least two counterintelligence investigations every day in an effort to nullify the threat from Beijing.

How did we get here? How did we get to a place where a country that never tires of threatening the United States now molds the minds of students across the country, shapes the narratives dished out by major media outlets, and owns huge amounts of American farmland and real estate?

Would the CCP allow the United States to influence China in a similar manner? No, of course not. A lethal mixture of inattention, nonchalance, and poor policies has landed us in the hottest of waters. Cutting the Gordian knot won’t be easy. In fact, it might prove to be impossible.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

ANALYSIS: Democrats Just Gave The Feds Enough Resources To Bleed The Middle-Class Dry​

MARY ROOKESTAFF WRITER
August 18, 20225:44 PM ET

Expanding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will always hurt the most vulnerable Americans. But the decision by President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party to give the IRS an extra $80 billion will bleed the middle-class dry.

The latest data from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) shows that the massive influx of IRS funding from the Democrats will increase tax audits and transfer billions of dollars from the lowest income earners to the federal government during historic inflation and a recession.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a misnomer as it does nothing to reduce inflation, massively expands the IRS by adding $78.9 billion to the agency’s budget over ten years. Only $4.75 billion of the new budget will go to modernizing the IRS system, while the CRS estimates show that over half of the agency’s windfall ($45.6 billion) is allocated to strengthening existing tax enforcement.

A 2021 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimated that the IRS expansion package would give the federal government a massive $127 billion in revenue and more than double the number of IRS employees.

An army of agents is expected to provide the federal government with consistent returns on investment (ROIs), according to the CBO.

The Democrats have no grip on reality or economics. And this bill proves Democrats certainly have no sympathy for Americans during this recession.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 16, 2022

The National Taxpayer Advocate, Erin M. Collins, said in her 2021 annual report to Congress that there is a “basic unfairness” to how the IRS audits poor Americans dealing with complex tax issues.

“The IRS correspondence audit process is structured to expend the least amount of resources to conduct the largest number of examinations –resulting in the lowest level of customer service to taxpayers having the greatest need for assistance,” stated Collins.

As part of its budget planning for the past five years, the IRS released its agents’ ROIs, the CBO reported. The data showed that for every $1 the IRS spent on enforcement, it raised between $5-$9 from the American taxpayer.

The latest CBO estimates that “lower- and middle-income earning Americans are the primary target” for IRS audits, according to GOP members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, who reported the CBO’s analysis.

Tax filers who make under $400,000 a year will provide at least $20 billion of the around $120 billion in revenue expected from the additional IRS audits, the GOP reported. They said that the IRS plans to ramp up audits on tax filers over the next three years.

Former IRS employee turned whistleblower William Henck told Fox Business that the IRS will undoubtedly target the middle-class with the new tax enforcement.

“The idea that they’re going to open things up and go after these big billionaires and large corporations is quite frankly bull***t,” Henck told the outlet. “It’s not going to happen. They’re going to give themselves bonuses and promotions and really nice conferences. The big corporations and the billionaires are probably sitting back laughing right now.”

“There will be considerable incentive to basically to shake down taxpayers, and the advantage the IRS has is they have basically unlimited resources and no accountability, whereas a taxpayer has to weigh the cost of accountants, tax lawyers – fighting something in tax court,” Henck added.

87,000 new IRS agents, paid by an endless supply of our tax dollars, are coming to shake down every last middle class American for even MORE of their incomes during inflation, all so gov’t and their rich scenester friends can look virtuous while outsourcing pollution to China.

Republican Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo introduced an amendment that prevented the IRS from using the influx of taxpayer funds to turn around and audit struggling Americans.

Crapo’s attempt to protect taxpayers’ failed down party lines, with every Democrat in the U.S. Senate voting against the measure.

“The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms that had this amendment passed and lower- and middle-income taxpayers been protected, revenue in [the] Democrats’ bill would have been reduced by at least $20 billion – confirming that at least $20 billion of the $124 billion in new revenue expected by a supercharged IRS will be coming from higher audits on low- and middle-income Americans,” the GOP reported. “This will be in addition to existing audits on these income levels.”

The U.S. Senate Joint Committee on Taxation in July released its analysis of the IRA’s effects on U.S. taxpayers making $500,000 a year or less. The Committee found that the Democrats’ bill weaponized the IRS against the middle class, especially.

Middle-class Americans making between $100,000 to $200,000 will shoulder 25% of the new tax revenue burden, while earners making $500,000 to $1 million will only cover 9.2% of the 2023 U.S. tax bill, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

A review of the 2021 IRS audit rate per federal income bracket found that audits primarily increased among the poorest Americans, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

TRAC found that among the over 160 million individual income tax returns filed with the IRS, “low-income wage earners with less than $25,000 in total gross receipts being audited at a rate five times higher than for everyone else.”

The White House insists its 87,000 new IRS agents will ONLY go after those evil One Percenters. But Biden’s IRS is already targeting the middle class. Over HALF of the audits done in 2021 were directed at people making less than 75k/year.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board warned on Sunday that an audit from the “bigger, badder IRS” would be a “relentless” pursuit of the taxable middle-class.

“The problem is that for every tax cheat the IRS identifies, several more compliant tax filers will be subjected to needless scrutiny,” the WSJ editorial board stated. “Many of the hundreds of thousands of people audited each year are chosen at random, and most taxpayers can’t afford a lawyer to go to Tax Court to contest IRS claims of tax liability. They write the check to end the relentless IRS pursuit, whether or not they think it’s fair.”

“Good luck to readers as the taxman cometh,” they added.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
(Twitter grab bag)

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560400775355850752
.54 min

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1559888910418853889
2:20 min


1660899207086.png

(UK)
1660899169635.png

(Serbia)
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560192698623168512
1:15 min

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560272775658741760
1:08 min

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1559608913389096961
.25 min

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560000241620946944
1:00 min

(Netherlands)
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560544268376489985
.23 min

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560560746525708288
.40 min

(Argentina)
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560283996696637440
.10 min

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560472371735064577
.17 min

(Sri Lanka)
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560298928179904522
1:52 min

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560214385938808833
.17 min

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560245873539371010
.58 min

(Food prices)
1660899516147.png
1660899479586.png

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1560376921854443520
1:28 min
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

‘Hating ESG’: Advocates Are Looking to Replace the Label​

  • Oxford’s Robert Eccles says ‘ESG’ label has lost its value
  • ESG’s defenders say movement is now too big to switch off

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, wooed voters last month with a pledge to “protect” them from the ESG movement.

Saijel Kishan and
Frances Schwartzkopff
August 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM PDTUpdated onAugust 17, 2022 at 5:37 AM PDT

A number of sustainable investing champions say it’s time for the “ESG” label to be shelved and replaced by something less likely to draw attacks from both the political right and left.

Robert Eccles, a professor who’s spent the past 12 years researching sustainability at Harvard Business School and now University of Oxford’s Said Business School, says the term “just doesn’t have value anymore. Let’s change the conversation.”

“I’m happy to not use the term ESG,” he said in an interview, referring to environmental, social and corporate governance issues. “People are so invested now in hating ESG for reasons that don’t really have much to do with ESG.”

ESG has this year become the subject of intense debate. As an acronym, it’s somehow morphed into a lightning rod for conservatives in the US, who use it to fire up attendees at Republican rallies. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – a potential 2024 presidential candidate – wooed voters last month with a pledge to “protect” them from the ESG movement, which he claims threatens their economic freedom by putting “social causes” ahead of “the will of the people.”

Some former sustainable-investing executives have characterized ESG as little more than a glorified marketing exercise. Others have slammed it for appearing to have failed a number of litmus tests -- greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, along with income inequality. Meanwhile, the finance industry has created a multitrillion dollar movement around ESG.

Industry veteran Sandra Carlisle, who’s head of sustainability at $58.6 billion Jupiter Asset Management, said ESG remains poorly defined and inadequately regulated, making it confusing for investors and companies to understand. It’s also left investors in the dark, just when they need more clarity, says Leslie Samuelrich, who’s spent a decade in sustainable investing and is president of Green Century Capital Management.

“It’s time for the industry to explain what ESG means and what it doesn’t mean, to maintain its credibility,” she said. Samuelrich, whose Boston-based firm oversees about $1 billion, says ESG is about using relevant material factors to measure how a company handles risks. “It isn’t ‘sustainable,’ ‘green’ or ‘making an impact.”’

Meanwhile, ESG continues to take up an ever bigger chunk of financial markets. McKinsey & Co. estimates that more than 90% of S&P 500 companies now publish ESG reports. And according to Bloomberg Intelligence, ESG will this year exceed $40 trillion worth of assets. The amount allocated to sustainable investment funds reached around $2.5 trillion at end of June, research firm Morningstar Inc. says. Such figures suggest ESG is too entrenched to simply switch off.

Historical and Projected Global ESG AUM
Global ESG AUM Outlook - 2022


Source: Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, Bloomberg Intelligence
ESG’s defenders argue it’s still a fledgling movement and point out that regulations are already kicking in to fix obvious weaknesses. Sasja Beslik, a sustainable finance veteran who’s now the chief investment officer at NextGen ESG, says detractors “are simply too late to the party.”

“Regulation has in one way institutionalized ESG as a core element of responsibility for the financial industry,” he said. And though “there’s a lot of greenwashing for the moment,” it’s already clear that ESG regulations have “completely changed the game,” Beslik said.

ESG regulations are in many cases still being written. But once finalized, they should help fund managers and their clients identify and measure risks and opportunities -- such as how a hotter planet will affect industries like farming and insurance, how strikes will impact everything from aviation to garbage collection, and how dark secrets buried in a company’s supply chains can suddenly derail its fortunes. Without measuring such ESG exposures, companies and their investors may face considerable losses.

Europe will soon require close to 50,000 companies to disclose not just the ESG risks they face, but also the environmental and societal impact they have on their surroundings. Asset managers use that regulated information to shape their portfolios.

In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission is responding to the reality of an overheating planet by asking corporations to report greenhouse gas emissions, including in some cases so-called Scope 3, the widest possible gauge of their carbon footprint. At a global level, there is fast emerging a standard for corporate sustainability reporting intended to make disclosures as consistent and transparent as financial reports are now, thanks to decades-old general accounting standards.

Sonali Siriwardena, partner and global head of ESG at Simmons & Simmons who advises some of the world’s biggest asset managers, says ESG “has not lost its purpose.”

“There are three different elements and you need to look at all three,” she said. “It’s about the long-term viability of the planet and the societies we live in” and ESG as an acronym “captures that.”

WHAT "SUSTAINABLE" MEANS

1660903312508.png
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Venezuela Stops Oil Shipments To Europe As Alternatives To Russian Energy Dry Up

FRIDAY, AUG 19, 2022 - 12:00 AM

The writing is on the wall for Europe in terms of this coming winter – It's going to get ugly. With natural gas imports from Russia cut by 80% through Nord Stream 1 along with the majority of oil shipments, the EU is going to be scrambling for whatever fuel sources they can find to supply electricity and heating through the coming winter. Two sources that were originally suggested as alternatives were Iran and Venezuela.

Increased Iranian oil and gas exports to the west are highly dependent on the tentative nuclear deal, but as Goldman Sachs recently suggested, such a deal is unlikely anytime soon as deadlines on proposals have not been met and the Israeli government calls for negotiators to 'walk away.'

Venezuela had restarted shipments to Europe after 2 years of US sanctions under a deal that allows them to trade oil for debt relief. However, the country's government has now suspended those shipments, saying it is no longer interested in oil-for-debt deals and instead wants refined fuels from Italian and Spanish producers in exchange for crude.

This might seem like a backwards exchange but Venezuela's own refineries are struggling to remain in operation because of lack of investment and lack of repairs. Refined fuels would help them to get back on their feet in terms of energy and industry. Some of Venezuela's own heavy oil operations require imported diluents in order to continue. The EU says it currently has no plans to lift restrictions on the oil-for-debt arrangement, which means Europe has now lost yet another energy source.

Sanctions on Venezuela along with declining investments have strangled their oil industry, with overall production dropping by 38% this July compared to a year ago. Joe Biden's initial moves to reopen talks with Maduro triggered inflated hopes that Venezuelan oil would flow once again and offset tight global markets and rising prices. Europe in particular will soon be desperate for energy alternatives, which will probably result in a scouring of markets this autumn to meet bare minimum requirements for heating.

If this occurs and no regular sources of energy can be found to fill the void left by Russian sanctions, prices will rise precipitously in the EU. Not only that, but with European countries buying up energy supplies wherever they can find them, available sources will also shrink for every other nation including the US.

Get ready for oil and energy prices to spike once again as winter's chill returns.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Germany's Largest Refinery Slashes Output Due To Rhine's Low Water Levels​


FRIDAY, AUG 19, 2022 - 03:00 AM

The current water levels on the Rhine River, a major inland infrastructure transit artery across Germany, are exceptionally low and have made certain parts of the river impassible by barge. Falling waters have already disrupted the flow of commodities and are exacerbating Europe's energy-supply crunch.

The alarming lack of water is contributing to a possible oil supply shock at Germany's largest oil-processing complex located on the banks of the Rhine, which is operated by Shell Plc.

"Due to the low Rhine water level, we have reduced the capacity of Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rhineland. The situation regarding supply is challenging but carefully managed," the company said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.

Shell didn't reveal how much output it cut at the refining facility, which makes fuels, heating oil, and petrochemicals. However, data shows that the refinery can process upwards of 17 million tons of crude oil per year, or approximately 345,000 barrels a day.

The refinery and chemicals plant is located on the Lower Rhine and outside Cologne. It's downstream from the highly monitored Kaub chokepoint that is at 35 centimeters (13.8 inches) -- water levels below 40 centimeters (15.7 inches) indicate shippers find it uneconomical to operate barges past the point to Upper Rhine.


Shell's production cut underscores the severity of dropping water levels on the waterway, amplifying an energy crisis due to Europe's sanctions on Russia.

We outlined last month how falling water levels on the Rhine would make things worse for the largest economy in Europe. Supplies of crude products are running low across the country. Austrian oil and gas firm OMV AG warned two weeks ago that Germany saw a run on diesel and heating fuels.

There is some good news. Rhine water levels are set to increase to 67 centimeters (26.4 inches) by Aug. 22, according to German government data. Also, a fleet of crude tankers carrying diesel is headed to Europe.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Across The World Coal Power Is Back​

FRIDAY, AUG 19, 2022 - 02:00 AM

Authored by Chadwick Hagan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

In the United States, coal consumption hit an all-time high in 2013, and soon after most every Wall Street bank and liberal activist declared coal as dead.

Still, coal energy was the dominant form of energy in the United States until 2016, and this year global coal consumption is set to reach 2013’s record levels.



In February of this year, Central Appalachian coal production hit a two-year high. Now the price of coal is rising to record levels in the United States and across the world.

Sounds like a tremendous amount of activity for an industry that has been declared dead.

What gives?
First off, let’s be honest, fossil fuels still account for much of America’s energy. According to the EIA’s Monthly Energy Review: “Fossil fuels—petroleum, natural gas, and coal—accounted for 79 percent of the 97 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) of primary energy consumption in the United States during 2021. About 21 percent of U.S. primary energy consumption in 2021 came from fuel sources other than fossil fuels, such as renewables and nuclear.”

In other words, fossil fuels made up nearly 80 percent of all energy produced in America in 2021.

Carbon Emissions Curbs Take a Backseat​

Earlier this month CNBC reported on the continued coal consumption and price increases happening in domestic and global markets, stating: “coal prices are soaring and global coal consumption is expected to return to record levels reached almost 10 years ago as the global energy supply crunch continues.

While investors in coal stocks are having a field day thanks to high coal prices, curbs on carbon emissions are taking a backseat as markets and governments scramble to stock up on traditional energy supply amid bottlenecks caused by the Ukraine war.”

At the moment there are a number of issues at play, ranging from the need to ramp up domestic supply for domestic energy security, to a years-long slowdown in domestic and international production, and now lingering supply issues from the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The ripple effect is being felt worldwide. International coal prices are also skyrocketing.

Mining and metals expert Pete O’Connor from Australian investment bank Shaw & Partners recently commented on the tight coal market and price increases seen across the globe, stating: “And supply [of coal] is tight. Why? Because nobody’s building capacity and markets will remain tight given the weather and Covid. So that market will stay higher for longer, probably well into the 2023 calendar year.”

Additionally, the IAE reported in a recent coal market report: “After coal and power shortages led to high coal prices in October 2021, the Chinese government gave orders to boost domestic production, which reduced the need for imports. In the first six months of 2022, China’s coal production increased by 11%. At the same time, we estimate that its coal demand declined by 3%. As a result, coal imports fell by 18% year-on-year to 115 Mt. For the full year, we expect China’s coal imports to decline by 18%, or 45 Mt. India also started 2022 with reduced imports, but government measures to prevent coal shortages will likely increase import volumes in the second half. Overall, we expect India’s coal imports to increase slightly compared with 2021.”

IAE continued: “Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal, is also the most flexible. In 2021, it increased its exports by 27 Mt to 434 Mt, exporting more than twice as much as Australia (199 Mt). The United States, a swing supplier in the Atlantic market, increased exports by 12 Mt to 36 Mt.”
That’s right. U.S. coal exports increased by three times.

Costliest Coal Contract​

Perhaps the most important coal market news came last month in late July when Bloomberg reported on a coal trade that could be one of the most expensive coal trades ever recorded in Japan. The deal was between Glencore and Nippon Steel, and the coal was sold at $375 per ton.

As Bloomberg reported: “Nippon Steel Corp. agreed on an annual supply deal through March with Glencore for power plant coal at $375 per ton, according to people with knowledge of the deal, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The agreement is three times more expensive than similar deals done last year, and is likely one of the costliest coal contracts ever signed by a Japanese company.”

The bottom line remains, thermal coal is back in demand and that’s not changing for a while. Yes coal is dirty but it is reliable. In fact many believe that there is a moral obligation to produce coal, the moral obligation being that we should mine for coal so others can have access to reliable power and energy.

Radical activists who wax poetically about environmental destruction from fossil fuels are also obsessively determined on destroying industries that brought us into our era of hyper technology and industrialization. They are obsessively determined to destroy jobs instead of supporting energy security and carbon capture research and development.

After all, shouldn’t we look to utilize carbon capture in abandoned coal mines? Should we not find a way to filter flue gas from coal-burning power plants instead of flipping off the switch?

What is the point of destroying the coal mining industry, and taking thousands of jobs with it, if you are still supporting industries that cause harm to the environment?

These radicals—in my opinion—opportunistically fail to see the destruction caused by the manufacturing of renewables, which includes toxicity from lithium-ion batteries, wind turbines killing thousands and thousands of birds, and solar panel fields taking huge swaths of land for energy that only provides power during sunny days.

If there is a middle ground to be found here it will be using profits from fossil fuels to pay for the research and development of less harmful forms of energy.

I can tell you from an investment banking standpoint and from an economic analyst standpoint, that developing new energy is not cheap. It will take billions of dollars in investment, and those billions are going to come from the billions and billions of dollars fossil fuel providers make in profits during boom years.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or Zero Hedge
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

U.N. recruited 110,000 'information warriors' to police internet​

Deployed to monitor social media for 'misinformation'​

By Art Moore
Published August 18, 2022 at 7:21pm

The United Nations recruited 110,000 "digital first responders" during the pandemic to battle "misinformation" on social media platforms and internet forums, according to the global body's communications director.

The U.N.'s Melissa Fleming made the disclosure in an October 2020 episode of a World Economic Forum podcast called "Seeking a Cure for the Infodemic." But Fleming's remarks resurfaced Thursday on Twitter.

"So far, we've recruited 110,000 information volunteers, and we equip these information volunteers with the kind of knowledge about how misinformation spreads and ask them to serve as kind of 'digital first-responders' in those spaces where misinformation travels," she said.

On Wednesday, the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Children’s Health Defense Fund were shut down, the Gateway Pundit reported. CHD has filed a lawsuit against the parent company Meta that charges Facebook has colluded with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to censor COVID "misinformation."

With nearly a half-million followers for the two pages combined, Kennedy's organization has been a leading critic of the experimental COVID-19 vaccines.

Kennedy's book "The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health" was a No. 1 bestseller.

CHD noted the deplatforming came after the CDC "quietly walked back many of their previous COVID-19 policies that CHD has criticized since the beginning of the pandemic."

There's "no clear indication of why Facebook and Instagram chose to deplatform us at this time," CHD said, "but the timing dovetails with our ongoing censorship lawsuit against Facebook."

In an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court on July 29, CHD provided CDC-produced documents the agency shared with Facebook that contained what the CDC considered misinformation.

Titled "COVID Vaccine Misinformation: Hot Topics," the CDC documents asked tech giants to "be on the lookout" for various "misinformation," including on the topics of COVID-19 vaccine shedding, VAERS reports and spike protein data.

"Facebook is acting here as a surrogate for the federal government’s crusade to silence all criticism of draconian government policies," Kennedy said in a statement. "Our constitutional framers recognized this peril of government censorship. We don’t need a First Amendment to protect popular or government approved speech. They incorporated the First Amendment specifically to protect free expression of dissenting opinions. They understood that a government that can silence its critics has license for every atrocity."


 
Top