Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

The UK is poised to miss its ambitious target to decarbonize its power sector by 2030 even as it is boosting solar and wind developments, analysts say.

The new UK government of the Labour Party, in office for just over two weeks, has pledged to have the UK power grid decarbonized by 2030 and “to make Britain a clean energy superpower with zero carbon electricity by 2030,” Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said earlier this month. 

As part of its efforts to boost clean energy, the UK government lifted the de facto ban on onshore wind, which has been in place in England since 2015.

The government has committed to doubling onshore wind energy by 2030, quadrupling offshore wind, and trebling solar power by the end of the decade.

While Britain has made progress in recent years in decarbonizing the grid and boosting the share of renewables in the power mix to a record high, it still uses a lot of natural gas for electricity generation, home heating, and boilers.

The bold current plans of the Labour government are not on track to make the power system decarbonized by 2030, Cornwall Insight said in an analysis reported by the Financial Times.

Currently, wind and solar account for a combined 34% of the UK’s power output. Under Labour’s plans, the combined share of wind and solar is set to rise to 44%. This, according to Cornwall Insight, will be well below the estimated 67% of wind and solar power necessary to have a decarbonized grid.

“Without significant intervention, we risk falling far short of decarbonisation goals,” Tom Edwards, principal modeler at Cornwall Insight, told FT.

Last week, following the King’s Speech in which the new government sets its priorities, Kate Mulvany, Principal Consultant at Cornwall Insight, said that Labour faces “significant challenges in reaching their 2030 power decarbonization targets, as financial constraints, supply chain challenges, and intense global competition for limited resources pose hurdles.”

Also last week, the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) said that its latest assessments shows that the UK is off track for net zero as only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve the country’s 2030 target are currently covered by credible plans.  

Authored by CJ Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

Just when I thought things could not possibly get more shockingly totalitarian in New Normal Germany, where I’m being prosecuted in criminal court (for the second time) for tweeting, the German authorities have gone and surprised me again.

No, they haven’t established an actual Nazi-style People’s Court (pictured below) yet, and, of course, there is absolutely no similarity between the current German justice system, which is totally fair and democratic and a paragon of impartial justice and the rule of law, and The People’s Court of Berlin during the Nazi era, nor is there any similarity between Nazi Germany and New Normal Germany (i.e., modern-day Germany), and I would never, ever, suggest that there was, as that would be intellectually lazy, and tasteless, and completely inaccurate, and illegal, and … well, let me fill you in on the latest.

The Berlin Superior Court has set a date for my next thoughtcrime trial.

As regular readers will probably recall, my first thoughtcrime trial in January ended with my acquittal. So, the German authorities are putting me on trial again. Yes, they can do that in Germany. But, wait, that’s not the best part.

The best part is, at my new thoughtcrime trial – this time in Berlin Superior Court – full-scale Anti-Terrorism Security protocols will be effect in the courtroom. Everyone will be subjected to TSA-style scanning and screening, and will have to surrender all their personal possessions and hats and coats and head coverings to the Security Staff, and completely empty their pockets of all items, before entering the courtroom. No computers, phones, smart-watches, or any other potential recording devices will be allowed in the courtroom. Pencils and sheets of paper will purportedly be provided to members of the press by Security Staff. Members of the press and public will be limited to 35, and, after they have successfully passed their “security screening,” they will be cordoned off in the last five rows of the gallery in the very back of the courtroom, “for security reasons,” and monitored by the armed Security Staff.

For the benefit of any new readers unfamiliar with me and my case, I am not a terrorist. I’m an award-winning American playwright, novelist, and political satirist. I have lived here in Berlin for 20 years. The German authorities have been investigating and prosecuting me since August 2022. My case has been covered in The Atlantic, Racket News, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Multipolar, and many other outlets, so I won’t reiterate every little detail again here. Basically, I am being prosecuted for “spreading pro-Nazi propaganda” because I criticized the Covid mask mandates and tweeted the cover artwork of one of my books, The Rise of The New Normal Reich.

Here’s the cover artwork of that book. The other two images are the recent covers of Der Spiegel and Stern, two well-known mainstream German magazines, which are not being prosecuted for “spreading pro-Nazi propaganda.”

As anyone (even the German authorities) can see, the Spiegel cover artwork uses exactly the same concept as the cover artwork of my book. The only difference is, the Spiegel swastika is covered by the German flag, whereas the swastika on my book is covered by a medical mask.

Both artworks are obviously intended as warnings of the rise of a new form of totalitarianism. Der Spiegel was warning about the Alternativ für Deutschland party (AfD) — as was Stern with its swastika floating in a champagne glass. I was warning about what I dubbed “The New Normal Reich,” the new nascent form of totalitarianism that emerged during 2020-2023, which is still very much on the rise, and which is thoroughly documented and analyzed in my book (which book was banned by Amazon in Germany at the same time the German authorities launched a criminal investigation of me and instructed Twitter to censor my Tweets, which Twitter did).

The pretext the Court is citing for ordering these Anti-Terrorism Security protocols at my trial is ridiculous, and infuriating. The Court claims that the courtroom in which my trial is to take place is occasionally used for a certain “high-security” trial. Therefore, according to the Court, my trial must also be subjected to Anti-Terrorism Security protocols. Seriously, the Court sent my attorney a fax setting forth this “explanation,” which is, of course, a load of horseshit. The Berlin Superior Court is a huge building containing multiple courtrooms, one or two which are probably not subject to such Anti-Terrorism Security protocols when “high-security” trials are not taking place within them.

No, the imposition of these Anti-Terrorism Security protocols is clearly a cynical ploy intended (a) to suppress coverage of the trial, (b) to discourage the press and public from attending, and (c) to intimidate and harass me and my legal counsel, and any members of the press and public who nevertheless attend the trial in spite of the “security procedures” they will be subjected to.

This cynical tactic — which is not an official press blackout, because journalists can still attend and attempt to scribble notes on their knees with the pencils and sheets of paper provided by the Security Staff — comes as no real surprise. As I mentioned above, my case and my first trial got a fair amount of attention from the international press, enough to put the Court on notice that my prosecution was being watched. So, it’s no mystery why the German authorities would want to discourage any reporting on my “do-over” trial in Superior Court.

Also, the gallery was filled to capacity at my original trial in January, where I delivered a rather unusual closing Statement to the Court, which was then published and disseminated widely in Germany. So, again, it is no real mystery why the Superior Court wants to discourage members of the public from attending this new trial by threatening to subject them to these humiliating “security” protocols, and why it has limited the gallery size to only 35 seats.

I assume the German authorities — and by “authorities” I mean the Berlin District Prosecutor’s office, the Berlin Superior Court (Der Kammergericht), and whatever other authorities are intent on punishing me, and making an example of me, for daring to criticize the government’s edicts during 2020-2022, i.e., suspension of the constitutional rights, mask mandates, segregation, the banning of protests, etc. — I assume these authorities are particularly motivated to prevent the press from covering this second trial in Superior Court, because, from what I understand of the German legal system, they are going to “do” me (i.e., convict me) this time.

The way the German legal system works, if they want to do you, is (1) you are acquitted in the lower Criminal Court, (2) the District Prosecutor appeals the verdict to the Superior Court, (3) the Superior Court overturns your acquittal, and (4) the prosecution goes back to the original Criminal Court, which stages a new trial, at which you will be found guilty, because, once the Superior Court has overruled your acquittal, the Criminal Court will convict you based on the Superior Court’s ruling. At which point you will appeal. And on and on and on it will go, until you are broke, or until you give up fighting because you are just so fucking exhausted.

I’m not making this up. This is how The People’s Court of New Normal Germany (i.e., the post-Covid German justice system, which, again, bears no resemblance whatsoever to The People’s Court of Berlin in Nazi Germany, or to the courts in the Soviet Union during the Stalin era, or any other totalitarian “justice” system) … this is how it works in New Normal Germany if you are a critic of the authorities and refuse to meekly accept whatever punishment they want to summarily dish out for whatever they deem to be your thoughtcrimes.

But, hey, at least they’re not going to take me out and put me up against a wall and shoot me, like they did with political criminals in Nazi Germany, and the USSR, so I suppose I should be grateful. I’ll have to work on that.

If you think my case is an aberration, it isn’t. There are many, many other people — critics of the government’s “Covid measures” during 2020-2023 — who are being persecuted and made examples of. Most of these people do not have the financial resources to pay lawyers to fight these prosecutions, so they plead guilty to the charges and pay the fines, which are typically much less than what they would face in attorney’s fees. Being somewhat of a public figure, I thought it was my responsibility not to do that. I’m extremely grateful to everyone who has donated to my legal defense fund, which is how I have been able to cover my legal expenses. There’s enough left in that fund to cover this next trial in Superior Court, so I’m OK for now, financially. I mention that because people are already asking how they can send me money.

What people can do, if they want to do something helpful, is make as much noise as possible about what is happening, not just in Germany, but all throughout the West. Because what is happening is, well, what I tried to capture and analyze in my book. The Powers That Be are going totalitarian on us. They are gradually, and not so gradually, phasing out the so-called “liberal” or “democratic” rights and principles that it was necessary to placate the Western masses with during the Cold War era, which it is no longer necessary to do beyond a certain superficial point.

I have published three books of essays documenting this transition to a new global-capitalist form of totalitarianism, so I’m not going to go on and on about it here. But that’s what all the censorship is about. That’s what all the manufactured hysteria, fomented hatred, fanaticism, the permanent state of “emergency” and “crisis,” the “culture wars,” the cults of personality, the bombardment of our minds with absolutely meaningless nonsense, the naked displays of force, the blatant instrumentalization of the justice system to punish political dissidents, not just here in Germany, but throughout the “democratic” West … that is what all this is about.

I’ll keep my readers posted on the details of my upcoming trial in Berlin Superior Court. My attorney is objecting to these “security protocols,” of course. We’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, instead of sending me money this time, maybe try to step back from all the mass hysteria and hatred that we are being inundated with and see the big picture. It isn’t pretty.

Help spread the word about the new totalitarianism, about the phasing-out of our democratic rights. I don’t care which “side” of whatever you are on — Trump, Biden, Palestine, Israel, the culture wars, the cancel campaigns, Covid, Elon Musk, Russia, whatever — and neither do The Powers That Be. Take a step back and try to see the bigger picture … the forest, instead of just the trees. And then make as much noise about it as you can.

We are heading somewhere very ugly … somewhere most of us can’t imagine. Some of us will get there first, but all of us will be there, together, eventually. My story is just one example of what it will be like there, in that ugly place. It isn’t really a story about Germany. It is a story about the end of the myth of democracy, and the rule of law, and all that good stuff. As Frank Zappa once so eloquently explained …

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”

It’s something to behold, that brick wall is, especially up close and personal. You’ll see when you get here. I’ll save you a seat.

What can a Big Mac tell us about currency rates? As it turns out, quite a lot.

The Big Mac Index, created by The Economist in 1986, started out as a simple tool to make currency theory more digestible. Now, it’s a widely-known measure in popular economics to assess and compare currency valuations.

In short, the Big Mac index compares the purchasing power parity (PPP) of currencies using the price of a Big Mac in the U.S. as the benchmark. It shows how much a Big Mac costs in various countries compared to the U.S., but it also works as a way to assess exchange rates.

In this graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu visualizes the price of a McDonald’s Big Mac in U.S. dollars between 13 different countries around the world, the eurozone, and the United States, using the latest January 2024 data from The Economist’s Big Mac Index dataset.

Calculating the Big Mac Index to Assess Currencies

One can use the price of Big Macs in other countries to see if a currency has more or less purchasing power than expected. This is done by taking the local price of a Big Mac (in local currency) and dividing it by the U.S. price of a Big Mac to calculate an implied exchange rate.

This implied exchange rate is then compared against the actual exchange rate between the two currencies; if the implied rate is higher than the actual rate, the local currency is “overvalued”, and if it is lower, the local currency is “undervalued”.

It’s worth noting that this measure is relatively simplistic and doesn’t account for some factors like taxes, local production costs, and market barriers.

The Big Mac Index

Switzerland has the most expensive Big Macs in the world at $8.17 USD, which is 44% more expensive than the price of a Big Mac in the United States. Using the Big Mac Index, that suggests that the Swiss franc is 44% overvalued against the U.S. dollar.

European countries like Switzerland, Norway, and those in the eurozone tend to have more expensive Big Macs than the United States. This indicates that these European currencies may be overvalued relative to the U.S. dollar.

On the other end of the spectrum, several major East Asian economies, including Taiwan, Japan, China, and South Korea, have currencies substantially undervalued against the U.S. dollar, according to the Big Mac Index.

In April, the Bank of America stated it was not bullish “on any currency in Asia” and mentioned the Chinese yuan, South Korean won, and Taiwan dollar under its bearish category. In June, the Japanese yen hit a 38-year low against the dollar.

Authored by Yves Engler via Counterpunch.org,

NATO’s new focus on China harkens back to the belligerent alliance’s early days.

At the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington, DC, last week China was a big part of the agenda. The NATO summit’s final declaration mentioned the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) 14 times. It noted that “the PRC continues to pose systemic challenges to Euro-Atlantic security” and China’s “stated ambitions and coercive policies continue to challenge our interests, security and values.”

The leaders of NATO “partner” nations Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia attended the summit. They collectively met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to map out strategy for the Asia Pacific region. NATO announced four new joint projects with countries that are important to Washington’s bid to establish an anti-China military bloc. In response, Beijing accused NATO of “inciting bloc confrontation and hyping up regional tensions”.

Unsurprisingly, NATO frames its focus on China as defensive. “The PRC has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine”, claimed the summit’s final communique. According to this storyline, Chinese relations with Russia threaten NATO. But this is exaggerated. China has taken a cautious approach to Russia’s war largely complying with (illegal) US sanctions and refusing to sell arms (though its companies sell some dual use products to Russian firms). Conversely, North Korea and Iran are selling Russia arms while NATO countries are donating large amounts of weapons to Ukraine.

Comparing Chinese ties to India’s highlights NATO’s exaggeration. India is buying more oil and weapons from Russia than China and when NATO began its meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin.

In 2022, NATO released a strategic concept listing China for the first-time. It labeled Beijing a challenge to the alliance’s “interests, security and values” and at the time Stoltenberg declared, “China is substantially building up its military forces, including nuclear weapons, bullying its neighbours, threatening Taiwan ….”

This is all part of the US empire’s bid to contain China’s rise. Washington has become obsessed with an emerging “peer competitor” that may eventually rival its power.

While it seems strange that an alliance to defend the ‘north Atlantic’ should target a faraway Asian state, NATO is neither defensive nor only about the north Atlantic. The alliance’s recent wars in Afghanistan and Libya demonstrate that it’s a tool to enable US-led global domination.

That’s been clear for 75 years.

As part of the Parliamentary debate over NATO’s founding Canada’s external affairs minister Lester Pearson said:

“There is no better way of ensuring the security of the Pacific Ocean at this particular moment than by working out, between the great democratic powers, a security arrangement the effects of which will be felt all over the world, including the Pacific area.”

Two years later he said:

“The defence of the Middle East is vital to the successful defence of Europe and north Atlantic area.”

In 1953 Pearson went even further:

“There is now only a relatively small [5000 kilometre] geographical gap between southeast Asia and the area covered by the North Atlantic treaty, which goes to the eastern boundaries of Turkey.”

Pearson believed that the newly created ‘defensive’ alliance justified sending 27,000 Canadian troops to Korea. In a history of the 1950-53 US-led Korean war David Bercuson writes that Canada’s external minister “agreed with [President] Truman, [Secretary of State] Dean Acheson, and other American leaders that the Korean conflict was NATO’s first true test, even if it was taking place half a world away.”

The Korean War was partly a reaction to Mao’s 1949 communist/nationalist revolution in China. After US forces approached its border, China intervened. The war left around three million dead.

In reality, NATO was established to bring a decolonizing world under the US geopolitical umbrella. This remains true 75 years later as the alliance continues to advance US hegemony.

Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“The two ‘sides’ of mainstream politics are not fighting against one another, they’re only fighting against you. Their only job is to keep you clapping along with the two-handed puppet show as they rob you blind and tighten your chains while your gaze is fixed on the performance.”

– Caitlin Johnstone

A failed assassination attempt on a presidential candidate. An incumbent president withdrawing his re-election bid at the 11th hour. A politicized judiciary that fails to hold the powers-that-be accountable to the rule of law. A world at war. A nation in turmoil.

This is what controlled chaos looks like.

This year’s election-year referendum on which corporate puppet should occupy the White House has quickly become a lesson in how the Deep State engineers a crisis to keep itself in power.

Don’t get so caught up in the performance that you lose sight of what’s real.

This endless series of diversions, distractions and political drama is the oldest con game in the books, the magician’s sleight of hand that keeps you focused on the shell game in front of you while your wallet is being picked clean by ruffians in your midst.

It’s the Reichstag Fire all over again.

It was February 1933, a month before national elections in Germany, and the Nazis weren’t expected to win. So they engineered a way to win: they began by infiltrating the police and granting police powers to their allies; then Hitler brought in stormtroopers to act as auxiliary police; by the time an arsonist (who claimed to be working for the Communists in the hopes of starting an armed revolt) set fire to the Reichstag, the German parliamentary building, the people were eager for a return to law and order.

That was all it took: Hitler used the attempted “coup” as an excuse to declare martial law and seize absolute power in Germany, establishing himself as a dictator with the support of the German people.

Fast forward to the present day, and what do we have? A discontented citizenry, a disconnected government, and a Deep State that wants to stay in power at all costs.

So what happens? Trump has a near miss, Biden bows out, and politics becomes exciting to the masses again.

It works the same in every age.

This is how the police state will win, no matter which candidate gets elected to the White House.

You know who will lose? Every last one of us.

After all, politics today is not about Republicans and Democrats.

Nor is it about abortion, healthcare, higher taxes, immigration, or any of the other buzzwords that have become campaign slogans for individuals who have mastered the art of telling Americans exactly what they want to hear.

Politics today is about one thing and one thing only: maintaining the status quo between the Controllers (the politicians, the bureaucrats, and the corporate elite) and the Controlled (the taxpayers).

Indeed, it really doesn’t matter what you call them—the 1%, the elite, the controllers, the masterminds, the shadow government, the police state, the surveillance state, the military industrial complex—so long as you understand that no matter which party occupies the White House in 2025, the unelected bureaucracy that actually calls the shots will continue to do so.

In other words, no matter who wins this next presidential election, you can rest assured that the new boss will be the same as the old boss, and we—the permanent underclass in America—will continue to be forced to march in lockstep with the police state in all matters, public and private.

Consider the following a much-needed reality check, an antidote if you will, against an overdose of overhyped campaign announcements, lofty electoral promises and meaningless patriotic sentiments that land us right back in the same prison cell.

• FACT: According to a scientific study by Princeton researchers, the United States of America is not the democracy that it purports to be, but rather an oligarchy, in which “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy.”

• FACT: Despite the fact that the number of violent crimes in the country is down substantially, the lowest rate in sixty years, the number of Americans being jailed for nonviolent crimes such as driving with a suspended license continues to skyrocket.

• FACT: Thanks to an overabundance of 4,500-plus federal crimes and 400,000-plus rules and regulations, it is estimated that the average American actually commits three felonies a day without knowing it. In fact, according to law professor John Baker, “There is no one in the United States over the age of 18 who cannot be indicted for some federal crime. That is not an exaggeration.”

• FACT: Despite the fact that we have 38 million Americans living at or below the poverty line, 13 million children living in households without adequate access to food, and 1.2 million veterans relying on food stamps, enormous sums of taxpayer money continue to be doled out on wasteful programs that do little to improve the plight of those in need.

• FACT: Since 2001 Americans have spent $93 million every hour for the total cost of the nation’s so-called war on terror. 

• FACT: It is estimated that 5 million children in the United States have had at least one parent in prison, whether it be a local jail or a state or federal penitentiary, due to a wide range of factors ranging from overcriminalization and surprise raids at family homes to roadside traffic stops.

• FACT: According to a Gallup poll, Americans place greater faith in the military and the police than in any of the three branches of government.

• FACT: At least 400 to 500 innocent people are killed by police officers every year. Indeed, Americans are now eight times more likely to die in a police confrontation than they are to be killed by a terrorist. Americans are 110 times more likely to die of foodborne illness than in a terrorist attack. Police officers are more likely to be struck by lightning than be made financially liable for their wrongdoing.

• FACT: On an average day in America, over 100 Americans have their homes raided by SWAT teams. Most of those SWAT team raids are for a mere warrant service. There has been a notable buildup in recent years of heavily armed SWAT teams within non-security-related federal agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Education Department.

• FACT: For all intents and purposes, we now have a fourth branch of government: the surveillance state. This fourth branch came into being without any electoral mandate or constitutional referendum, and yet it possesses superpowers, above and beyond those of any other government agency save the military. It is all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful. It operates beyond the reach of the president, Congress and the courts, and it marches in lockstep with the corporate elite who really call the shots in Washington, DC. The government’s “technotyranny” surveillance apparatus has become so entrenched and entangled with its police state apparatus that it’s hard to know anymore where law enforcement ends and surveillance begins. They have become one and the same entity. The police state has passed the baton to the surveillance state.

• FACT: Everything we do will eventually be connected to the Internet. By 2030 it is estimated there will be 100 trillion sensor devices connecting human electronic devices (cell phones, laptops, etc.) to the Internet. Much, if not all, of our electronic devices will be connected to Google, which openly works with government intelligence agencies. Virtually everything we do now—no matter how innocent—is being collected by the spying American police state.

• FACT: Americans know virtually nothing about their history or how their government works. In fact, according to a study by the National Constitution Center, 41 percent of Americans “are not aware that there are three branches of government, and 62 percent couldn’t name them; 33 percent couldn’t even name one.”

• FACT: Only six out of every one hundred Americans know that they actually have a constitutional right to hold the government accountable for wrongdoing, as guaranteed by the right to petition clause of the First Amendment.

Perhaps the most troubling fact of all is this: we have handed over control of our government and our lives to faceless bureaucrats who view us as little more than cattle to be bred, branded, butchered and sold for profit.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, if there is to be any hope of restoring our freedoms and reclaiming control over our government, it will rest not with the politicians but with the people themselves.

One thing is for sure: the reassurance ritual of voting is not going to advance freedom one iota.

US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau announced on X that former President Trump will be featured in the next episode of his YouTube golf show, “Break 50.”

In this episode, DeChambeau and Trump will attempt to complete 18 holes in under 50 shots. This will serve as physical and mental tests for Trump, recorded for the world to see, especially as President Biden’s cognitive decline has forced him out of the presidential race, with Democrats replacing the elderly president with giggly Kamala Harris.

“To be clear, this is about golf and giving back to our nation’s veterans, not politics. A few weeks ago I reached out to both parties’ presidential campaigns and @realDonaldTrump was down for the challenge. It is an incredible honor to be able to enjoy a round of golf with any sitting or former president, and all have an open invitation to join me for a round of Break 50 anytime,” DeChambeau wrote on X. 

To be clear, this is about golf and giving back to our nation’s veterans, not politics. A few weeks ago I reached out to both parties’ presidential campaigns and @realDonaldTrump was down for the challenge. It is an incredible honor to be able to enjoy a round of golf with any…

— Bryson DeChambeau (@b_dechambeau) July 22, 2024

Golf Digest posted a teaser video of the episode with DeChambeau and Trump standing on a green with an American pin flag in the background. 

Bryson DeChambeau has announced Donald Trump is on his next episode of “Break 50”.

(📹: @b_dechambeau) pic.twitter.com/aBYJeU2Qwm

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) July 22, 2024

Meanwhile, the nation is asking this question about Biden. 

Let’s not forget this nonsense. 

Maybe now that Biden has dropped out he will have time to play Trump in that golf challenge? pic.twitter.com/Imb6u7UBi5

— CaptainQueenan (@captain_queenan) July 21, 2024

One X user said, “If he actually ends up breaking 50 with Trump then Trump is officially the greatest golfer in presidential history.”

Authored by Zena le Roux via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

US regulators were seen approving the first exchange-traded funds that invest directly in Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, according to the latest filings Monday.
The latter suggest the Securities and Exchange Commission signed off on spot-Ether ETF applications from 21Shares, Bitwise Asset Management Inc., BlackRock Inc., Fidelity Investments and VanEck, paving the way for official trading of the products.

Fat’s Role in the Body

According to a 2013 review, fat is not merely a passive store of energy but is, in fact, a highly “sophisticated organ” that regulates metabolic processes and branches of the immune system. Fat tissue is also crucial in regulating many organs and is closely linked with brain function.

Fat provides numerous benefits, Kristen Smith, a registered dietitian, manager of bariatric surgery at Piedmont Healthcare in Georgia, and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told The Epoch Times. These include supplying energy, supporting cell growth, protecting organs, and aiding in the absorption of essential nutrients.

Dr. Sulagna Misra, a medical doctor and founder of California-based Misra Wellness, also told The Epoch Times that fat keeps our bodies warm and insulated and serves as a way for the body to store fuel. Additionally, it functions as an endocrine gland with significant activity.

Fat is composed of adipose cells, which produce hormones like estrogen and leptin, cytokines (proteins involved in cellular communication) such as tumor necrosis factors (TNFs), and pro-inflammatory markers. When present in excess, these adipose cells can lead to metabolic or hormonal dysregulation.

Subcutaneous Fat

Subcutaneous fat, located directly beneath the skin, is the most abundant type of fat in the body, according to Ms. Smith. It is also the most metabolically favorable form of fat. Often considered neutral, subcutaneous fat can protect against coronary artery disease and Type 2 diabetes.

According to an article in the International Journal of Obesity, subcutaneous fat is linked to a protective glucose and lipid profile, reduced metabolic risk, and lower levels of inflammatory cytokines. This type of fat appears more passive than abdominal fat and “exerts its protective properties by long-term fatty acid storage.”

However, excessive subcutaneous fat, particularly in the upper body, can be harmful. Research has found that upper body subcutaneous fat is associated with increased cardiometabolic risk factors.

Visceral Fat

On the other hand, studies suggest that high levels of visceral fat raise one’s risk of developing cardiovascular events. Visceral fat is belly fat that surrounds internal organs and is deeper in the abdominal cavity.

Visceral fat is more insulin-resistant, sensitive to lipolysis, and metabolically active. It can generate free fatty acids and uptake glucose more than subcutaneous fat. Additionally, it is a more robust predictor of death.

There are significant differences between fat depots and their associated risks of metabolic disorders. Visceral fat has been shown to generate inflammation and is considered a greater risk for metabolic disorders. Visceral and subcutaneous fat are metabolically distinct tissues.

The Framingham Heart Study measured the relationship between visceral fat and depressive symptoms in 1,581 women (average age 52 years) and 1,718 men (average age 50 years). The study found a relationship in women but not in men. However, a link between subcutaneous fat and depressive symptoms was not observed, underscoring the differences in metabolic activity within each fat depot.

There is also a link between stress, cortisol, and abdominal fat deposits. Stress increases exposure to circulating levels of cortisol, leading to an increased appetite and the mobilization of fat from the periphery (outer areas of the body) to the central region. Cortisol is known to redistribute fat from the outer areas of the body to the abdominal area.

According to a 2011 article in Obesity, various factors could influence the relationship between obesity and depressive symptoms, including inflammation. Visceral fat appears to have “a unique and important contribution” to the inflammatory state, the authors wrote.

Ms. Smith explained that visceral fat typically increases with age and heightened stress levels. Studies indicate that the distribution of body fat is more important for overall health than the total amount of body fat. An unbalanced diet high in fatty foods and carbohydrates, combined with a sedentary lifestyle, creates conditions that promote the accumulation of visceral fat, she said.

Liver Fat

According to Dr. Misra, liver fat consists of fatty tissue stored in the liver, typically as fuel. Liver fat accumulates following excess consumption of sugar and fat (glucose and triglycerides). Diets high in sugar and saturated fat often lead to the accumulation of liver fat. Excessive liver fat can significantly impair liver function. The liver is crucial for metabolism, hormone production, and many other functions, which is why obesity often leads to metabolic and hormonal disorders.

Regarding the role of diet in liver fat accumulation, total energy intake, rather than fat intake per se, is the key mediator of liver fat content. Hypo-energetic diets (calorie deficit) decrease liver fat regardless of total fat content, while hyper-energetic diets (excess calories) increase liver fat.

Dietary fat composition could also affect liver fat accumulation, with diets rich in saturated fat increasing liver fat content more than diets with more unsaturated fats.

Added fructose sources also seem to be of concern when it comes to liver fat. It has been shown that fructose metabolism is faster than glucose and more is converted to liver glycogen. Additionally, ingested carbohydrates are more likely to contribute to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) than dietary fat intake; NAFLD increases the risk of liver damage.

4 Ways to Reduce Harmful Fat

“Monitor what you eat, listen to your body, get good quality and quantity sleep, integrate play, eat more vegetables and fiber, choose cleaner and less processed foods, cook at home, and exercise regularly (especially weight training),” advised Dr. Misra. Keep the following four tips in mind:

1. Avoid processed foods: These include deep-fried or ultra-processed foods, sodas, candy, and commercial baked goods. Foods sweetened with fructose should be avoided or enjoyed only in moderation. Read the labels and avoid ingredients like “partially hydrogenated oils” or “high-fructose corn syrup.” These deplete your body of necessary nutrients and convert to fat quickly.
2. Try a high-intensity workout: High-intensity, high-volume training encourages visceral fat loss and improves carotid artery health, facilitating blood flow to the brain.
3. Stay active: Sedentary behaviors, particularly watching TV, have distinct associations with fat depositions.
4. Eat enough fiber: Increased soluble fiber intake is associated with less visceral fat accumulation—regardless of body mass index (BMI). Increased soluble fiber intake combined with increased physical activity slows the natural progression of visceral fat.

A New Definition of Obesity

Authors of a 2006 review in Current Diabetes Reviews called for a new definition of obesity based on the anatomical location of fat rather than its volume, particularly when assessing cardiometabolic risk.

The review suggested that the term “metabolic obesity,” which refers to visceral fat accumulation in both lean and obese individuals, may better identify those at risk of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Misra added that there are diseases or situations in which the BMI may be normal, but the person may have a high amount of visceral fat. “I prefer to address each person individually because ‘normal’ weight is a spectrum, and weight gain is complex,” she concluded.

Windows keep falling off a building in Philadelphia and no one seems to care enough to do anything about it.

“Someone’s going to die,” a resident told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Past three months I think we’ve had six or seven windows fall. Eventually it’s going to fall on someone.”

The Riverwalk building, a residence near the Schuylkill River that was built in 2021 by Philadelphia’s largest residential landlord, PMC Property Group, is “shedding its windows”, according to Penn Live, citing the Inquirer. 

Its located next to a biking and running path that runs along the river, as well as moderate on-street pedestrian foot traffic.

PMC Property Group has gone litigious, filing two lawsuits in Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court against Wisconsin-based Wasau Window and Wall Systems Supply.

The lawsuits, filed in June and July, claim that the companies supplied windows worth tens of millions of dollars that allegedly “spontaneously” break.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that over 60 windows have “spontaneously” broken across three towers. Residents claim management has done little despite three years of complaints.

According to Penn Live citing Fox 29, recent months have seen six or seven windows fall, posing a danger. PMC Management stated they are aware of the issues and have taken immediate steps, including filing a lawsuit against Wausau Window.

PMC is working with Philadelphia’s Departments of Licenses and Inspections, structural engineers, and a glass vendor to replace cracked windows and is installing protective scaffolding at Riverwalk.

PMC said: “These incidents have led us to file suit against the manufacturer, Wausau Window, to resolve any defects. PMC is also working closely with the city of Philadelphia’s Departments of Licenses and Inspections and structural engineers.”

The concluded: “Additionally, we are collaborating with a glass vendor to remove and replace cracked windows. Although the tempered glass windows are designed to crack into small pieces like a car windshield, we are proactively erecting protective ground-level scaffolding at Riverwalk.”

Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

The more we learn about the made-up rules enforced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the more outrageous the entire thing becomes. Anthony Fauci had the utter audacity to sit in Congress and admit they had no data, so they just creatively improvised things like social distancing measures. They fooled a lot of folks once, so shame on them. It looks like they’re about to try and fool us twice with the Bird Flu. If we fall for it again, then shame on us.

They did everything from withholding effective medications to depriving people of employment to shaming people publicly, discriminating against them, and wishing them dead.

Then as if 2020 and 2021 weren’t brutal enough, we find out from Congressional investigations and Anthony Fauci’s recent testimony it was all a bunch of baloney to make Big Pharma rich and Big Government powerful. People died who didn’t need to die, the elderly became isolated from their loved ones, medical personnel became burned out and traumatized, and children lost an entire year of educational experiences. Others were vaccinated, some eagerly and some grudgingly, and are suffering longterm disability and even death from the hastily created mRNA vaccine.

If we don’t take away some lessons from this, we don’t deserve to call ourselves preppers.

And it looks like we’re about to be tested on what we’ve learned.

The Bird Flu

Last week, Dr. Peter McCullough of The Wellness Company released an update on where we stand with the bird flu (H5N1), where this is heading, and what individuals can do to stay safe and informed. 

First, Dr. McCullough says the mass destruction of livestock to “eradicate” the virus is “futile” and will only work to harm our food supply – not end the spread of bird flu. 

Second, Dr. McCullough believes it is clear that the rapid spread of bird flu to migratory birds and mammals is the result of gain-of-function research and a lab leak. A set-up that looks eerily to COVID-19. 

Third, Dr. McCullough rightly points out that the fearmongering around the bird flu promoted by the mainstream media is to facilitate mass vaccination of animals and humans, which will line the pockets of Big Pharma and their NGO backers. 

The lessons we should have learned

First, it’s entirely possible that they can and will use this as another two-year power grab. It’s another election year, and it almost feels like deja vu, watching the MSM wax fearful over this virus. But if we are aware, we’re able to mitigate some of the damage.

Financial problems

Of course, we can’t do much about the overall damage to the economy. We can only prepare ourselves for it with supplies, savings, and other preps. By this, I mean general prepping and being ready for economic hard times.

“New” vaccines

We have seen how badly the last vaccine turned out for many people. Young, otherwise healthy athletes dropping dead on the playing field. People confined to wheelchairs. Others living through a disabling brain fog. Some people got through it fine, while for others it was completely devastating. We’d do well to remember this in case of another speedy-to-market vaccine.

Inability to get the medication that works

We learned that when Big Pharma has an agenda, we may lose access to the medications we need. They all but outlawed ivermectin during Covid, and even people who got prescriptions found that pharmacies were unwilling to fill them. The Wellness Company has a Contagion Emergency Kit that contains the necessary prescription meds to treat all types of viral illnesses. It contains Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin (generic Z-Pak™), Oseltamivir (generic Tamiflu™) and Budesonide along with a nebulizer. Interestingly, these were the meds and treatments I was given in Mexico when I got Covid there.

I have these kits on hand for every member of my family, because I’m not going to risk being at the mercy of Big Pharma in the future.

Food prices going up

If you think food prices went crazy last time, just wait until this time around. We’re already seeing livestock being pre-emptively killed, which will make meat and poultry prices skyrocket. But will this work to help “stop the bird flu?”

Dr. McCullough says no. He believes that the mass destruction of livestock to “eradicate” the virus is “futile” and will only work to harm our food supply – not end the spread of bird flu. 

This is a place where preppers excel – stocking up on food and developing as much food independence as possible. This book is a physical copy of 12 years worth of OP articles on food storage, production, acquisition, and preservation.

Mental preparedness

Perhaps the most important thing in the upcoming bird flu scare is your mental preparedness. If you panic, you tend to lose your reasoning skills. If you can remain calm and centered, then you will get through the times ahead with much more clarity of thought. And that’s absolutely essential when trying to sift through the lies to get to the truth.

We’ve watched this before.

I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of these illnesses for some folks. I know that many question whether Covid even exists. I believe it does and I believe that the bird flu does too. I also believe that these things are being tampered with to make them even more deadly. Only if the populace sees dramatic images that fill them with fear will they be easily herded toward even more draconian regulations.

Don’t let your knowledge of how deceptive they were in the past allow you to become complacent. Don’t immediately brush off all fears to the point that you take no precautions. It’s important to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with first. If another pandemic conveniently comes along, you can bet it will have been made more deadly. It would have to be even scarier than Covid to convince people to go along with this stuff again.