GOV/MIL Main "Great Reset" Thread

[marsh]

November Home Sales Suffer Biggest Crash In History | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 11:05 AM
As a historic cold front blankets the continental US - because global warming of course - locking down hundreds of millions, and paralyzing the economy and infrastructure...



... the only thing that is more frozen is US housing, where according to the latest housing report from RedFin, home sales in November fell 35.1% Y/Y — the largest decline in Redfin’s records that date back to 2012.



Home-price growth also lost momentum, although home prices have remained surprisingly high amid the broader housing carnage. One can attribute that to the lack of liquidations so far; if however the housing malaise persists look for prices to go into freefall next. For now, the median U.S. home-sale price rose just 2.6% from a year earlier, the smallest gain since May 2020, when the onset of the coronavirus pandemic brought the housing market to a near halt.

To be sure, if and when sellers are forced to start hitting bids - as their liquidity buffers evaporate - we will see a historic buying frenzy driven by Wall Street money. Not surprisingly, a few days ago Redfin also reported that with most mortgage-funded buyers sidelined indefinitely and unable to access the market, roughly one-third (31.9%) of U.S. home purchases were paid for with all cash in October, up from 29.9% a year earlier and the highest share since 2014!



The housing market paralysis in November intensified as elevated housing costs kept buyers and sellers on the sidelines, while the record surge in mortgage rates in early November caused sales and prices to slow. New listings slumped 28.4% year over year, the biggest drop on record aside from April 2020. Despite the decrease in listings, overall supply rose 4.6% from a year earlier—a sign that homes lingered on the market as demand ebbed: the typical for-sale home took 37 days to go under contract, up from 23 days a year earlier.

The silver lining is that amid growing fears of an imminent Fed-induced recession which has sent rates sharply lower in the past month, there are early signs that demand may be starting to creep back as mortgage rates fall (which ironically is precisely what the Fed wants to avoid as it would further ease financial conditions). There was a slight downtick in the portion of home-purchase agreements that were canceled in November, and mortgage applications and Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index have both been on the rise. Still, these early indicators haven’t translated into more home sales.

As a reminder, in late November, mortgage rates reversed course dropping below 6.5% after soaring to the highest level in roughly two decades (7.08%) earlier in the month; that said they’re still twice as high as they were a year ago. The Fed has since signaled that it has more work to do to quell inflation and isn’t yet finished raising rates.

“The worst of inflation is likely in the rearview mirror,” said Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao. “We do anticipate that mortgage rates will decline slightly further in 2023 as the Fed’s actions continue to bring inflation down, which should ultimately bring more homebuyers back to the market. Still, we have a ways to go until we reach recovery mode, and we may see sales continue to ebb in the short term.”

Zhao continued: “Prospective buyers in places like San Francisco and Austin, where prices have already fallen from a year ago, should pay close attention to a potential turnaround; it could be the time to take action as demand and competitive offers could pick up in the coming months.”

 

[marsh]

More States Take Emergency Measures As 'Historic' Winter Storm Puts 240 Million Americans Under Weather Alerts | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

More States Take Emergency Measures As 'Historic' Winter Storm Puts 240 Million Americans Under Weather Alerts​

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 11:30 AM
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

A powerful winter storm of historic proportions that the National Weather Service (NWS) warned could bring life-threatening conditions has prompted multiple states to announce emergency measures, with over 240 million people under some kind of weather warnings or advisories.



The latest bulletin from the NWS’ Weather Prediction Center, issued at around 3 a.m. on Dec. 23, warned of a “historic winter storm” that was poised to produce widespread disruption to big portions of the country.

Over 240 million people within the United States, or around 73 percent of the population, are now under some kind of winter weather advisory or warning, according to the bulletin.

The Weather Prediction Center said this includes 181 million people under wind chill warnings or advisories, over 11 million for blizzard warning, 58 million for winter storm warnings, and over 500,000 for ice storm warnings.

The powerful Arctic front is predicted to continue to sweep across the eastern third of the country on Friday, with what the NWS described as an “immense” winter storm expected to have increasingly widespread impacts on travel and the potential for power outages.

The bitter cold snap has led temperatures to plummet by as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit in a short period of time for a large part of the country. Besides very cold temperatures, high winds coming in the wake of the powerful front will lead to “dangerous” wind chill readings in nearly all of the central to eastern United States, the Weather Prediction Center said.

The NWS forecast is valid through Christmas Day.

Here are the states where governors have announced some form of emergency measures in response to the brutal cold snap.

Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has authorized the activation of the Colorado National Guard to assist with operations in response to the extreme weather.

“Colorado is about to face extreme weather and cold temperatures and the Guard is ready to assist local communities to help keep people safe during this extreme-cold weather snap,” he said in a press release.

The temperature at the Denver International Airport (DIA) fell by 37.1 degrees F in an hour on Wednesday night, setting a record for the biggest one-hour temperature drop at that location in recorded history.

Early Thursday, the temperature briefly dropped to minus 24 degrees F at DIA, just shy of the monthly record set in 1990, according to NWS Boulder.

“The combination of wind and low temperatures in winter can be deadly,” Polis said in a post on Twitter.

“Be aware of warning signs of hypothermia and frostbite,” he added, noting factors like confusion, shivering, difficulty speaking, sleepiness, and stiff muscles.

Connecticut
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, on Thursday put the state’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on an enhanced footing in preparation for the storm.

The enhanced monitoring status was to be in effect starting Friday at 7 a.m. and remaining in force through next Monday at noon.

“The latest forecast anticipates that Connecticut will receive a significant rain and wind storm beginning Thursday night and lasting through Saturday morning that has the potential to cause coastal flooding and a significant number of outages due to downed power lines,” Lamont said in a press release.

Staff from multiple agencies will assist the EOC with communications, while crews from the Connecticut Department of Transportation are on standby for removal of snow and debris from roads and sidewalks.

“Considering that temperatures will sharply drop on Friday night, I strongly urge everyone to make preparations in case you lose power as a result of the storm,” Lamont said, adding that shelters are open across the state and encouraging anyone who needs access to call 2-1-1 for assistance finding the nearest location.

Georgia
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, which will run through midnight on Monday.

“We want to urge all Georgians to be ready and certainly that goes for our teams,” Kemp said during a press conference on Wednesday.

The state of emergency declaration will enable essential supplies to be delivered for both commercial and residential needs.

A high wind warning is in effect for northeast Georgia through 10 p.m. Friday and a wind advisory has been issued for central and north Georgia, according to NWS Atlanta.

Drivers in Georgia were warned to be on alert for patchy black ice overnight Thursday and into Friday morning.

“Black ice is most likely on local roads, bridges, and overpasses. Please use extra caution if you have to travel,” NWS Atlanta warned.

Kansas
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, signed an executive order on Wednesday to enable assistance to get to parts of the state impacted by the winter storm more easily.

The order lifts certain motor carrier restrictions, including driving time limitations, in order “to allow needed fuels, relief supplies, and other items to move through Kansas as quickly as possible,” Kelly’s office said in a press release.

“I urge all Kansans to exercise caution over the coming days, to reconsider travel if possible, and to please stay safe and warm,” Kelly said in the release.

Kentucky
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency (pdf) on Wednesday, warning of severe winter storm conditions that will “endanger public health and safety and/or public and private property.”

The declaration authorizes the mobilization of the National Guard and provides additional resources, including personnel and funding, to assist with response and recovery efforts associated with the severe weather.

Beshear said in a weather update on Thursday that wind chills in Kentucky are expected to drop below zero degrees F and go as low as minus 30 degrees F into Friday, with below-freezing temperatures expected to linger until Tuesday.

“Plan on slippery road conditions, especially tonight and moving into tomorrow. If you can stay off the roads, please do,” he said in the update.

In a post on Twitter on Friday, Beshear urged people to avoid travel, saying that conditions “are worsening quickly, with roadways becoming hazardous.”

“We’re hearing of multiple accidents across the commonwealth. If you are an essential worker, make sure to have a vehicle kit in place. Stay safe, Kentucky,” he said.

Maryland
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, activating emergency response operations and urging caution for holiday travel.

“Marylanders should be prepared for significant impacts to holiday travel, and adjust plans as necessary,” he said in a press release.

“As always, it is especially important to give room to crews and plows. We are coordinating our response with local jurisdictions, and will continue to keep Marylanders informed throughout the storm.”

Maryland drivers were urged to be vigilant on roadways as wet conditions turn to ice.

In an update Thursday, Hogan warned of a cold front on Friday that will bring high winds and rapidly dropping temperatures.

“Crews will treat roads within 1–2 hours of the expected temperature drop. Take precautions & plan accordingly,” he said.

Missouri
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, signed an executive order on Tuesday in preparation for the pending winter storm and extreme cold weather conditions.

The order activates the Missouri State Emergency Operations Plan and the Missouri National Guard for state and local response efforts.

“Extreme cold and hazardous weather conditions are expected to bring varying amounts of snow accumulation, but even more concerning is the bitter cold that is forecasted to impact the entire state,” he said in a press release.

“Missourians should be proactive in their preparations and so should state government, especially during this holiday travel season,” he said.

Parson’s office warned of temperatures dropping rapidly and wind chills as cold as minus 40 degrees F in parts of the state.

North Carolina
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, warning of “extremely low temperatures” expected to hit the state on Friday, as well as “very windy” conditions statewide.

The cold temperatures are expected to last through Christmas weekend, with Cooper’s office warning of strong wind gusts that could down trees and lead to power outages, as well as wind chill below zero degrees F in parts of the state.

Cooper’s order will “activate the state’s emergency operations plan, waive transportation regulations to help the transport of fuel and critical supplies, help first responders and protect consumers from price gouging.”

The emergency declaration will help companies keep up with demand for propane and other heating fuels, he said.

New York
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency on Thursday, with her office warning of flooding, flash freezing, power outages, and “extremely low wind chills.”

The emergency declaration, which is expected to last until next Monday, includes opening the state’s Emergency Operations Center on Friday morning.

It also involves banning all commercial vehicles on New York State Thruway (I-90) from exit 46 (Rochester I-390) to the Pennsylvania border, and the Niagara Thruway from I-90 to exit 22 (Route 62).

“With Mother Nature throwing everything she has at us this weekend, I encourage New Yorkers who are considering traveling for the holidays to do so before Friday or after Sunday to stay safe,” Hochul said in a statement.

Oklahoma
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, declared a state of emergency across the state on Wednesday, which will remain in effect for seven days.

Stitt’s order temporarily suspends “requirements for size and weights permits of oversized vehicles transporting materials and supplies used for emergency relief and power restoration,” according to his office.

The governor’s office warned of bad weather conditions that could lead to power outages, hazardous road conditions, and increased demand for heating fuels.

“Please do your part, stay inside, check on your neighbors and stay safe, Oklahoma!” Stitt said in a post on Twitter.

West Virginia
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, declared a statewide state of emergency on Thursday, warning of heavy snow, freezing rain, and dangerous wind chills.

The governor also issued a proclamation declaring Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, as a full-day state holiday for public employees.

“All West Virginians need to absolutely be ready for the potential impact this winter storm may bring to our state,” Justice said in a press release, urging people to be prepared for possible power outages.

“West Virginians take care of one another, so on this holiday weekend, make sure you check on your neighbors and loved ones,” he said in the release.

Wisconsin
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, signed an executive order on Thursday, warning of limited deliveries of liquid fuels for heating homes.

The order, which provides a 10-day waiver for certain federal and state requirements for those providing energy emergency response supplies, allows for “the swift and efficient delivery of fuel products, as well as streamlined restoration efforts in the event of significant power outages throughout the state,” according to the governor’s office.

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, on Thursday met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the NWS, while warning travelers to “leave now” or face canceled flights or other travel disruptions due to the cold snap.

 

[marsh]

Of Course The Feds Were All Over Twitter | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

Of Course The Feds Were All Over Twitter

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 12:06 PM
Authored by Micah Meadowcroft via TheAmericanConservative.com,

Twitter was staffed by craven functionaries eager to please contacts and former colleagues in the national security state...



Readers will, I hope, forgive me for visiting a topic two weeks in a row. But perhaps they’ll agree that the so-called Twitter Files remain the most important news story out there. Not, as already mentioned, because we've learned something new from them, but rather because they confirm what you and I—dissidents, whether you wanted to be or not—already knew.

We have been, so to speak, repeatedly asked, “Who are you going to trust, us bureaucrats, or your own lying eyes?” And it is not only nice, but fundamental to rational self-rule that we know it was them, the bureaucrats, and not our eyes that were lying.

The latest two installments of the files, from Michael Shellenberger and Lee Fang, might be the most shocking so far, but let us differentiate between shock and surprise. It is indeed shocking, in a democratic republic, to have confirmed for us that our national secret police were working closely with a corporate entity to manipulate our de facto town square and affect the outcomes of an election; the FBI prompted Yoel Roth to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story. It is indeed shocking, in a country committed to civilian rule, that our military would run influence campaigns on the de facto American soil of an American social media platform; the Pentagon ran psychological-warfare operations on Twitter with Twitter’s help.

But it should not be a surprise, even as we are so proud of our representative federal system, to have any of this confirmed. On the one hand, the FBI has a well established track record of shady political interference, too long to detail here—the left used to talk about this, along with the paleoconservative and libertarian right. On the other hand, Twitter represents the intersection of technology and journalism, and there are few parts of American society more bound up with the national security state than those.

The media are, as the Fourth Estate, central players in the information sphere, which is the area of concern to our and others’ security services. Mass participatory politics is built on consensus formation of various kinds, and the First Amendment represents an attempt to create and protect a shared sphere for that meaning-making apart from the state itself. At this point in our moment of acceleration it is almost passé to interrogate the concept of a neutral public square, and I simply assert it has never existed. But we should realize that the mythology of the neutral public square, and in particular the mythology of a free and independent press that Americans remain acculturated in, is an artifact of the Cold War and the triumph of the American security state.

This mythology was constructed, manufactured by an American establishment that at the time really was effective and in certain ways elite. The efforts of total war and the growth of technology, especially in communications, had centralized tools of command and control and consensus-manufacturing more than ever before. Mass mobilization and a war economy in the Second World War, Allied propaganda efforts and the new secular articulation of liberal Western values at Nuremberg, plus the sustained Cold War effort, all contributed to the formation of a genuine mass society with a strong cultural establishment. And, to put it really baldly, National Review and other respectable conservative publications of the time acted as controlled opposition within a shared liberal consensus, protecting its rightward edge.

The internet was widely supposed to herald a new age of decentralization that would make the mythic neutral public square real. Indeed, some people still think this might happen.

Digital communication is supposed to remove, to some degree, the points of centralization, the editors and publishers and thus the editorial lines. Of course, we have seen some of that, as everything from email chain letters to blogs to news sites have given what had been semi-successfully suppressed as fringe views a larger reach and much more prominent place in public discourse. But both in public and supposedly private spheres, the internet ecosystem is also centralized, necessarily. This is true structurally, if we think about servers and cables and increasingly monopolistic platforms. It is also true historically, considering the origins of the internet as we know it in the national security state, both in its initial development as a DARPA command-and-control technology that could survive a nuclear war, and in later major investments in Silicon Valley.

All of this is to say that as shocking as they might be, the Twitter Files should not surprise us.

Our media ecosystem is as much a product of America’s national security history as anything else in this country, and probably more so. The popular unreflective view of political media is that it is about politics; a reporter reports on what is happening in some special other public sphere called “politics” that sits apart from the public square we all occupy. But in a mass democratic society, no such independent political sphere exists, and at least since Watergate, if not the World Wars, the path to prestige in the media has been not to report on political conflict but to participate in it, wittingly or unwittingly. In being staffed by craven functionaries eager to please contacts and former colleagues in the national security state, Twitter before Elon Musk, it turns out, was not so different from the Washington Post, the New York Times, or CNN.

 

[marsh]

Notes From The Digital Gulag | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

Notes From The Digital Gulag

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 12:45 PM
Authored by Michael Rectenwald via The Mises Institute,

As the author of Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom, I guess I should not be surprised to find myself squarely in the digital gulag—banished, perhaps permanently, from Twitter and Facebook. Twitter permanently suspended my account several weeks ago, mere days before Elon Musk took over the helm. Although I cannot be sure, I may have been banned because I suggested that the transgender movement is part of a multipronged neo-Malthusian depopulation campaign. (Note that I said nothing to or about any transgender individuals and thus broke no “Twitter rules,” whatever they may be. I may have been mistaken, but surely being “correct” is not a condition for major social media use. Or is it? Of course it is.)

Now Facebook has demanded proof that I am who I say I am, and has completely barred me from my account, which has been, at least temporarily, utterly erased from the site. I submitted a picture of my driver’s license, which Facebook rejected, and then a picture of my passport along with my license. I await Facebook’s response, which I read could take anywhere from forty-eight hours to forty-five days to arrive.

I am considering deleting my account, so I will lose thousands of followers and contact with many people with whom I’ve become friends. That’s how the digital gulag system works.

One is sucked into social media networks, and then the social media networks have control over your connections, which they can sever on a whim.

Excuse me if I find the timing of my banishment somewhat curious, since I have just written a new book on the global agenda of the Great Reset, with a foreword by Lew Rockwell, which is due to be released on Amazon in early January.

By now it should go without saying that the elements of Big Digital—the megadata services, the social media platforms, the artificial intelligence (AI) agents, the apps, and the developing internet of things, internet of bodies, digital identity, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)—are not only the products of monopolies or would-be monopolies but have also been incorporated by the state as apparatuses of a new corporate-state power.

With the ongoing publication of “the Twitter files” and other revelations, collusion between Big Digital and the state can no longer be credibly denied nor can data sharing and coordination among social media sites and Google. Google and Facebook track online and “offline” behavior (if “offline” can any longer be considered to exist) and essentially know everything imaginable about their users.

It is often suggested that this data is used exclusively for advertising purposes. But user data is also shared with the surveillance state, and this is far more troubling. Visited a verboten website? Imagine how the state might make use of such information.

One suggested solution is to go Galt—to seek a digital Galt’s Gulch and to remove oneself and thus one’s digital footprints, as much as possible, from Big Digital’s ambit. This is easy to say for those who do not rely on social media to promote their wares, but certainly extrication from the totalitarian Googleplex is possible, at least in principle.

In fact, for many true dissidents, it will likely become inevitable. But what will it mean? Will Big Digital make survival outside of its reach impossible? When does the digital gulag become more than virtual? At what point does your life depend on Big Digital? Digital identity and CBDCs will seal many fates; one will either opt into the totalitarian regime or face the consequences of complete exclusion.

 

[marsh]

Arizona Gov Forced To Dismantle $80 Million Cargo-Container Wall He Just Built | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

Arizona Gov Forced To Dismantle $80 Million Cargo-Container Wall He Just Built​

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 09:06 AM
Under the duress of a federal lawsuit, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has agreed to dismantle two long sections of border wall the state built out of stacked shipping containers capped by concertina wire.

Agreeing to an aggressive border-obliteration deadline, Arizona will yank all the containers away by Jan. 4, and without damaging natural resources as it does.

The announcement comes as the Supreme Court evaluates the legality of the Trump-era Title 42, which lets agents block asylum claims at the border, purportedly to limit the spread of contagious diseases amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally set to expire Dec 21 under a court order, any eventual removal of the policy is expected to spark a major influx of migrants.

Earlier this month, the U.S Interior and Agriculture departments filed suit to stop the construction of the makeshift wall, seeking "a declaration that Arizona's use and occupancy of lands owned by the United States without the required permits or other authorization constitutes unlawful trespasses."

The container wall is at the southern fringe of U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation lands and easements. The wall was also challenged by environmentalists. Started in August, the project had filled about a third of the length of border that was planned.

The cargo-container wall winds its way along the Arizona-Mexico border (Ivan Pierre Aguirre/New York Times)
In its filing, the government said the "hundreds of double-stacked, multi-ton shipping containers...damage federal lands, threaten public safety, and impede the ability of federal agencies and officials, including law enforcement personnel, to perform their official duties."

Ducey's office portrayed the development as a victory, suggesting that he'd been assured the federal government would itself soon begin closing the gaps in the border wall. "Finally, after the situation on our border has turned into a full blown crisis, they've decided to act," his spokesman said. "Better late than never."

That version was challenged by the Center for Biological Diversity's Russ McSpadden, who said the federal government hasn't said it will build a wall in sections where the containers are today.

According to the Arizona Republic, Arizona has spent more than $80 million to procure 1,167 cargo containers and stack them along remote stretches of the frontier in Yuma and Cochise counties. The state is now compelled to spend more money taking the wall down -- and McSpadden said the state is also obligated to repair the damage it did to federal land.

Ducey is in the waning weeks of his tenure, as Democratic Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs waits in the wings. Her November opponent, Kari Lake, is awaiting a decision by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson after a two-day trial in which the Lake campaign sought to prove that major election problems in the county were created "intentionally" and "did actually affect the election."

We'll have to see what Arizona will do with all those shipping containers now. Lake suggests they could be repurposed as housing. If and when Title 42 vanishes, it's easy to imagine they'll be filled with Latin Americans.

 

[marsh]

German health minister says Climate change travel restrictions will be required 1:28 min

GERMAN HEALTH MINISTER SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS WILL BE REQUIRED (Subtitled)​

• WATCH

German health minister says Climate change travel restrictions and prohibited behaviour will be required.

But it’s just a conspiracy theory, even if you quote him

 

[marsh]

Barack Obama's White House Now At The Center of The Hunter Biden Scandal as Republicans Reveal That the Biden WH Delaying Hunter Docs, They Allege

This is getting serious.

conservativebrief.com

Senators Make New Demand Regarding FBI, Hunter Biden, Obama White House​

Martin WalshDecember 23, 2022

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.

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Two GOP senators who have been investigating alleged Biden family corruption for years have stepped up their efforts. After Facebook and Twitter suppressed, to an extent, explosive revelations about Hunter Biden’s laptop in October 2020, Republican Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin want more answers.

Grassley and Johnson have sent a letter to Zuckerberg noting that in October 2020, “when the New York Post published articles based on evidence from Hunter Biden’s laptop, many news and social media organizations inappropriately rushed to censor and discredit the initial reporting and falsely labeled it as ‘disinformation.’”

Mainstream media outlets have finally admitted that the information gleaned from the laptop was not Russian disinformation but was in fact real.

“You recently appeared to indicate that the reason why Facebook made the unwise decision to censor articles about Hunter Biden’s laptop was based on an alert from the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the senators wrote. Whistleblowers have also alleged to Senator Johnson that local FBI leadership instructed its employees not to look at the Hunter Biden laptop immediately after the FBI had obtained it,” the senators noted further, going on to say that Americans “deserve to know whether the FBI used Facebook as part of their alleged plan to discredit information about Hunter Biden.”

“Congress and the American people require clarity with respect to the extent the FBI communicated with Facebook during the 2020 election about Hunter Biden-related information,” they added.

Expected incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan believes there’s been a seismic shift regarding the ongoing federal investigation of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

The Ohio Republican suggested “something is up” with the probe because of a new interest in the story by many of the same media outlets that initially dismissed reports of corruption evidence stemming from materials and emails obtained from a laptop he reportedly abandoned at a computer repair store in Delaware in 2019.

“It sure looks like Joe Biden was involved,” Jordan added. “So, my, how this story has changed. And now, we find out these text messages and emails that link the entire family, not just Hunter and Joe and — but also uncle, the — Joe’s brother, James Biden, is involved in this as well.”

It’s not just Jordan, either.

Kentucky GOP Rep. James Comer, who will become the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee in January, told the Washington Post that Republicans plan to launch investigations very soon.

The Post asked Comer: “Do you plan on investigating Washington’s influence industry more broadly, or will the investigation be focused solely on Hunter Biden’s business deals?”

Comer responded: “Right now we’re focusing on Joe Biden. We’ll be looking into Hunter and Jim Biden — people forget about Jim, he’s just as bad as Hunter — with respect to influence-peddling. Sometimes these investigations uncover other areas that need to be looked into, so we’ll see what happens. I’m hoping that at the end of this investigation, there’s a legislative fix as to define what exactly is influence-peddling and what should be legal, what should not be legal.”

“We need to have very thorough disclosure laws so we know, if [a president’s] immediate family members are doing business with [a foreign] country, this is exactly what they’re doing. These are the terms of the agreement. This is what they’re selling over there. This was what their sales were before their relative became president. This is what their sales were once he became president,” Comer said.

Comer added: “I’m hopeful that when I have the gavel, they’ll change their opinion. I don’t think I’m going to ask for anything that’s unrealistic. This is a substantive investigation. I think we’ve outlined exactly why we’re doing this and exactly what we want to know. At the end of the day, if the White House works with us, this shouldn’t be a very lengthy investigation and we can move on.”

 

[marsh]

How the Left Became What It Once Hated

www.theepochtimes.com

How the Left Became What It Once Hated​

Jeffery Tucker December 23, 2022

Commentary
In the final scenes of the book and film “The Hunger Games,” Katniss Everdeen has the opportunity finally to kill the hated dictator President Snow, but instead turns her bow on the leader of the rebellion armies, namely President Coin.

The plot twist is remarkable because it adds an element of realistic complexity to the dynamics of power. Katniss has come to realize that the rebels had gradually become the thing they hated the most. They had begun to crave the very power that they were trying to overthrow.

Indeed, there was no reason to think that the regime under rebel control would be different than the status quo. The emoluments of power would be newly available to a new group of managers. Coin would replace Snow just as Snow had replaced the person before him. What Katniss really wanted was a completely new system of freedom, not just a new public face to the old tyranny.

Her insight is profound here. When hatred becomes focused, boundless, obsessive, the hater gradually comes to emulate the very thing it opposes. That is what happened to the rebel armies and to Coin.

So too, this is what Trump Derangement Syndrome has done to the Left in this country. It began in 2016 when he won the presidency over Hillary Clinton, who was somehow supposed to win. After that, the single-minded focus of opposition became to grind him and his presidency into the ground and oppose everything about him, including his supporters and even the system that brought him to office.

The bitter irony here is that the Left has become the very thing they warned against. They said that Trump was an authoritarian and brutal, a financial racketeer who lived off manipulation. They warned that he would use his personality cult to impose a quasi dictatorship.

And here we are six years later and what do we see of the Left in this country? Especially during the COVID crisis, they embraced censorship, authoritarianism, imposition on bodily autonomy, and attacks on the freedom of association. For a time, the word freedom itself became a bad word to them. People who were merely trying to get schools open or the freedom to run a small business became the object of their loathing, even to the point that the Left began to label as fascist those who wanted freedom.

Someone coming of age right now would never have any idea that the Left once had some central principles that revolve around themes of freedom. They were free speech, bodily autonomy, peace, small business over large, the poor and middle class over the rich, freedom of expression and art, and opposition to ruling-class manipulation of the system on behalf of the privileged instead of the common good. They were deeply suspicious of the national-security state, corporate elites, and arbitrary uses of executive power. They were against corruption in government.

They were once for human rights and against segregation based on medical compliance. Probably today, no one under the age of 25 would believe this but trust me: these used to be central principles of the Left.

So far as I can tell, every single one of these principles has been thrown out. In the COVID crisis, all major lefty journals of opinion pushed mask and vaccine mandates, argued for more statist power to muscle people, favored large business over small, crushed the working classes and poor, and even threw out their traditional defense of public schools, which they seemed to want closed for longer periods of time.

They rallied around the segregation of whole cities by vaccine status, even though doing so meant excluding nearly half the members of minority populations from access to public accommodations like restaurants, museums, libraries, and theaters. Not a peep of protest among the center-left!

They completely disregarded one-time liberal precepts like a woman’s right to work, as millions of married women with kids were thrown out of corporate life to take care of kids.

The daycares and schools were closed so women had no choice about it. The result is that women’s participation in the workforce has been set back 34 years! We are nowhere near pre-pandemic levels and it is still falling!

(Data: Federal Reserve Economic Data [FRED], St. Louis Fed; Chart: Jeffrey A. Tucker)

Have you heard even one peep about this problem from the left-wing press? Has the New York Times or Washington Post even covered this? I don’t think so. It’s an absolute scandal and a great measure of just how many principles the Left has thrown out in their crazed and maniacal hatred of Trump. They have been willing to utterly destroy social and economic life in the single-minded pursuit of killing Trump as the one and only goal. And in pursuit of that goal, they have embraced an authoritarian biosecurity state that robs people of personal autonomy.

And let us not forget the one-time centrality of science in the leftist vision. Since at least the Monkey Trials, American progressives have rallied around science as opposed to religion and faith. But when it came to COVID, they completely threw all science out the window. They would hear nothing as the evidence kept pouring in that COVID was not a threat to kids, that it had an infection fatality ratio that compares to the flu for anyone under the age of 75, and that even the overall death rate was 0.2 percent. But instead of dealing with this reality, they screamed panic so that the whole population would fly into fits of rage.

As for the vaccines, even as evidence mounted that they protect against neither infection or transmission, and that the adverse effects are inordinately high even against the target population of the elderly, they still wouldn’t hear it. They have pushed these grotesque human rights-destroying mandates and segregations.

Even this wild D.C. obsequious deference to the Ukrainian president from this week has roots in Trump hatred. They spent so long trying to prove that Russia was somehow responsible for Trump’s election in 2016, despite the complete absence of evidence to that effect, that they even came to believe it. So the stupid logic goes this way: Russia equals Trump and therefore anyone who is against Putin is a friend, no matter the corruption. As a result, even the one-time penchant for favoring peace over war has been tossed out.

So too, the strange lack of interest in the FTX scandal and the targets of this fake company’s “effective altruism” has roots in Trump hatred. The company passed out millions and billions to nonprofits and candidates that backed the Democrats plus various lockdown measures, and all we get now is silence. This is rooted in the very same corruption: the Left has become the very thing they once claimed to hate.

In other words, the Left in the United States has adopted all the practices that they once warned Trump would bring to the U.S.! I say this too, not as a Trump fan personally at all. I was warning that his presidency would be unhinged as early as 2015, because his ideological impulses departed too far from constitutionalism and Reaganite suspicions of government.

All that said, unhinged hate is a dangerously distorting emotion. The Left’s single-minded focus on grinding Trump into the dust has turned the Left into the mirror image of their most paranoid worries about him.

At some point, the Left in this country is going to have to do a serious self-examination of what it has become. To return to the “The Hunger Games,” the pursuit of President Snow has turned the followers of President Coin into what they once claimed to oppose. And this has become so obvious to the public that they have even turned against the public, demonizing middle-class values as inherently dangerous and science itself as misinformation worthy of censorship.

Be careful what you hate. Too much focus, too much attention, too much study will cause the object of your hatred to be the most compelling pedagogue. If you take a close look in the mirror, you won’t recognize yourself anymore. That, in short, is what has become the Left in America today.

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

 

[marsh]

George Soros Revealed as Player Behind Twitter Operation to Shut Down Hunter Biden Laptop Story

The Twitter Files have revealed widespread censorship at Twitter favoring left-wing talking points, sometimes in cooperation with the FBI...

beckernews.com

George Soros Revealed as Player Behind Twitter Operation to Shut Down Hunter Biden Laptop Story​

• by Becker News
• December 23, 2022

First Draft News, a now-defunct nonprofit that left-wing billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations funded, played a key role in Twitter’s preparation to shut down the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020, according to internal documents published by author Michael Shellenberger as part of Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files.”

The Aspen Institute hosted a September 2020 training exercise for members of the media and social media leaders regarding the handling of hypothetical data leaks which were similar to the Hunter Biden laptop report that broke in October, according to Shellenberger.

Claire Wardle, former executive director and co-founder of First Draft News, appeared to be an attendee of the exercise, according to an email published by Shellenberger.

The address that apparently belonged to Wardle was one of multiple recipients in an email to top national security reporters, Facebook’s head of security policy and others, according to Shellenberger. The Open Society Foundations, which left-wing megadonor Soros chairs, once funded First Draft News. The organization shut down in June.

“Today we are announcing that First Draft is closing its doors to make way for the next chapter — its mission will continue at the newly launched Information Futures Lab, an initiative from Brown’s School of Public Health,” an announcement from Wardle reads.

The Aspen Institute training exercise, titled “The Burisma Leak,” involved a series of hypothetical leaks during October 2020 showing that Hunter Biden had made more money in his role at Burisma than previously disclosed and had communicated with his father about his work there, Shellenberger reported. The exercise was meant to shape how the media covered the eventual leak of the Hunter Biden laptop story and the way social media platforms carried it.

The Aspen Institute, a left-leaning think tank funded by massive philanthropic organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation, runs the Commission on Information Disorder, an anti-disinformation project that’s drawn ire from conservatives for its alleged far-left partisanship. The commission has urged social media platforms to censor accounts it considers misinformation “superspreaders” through demonetization, the removal of what it considers inaccurate posts and penalties for offending users.

The New York Post’s story appeared to reveal that Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive from a Ukrainian energy firm known as Burisma.

Less than a year later, the elder Biden reportedly pressured the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor who was investigating the firm.

Most mainstream news outlets refused to report on the story prior to the election, and Twitter and Facebook both suppressed the story.

The Twitter Files have revealed widespread censorship at Twitter favoring left-wing talking points, sometimes in cooperation with the FBI. The FBI paid Twitter nearly $3.5 million for its employees fulfilling its requests, and former FBI employees had their own private slack channel at Twitter, according to Shellenberger.

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

Post written by Laurel Duggan. Republished with permission from DCNF. Images via Becker News.

 

[marsh]

'Slap In The Face!': House Erupts After GOP Leader McCarthy Hammers Democrats to Their Faces Over Omnibus Bill

He sounded off!

conservativebrief.com

‘Slap In The Face’: McCarthy Hammers Omnibus Bill Ahead of House Vote​

Martin Walsh 12/23/2022
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.

McCarthy gave a passionate rebuttal to the $1.7 trillion package after he pushed for the budget decisions to be delayed until after Republicans take control of the House in January.

“They pass the continuing resolution for the people so government wouldn’t shut down. What date did they pick? Well, let’s think of right before Christmas so members won’t be here. They will not read the bill. They’ll vote by proxy,” McCarthy said Friday on the House floor, slamming the Democrat’s strategy and adding, “I’ll guarantee you not a single member that will vote yes, I can tell you everything that is hidden. Because no one has had the time to read it.”

WATCH:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1606332178169597954

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1606332178169597954
.52 min

So how bad is it?

Delaware Democrat Sen. Chris Coons admitted that he doesn’t know what’s in the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill.

Below is a transcript of the exchange:

KERNEN: “For more on the spending bill, let’s bring in Senator Chris Coons, he’s a member of the Appropriations Committee. Senator, it’s good to have you on. You’ve seen all the — and happy holidays, merry Christmas — you’ve seen all the — I don’t know, the commentary from different sides that this has actually become kind of a ritual where you wait until you know people want to get to go home and you really put a lot of stuff in at the last minute, whether it’s earmarks or whatever. 1.6 trillion. You had, what, 4 trillion over the last two years and 31 trillion now we owe? Is this all okay, senator? Do you ever look at it and say, ‘We’ve overdone it?’”

COONS: “Well, Joe, I voted for the omnibus and I’m proud to support it, but I don’t like the process. A bipartisan group of senators on the floor of the Senate were talking about how we can change this process going forward because frankly, as you said, when it comes to the floor the last few days and the last few hours, that doesn’t give us enough time to fully scrub and understand what other members have put in it. I understand that I am responsible, and so is my colleagues, the congressional delegation for the congressionally directed spending for Delaware, but I don’t know exactly what every other member of the Senate has put in the bill.

So, frankly, it’s important for us to change the timing to get back to following what’s in the law in terms of having open hearings early in the year, not late in the year. One of the things about these earmarks or congressionally directed spending, the current process requires every single one of them to be transparent, to be assigned to a specific member, we have to sign off on them. And as you just heard in the introduction there, we have to have them supported by a municipal government or a nonprofit. They cannot in any way benefit a donor. Those were some of the excesses from 20 years ago that led to earmarks being eliminated. I think there are some really good investments in this omnibus bill, which is why I voted for it: a significant increase in local law enforcement, the funding to bring advanced manufacturing of semiconductor chips back to the United States, infrastructure funding that will help modernize our economy and create high-paying, good jobs, and a significant increase in pay for the men and women of our armed forces. So, there were a lot of positives in this bill, and I voted for it and I’m hopeful that the House will pass it today as well.”

WATCH:

Video 2:45 min

 

[marsh]

(Twitter Dumpster Dive)

(Energy )






(Digital surveillance at Whole Foods)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1606196271252770816

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1606196271252770816
1:23 min

(COVID)

 

[marsh]

Hardwired For Control - The Brain-Computer Interface Is Already Here 6:02 min

Hardwired For Control - The Brain-Computer Interface Is Already Here​

Bannons War Room Published December 23, 2022

(No summary given. Did not watch.)

 

[marsh]

Ep. 2956b - Trump Just Turned The Table On Biden, This Is Just The Beginning, Buckle Up 50:24 min (starts at 1:38 min)

Ep. 2956b - Trump Just Turned The Table On Biden, This Is Just The Beginning, Buckle Up​

X22 Report Published December 23, 2022

The [DS] is throwing everything they have at Trump, they are using the old playbooks, propaganda, lies you name it, they are panicking. Maricopa was caught in a lie, they tried to cover it up, but the coverup always gets you. Trump has now trapped the [DS] players. He just turned the table on Biden, he is asking the house to order his tax returns of all business dealing, plus family members, this is just the beginning, buckle its going to get rough because the [DS] will fight back but they did this to themselves.

^^^^^
Ep. 2956a - Russia Moves To International Trade Via Bitcoin, The Currency Battle Is On 17:02 min (starts at 1:17 min)

Ep. 2956a - Russia Moves To International Trade Via Bitcoin, The Currency Battle Is On​

X22 Report Published December 23, 2022

The Green New Deal is falling apart, the lies they told are being exposed. AOC climate documentary failed. The people see the truth. The people are seeing who betrayed them when they voted for the Omnibus Bill. Russia makes a move to use Bitcoin as international trade.

 

[marsh]

Trump Calls on the New Republican Congress to Obtain the Financial Records of Biden's Criminal Enterprise 3:05 min

Trump Calls on the New Republican Congress to Obtain the Financial Records of Biden's Criminal Enterprise​

The Vigilant Fox Published December 23, 2022

The radical Democrats' behavior is a shame upon the US Congress. This precedent [illegal seizure and leaking of tax returns] must now be applied to the corrupt Democrats themselves," urged Trump.

"The new Republican House should immediately obtain the financial records of Joe Biden and his entire criminal enterprise — because that's exactly what it is."

 

[marsh]

Matthew Tyrmand: If Brazil Allows Lula To Take Over, South America Will Become Superstate Out Of 1984 9:25 min

Matthew Tyrmand: If Brazil Allows Lula To Take Over, South America Will Become Superstate Out Of 1984​

Bannons War Room Published December 23, 2022

(No summary given. Have not watched.)

 

[marsh]

Biden pledges $350 Billion to help Microsoft (Bill Gates) launch a new initiative in Africa (1:09 min)

Biden pledges $350 Billion to help Microsoft (Bill Gates) launch a new initiative in Africa (digital economy)​

SettingBrushfires Published December 23, 2022

(No summary given. Have not watched.)

 

[marsh]

America Is Being Invaded By Military Aged Males From Countries That Stink - Graham Ledger Goes Off 4:43 min

America Is Being Invaded By Military Aged Males From Countries That Stink - Graham Ledger Goes Off​

Red Voice Media Published December 23, 2022

"Do those people look like asylum seekers to you?" - Graham Ledger

What a way to end the year! Our country and our sovereignty are being attacked by millions of illegals through our southern border compliments of a federal government that refuses to do its duty. Our economic sovereignty is under attack by Marxist politicians who are spending our future into oblivion. Our constitutional sovereignty is under attack by the FBI, the very branch of government who employees swear an oath to protect our rights. And, our privacy is under attack by radical politicians who are weaponizing the IRS to harm their political opponents. In this edition of The Ledger Report, Graham Ledger chronicles how these glaring attacks are happening and the way – the only way – we can fix this anti-constitutional mess.

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1el71QjxPw
2:45:40 min (starts at .43 min)

China Just Made a Lethal Mistake - Episode #140

The China Show
Streamed 4 hours ago
China is facing the worst outbreak thus far, and the government is lying again.

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qb6ggpTtM0
8:55 min

The 'Twitter Files' : FBI Paid Platform $3M to Censor Information, Influence the 2020 Election​

Peak Prosperity
Premiered 2 hours ago
The latest installment from Elon Musk's "Twitter Files" reveals new information confirming that the FBI not only pressured the social media site to suppress reports about Hunter Biden's laptop, but that it also paid Twitter employees millions of dollars to do so. Twitter's new CEO confirmed a 2021 document that shows Twitter staffers were compensated by the FBI with more than $3 million to help with so-called "law-enforcement related projects".

 

[marsh]

Why The Next Decade Will Not Be Like The Previous 40 Years | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

Why The Next Decade Will Not Be Like The Previous 40 Years

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 02:15 PM
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

The mainstream assumption is the status quo will continue on much as before. This isn't just unlikely, it's impossible if total energy produced and consumed declines.



Correspondent C.A. submitted this insightful interview with economic strategist and historian Russell Napier: "We Will See the Return of Capital Investment on a Massive Scale".

In Napier's telling, the 40-year period from 1980 to 2020 was dominated by central banks (monetary policy) and markets (enterprises seeking to maximize profits).

These forces fueled the rise of globalization (maximize profits by arbitraging lower labor and production costs overseas via offshoring production) and financialization (vastly expand debt and leverage but keep debt service low by steadily reducing interest rates).

The second-order effect of the resulting hyper-globalization and hyper-financialization was hyper-dependency on geopolitical rivals and on monetary intervention and credit/asset bubbles to support consumption.

Neither was sustainable. Near-total dependence on geopolitical rivals in service of private-sector profits created existential national security vulnerabilities which must now be addressed by reshoring / homeshoring / friendshoring critical production.

The market, ruled solely by incentives to maximize profits by any means available, created this vulnerability. It is incapable of resolving it.

I covered all these dynamics in depth in my book A (Revolutionary) Grand Strategy for the United States which predated the Ukraine War by four months.

Napier sees governments replacing central banks as the primary force in creating credit and guiding policies / incentives.

He explains that governments don't have to rely on central banks to create money or credit, or on issuing Treasury bonds that are purchased by investors. Governments are guaranteeing commercial bank loans issued by private-sector banks, in effect expanding credit without creating more government debt.

These guarantees backstop commercial bank loans made in accordance with government directives and goals.

If a borrower defaults, the government will cover the losses so the lender is made whole. It's riskless lending for banks and keeps the expanding credit off the government balance sheet.

Napier calls this "the politicization of credit."

Napier explains why inflation will be maintained in a range of 4% to 6% for years to come: inflation is the only way to reduce the debt burden which has reached $300 trillion globally, and about 250% of GDP of many nations. (This is the total of both government and private-sector debt.)

Napier refers to this as "financial repression" because inflation that's higher than bond yields robs savers and benefits debtors, whose earnings rise with inflation while their debt service remained fixed. (This assumes fixed-rate loans, of course.)

This will also restore the purchasing power of younger workers as wages rise, at the expense of older (and wealthier) generations.

The net result of governments taking control of investment and credit creation "will mean a huge homeshoring or friendshoring boom, capital investment on a massive scale into the reindustrialization of our own economies."

Governments will have to create enough credit to fund both this massive capital investment (known as CapEx, capital expenditures) and maintain consumption.

Napier points to the 1946-1979 period as an example of governments guiding the economy more than central banks guiding the economy.

All this makes excellent sense, but Napier overlooks three consequential dynamics:

1. The energy cliff, as hydrocarbon production declines faster than new sources can be brought on line to replace them.​

​

2. The demographic cliff as workforces decline and the cohort of retirees to be supported balloons.​

​

3. The impossibility of funding massive new CapEx and infrastructure spending, supporting the ballooning cohort of retirees and consumer spending to keep the "waste is growth / Landfill Economy" humming while keeping inflation tamed to 5%.​

In other words, there will be tradeoffs. If you want moderate inflation (politically necessary, as high inflation loses elections) and massive increases in CapEx, consumer spending has to take a hit.

Furthermore, inflation will be driven by two forces: scarcities of essentials like food and energy, which are basically the same thing in industrialized fertilizer-dependent agriculture, and the expansion of credit in excess of increases in productivity.

If $1 invested in CapEx generates more value in terms of goods and services, that means productivity is increasing. If CapEx doesn't generate more goods and services, productivity is stagnant.

As I've explained, this is what happened in the 1970s: massive CapEx was invested in retooling the U.S. industrial base to reduce pollution and improve efficiency.

The reduction in pollution greatly improved well-being but didn't increase GDP or productivity. We only manage what we measure, and since we don't measure well-being, the real gains of this CapEx were not even measured.

Like well-being, we don't measure National Security economically, so improvements in the security of our production of essentials will not even be recognized.

The real gains of homeshoring won't even be recognized or understood unless we throw out the current methodology of economic measurements and replace it with a modernized set of measurements that aren't limited to production and consumption (i.e. "growth".).

As for energy, what most people miss is Jevon's Paradox: adding sustainable energy (however you define that) doesn't replace our consumption of hydrocarbons, it simply increases our total consumption of energy.

Another factor most people miss is the scale of the hydrocarbon complex everyone is hoping to replace, and the timeline of that replacement.

Despite decades of investment, alternative energy supplies only 5% or so of global energy. Those pounding the table for nuclear energy rarely mention the timeline for constructing enough plants at scale to make a difference: decades, not years.

Since the cheap-to-get oil has been extracted, what's left costs more. Yes, technology improves, but physics wins in the end; more energy must be expended to get the hard-to-get oil out of the ground.

These realities dictate an Energy Cliff in which oil production declines faster than new sources can be brought online. And rather than consume more energy as new sources are brought online, we'll consume less and it will cost more, for all the reasons I explained in my book.

The demographic cliff is equally baked in. The workforce of the next decade can't be expanded, it's already here, along with the soaring cohort of retirees.

If sacrifices must be made in consumption due to higher costs of essentials and the need for massive CapEx, the consumer economy will shrink.

Since the system is optimized for expansion, that contraction will upend the entire global economy as it is currently configured.

On top of these three factors, there's the soaring healthcare costs generated by lifestyle diseases (diabesity, etc.), high levels of pollution in developing nations and the aging populace.

Profiteering doesn't generate health, and profiteering has been the name of the game so long few can imagine any other way of living.

The mainstream assumption is the status quo will continue on much as before. This isn't just unlikely, it's impossible if total energy produced and consumed declines.

As energy analyst Vaclav Smil put it: "I'm not an optimist or a pessimist. I'm a scientist." Rather than waste time arguing about optimism and pessimism, let's focus on physics, costs and timelines, i.e. realistic assessments, and on the trade-offs needed to reach our goal of a sustainable, open-to-all, fair economy.

 

[marsh]

NY Times Goes Mega-Karen Over Formerly-Banned Twitter Discussion | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

NY Times Goes Mega-Karen Over Formerly-Banned Twitter Discussion​

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 02:40 PM

The New York Times' Stuart. A Thompson, who covers 'misinformation and disinformation' for the once-respected rag, has gone full 'Karen' over free speech on Twitter.

Literally shaking... unable to even...

So, what are people freely discussing on the platform?

"Covid-19 misinformation and vaccine doubts"

Karen please.



Other topics that Stuart and the Times feel should be verboten;

"Election fraud"
and...
"QAnon"

"On Twitter, reinstated users have returned to familiar themes in QAnon lore, raising questions about prominent Democrats and their association with Jeffrey Epstein, a former financier who was charged with child sex trafficking and is a central figure in QAnon conspiracies," Thompson writes.

Why shouldn't people be able to talk about prominent Democrats who hung out with a giant convicted pedophile, Stuart?

Nice ratio guys. Way to read the room.





Twitter should have banned all of these people..

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1581034815700488192

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1581034815700488192
2:20 min

 

[marsh]

Global Energy Crisis Forces Japan To U-Turn On Its Nuclear Policy | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

Global Energy Crisis Forces Japan To U-Turn On Its Nuclear Policy​

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 03:55 PM
By Alex Kimani of OilPrice.com,

Japan has announced a major U-turn in its energy policy after the Asian nation adopted a new policy promoting greater use of nuclear energy, effectively ending an 11-year prohibition and phase-out that was triggered by the Fukushima disaster.

Under the new policy, Japan will maximize the use of existing nuclear reactors by restarting as many as possible, prolong the operating life of old reactors beyond their 60-year limit and also develop next-generation reactors to replace them.

The proposed legislation marks a complete reversal of the nuclear safety measures the country adopted after a powerful tsunami hit caused three of its six reactors to suffer meltdowns. Fearing a public backlash, the Japanese government has desisted from building new reactors or replacing aging ones.

The situation could not be more different in Europe, a region facing one of the most severe energy crises. Ten months since Russia invaded Ukraine, European governments long opposed to nuclear power have shown little change in their attitudes, “We’re not talking about a nuclear renaissance, as such, but maybe more of a change of tide,” Nicolas Berghmans, an energy and climate expert at the France-based Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), told Al Jazeera.

The same case applies to fracking. Proponents of fracking hold that Europe’s shale gas potential is needed now more than ever, though Germany, France, the Netherlands, Scotland and Bulgaria have all previously banned fracking, and show no signs of changing their minds any time soon. The UK is the only exception here: Britain’s former Prime Minister Liz Truss announced that the UK is lifting a 2019 moratorium on shale gas fracking as the country looks to ramp up domestic energy resources and help households and businesses struggling to pay soaring energy bills.

The only ‘dirty fuel’ that has made a major comeback in Europe amid the energy crisis is coal.

According to the Washington Post, coal mines and power plants that closed 10 years ago have begun to be repaired in Germany. In what industry observers have dubbed a “spring” for Germany’s coal-fired power plants, the country is expected to burn at least 100,000 tons of coal per month by winter. That’s a big U-turn considering that Germany's goal had been to phase out all coal-generated electricity by 2038.

Other European countries such as Austria, Poland, the Netherlands and Greece have also started restarting coal plants.

 

[marsh]

Unleashing Clean Fusion Power Is America's Best Defense Against Tyranny | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

Unleashing Clean Fusion Power Is America's Best Defense Against Tyranny​

FRIDAY, DEC 23, 2022 - 05:35 PM
Authored by Lawrence Kadish via The Gatestone Institute,

It may prove to be as historic as the harnessing of fire, invention of the wheel, or the channeling of electricity. It will certainly rank on a par with the first release of nuclear energy in an experimental Chicago reactor or its first test as an atomic weapon near Los Alamos, New Mexico.

It is the first successful experiment to extract power from controlled fusion.

It may take a decade or more to convert their successful experiment into commercially available power, but what it offers is an inexhaustible, readily available source of clean energy that eliminates pollution, greenhouse gases, or radioactive waste from the current generation of nuclear reactors.

In short, it has the means to be as powerful and transformative than any advance in energy technology mankind as ever deployed to run its society.

Fusion occurs within our Sun and the stars that fill our night sky. The process combines hydrogen atoms, turning it into helium and producing the sunlight that allows civilization to exist orbiting some 93 million miles from the Sun. In an effort to replicate that law of physics, American scientists have used reactors and lasers to determine how they can harness its enormous power. (It has been estimated that a modest container of the "fusion fuel" is equivalent to one million gallons of oil, generating some 9 million kilowatt hours of electricity.)

As we discovered with the invention of the atomic bomb, physics can't be kept as a national security secret.

The Soviets were working on trying to figure out how to harness fusion for something other than a hydrogen bomb more than half a century ago. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, there was even a mutual assistance program announced by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

But leadership in energy technology is crucial to a nation that is founded on freedom and committed to remaining a global superpower for good. America has already invested hundreds of millions of dollars into fusion research and it is beginning to pay off in this most recent announcement of a breakthrough. New and expanded research efforts are being announced by America's scientific community in concert with universities such as MIT and with Western nations. They are suggesting the first commercial power station might come online as early as the 2030s.

Smart oil company executives who also recognize the power of physics will immediately understand that fossil fuels could very well become a museum curiosity if the key to unlocking the power of fusion has just been found. If that is the case, they too should begin to invest in these advances, accelerating our leadership in fusion while ensuring they have a seat at the table when the Oil Age comes to an end.

It is rare for us to recognize a turning point in humankind's history. Too often it comes with the declaration of war. In this case, it is the sharp light of lasers illuminating a power as old as creation, one that is about to change the course of civilization for the better.

 

[marsh]

Via CH telegram
Full History of the WEF, UN, the Climate Change Hoax, Covid-19 and the People Who Wish to Rule Us 47:06 min

Full History of the WEF, UN, the Climate Change Hoax, Covid-19 and the People Who Wish to Rule Us
Real Truth Real News Published November 1, 2022

Great video on the history of WEF, Rockefeller and all of the other institutions which have corrupted our world. This one needs to be shared with maximum prejudice as it fully explains Covid19, the Climate Change Agenda, and so much more. A catastrophic loss of our freedoms will occur unless the people understand what is happening, and WHY.

 

[marsh]

https://www.agweb.com/markets/world-markets/signs-growing-global-supply-chain-crisis-over

Signs Growing that the Global Supply Chain Crisis is Over​

"As some of commodity prices and transportation costs begin to come down, we're revisiting these costs with our suppliers," says Bill Bolts of Lowe's, on easing supply chain pressures.(Farm Journal)

By JIM WIESEMEYER December 23, 2022

From the docks of Southern California and Europe to the parcel hubs in the Midwest and the store shelves in New York, signs are growing that the global supply-chain crisis is over, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The COVID-19 pandemic that spawned product shortages, shipping bottlenecks and soaring transport costs may not be gone, but the WSJ reports goods are moving around the world again, reaching companies and consumers.

Despite widespread government and industry attempts to unwind the bottlenecks, the real break may have come in the demand slowdown that has eased the pressure on strained operations.

"As some of commodity prices and transportation costs begin to come down, we're revisiting these costs with our suppliers," says Bill Bolts of Lowe's, on easing supply chain pressures.

On the Water​

According to Drewry Shipping Consultants' index for spot prices, to ship a 40-ft. container from Shanghai to Los Angeles the week of Dec. 22 was $1,992, down from $2,000 the week before and 82.2% below the 2022 high set in Jan.

U.S. container imports reached their lowest level in November since early 2020, and shipping heavyweight Maersk Line projects demand will decline next year from 2% to 4%. Freight rates that busted shipper budgets last year are sliding and broader costs for suppliers heading into 2023 are also retreating.

 

[marsh]

https://www.agweb.com/news/business/technology/biological-pair-products-highlights-advanced-crop-nutrition

Biological Pair of Products Highlights “Advanced Crop Nutrition”​

Dion Pearce likens the PowerCoat formulation with the bacterial strains to a turtle shell, in that when the microbes are in an adverse condition, they are protected in spore form.(Mosaic)

By MARGY ECKELKAMP December 23, 2022

Mosaic is aiming to elevate its “balanced crop nutrition” mantra with two biological products reframing the phrase to “advanced crop nutrition.”

Both BioPath and PowerCoat contain bacillus bacteria that increase nutrient availability, uptake and use by the plants, leading to increased yields.
The Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobactera products are differentiated from other biologicals on the market due to:

• 18-month treatment viability—allowing two seasons of use after blending or coating
• Stability—two-year shelf life
• Ease of Use—application fits into conventional retail setups
• Consistency—Infield trials to date, 80%-win rate.
• Economics— The goal is 3 to 1 ROI for a grower.
• Science—the product has been in some markets since 2014

BioPath is formulated for liquid applications (sidedress or at-plant with starter), and PowerCoat is formulated as a coating for bulk dry fertilizer.

“BioPath is tank mix compatible with the majority of crop protection and fertilizer products,” says Dion Pearce product manager, Soil Health Portfolio, The Mosaic Company. “And it can be pre-blended in late winter or spring to be ready for the upcoming season. The additional benefit with BioPath is the microbes are still effective 18 months later—even for the next season if need be.”

PowerCoat is an oil-based formulation applied at the retailer as a coating (2 to 3 quarts application rate). Pearce says its shelf life after treatment depends on the fertilizer type, for example with urea, the 18-month shelf life is maintained.

Pearce likens the formulation with the bacterial strains to a turtle shell, in that when the microbes are in an adverse condition, they are protected in spore form. But they catch a ride with the fertilizer and once they reach the root zone in the soil, they move into vegetative form and go to work.

“The bacteria themselves are very robust,” Pearce adds.

The products are being introduced for the first time in the Midwest row crop market for 2023. Previously, the products have primarily been used in the Northwest U.S.—mainly sugar beets and potatoes.

“Mosaic has been educating the market about balanced crop nutrition, and we’ve been the experts in that space for years now to show the need for a balance of micronutrients and macronutrients to reach yield potential,” Pearce says. “As the company learns more about the soil microbiome, the focus is now evolving to advanced crop nutrition—and taking the fertility piece with balanced nutrition and factoring in the rhizosphereand how a plant’s root system and the soil best interact. ”

What’s next?​

Pearce says the company has a pipeline of further development with biologicals and crop nutrition. He says the portfolio will continue to expand as it explores other live microbes that provide agronomic advantages to growers, like nitrogen fixation and P utilization. Pearce also gives a nod to product demands for a metabolite or small molecule technologies to address abiotic stress: drought, heat, salinity and cold.

“With the products coming through the pipeline, there is so much opportunity to identify the next biological advancement ,” he says. “With biologicals in general, we are on a growth curve where we’re moving up rapidly, ... we’re at 5 to 10% on the upswing and it’s going to go fast. In the past you’ve had waves in the biological space. But as an industry we are starting to better understand how and where biologicals work, and where they don’t work.

Products must be placed appropriately, by region, soil type and crop.”

Pearce says the company has strong goals for this row crop launch and shares “it’s about getting more efficiency out of the fertility.”

 

[marsh]

Video: Everything About Biden And The CCP Screams Espionage

Chinese intelligence is the number one counterintelligence threat to the United States. The FBI is America’s top counterintelligence agency. Yet the FBI not only did not investigate Biden’s contacts with China, it actively worked to bury them. Why? Securing America – Sam Faddis On The U.S...

andmagazine.substack.com

Video: Everything About Biden And The CCP Screams Espionage​

Sam Faddis
5 hr ago

Chinese intelligence is the number one counterintelligence threat to the United States.
The FBI is America’s top counterintelligence agency.

Yet the FBI not only did not investigate Biden’s contacts with China, it actively worked to bury them.

Why?

Securing America – Sam Faddis On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Shift In Priorities​

Part 1 of 5

Part 2 of 5

Part 3 of 5

Part 4 of 5

Part 5 of 5

 

[marsh]

Washington Politicians Sneak Funding for Gun Control Database That Foreign Governments Access Into $1.7 Trillion Spending Blowout

"As of January 2020, more than 7,800 law enforcement agencies use eTrace in their investigations, including agencies from 47 foreign countries."

thekylebecker.substack.com

Washington Politicians Sneak Funding for Gun Control Database That Foreign Governments Access Into $1.7 Trillion Spending Blowout​

"As of January 2020, more than 7,800 law enforcement agencies use eTrace in their investigations, including agencies from 47 foreign countries."
Kyle Becker
4 hr ago

Politically alert Americans were rightly incensed when D.C. politicians seized upon yet another sleepy holiday season to cram an overstuffed "omnibus" spending bill filled up with goodies for special interests down the narrow chimney representing taxpayers' ever-shrinking ability to pay for it.

$575 million towards ‘family planning’ and ‘reproductive health.' $1.2 million for centers that support LGBTQ students at a San Diego Community College District. $3 million towards the New York Historical Society’s ‘American LGBTQ+ Museum Partnership Project.' $750,000 to the Translatin Coalition. And a brand new "pandemic czar" to replace the elf-like Anthony Fauci, who is apparently hitching a ride with Santa to get the h-e-double-hockeysticks out of Washington before any wild-eyed senators from Kentucky can exact a highly televised reckoning upon him.

But while Fauci is destined to while away his remaining years chained to a tinker's table at the North Pole (let a writer dream), it may come as some surprise that the Washington politicians also make this year's "naughty list" for seeking to snatch away Americans' firearms while looting presents from their Christmas trees.

The Gun Owners of America has compiled a "naughty list" of their own: 12 ways that the spending bill assaults American citizens' constitutional right to bear arms.

1. Massive 14.1% ATF Budget Increase to Facilitate Biden’s Pistol Ban
2. $14.4 Million for ATF’s NTC Budget to Maintain it’s Illegal Near-Billion Record Gun Registry
3. $700+ Million in Funding Available to Bribe States to Pass “Red Flag” Gun Confiscation Laws
4. Directing VA Medical Centers to Utilize Confiscation Orders on Vulnerable Veterans
5. Department of Education to Push “Safe Storage” of Parents’ Firearms
6. Funding for VA to Maintain “Gun Storage Maps” to Keep Tabs on Where Veterans Keep Guns
7. New Annual Compensation for Families of Deceased ATF Agents Could be an Indication of Upcoming Gun Confiscation
8. Gun Control Earmarks for “Orchid Healing Circles” and More!
9. Dickey Violations Galore While CDC Suppresses Self-Defense Statistics
10. Programs Discouraging Women from Exercising their Second Amendment Rights
11. Anti-Gun “Community Violence Intervention” Initiatives
12. “Violent Anti-Government Ideology” and “Domestic Radicalization Research”

While taken separately, each one may appear to be relatively benign. Scratch the surface, however, and what you find is a full-fledged effort to "change America's gun culture," and more nefariously, to track nearly one billion firearms in the United States, including providing this sensitive data to foreign governments.

"In the ATF’s FY 2023 appropriations request, the agency asked for $14,400,000 to modernize the National Tracing Center [NTC], which is the branch that maintains, accesses, and searches ATF’s digital and searchable gun registries," GOA notes. "This funding would 'ncrease[] by more than 40% the funding for the National Tracing Center."

The ATF reveals how the system will be modernized: "This initiative to consolidate firearms tracing applications through an eTrace modernization effort with enhanced data sharing capabilities will serve as a key building block in significantly improving the operational proficiency of the NTC Division."

As GOA explains, "This data sharing technology will upgrade ATF’s gun registry, after which the National Tracing Center will be able to more effectively search the 920,664,765, and growing, records in the registry and create a door-to-door confiscation list of Americans who lawfully purchased these newly banned firearms, such as AR-15 pistols."

Even more problematic for this harrowing picture, the ATF also proposes that this enhanced gun registry will not only be useful for American law enforcement, but also for the many “foreign law enforcement agencies (including Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, most of Central America, parts of Western Europe, Australia, and Japan) utilizing eTrace” to search for Americans’ registered firearms.

As Becker News ascertained, an eTrace fact sheet states that, "As of January 2020, more than 7,800 law enforcement agencies use eTrace in their investigations, including agencies from 47 foreign countries." Thus, this isn't mere hyperbole from a "far-right" source. The ATF openly boasts about it.

So, if you thought the 18 Senate Republicans who voted for the $1.7 trillion spending monstrosity were merely tone-deaf spendthrifts, they are far worse than that. They are duplicitous uniparty hacks who have stabbed law-abiding gun owners in the back, while seeking to disarm them of the means to defend themselves.

 

[marsh]

Biden Forced to Retreat as Military Troops Who Opposed Covid Vaccine Mandate Get Major Victory

The White House had even gone so far as threatening that the president might veto the bill.

thekylebecker.substack.com

Biden Forced to Retreat as Military Troops Who Opposed Covid Vaccine Mandate Get Major Victory​

The White House had even gone so far as threatening that the president might veto the bill.

Kyle Becker
2 hr ago

The Pentagon is halting all actions related to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate after President Joe Biden signed the Fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes an end to the mandate.

“The NDAA requires that, not later than 30 days after enactment, the Secretary of Defense rescind the mandate that members of the Armed Forces be vaccinated against COVID-19. As a result, the Department will rescind the mandate and is currently in the process of developing further guidance. During this process, we are pausing all actions related to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” a Pentagon spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

“The health and readiness of our force are crucial to the Department’s ability to defend our nation, and Secretary Austin continues to encourage all of our Service members, civilian employees, and contractor personnel to get vaccinated and boosted to ensure the readiness of our total force,” the spokesperson added.

Biden hours signed the NDAA despite stating his opposition to ending the mandate earlier in December. The White House had even gone so far as threatening that the president might veto the bill.

The Department of Defense in 2021 required all U.S. military troops to take the COVID-19 vaccine by September 15th of that year. The Associated Press earlier reported Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s memo to the troops.

An Armed Forces member refusing to take the vaccine is subject to punishment under the U.C.M.J., the AP’s report noted. The punishment for refusal to obey an order may escalate up to court martial.

That disciplinary action appears to be dead-on-arrival, for now. But thousands of military troops have refused 're-upping' or have otherwise been run out of the military, despite their objections for medical, personal or religious reasons. It is left to the next Congress to begin healing the open wound caused by this Covid "vaccine" mandate.

 

[marsh]

'Completely Delusional': Mitch McConnell Scorched for 'Dirty Deal,' Facing Calls for Removal Over His Support for Spending Bill

She nailed it.

conservativebrief.com

Mollie Hemmingway Shreds McConnell, Says He Should Be Replaced​

Carmine Sabia December 23, 2022

---

OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.

---

Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway is furious with Republican Senate Minority Leader and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and she is not alone.

Hemmingway, like many Republicans, believes that Sen. McConnell bears a ton of responsibility for the fact that there was not a red wave in the midterms. She did give him credit for the things he has done like preventing Democrats from annihilating the filibuster, but she believes that his time heading the Republican Party should be done.

“The Kentucky Republican claimed giving more money to Ukraine is ‘the No. 1 priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans.’ The new $1.7 trillion Democrat spending bill he enthusiastically supports would give Ukraine another roughly $45 billion in assistance, bringing the total over the past eight months to more than $100 billion, a staggering figure even if it weren’t happening during a time of inflation, looming recession, and other serious domestic problems,” the editor said.

“The comment about Republican priorities is so false as to be completely delusional. Among the many concerns Republican voters have with Washington, D.C., a failure to give even more money to Ukraine simply does not rank. A large coalition of conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation and the Conservative Partnership Institute, publicly opposed ramming through more Ukraine support during the lame-duck session before Republicans take over control of the House on Jan. 3, 2023. Strong pluralities and majorities of Republicans have told pollsters they want decreases, not increases, in foreign spending and global military involvement” she said.

“Many Republican voters support helping Ukraine fight Russia’s unjust invasion, but it is absolutely nowhere near their top issue, contrary to McConnell’s false claim. Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States right now according to most Republicans. That’s how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment,” the senator said.

But as Hemmingway said, the polls do not show that to be correct.

“Another comment from McConnell also shocked Republicans. Of the $1.7 trillion left-wing spending spree McConnell is working so hard to help Democrats pass, he said, unbelievably, that he was ‘pretty proud of the fact that with a Democratic president, Democratic House, and Democratic Senate, we were able to achieve through this omnibus spending bill essentially all of our priorities.’ As an indication of how deeply sick and broken and unserious the Senate is, no one had even begun to read the lengthy bill, which was put forward just hours before votes began,” the editor said.

“The American people voted for Republicans to take over control of the House of Representatives, and House Republicans had begged McConnell to push for a smaller, short-term bill to keep the government funded while also giving them a rare opportunity to weigh in on Biden’s policy goals. McConnell allies dismissed House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and other House members who tried to persuade Republican senators not to support Democrats’ spending frenzy,” she said.

“The politically toxic McConnell has continuously ranked as the country’s least popular politician, well behind Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. He is so disliked by Americans that he is underwater by an average of 35.3 points in polls gauging his favorability,” she said.

“Unfortunately for Republicans, he has been the top elected Republican in the country for the last two years, a period marked mostly by inexcusable impotence, fecklessness, and muddled messaging from the GOP.

“Rather than present a coherent and persuasive vision of what Republican control of the Senate might look like, or even demonstrating consistent opposition to Democrat policies, too often McConnell overtly or covertly helped Democrats pass their signature policy goals.

He had his deputy Sen. John Cornyn negotiate a bill to restrict Second Amendment rights.

He notoriously and embarrassingly caved on a promise to help Democrats get huge numbers to pass their CHIPS subsidy, giving Biden a huge win he could celebrate with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo two weeks before the midterm elections,” she said.

 

[marsh]

One of my legislator friends wrote this concerning the 30X30 agenda. I will have to investigate further what this means. It does not sound good.



^^^^^

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/natural-asset-companies-nacs%3A-a-new-type-of-esg-investment-2021-09-16

Natural Asset Companies (NACs): A New Type of ESG Investment​

September 16, 2021 — 01:39 pm EDT
Written by Ellen Kennedy for Kiplinger ->
http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/natural-asset-companies-nacs:-a-new-type-of-esg-investment-2021-09-16&title=Natural Asset Companies (NACs): A New Type of ESG Investment
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is launching a new type of asset class that could transform the way investors value nature.

Called natural asset companies (NACs), these securities will be listed and traded on the NYSE, just like traditional stocks. And the wait won't be long: The exchange plans to list these entities starting later this fall. The launch comes just as companies and governments are preparing to make substantial commitments to combating climate change at the next U.N. global climate meeting in November.

Here's the skinny on this new investment class geared toward ESG (environmental, social and governance) investors.

What Are NACs?​

Natural asset companies assign value to the services provided by nature (such as storing carbon in a forest), rather than to the extraction of natural resources (such as logging).

NACs will hold the rights to "ecosystem services," or the benefits people receive from nature, such as food, pollination, tourism, or clean water; such global benefits are valued at an estimated $125 trillion annually.

Each NAC will issue an IPO tied to a specific tangible asset, such as a rainforest, a marine ecosystem or farmland. The proceeds will be used to manage the property to enhance ecosystem services – or in the case of farmland, to convert it to sustainable, "regenerative" agriculture. (Regenerative ag actually builds soil, stores carbon, and increases biodiversity.)

How Are They Valued?​

The NYSE is working with, and has a minority stake in, the Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG). The IEG has several years of experience tackling challenges to the NAC model, such as how natural value should be measured, monitored and translated into financial value.

The IEG, with the help of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has developed an accounting framework based on projects conducted throughout Latin America. The NYSE will license the IEG's accounting framework.

"We believe it is absolutely critical to provide investors in Natural Asset Companies with relevant, reliable and understandable information on the flows of the ecosystem services they produce and their stocks of natural capital assets," Robert Herz, former chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), says in a statement.

Bottom Line​

One of the biggest challenges to addressing climate change has been a lack of funding for conservation, biodiversity, and other climate strategies tied to natural value. If natural asset companies are scalable and earn the confidence of investors and stakeholders, they could help ramp up investments in climate solutions.

More comprehensive climate policy in the U.S. and abroad also could make NACs attractive long-term investments. Not to mention, they provide another way investors can diversify their portfolios.

Investors interested in ESG should keep an eye out for natural asset companies in the next few months. You might just be able to help keep a forest standing as you feather your nest.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

^^^^^^

Accounting for Nature in the Climate Change Fight

Beyond ESG, natural asset valuation needs to become embedded in both public and corporate financial practices to fight climate change.

www.21stcentech.com

Accounting for Nature in the Climate Change Fight​

By len rosen4
October 14, 2022
Accounting for Nature in the Climate Change Fight

The University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, recently published a report entitled, “Getting Nature on the Balance Sheet.” Its introduction quotes Mike Pedersen, Chair of the Business Development Bank of Canada, and Corporate Director and Chair of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which states:

“Wetlands, forests, saltmarshes and grasslands aren’t only vital to biodiversity. They are our frontline allies in reducing the impacts of flooding and erosion, extreme heat and drought, as well as removing carbon emissions to slow down climate change. The value of these services makes nature a sound economic driver – we need an accounting system that recognizes this reality.”

The report establishes the need to account for nature in all investment decisions noting the need to be thinking long-term. It notes that nature plays a “double-duty” role in tackling climate change because it acts like a sponge soaking up the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions created by human activity. The preservation of nature, therefore, is essential and needs to be measured as an asset when making business decisions, and assessed as an economic value in financial statements.

Does the current ESG performance rating movement within corporations adequately address the issue? ESG looks at sustainable finance measured by environmental, social and governance performance by businesses. But is nature fully accounted for in ESG?

The report believes ESG doesn’t go far enough when looked through the lens of finance and accounting and recommends three actions:

1. 1. Reverse natural asset accounting exclusions.
   2. Establish national natural asset guidelines and standards.
   3. Engage financial institutions in nature-positive actions.

What Are Natural Assets​

These include soil, forests, wetlands, fields, rivers, lakes, coastal marshes, dunes and the ocean. Natural assets include ecosystem goods and services:

• Products like food, wood, and freshwater.
• Regulated processes such as water cycling.
• Cultural, aesthetic, and recreational benefits.

The World Economic Forum recently put a price tag on nature’s contribution to the global economy at $44 trillion USD, more than half the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).
In the mismanagement of natural assets through over-exploitation, nature’s ability to help mitigate climate change is compromised. Degraded aquifers for example lead to the need to find suitable alternative water sources. The undocumented and unknown liabilities of our indifference to nature, therefore, are costly.

The lack of recognition from the financial community to invest in nature-based solutions is another challenge. Public money may go into securing natural assets, but private finance only accounted for 14% of investments in this category in 2021. The United Nations forecasts by 2050 a $4.1 trillion USD financing gap that both governments and private investment sources need to close to ensure nature-based solutions can be implemented. The benefit is that these solutions will contribute to financial returns.

Natural Assets Tackle Climate Change​

Managing natural assets reduces climate-related risks, increases carbon sequestration, and enriches biodiversity. The Insurance Bureau of Canada has noted the significant financial value of natural assets in reducing flood damage to personal property as an example. Urban forests reduce the urban heat-island effect and energy use in cities while creating better health outcomes with fewer hospitalizations from heat stroke and other medical complications.

Accounting for Natural Assets in Financial Disclosures​

So how do we put a price tag on natural assets? Since 2016, Canada has been attempting to do just that by conducting inventories, modelling, and valuing natural resources. This is being done at the local as well as on a national level. Here are some examples from large to small of local valuations of natural assets related to water and carbon storage management:

• $16.3 billion for rural and urban forest and wetland carbon storage in the greater Quebec City area.
• $49.8 million annually for wetland restoration to reduce flooding in Quebec City.
• $44.2 million for wetland restoration in Hamilton, Ontario.
• $18.9 million for a 7-kilometre (4.3-mile) watershed in the city of Oshawa, Ontario.
• $5.5 million for erosion prevention in urban and rural forests in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec.
• $3.5 to 4 million for naturally occurring ponds in a British Columbia park.
• $2.9 million annually for wetland preservation in Ottawa, Ontario.
• $2.4 million for naturalizing a British Columbia riverbanks to reduce downstream flood damage.
• $1.4 million for protecting wetlands in one watershed in New Brunswick.

The Methodology for Natural Asset Valuation​

Using modelling and monitoring, valuing natural assets is based on the following:

1. Replacement Cost – this is simply the cost to replace or substitute through human engineering an alternative to the natural asset.
2. Revealed Preference – determining the affected market price of local goods and services impacted by a natural asset, for example, travel costs to a location.
3. Stated Preference – the cost to a community for the maintenance of a natural asset which could be reflected in taxes or fees.

More than one of these valuation techniques may apply to a natural asset.

The report notes that to calculate appropriate values for natural assets may require further analysis, but the tangibility of nature cannot be ignored in financial statements and accounting practices. In time, the discipline of determining natural asset valuations will be refined further to provide a precise and correct outcome. The standards of accounting applied to all other asset classes, therefore, should apply to natural assets.

Canada isn’t alone in making progress in determining the financial value of natural assets in accounting reporting. The U.K, the U.S., and South Africa have established accounting principles and practices for natural assets. And asset managers, institutional investors, insurance companies, and banks are also incorporating natural capital in investment decision-making. The most well-known in the asset management realm is BlackRock which stated in 2021 that “all companies rely on natural capital in some way and, as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, we ask companies to demonstrate how they are minimizing their negative impacts on, and ideally enhancing the stock of, the natural capital on which their long-term financial performance depends.”

The Report’s Final Recommendations​

For Canada, at a national level, there are three actions that this report recommends.

1. Reverse Natural Asset Accounting Exclusions – Remove the exclusion of natural assets from public sector financial statements.
2. Establish National Natural Asset Guidelines and Standards – Establish practical guidelines and national standards for inventory, management, and valuation of local government natural assets.
3. Engage Financial Institutions in Nature-Positive Action – Engage Canadian financial institutions and organizations in testing and refining a natural-asset accounting framework. At the same time, making investments to build natural capital. This includes investments to “do no harm” as well as investments in solutions to enhance and restore nature.

We need all the frontline allies we can get to slow down and reverse the effects of climate change. Natural assets are effective weapons to draw on for this fight.

 

[marsh]

Emphasis mine

E.O. 14008

Federal Register :: Request Access

Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad​

A Presidential Document by the Executive Office of the President on 02/01/2021
Sec. 216. Conserving Our Nation's Lands and Waters. (a) The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall submit a report to the Task Force within 90 days of the date of this order recommending steps that the United States should take, working with State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, agricultural and forest landowners, fishermen, and other key stakeholders, to achieve the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.


(i) The Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality shall, as appropriate, solicit input from State, local, Tribal, and territorial officials, agricultural and forest landowners, fishermen, and other key stakeholders in identifying strategies that will encourage broad participation in the goal of conserving 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.

(ii) The report shall propose guidelines for determining whether lands and waters qualify for conservation, and it also shall establish mechanisms to measure progress toward the 30-percent goal. The Secretary of the Interior shall subsequently submit annual reports to the Task Force to monitor progress.

^^^^^^^

Executive Order 14030—Climate-Related Financial Risk | The American Presidency Project

www.presidency.ucsb.edu

Executive Order 14030—Climate-Related Financial Risk​

May 20, 2021
Sec. 2. Climate-Related Financial Risk Strategy. The Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council (Director of the National Economic Council) and the Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor (National Climate Advisor), in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), shall develop, within 120 days of the date of this order, a comprehensive, Government-wide strategy regarding:

(a) the measurement, assessment, mitigation, and disclosure of climate-related financial risk to Federal Government programs, assets, and liabilities in order to increase the long-term stability of Federal operations;

(b) financing needs associated with achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for the U.S. economy by no later than 2050, limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and adapting to the acute and chronic impacts of climate change; and

(c) areas in which private and public investments can play complementary roles in meeting these financing needs—while advancing economic opportunity, worker empowerment, and environmental mitigation, especially in disadvantaged communities and communities of color.

Sec. 3. Assessment of Climate-Related Financial Risk by Financial Regulators. In furtherance of the policy set forth in section 1 of this order and consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations:

(a) The Secretary of the Treasury, as the Chair of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), shall engage with FSOC members to consider the following actions by the FSOC:

(i) assessing, in a detailed and comprehensive manner, the climate-related financial risk, including both physical and transition risks, to the financial stability of the Federal Government and the stability of the U.S. financial system;

(ii) facilitating the sharing of climate-related financial risk data and information among FSOC member agencies and other executive departments and agencies (agencies) as appropriate;

(iii) issuing a report to the President within 180 days of the date of this order on any efforts by FSOC member agencies to integrate consideration of climate-related financial risk in their policies and programs, including a discussion of:

(A) the necessity of any actions to enhance climate-related disclosures by regulated entities to mitigate climate-related financial risk to the financial system or assets and a recommended implementation plan for taking those actions;

(B) any current approaches to incorporating the consideration of climate-related financial risk into their respective regulatory and supervisory activities and any impediments they faced in adopting those approaches;

(C) recommended processes to identify climate-related financial risk to the financial stability of the United States; and

(D) any other recommendations on how identified climate-related financial risk can be mitigated, including through new or revised regulatory standards as appropriate; and

(iv) including an assessment of climate-related financial risk in the FSOC's annual report to the Congress.

^^^^^

A New National Strategy to Reflect Natural Assets on America’s Balance Sheet | OMB | The White House

By Dr. Sabeel Rahman, Senior Counselor, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Dr. Eli Fenichel, Assistant Director for Natural Resource Economics and Accounting, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dr. Jed Kolko, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce...

www.whitehouse.gov

A New National Strategy to Reflect Natural Assets on America’s Balance Sheet​

1. HOME
2. OMB
3. BRIEFING ROOM
4. BLOGS

By Dr. Sabeel Rahman, Senior Counselor, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Dr. Eli Fenichel, Assistant Director for Natural Resource Economics and Accounting, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dr. Jed Kolko, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce

Our planet’s water, soil, air, and other natural assets play a critical role in sustaining and powering our economy—from supplying the food we eat, to supporting critical supply chains, to spurring innovation and providing recreational opportunities, and more. The challenges of climate change, pollution, and environmental injustice carry implications for the economy, the environment, and public health that Americans across the nation have been experiencing for decades. Yet, the data we rely on to describe and measure our economy are largely disconnected from the realities of the natural world. This disconnect in data prevents us from reaching our full economic potential while protecting the environment, and ensuring future opportunity for Americans.

That’s why today, we are announcing a new draft National Strategy and calling for public input to bridge the disconnect and ensure the natural resources all Americans enjoy and depend on are accounted for in the economic decisions that affect the American people.

On Earth Day 2022, President Biden signed an executive order charging us to develop guidance to better account for nature and its benefits in federal decision-making, leading to the first government-wide natural capital accounts. As Secretary Raimondo announced, these natural capital accounts will measure the economic value that natural resources provide to society and illustrate how a robust economy depends on a healthy natural environment.

The draft National Strategy outlines recommendations for developing “Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions” to reflect natural assets on the national balance sheet.

Additionally, the strategy highlights a framework for investment opportunities that would work to address the causes of environmental injustices by shedding light on environmental dependencies. We are also inviting members of the public to share their perspectives to inform this important work.

The draft National Strategy recommends that the Federal government produce a new, ongoing set of statistics to take stock of our wealth of natural assets, how those assets are being enhanced or depleted, and the impact that has on our economic strength. The draft National Strategy also makes several specific recommendations on the process of developing natural capital accounts and environmental-economic statistics, including:

• The natural capital accounts should be integrated into the broader existing U.S. economic statistical system, using the expertise that Federal agencies already possess, so that these accounts can be as useful as possible to decision-makers at the Federal, State, Tribal, and local levels, as well as to the private sector—which has repeatedly called for government leadership in developing these statistics.
• The natural capital accounts and environmental-economic statistics should measure our progress over time.
• In developing these accounts and statistics, we should work with the international community to advance implementation.
• The U.S. government should follow a 15-year phased approach that will generate new information early in the process while iteratively and rigorously building a long-lasting set of statistical products that are regularly reported.

This strategic approach will result in a more complete view of our economic vitality and progress—one that appropriately reflects the fragility and value of nature in supporting it. By following the National Strategy and implementing its recommendations, we can begin to accurately account for our natural assets as we measure the economic strength of our country.

 

[marsh]

Natural Capital Accounting + Env-Econ Stats -- OMB/OSTP invite input on draft national strategy (by 10/21) - EconSpark

1) Aug 22 -- Request for Information: Development of a Strategic Plan on Statistics ... -initial-engagement-on-developing-natural-capital-accounts/

www.aeaweb.org

Natural Capital Accounting + Env-Econ Stats -- OMB/OSTP invite input on draft national strategy (by 10/21)​

asked 4 months ago by Andrew Reamer (36.3k points)
edited 4 months ago by Andrew Reamer
1) Aug 22 -- Request for Information: Development of a Strategic Plan on Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB)—on behalf of the co-chairs of the Interagency Policy Working Group on Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions (Working Group), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and Department of Commerce (DOC)—requests information and comments on questions posed by the Working Group to help inform the development of Government-wide natural capital accounts and standardized environmental-economic statistics. The Working Group has developed a draft Strategic Plan that recommends short- and long-term strategic goals, as well as objectives and proposed strategies to achieve a routinely produced set of Government-wide natural capital accounts and standardized environmental-economic statistics that complement and operate in alignment with core national economic accounts and statistics. To support the Strategic Plan, OMB seeks information on likely and potential applications for U.S. natural capital accounts, established statistics and accounts that would strengthen the U.S. system, relevant external factors that may affect implementation of the Strategic Plan, and relevant ancillary or indirect consequences of developing natural capital accounts or associated statistics.

Interested persons and organizations are invited to submit comments by October 21, 2022.

Existing national economic accounts data for the United States—the organized data describing the U.S. economy, often summarized as Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—provide an incomplete view of the Nation’s environmental and natural assets, and the changing value of these important assets remains disconnected from broader economic statistics. As a result, while the Federal statistical system generally reflects how many economic sectors interact, it does not reflect how the environment affects and responds to economic sectors and vice versa.

Natural capital or natural assets, the environmental or ecosystem services they generate, and expenditures to secure and protect nature are foundational elements of economic progress and growth, future opportunity, and sustainable development. Measuring natural assets and maintaining statistical series—that is, conducting repeated measurement over time that relates the environment with the economy—can inform planning tools for the American economy, contributing to goals like job creation and international competitiveness. The international community has demonstrated a growing interest in rapidly developing natural capital accounting methodologies, and the private sector has shown a growing demand for natural capital data to reduce uncertainty and ensure competitiveness. Therefore, there is demand for U.S. Federal leadership to develop natural capital accounts and standardized environmental-economic statistics to provide a centralized domestic framework and to promote international norms.

On Earth Day 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration announced an initiative to develop and maintain the first U.S. natural capital accounts and standardized environmental-economic statistics. An interagency Working Group—co-chaired by OMB, OSTP, and DOC, with participation from the Council of Economic Advisors, Council on Environmental Quality, Domestic Climate Policy Office, National Economic Council, National Security Council, Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Labor, State, and Treasury, Environmental Protection Agency, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration—developed a strategy for producing natural capital accounts that work within the U.S. standard national accounting system. These natural capital accounts would be able to measure the economic value that natural assets provide to society.

The Working Group has developed a Strategic Plan divided into five main sections:

(1) The Need for a System of Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions details how the development of natural capital accounts and standardized environmental-economic statistics are expected to contribute to sustainable development of the U.S. macro-economy; encourage more informed Federal decision-making; increase the competitiveness of American firms; and support enhanced resilience of states, communities, territories, and tribes.

(2) Renewing U.S. Leadership and Building on Strength outlines the importance of U.S. leadership in environmental-economic statistics and describes the history of the development of environmental-economic statistics in the United States.

(3) Connecting Natural Capital and Environmental-Economic Statistics with National Economic Accounts provides systematic recommendations for the development of natural capital accounts and environmental-economic statistics, placing them in the context of the U.S. statistical system and in the context of the development of international standards.

(4) Developing a U.S. System of Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions: Targets, Timelines, and Tasks identifies headline summaries and products, the pathway to production-grade accounts and core statistical products, supporting activities necessary to develop and manage the system, the environmental sectors the working group recommends be developed into natural capital accounts, a proposed timeline for developing individual accounts (e.g., an air account, a land account), and additional research and guidance needs. This section also identifies the data and expertise within the U.S. Government needed to produce sustained natural capital accounts and environmental-economic statistics.

(5) Administrative Coordination Across the Government details how interagency coordination for developing the initiative would be carried out by the Chief Statistician of the United States and processes to facilitate data sharing to ensure interoperability across the Federal Government. This section also summarizes the legal authority for developing natural capital accounts and standardized environmental-economic statistics.

This request for information aims to support the Working Group's continued effort to develop and implement a strategy for developing statistics for environmental-economic decisions. OMB is interested in hearing from a diversity of stakeholders, sectors, and members of the public. OMB is issuing this notice in order to facilitate robust interaction with the public on this new U.S. Government endeavor. Input is welcome from stakeholders and members of the public representing all backgrounds and perspectives. Through this RFI, OMB seeks information and feedback on the Strategic Plan for Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions in order to realize natural capital accounts and associated environmental-economic statistics, including on the following topics:

-- Likely and potential applications for U.S. natural capital accounts and associated environmental-economic statistics that would improve government or private-sector decision making that are not described in the draft Strategic Plan;
-- Comments related to established and widely recognized systems of environmental-economic statistics or natural capital accounts that could strengthen the U.S. system;
-- External factors that may affect the Federal Government's ability to implement the Strategic Plan; and
-- Ancillary or indirect consequences of developing natural capital accounts or associated environmental-economic statistics.

RFI: Federal Register :: Request Access
Draft strategy https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Natural-Capital-Accounting-Strategy.pdf

2) OMB Blog -- A New National Strategy to Reflect Natural Assets on America’s Balance Sheet
A New National Strategy to Reflect Natural Assets on America’s Balance Sheet | OMB | The White House

3) OSTP Blog -- Initial Engagement on Developing Natural Capital Accounts -- OSTP Blog
Readout: OSTP Initial Engagement on Developing Natural Capital Accounts | OSTP | The White House

 

[marsh]

A New National Strategy to Reflect Natural Assets on America’s Balance Sheet | OMB | The White House

By Dr. Sabeel Rahman, Senior Counselor, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Dr. Eli Fenichel, Assistant Director for Natural Resource Economics and Accounting, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dr. Jed Kolko, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce...

www.whitehouse.gov

The White House
AUGUST 18, 2022

A New National Strategy to Reflect Natural Assets on America’s Balance Sheet​

1. HOME
2. OMB
3. BRIEFING ROOM
4. BLOGS

By Dr. Sabeel Rahman, Senior Counselor, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Dr. Eli Fenichel, Assistant Director for Natural Resource Economics and Accounting, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dr. Jed Kolko, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce

Our planet’s water, soil, air, and other natural assets play a critical role in sustaining and powering our economy—from supplying the food we eat, to supporting critical supply chains, to spurring innovation and providing recreational opportunities, and more. The challenges of climate change, pollution, and environmental injustice carry implications for the economy, the environment, and public health that Americans across the nation have been experiencing for decades. Yet, the data we rely on to describe and measure our economy are largely disconnected from the realities of the natural world. This disconnect in data prevents us from reaching our full economic potential while protecting the environment, and ensuring future opportunity for Americans.

That’s why today, we are announcing a new draft National Strategy and calling for public input to bridge the disconnect and ensure the natural resources all Americans enjoy and depend on are accounted for in the economic decisions that affect the American people.

On Earth Day 2022, President Biden signed an executive order charging us to develop guidance to better account for nature and its benefits in federal decision-making, leading to the first government-wide natural capital accounts. As Secretary Raimondo announced, these natural capital accounts will measure the economic value that natural resources provide to society and illustrate how a robust economy depends on a healthy natural environment.

The draft National Strategy outlines recommendations for developing “Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions” to reflect natural assets on the national balance sheet.

Additionally, the strategy highlights a framework for investment opportunities that would work to address the causes of environmental injustices by shedding light on environmental dependencies. We are also inviting members of the public to share their perspectives to inform this important work.

The draft National Strategy recommends that the Federal government produce a new, ongoing set of statistics to take stock of our wealth of natural assets, how those assets are being enhanced or depleted, and the impact that has on our economic strength. The draft National Strategy also makes several specific recommendations on the process of developing natural capital accounts and environmental-economic statistics, including:

• The natural capital accounts should be integrated into the broader existing U.S. economic statistical system, using the expertise that Federal agencies already possess, so that these accounts can be as useful as possible to decision-makers at the Federal, State, Tribal, and local levels, as well as to the private sector—which has repeatedly called for government leadership in developing these statistics.
• The natural capital accounts and environmental-economic statistics should measure our progress over time.
• In developing these accounts and statistics, we should work with the international community to advance implementation.
• The U.S. government should follow a 15-year phased approach that will generate new information early in the process while iteratively and rigorously building a long-lasting set of statistical products that are regularly reported.

This strategic approach will result in a more complete view of our economic vitality and progress—one that appropriately reflects the fragility and value of nature in supporting it. By following the National Strategy and implementing its recommendations, we can begin to accurately account for our natural assets as we measure the economic strength of our country.

^^^^^

Readout: OSTP Initial Engagement on Developing Natural Capital Accounts | OSTP | The White House

In June and July 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) convened a series of roundtables to engage stakeholders and experts on the Administration’s initiative to develop natural capital accounts for the nation. On Earth Day 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration...

www.whitehouse.gov

Readout: OSTP Initial Engagement on Developing Natural Capital Accounts​

1. HOME
2. OSTP
3. BRIEFING ROOM
4. OSTP BLOG

In June and July 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) convened a series of roundtables to engage stakeholders and experts on the Administration’s initiative to develop natural capital accounts for the nation.

On Earth Day 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration announced an initiative to develop a Federal Strategic Plan on Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions so that we as a nation can account for the significant contribution of nature to our economic growth and the services it provides to the American people. These “natural capital accounts” will connect with the existing U.S. national economic accounting system and measure changes in the economic value that natural assets provide to society—from fish stocks and forests to the quality of our shared air and water. Nature will finally be reflected on our nation’s balance sheet.

Several U.S. federal agencies have already developed research accounts, laying a critical foundation for standardized U.S. natural capital accounts that are consistent with international standards. An Interagency Policy Working Group, led by OSTP, the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of Commerce, was established to harmonize cross-agency efforts and develop a strategic plan to produce consistent and routinely updated natural capital accounts and environmental-economics statistics that the Federal government, states, and the private sector can rely upon.

On behalf of the interagency policy working group, OSTP held a series of roundtables to meaningfully engage with stakeholders and experts on this topic. Stakeholders included the business and private sectors, NGOs, and members of the academic community. All participants in the roundtables shared their excitement for the critical Federal effort to produce standardized and routinely updated Federal Strategic Plan for Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions. There was overwhelming support for the Federal government’s efforts to help put nature and the environment into the language of investors, bankers, and businesses to ensure U.S. economic competitiveness in a 21st century global economy. OSTP observed three main themes in these discussions:

1. A Standardized U.S. Government Natural Accounting Framework is Critical for the Growth of U.S. Businesses.

American businesses depend on natural capital assets, from minerals to fish stocks to pollinators, that often serve as the first links in supply chains or protect vital infrastructure.

Climate change and overuse of these natural capital assets can risk the financial health and sustainability of a business. Standardized reporting of natural capital statistics will help American businesses better understand what nature-related metrics and data are important to track and report, thereby reducing costs, increasing competitiveness, and creating a stronger understanding of how their practices both impact and are impacted by nature and biodiversity. Companies also want to make strong positive commitments to protecting the environment and nature, but lack a unifying Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework or guidance for what to commit to, what to make claims about, and what to report on. Standardized, maintained and regularly-updated natural capital accounts can provide a foundation for unifying the environmental elements of the ESG frameworks and would reduce uncertainty and litigation risk for businesses by providing the foundation on which to build credible reports on nature-positive activities.

There are already robust ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—companies can reduce their actual carbon footprints measurably or pledge net-zero commitments by certain dates measured by agreed-upon standards, often developed with or by the non-governmental community, that help entities track progress. Standardized natural capital accounts will do the same for measuring natural assets and will bring structure and clarity to American businesses and organizations that want to plan for the future and invest in stewarding our natural assets.

1. Inclusive Natural Capital Accounts are Important for National, Regional, Local, and Private Sector Decision Making.

Participants also highlighted the need for the natural capital accounts to take an inclusive approach to what is counted and how nature is valued. The location of natural assets influences their contributions to local, regional, and national economic growth and can have an immediate effect on the economic well-being of the communities in which they are located. A standardized set of natural capital statistics must be created in a way that will have a positive impact on U.S. economic growth at all scales. Stakeholders also noted that accounting for our key natural assets in a way that connects to the economy is crucial for decisions surrounding the future stewardship and caretaking of our natural resources. All stakeholders consulted recognized the tensions among an immediate need for natural capital accounts, the scale and scope surrounding the challenge of developing the accounts, and the need for natural capital accounts that are robust and grounded in rigorous statistical detail in order to become a permanent feature of the statistical system, a partner to national economic accounts, and to produce a summary that complements Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

1. U.S. Leadership is Important and Can Spur Action.

The United States’ commitment to producing natural capital accounts in a way that is compatible with international standards, like the United Nation’s System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, positions the U.S. to create a gold-standard implementation model. Participants noted that the United States has a prime window of opportunity in this space to shape norms, establish international precedence, and lead by example. By producing natural capital accounts, the United States is signaling to the international community its commitment to understanding and prioritizing the critical role of nature in economic progress, security, and growth. U.S. investment in a system of natural capital accounts may also spur increased investment and research in nature-positive economic metrics that will help push us towards a more sustainable 21st century economy. Countries around the world are now looking to the U.S. government to develop natural capital accounting and standardized environmental-economic statistics that can support the integration of nature into the global economy.

Comments from Stakeholders and Experts
Amy Senter, Director for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development – “In the face of unprecedented nature loss, we must act now to mainstream nature in business decision making. Central to this shift will be for capital markets to recognize the value of natural capital through consistent, comparable and reasonably assured data on nature-related risks and opportunities.”

Elizabeth Gray, CEO of Audubon – “The NGO community is very interested in natural capital accounts and environmental-economic statistics, which will help people make the connections between nature, the economy, and their everyday lives.”

Jim Boyd, Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future – “Integrating natural capital into National Economic Accounts provides an apolitical, objective, rule-based, and robust way to understand important economic dependencies on nature.”

Lauren Smart, Chief Commercial Officer of S&P Global Sustainable1 – “Natural capital accounting speaks the language of investors and banks and puts nature in terms business can understand.”

Mark Gough, CEO of Capitals Coalition – “Understanding the value of natural capital and embedding this value across economic planning and decision-making will provide the United States with a critical tool to tackle climate change, conserve its natural heritage, bolster defences against extreme weather, safeguard sustainable livelihoods and strengthen local economies. Working alongside the business community to ensure that natural capital accounts can be applied across the public and private sectors is fundamental to success.”

Michael Coke, Partner at Wilson Sonsini – “Federal guidance on how to measure natural assets and the development of natural capital priority accounts will send a strong signal about what businesses should focus on and will incentivize companies to report on their impacts to natural capital.”

Rebecca Shaw, Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President at the World Wildlife Fund – “If we do not measure our natural assets, we cannot monitor how they are doing – whether they are declining and how they are impacted by our actions – nor can we properly steward our natural resources for future generations. By measuring key natural assets, this initiative will allow us to prioritize the environment in our economic decisions.”

Next Steps
The rich input from these roundtables will be incorporated into the National Strategy to Develop Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions and future work of the Interagency Policy Working Group. OSTP with the interagency working group will hold additional engagement opportunities with other stakeholder groups in the coming months. A draft of the National Strategy to Develop Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions is available here for public comment. The Interagency Policy Working Group is eager to hear from stakeholders during the public comment period and will use this input to guide its work to finalize the strategic plan.

^^^^

cooked goose
Are we collateralizing our national debt?

 

[marsh]

(WEF)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1606547506028056581

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1606547506028056581
2:20 min

(Ukraine)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1606549723481280513

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1606549723481280513
6:33 min

($ Purchasing power)


(COVID)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1606096375044866048

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1606096375044866048
2:17 min

 

[marsh]

Kash Patel-The FBI Colluded To Overthrow The US Government,The House Has The Ability To Get It All 42:20 min (starts at .56 min)

Kash Patel-The FBI Colluded To Overthrow The US Government,The House Has The Ability To Get It All​

X22 Report Published December 24, 2022

Kash Patel served as the former Chief of Staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and is responsible for leading the Secretary’s mission at the Department, including his executive staff and providing counsel to the Secretary on all matters concerning the Department’s operations. Kash oversaw the execution of several of President Donald J. Trump’s top priorities. Kash begins the conversation talking about how he was investigated while he was investigating the Russia hoax. The FBI is behind the fake Steele Dossier, hiding the Hunter Biden laptop, and manipulating the elections. The FBI overthrew the US Government. The House has the ability to get it all and expose the [DS].

 

[marsh]

Military's DMED Data Was 'Catastrophic' After Vaccine Rollout - Lt. Colonel Theresa Long 2:28 min

Military's DMED Data Was 'Catastrophic' After Vaccine Rollout - Lt. Colonel Theresa Long​

Red Voice Media Published December 23, 2022

“We couldn't believe what we were seeing."

"It was very unnerving because the data was so catastrophic."

 

[marsh]

JUST IN: Another Twitter Files Drop: Twitter and "Other Government Agencies"

Another round of Elon Musk’s Twitter files were released on Saturday. The latest Twitter files were released by journalist Matt Taibbi on Christmas Eve. 1.THREAD: The Twitter FilesTWITTER AND "OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES" — Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022 After weeks of “Twitter Files”...

www.thegatewaypundit.com

JUST IN: Another Twitter Files Drop: Twitter and “Other Government Agencies”​

By Cristina Laila
Published December 24, 2022 at 12:20pm

Another round of Elon Musk’s Twitter files were released on Saturday.

The latest Twitter files were released by journalist Matt Taibbi on Christmas Eve.

After weeks of “Twitter Files” reports detailing close coordination between the FBI and Twitter in moderating social media content, the Bureau issued a statement Wednesday.

After weeks of “Twitter Files” reports detailing close coordination between the FBI and Twitter in moderating social media content, the Bureau issued a statement Wednesday.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

https://t.co/oYzosVQ8YF didn’t refute allegations. Instead, it decried “conspiracy theorists” publishing “misinformation,” whose “sole aim” is to “discredit the agency.” pic.twitter.com/bEndZ9qj7i
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

3.They must think us unambitious, if our “sole aim” is to discredit the FBI. After all, a whole range of government agencies discredit themselves in the #TwitterFiles. Why stop with one?
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

4.The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

5.The operation is far bigger than the reported 80 members of the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), which also facilitates requests from a wide array of smaller actors – from local cops to media to state governments.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

6.Twitter had so much contact with so many agencies that executives lost track. Is today the DOD, and tomorrow the FBI? Is it the weekly call, or the monthly meeting? It was dizzying. pic.twitter.com/C8d8jntnC0
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

7.A chief end result was that thousands of official “reports” flowed to Twitter from all over, through the FITF and the FBI’s San Francisco field office.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

8. On June 29th, 2020, San Francisco FBI agent Elvis Chan wrote to pair of Twitter execs asking if he could invite an “OGA” to an upcoming conference:

9.OGA, or “Other Government Organization,” can be a euphemism for CIA, according to multiple former intelligence officials and contractors. Chuckles one: “They think it’s mysterious, but it’s just conspicuous.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

10.“Other Government Agency (the place where I worked for 27 years),” says retired CIA officer Ray McGovern.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

11. It was an open secret at Twitter that one of its executives was ex-CIA, which is why Chan referred to that executive’s “former employer.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

12.The first Twitter executive abandoned any pretense to stealth and emailed that the employee “used to work for the CIA, so that is Elvis’s question.” pic.twitter.com/5kL8xNRZcO
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

13.Senior legal executive Stacia Cardille, whose alertness stood out among Twitter leaders, replied, “I know” and “I thought my silence was understood.” pic.twitter.com/SkBObgCQZG
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

14.Cardille then passes on conference details to recently-hired ex-FBI lawyer Jim Baker. pic.twitter.com/c60VEMDArB
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

15.“I invited the FBI and the CIA virtually will attend too,” Cardille says to Baker, adding pointedly: “No need for you to attend.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

16.The government was in constant contact not just with Twitter but with virtually every major tech firm.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

17. These included Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Reddit, even Pinterest, and many others. Industry players also held regular meetings without government.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

https://t.co/WJZhBCgjNd of the most common forums was a regular meeting of the multi-agency Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), attended by spates of executives, FBI personnel, and – nearly always – one or two attendees marked “OGA.” pic.twitter.com/8J7zUZBgQZ
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

19.The FITF meeting agendas virtually always included, at or near the beginning, an “OGA briefing,” usually about foreign matters (hold that thought). pic.twitter.com/Yx0721VyXI
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

20. Despite its official remit being “Foreign Influence,” the FITF and the SF FBI office became conduit for mountains of domestic moderation requests, from state governments, even local police: pic.twitter.com/QDpBw7Olad
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

21. Many requests arrived via Teleporter, a one-way platform in which many communications were timed to vanish: pic.twitter.com/3C9uNo2AYC
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

22.Especially as the election approached in 2020, the FITF/FBI overwhelmed Twitter with requests, sending lists of hundreds of problem accounts: pic.twitter.com/ETiIcPZxGw
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

23. Email after email came from the San Francisco office heading into the election, often adorned with an Excel attachment: pic.twitter.com/2xCKHPcBRE
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

24. There were so many government requests, Twitter employees had to improvise a system for prioritizing/triaging them: pic.twitter.com/NRSyM6Z5Vu
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

25. The FBI was clearly tailoring searches to Twitter’s policies. FBI complaints were almost always depicted somewhere as a “possible terms of service violation,” even in the subject line: pic.twitter.com/TiwyiZJTNZ
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

26. Twitter executives noticed the FBI appeared to be aasigning personnel to look for Twitter violations.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

27.“They have some folks in the Baltimore field office and at HQ that are just doing keyword searches for violations. This is probably the 10th request I have dealt with in the last 5 days,” remarked Cardille. pic.twitter.com/asTlMhs2if
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

28. Even ex-FBI lawyer Jim Baker agreed: “Odd that they are searching for violations of our policies.” pic.twitter.com/ini1eMznTA
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

29.The New York FBI office even sent requests for the “user IDs and handles” of a long list of accounts named in a Daily Beast article. Senior executives say they are “supportive” and “completely comfortable” doing so. pic.twitter.com/MfSX7NcZJF
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

30. It seemed to strike no one as strange that a “Foreign Influence” task force was forwarding thousands of mostly domestic reports, along with the DHS, about the fringiest material: pic.twitter.com/YlOQQeUbkw
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

31. “Foreign meddling” had been the ostensible justification for expanded moderation since platforms like Twitter were dragged to the Hill by the Senate in 2017: pic.twitter.com/b3wR2aUjcf
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

32. Yet behind the scenes, Twitter executives struggled against government claims of foreign interference supposedly occurring on their platform and others: pic.twitter.com/7V5KK7Qn4v
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

33. The #TwitterFiles show execs under constant pressure to validate theories of foreign influence – and unable to find evidence for key assertions.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

34. “Found no links to Russia,” says one analyst, but suggests he could “brainstorm” to “find a stronger connection.” pic.twitter.com/adrWBV1OgD
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

35. “Extremely tenuous circumstantial chance of being related,” says another. pic.twitter.com/nLnShIZTLc
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

36. “No real matches using the info,” says former Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth in another case, noting some links were “clearly Russian,” but another was a “house rental in South Carolina?” pic.twitter.com/BAS97DxUt5
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

37. In another case, Roth concludes a series of Venezuelan pro-Maduro accounts are unrelated to Russia’s Internet Research Agency, because they’re too high-volume: pic.twitter.com/ySsjM4j0j9
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

38.The Venezuelans “were extremely high-volume tweeters… pretty uncharacteristic of a lot of the other IRA activity,” Roth says.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

39. In a key email, news that the State Department was making a wobbly public assertion of Russian influence led an exec – the same one with the “OGA” past – to make a damning admission:
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

40. “Due to a lack of technical evidence on our end, I’ve generally left it be, waiting for more evidence,” he says. “Our window on that is closing, given that government partners are becoming more aggressive on attribution.” pic.twitter.com/IZLaxEF6lY
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

41. Translation: “more aggressive” “government partners” had closed Twitter’s “window” of independence.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

42. “Other Government Agencies” ended up sharing intelligence through the FBI and FITF not just with Twitter, but with Yahoo!, Twitch, Clouldfare, LinkedIn, even Wikimedia: pic.twitter.com/HH5PqKO4Bl
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

43/44:

44.“Looks right on to me,” Kiriakou says, noting that “what was cut off above [the “tearline”] was the originating CIA office and all the copied offices.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

45/46:

46. These reports are far more factually controversial than domestic counterparts.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

47. One intel report lists accounts tied to “Ukraine ‘neo-Nazi’ Propaganda.’” This includes assertions that Joe Biden helped orchestrate a coup in 2014 and “put his son on the board of Burisma.” pic.twitter.com/BiTj9SIHgH
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

48. Another report asserts a list of accounts accusing the “Biden administration” of “corruption” in vaccine distribution are part of a Russian influence campaign: pic.twitter.com/RPDDFNWaji
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

49. Often intelligence came in the form of brief reports, followed by long lists of accounts simply deemed to be pro-Maduro, pro-Cuba, pro-Russia, etc. This one batch had over 1000 accounts marked for digital execution: pic.twitter.com/zkf4QdUv3E
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

50. One report says a site “documenting purported rights abuses committed by Ukrainians” is directed by Russian agents: pic.twitter.com/2uzXLGP6CG
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

51/52:

52. This is a difficult speech dilemma. Should the government be allowed to try to prevent Americans (and others) from seeing pro-Maduro or anti-Ukrainian accounts?
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

53. Often intel reports are just long lists of newspapers, tweets or YouTube videos guilty of “anti-Ukraine narratives”: pic.twitter.com/6q7IX5S7WM
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

54. Sometimes – not always -Twitter and YouTube blocked the accounts. But now we know for sure what Roth meant by “the Bureau (and by extension the IC).” pic.twitter.com/DpLix07ZvO
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

55/56:

56.The CIA has yet to comment on the nature of its relationship to tech companies like Twitter. Twitter had no input into anything I did or wrote. The searches were carried out by third parties, so what I saw could be limited.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

 

[marsh]

UPDATE: Now Indiana Michigan Power Customers Told to Cut Electricity Usage, Face Rolling Black Outs During Sub-Zero Freeze | The Gateway Pundit | by Jeremy Segal

Earlier we reported Wisconsin’s We-Energies told customers to lower their thermostats due to a natural gas pipeline malfunctions.

www.thegatewaypundit.com

UPDATE: Now Indiana Michigan Power Customers Told to Cut Electricity Usage, Face Rolling Black Outs During Sub-Zero Freeze​

By Jeremy Segal
Published December 24, 2022 at 11:20am

Earlier we reported Wisconsin’s We-Energies told customers to lower their thermostats due to a natural gas pipeline malfunctions. Now Indiana Michigan Power customers have been told to reduce their electricity usage until 10am Christmas morning, and they may face rolling blackouts due to bitterly freezing temperatures. (Because who knew there could be cold weather in winter?)

Indiana Michigan Power sent the following email this morning:

According to Indiana Michigan Power’s email, PJM Interconnection requested the reduction in energy usage to curb increased regional demand on the grid due to cold the extremely cold weather.

(PJM) is a regional transmission organization (RTO) and part of the Eastern Interconnection grid operating an electric transmission system serving all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Indiana Michigan Power warns on their website:

If further emergency action is required to reduce the load on the electric system, PJM would direct the company to begin grid protection power outages to parts of its service territory. These outages would be brief and intermittent whenever possible to limit the impact on customers.

The action will only be taken if necessary to avoid widespread power loss and to prevent long-term damage to the regional electric system.

Customers should be prepared for the possibility of temporary electric service outages if further emergency action is required. Please check with elderly or family, friends and neighbors with disabilities or medical conditions to ensure they are OK and have a plan for possible outages.

Temperatures are expected to remain below zero up to the single digits until Monday.
Here is the Milwaukee forecast.

 

[marsh]

18 Republicans Vote to Give $11.3 Billion to FBI to Target Domestic Extremists and Build the FBI a New Multi-Million Dollar Facility

The Uniparty $1.7 trillion Omnibus bill passed the US Senate on Thursday. 18 Republican Senators voted for the monstrosity. The bill gives TENS OF BILLIONS of US dollars for the Ukrainian War Efforts. The bill gives $410 million to secure the borders in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman...

www.thegatewaypundit.com

18 Republicans Vote to Give $11.3 Billion to FBI to Target Domestic Extremists and Build the FBI a New Multi-Million Dollar Facility​

By Jim Hoft
Published December 24, 2022 at 10:20am

The Uniparty $1.7 trillion Omnibus bill passed the US Senate on Thursday.

18 Republican Senators voted for the monstrosity.

The bill gives TENS OF BILLIONS of US dollars for the Ukrainian War Efforts.

The bill gives $410 million to secure the borders in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman.

But nothing to secure the open US border with Mexico.

18 republicans voted for this monstrosity including outgoing Republican Senators Blunt, Portman, and Shelby.

Here are the 18 Republican traitors who voted against for this travesty.

Roy Blunt
John Boozman
Shelley Capito
Susan Collins
John Cornyn
Tom Cotton
Lindsey Graham
Jim Inhofe
Mitch McConnell
Jerry Moran
Lisa Murkowski
Rob Portman
Mitt Romney
Mike Rounds
Richard Shelby
John Thune
Roger Wicker
Todd Young

The Omnibus give the FBI a massive funding increase. This comes at the same time we now know they ran a coup against the former president based on complete lies, are illegally spying on Americans, and are working with Big Tech to censor and silence American conservatives and thought leaders who stray from regime-approved orthodoxy.

Via The Daily Caller.

The bill designated $11.33 billion for the FBI “to investigate extremist violence and domestic terrorism,” according to a summary of the bill by the House Appropriations Committee. The total is reportedly $569.6 million more than the enacted levels for the 2022 fiscal year and $524 million more than the president.

The FBI reportedly paid Twitter $3.5 million dollars as compensation for staff fielding the agency’s requests between October 2019 and February 2021, as was revealed during Elon Musk’s ongoing “Twitter Files” series which leaked information showing Twitter’s hand in suppressing users. The files also revealed that the FBI had close relations with Twitter staff and was involved in the suppression of the New York Post article regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election.

The FBI also flagged specific tweets for Twitter to remove from the platform. Former FBI agents were also employed at Twitter, according to the files.

Additional funding was set aside for United States Attorneys to “support prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases.” The bill budgeted $2.63 billion, which is $212.1 million more than was budgeted for FY 2022.

FYI – Trump endorsed RINO John Boozman in his recent reelection over a MAGA conservative Jake Bequette.