CTH has covered the origin of food inflation since we first raised the alarms in the spring of 2020.  A confluence of events starting with the fracturing of the food supply chain (shutting down restaurants, hospitality venues, schools, cafeterias, etc), created the initial major problem.  Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sold at retail stores could not keep up with demand after 50% of the food supply system was shut down.

Within the U.S. retail food supply chain (350+ million people), manufacturing CPG products relies on a system of staying one to two harvest cycles ahead of demand.  However, when restaurants and fresh food venues were closed, very quickly frozen, bulk stored and siloed U.S. food storage systems, the storage needed for CPG products, were emptied.

Long after the time when all food distribution was reopened, the shortages of CPG products continued. You saw the result with empty shelves at the supermarket.  It takes a long time (years) for those inventories to refill.

We warned of this in 2020 and then followed the predictable outcome in 2021 and 2022.

When Joe Biden then shut down the U.S. energy production system in early 2021, the massive increases in energy costs -and the shortages of natural gas- became fuel on the inflationary fire of CPG goods.  Again, in October 2021 CTH noted that retail prices were going to rise quickly, and they did.

Throughout 2022 food prices have risen dramatically as the food distribution and processing system was now under pressure from all sides.  The shortage of inputs (to refill food storage and warehousing needs) combined with the much higher costs to generate those inputs -the direct result of the exploding energy costs- created massive inflation pressure.  The pricing result we are seeing now (third wave of food inflation) is exactly what we have stated, discussed and predicted for more than two years.

While all food costs are skyrocketing, the prices for manufactured or processed food are much higher than the price increases for fresh food.

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In a very odd and yet scant set of details, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked shortly after 2am by a hammer wielding suspect from Berkeley named David DePape (42).

DePape has been identified as a nudist/activist from the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. Speaker Pelosi was not home at the time; she was in Washington DC.

(San Francisco) – […] San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said Depape, 42, is now facing charges of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and several other additional felonies stemming from the incident after 2 a.m.

Scott said police responded to a wellbeing check and found Depape and Paul Pelosi, 82, struggling over a hammer. He said officers then witnessed Depape pull the hammer away from Pelosi and “violently assaulted” him.

Officers then immediately tackled Depape, disarmed him and took him into custody, while requesting emergency backup and rendering medical aid at the scene. The motive for the attack remains under investigation. (read more)

Police briefing below:

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Elon Musk officially took control of Twitter on Thursday evening.

Immediately after taking ownership, Mr. Musk fired Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ned Segal, and the Head of Legal Policy, Vijaya Gadde, the person who took responsibility for banning former President Donald Trump from the social media platform. According to The Washington Post, Sean Edgett, the company’s general counsel was also given the boot.

The CEO, CFO and top legal officers all immediately removed. Nice start. Immediately after the top brass cleaning, Musk Tweeted “the bird is freed.”

According to financial reports, the S&P 500 is exiting Twitter (TWTR) from its stock market index effective November 1st as Musk takes the company private and promises to open source the background code to the public.

While there are many people waiting to see exactly what the changes mean to the user engagement aspects of the intelligence community engaged platform, this is easily the biggest change in the public information space in many years.

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Will big tech and social media remove Joe Biden for violations of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation?  Considering his remarks today, they should.

Reading from a teleprompter loaded with lies about the economy, Joe Biden stunningly states that gas prices are lower today than when he took office. Further claiming that gasoline was $5/gal.  {Direct Rumble Link} Nothing about any of his economic claims is true.  WATCH (1 min):

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Allowing people to return to work after the pandemic lockdowns is not “creating jobs.”  And gasoline was not $5/gal when Joe Biden took office.

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President Donald J Trump has announced four key election week rallies, with more possible, as the race to the midterm election comes down the stretch.

The announced stops include Sioux City, Iowa (Thursday 11/3); Latrobe, Pennsylvania (Saturday 11/5); Miami, Florida (Sunday 11/6); and Dayton, Ohio on Monday November 07.  See Below:

(source)

The Sunday evening event in Miami, Florida, is happening as Democrat donors and party officials have all but given up on the state.  According to Politico:

[…] “Most worrisome for Democrats, national organizations and donors have all but abandoned their candidates — setting off fears that Florida is no longer viewed as competitive. That would have dire implications for the next presidential election.”

[…] “Translation: It’s over. And it’s going to be ugly.”

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The dissidents at Project Veritas have received leaked whistleblower information from the FBI highlighting a guidance document that puts “disinformation” into the category of an “election crime.” [Source Article Here]   According to the internal guidance, sharing “false or inaccurate information intended to mislead others” may lead the FBI to charge people with election crimes.

[WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oct. 27, 2022] Project Veritas published a newly leaked document today provided by an FBI whistleblower.

The document details how the Bureau will tackle what they consider to be “election crimes.”

It lists “misinformation” as a potential election crime, describing it as “false or misleading information spread mistakenly or unintentionally.”

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The topline of a third-quarter GDP at +2.6% looks good [DATA HERE]. However, a look into the numbers shows alarm.  The domestic U.S. economy, as measured by Main Street creating goods and services for domestic consumption, contracted in the third quarter.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculation is a valuation of all goods and services created within the economy, minus the value of goods and services imported.  However, even a cursory look under the topline number shows how the import/export dynamic creates the illusion of economic growth.

In the third quarter we exported hundreds of billions worth of energy products, including massive liquified natural gas (LNG) sales to Europe, and oil sales to the global market from the strategic petroleum reserve.  We also sold billions in weapons to Europe. Those sales are calculated as exports, lifting the GDP number (Table 1).  At the same time, imports of durable goods into the United States collapsed; meaning less was deducted from the GDP.  The net import/export impact on the GDP dynamic was +2.77% (Table 2).

Meaning the third-quarter import/export dynamic alone contributed 2.7% growth to the percentage of change for the prior period.  However, the total GDP only rose 2.6%, because the actual economic value created domestically got smaller.  We made less internally, sold less internally and consumers purchased less internally.

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By all outward appearances the acquisition of the Twitter social media platform by billionaire Elon Musk looks like it is going through.

According to bank filings and financial transfer documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal {link}, the process to finalize the purchase is taking place.  Meanwhile Mr. Musk used the platform to notify Twitter advertiser of his intent in the purchase {link}:

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The primary reason Katie Hobbs is refusing to debate has to be connected to her complete lack of qualifications and her transparent lack of articulate intelligence.  Having watched a few interviews with Hobbs, it’s obvious more visibility would only hurt her.

Conversely, the more voters see Mrs. Kari Lake the more they like her.  Mrs Lake is a very impressive and articulate candidate on policy and substance. Additionally, she believes her message and speaks directly to the concerns of Arizona voters.

A recent poll released today by Fox10 shows Mrs. Lake pulling ahead:

ARIZONA – […] With less than 2 weeks to go before the November election, Republican Kari Lake leads Democrat Katie Hobbs by 11 percentage points. Only about 2% of voters are undecided. Pollster Matt Towery believes that Hobbs’ reluctance to debate Lake may be a reason why the gap has widened in recent weeks. According to InsiderAdvantage, Lake is polling higher among older adults and Hispanics. (more)

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According to a released article in Time Magazine, Twitter employees have drafted a letter containing several ‘demands.’ In addition to demanding they are not fired, they demand assurances against discrimination for their political beliefs.

(TIME) […] TIME reviewed a draft of the open letter circulating among Twitter employees on Monday. “Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation,” said the draft of the letter, which has not yet been published. “A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users’ and customers’ trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.”

The letter demands that Musk commits to preserving Twitter’s current headcount if his takeover of the company goes through. It also demands he does not discriminate against employees based on their political beliefs and that he commits to “fair” severance policies and more communication about working conditions. “We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires,” the list of demands says. (read letter here)

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