Wheat is an essential grain harvest in the overall food chain.  Winter wheat is planted in October and harvested the following June and July, however, the U.S. crop this year is in a tenuous position because of severe drought in the plains.  Kansas represents about a quarter of the U.S. harvest and is currently suffering through an extended dry season.

Last week, “Kansas Governor Laura Kelly declared a drought emergency, warnings and watches for every county in Kansas on Thursday due to dry conditions causing high fire danger.” (link)

We need to keep an eye on this, and it would be wise to make proactive preparations now for the possibility of a severe shortage.  This potential is what has driven the price of wheat futures, and when combined with the issues in Europe’s largest wheat producer, Russia, there’s a very real possibility of a global shortage of wheat.

The early March warnings are beginning to become more important.  “The world has grown hugely dependent on Ukraine and Russia for their wheat, a crop used in everything from bread to couscous and noodles. The nations account for a quarter of global trade. They are also cheap suppliers, which makes their exports favorites for importers in the Middle East and North Africa, including in Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat buyer.” (link)

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Russia is reportedly now using hypersonic missiles to reach underground weapons storage bunkers in Western Ukraine {BBC Report}.

Additionally, as a result of a missile attack on the location of the Ukrainian 79th Airborne Assault Brigade in Nikolaev (aka Mykolaiv), at least 40 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.

Western media, including Fox News, continue claiming that innocent civilian populations are being intentionally targeted by the Russian military.  However, there is scant evidence to support the claim of civilians being intentionally targeted.  That narrative appears to be part of the unfortunate western media propaganda campaign to keep support for Ukraine in the headlines.  The currently confirmed facilities targeted by Russia all appear to be military targets.

Warning graphic image below of Mykolaiv aftermath:

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You might wonder what the ruling class thinks of how inflation is hitting middle America.   For insight into their perspective, Bloomberg News just published some suggestions for all the unwashed masses – as defined as those who don’t earn $300,000 per year.

The advice includes, shut up about the price of food, and eat lentils instead of meat. Quit bitching about gasoline prices, and just ride the bus, and the coup de grâce, “If you’re one of the many Americans who became a new pet owner during the pandemic, you might want to rethink those costly pet medical needs.”

Yeah, they said that.  Us pesky proles and our pets are just mucking up the planet for the rest of them.

[ Tweet Source Link – Article Link ]

The ‘inflation sucks, but that’s your issue, not ours’ article is authored by Teresa Ghilarducci.  According to her self-described bio, she “is the Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She’s the co-author of “Rescuing Retirement” and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.”

So, the think-tank economists who shape policy have a solution for all the complaining scrubs earning less than $300,000/yr who are now dealing with the inflation that leftist policy has created.  The elitist arrogance, in the “no one said this would be fun” approach, is quite remarkable.  However, it does show the snob-set no longer feel the need to filter their elitism.

The class gap has always existed, and whenever leftist policies are in place, that gap gets wider every second.

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Forty years ago, a rock band named Pink Floyd had a hit song, The Wall, describing the institutions of education as indoctrination machines generating thought controls.   In the era of the internet, the thought control mechanisms metastasized, but the intents of the gatekeepers remain the same.

In his weekly monologue, Neil Oliver frames new internet safety legislation in the U.K. around the issues of government-controlled speech, free thought and the recent examples of weaponized outcomes in the example of our COVID era.  [The transcript is HERE, and the internal citation he mentions from Alana Newhouse is HERE].  Oliver’s perspective is thoughtful.  WATCH:

[Transcript] – […] “Moving faster and faster, from the 1970s onwards, the online culture enabled the tiny, ideologically driven elite that created it to win and take all. The online safety bill now making its way through parliament feels a whole lot like yet another move from a playbook that is well worn by now – make us, the little folk, feel we’re in danger from something we cannot see, and promise to make us feel safe by assuming yet more control over our lives.

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CTH has encountered criticism for our position on information.  Perhaps it is important to step back and explain exactly why we should not be playing by rules established to control us while engaged in the battle of ideas.  First, my position:

…”There is no such thing as “disinformation” or “misinformation”.  There is only information you accept and information you do not accept.  You were not born with a requirement to believe everything you are told; rather, you were born with a brain that allows you to process the information you receive and make independent decisions.”… 

There are only two elements within the public discussion of information, truth and not truth.

In an era filled with “fact-checkers” and institutional guardians at the gates of Big Tech, let me explain exactly why it is important not to accept the speech rules of the guards.

When you accept the terms “disinformation”, “misinformation” or the newest lingo, “malinformation,” you are beginning to categorize truth and lies in various shades.  You are merging black and white, right and wrong, into various shades of grey.

When your mind works in the grey zone, you are, by direct and factual consequence, saying there is a problem.  You are correct; however, this is where people may make a mistake. That problem is supposed to be there.

It is not a solution to the problem to try and remove the grey simply because it takes too much work to separate the white pixels from the black ones.  You were born with a gift, the greatest gift a loving God could provide.  You were born with a brain and set of natural instincts that are tools to do this pixel separation, use them.

If you define the grey work as a problem you cannot solve on your own, you open the door for others to solve that problem for you.  You begin to abdicate the work, and that’s when trouble can enter.  The sliding scale of Pinocchios is one of the most familiar yet goofy outcomes.

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Why would we believe anything from them about Ukraine?

(New York Post) […] “There have been no consequences. Twitter and Facebook still censor information based on political bias, and Congress takes no action. Many of the letter signers continue to be used as “experts” by the media.” (read more)

When we wrote about the media effort in 2018 {Go Deep}, specifically the collusion between the intelligence and national security agencies of the United States government, I asked the question, “Do we really think such a catastrophic level of corrupted journalism could reconstitute into genuine reporting of fact-based information?”  The answer then, as now, is the same, NO.  Indeed, it has only gotten worse in the past four years.

For the past several days, I have been highlighting a simple question on social media about something missing in the Ukraine story.

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Joe Biden’s press secretary was questioned today about the Biden family’s well documented dealing with Russian Billionaires, Ukraine officials and Hunter Biden’s deals with China.

The specific question was asking how the White House handles the conflicts of interest when engaging with policy decisions over Russia, Ukraine and China.  White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki nervously attempted to avoid the questions, but her responses shouted guilt. WATCH:

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A report in the AP shows the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) trade alliance seems to remain strong despite western sanctions.  India admitted to purchasing 3 million barrels of Russian oil at a 20% discount rate this week.

There’s no mention of how the purchase will be transacted, what currency they would use; however, the top-line story of India refusing to follow western trade sanctions reflects the BRICS alliance is delivering economic results.

[Via AP] – […] NEW DELHI — The state-run Indian Oil Corp. bought 3 million barrels of crude oil from Russia earlier this week to secure its energy needs, resisting Western pressure to avoid such purchases, an Indian government official said Friday.

The official said India has not imposed sanctions against buying oil and will be looking to purchase more from Russia despite calls not to from the U.S. and other countries.

The United States, Britain and other western countries are urging India to avoid buying Russian oil and gas. Indian media reports said Russia was offering a discount on oil purchases of 20% below global benchmark prices.

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We could all see this coming.  The Ukraine-Russia conflict creates the opportunity for the Build Back Better initiatives to get triggered.  None of this is happening organically.  All of this is opportunism based on a series of dominos purposefully triggered.  Three government solutions to rising oil prices surface simultaneously in an effort to exploit the crisis they created.

Keep in mind, this economic roadmap was strategically outlined in the World Economic Forum “Build Back Better” initiative, and that was built upon the economic ‘climate change‘ opportunity that COVID-19 created.  The U.S. version of BBB was called the Green New Deal.

First, Biden proposes to trigger a useful “Climate Change Emergency” (LINK).  Second, the International Energy Agency proposes a “Ten Point Plan” to change energy use in the modern society (LINK).  Third, comes AOC and Bernie Sanders with the “Executive Action Agenda” (LINK).

All of this is the fundamental change represented by western government in the agenda of ‘building back better’.

(IEA) In the face of the emerging global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, practical actions by governments and citizens in advanced economies and beyond can achieve significant reductions in oil demand in a matter of months, reducing the risk of a major supply crunch, according to new analysis released by the International Energy Agency today.

These efforts would reduce the price pain being felt by consumers around the world, lessen the economic damage, shrink Russia’s hydrocarbon revenues, and help move oil demand towards a more sustainable pathway.

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Keep in mind the cunning geopolitical perspectives of Beijing’s dragon that wears the panda mask.  Recently a person attempted to dismiss the strength of China by saying they had not won a war in a thousand years, to which I replied, “tell that to U.S. workers in the rust belt.”

There are two geopolitical battle spaces in the modern era to gain superiority without kinetic warfare, economics and information; China’s arsenal in the former is massive, the U.S. strategy has been reduced to using big tech in the latter.  This is why western propaganda and censorship control over the Ukraine narrative is so important.  This statement from the White House is weak:

WHITE HOUSE – President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The conversation focused on Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. President Biden outlined the views of the United States and our Allies and partners on this crisis. President Biden detailed our efforts to prevent and then respond to the invasion, including by imposing costs on Russia. He described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians.

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