The business section of the Toronto Star has an appropriate albeit ominous headline for Canadians today:

“Brace for impact: Our supply chain is about to take a further hit, and we’ll all feel it“

The news couldn’t come at a worse time considering that Canada is feeling the biggest increase in food inflation in the past 30 years.  Yeah, for American’s it is a bad situation, but for those north of the border it’s even worse.

The truckers north of the border are planning a major protest to draw the attention of Canadian citizens who continue to keep their head buried. #TruckersForFreedom.   What they are trying to avoid, is soon to be unavoidable.

(MSM, CANADA) – In Canada, where as much as 90% of the country’s fruits and vegetables come from the US during the winter, a vaccine mandate for truckers is slowing down food shipments. Drivers who aren’t fully vaccinated against covid-19 have to quarantine for two weeks after entering Canada. Just about half of US truckers are vaccinated, according to industry estimates.

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The White House occupant created a diplomatic and geopolitical mess yesterday when he said Russia could take a little bit of Ukraine, but not too much.  Jen Psaki then tried to clean it up [LINK].

However, understandably President Zelenskyy and the Ukraine government were apoplectic: “We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power.”

Into this mess comes the least qualified person on the planet to cope with it, Kamala Harris.  When questioned this morning about the consequences of such a geopolitical blunder, Harris demanded the media pay attention to her statements not her boss.  WATCH:

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The U.S. Dept of Labor has released the unemployment claim data [DATA HERE], and the results show claims of 286,000 last week: an increase of 55,000 from prior week and the third consecutive week of increased claims.

As we have continued to point out from data, in part due to the vaccine mandate, and in part due to the underlying economic issues created by the Biden administration, the working class economy has bifurcated and cleaved.   The trendline is negative.

Ask yourself, where are these current claimants going to gain future jobs when the inflationary pressure is contracting consumer demand?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in three months as the fast-spreading omicron variant disrupted the job market.

Jobless claims rose for the third straight week — by 55,000 to 286,000, highest since mid-October, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, rose by 20,000 to 231,000, highest since late November.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the JoeBama Administration and Presidency.

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”

“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”

~ Mike Vanderboegh

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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Proctor and Gamble makes a variety of familiar products under various brand names.  As we noted last October, we were awaiting details on a predictable next wave of retail price increases for products in the chemical and household cleaner segment.

Today, P&G announced an average price increase to retailers of 8% on their laundry products (Tide, Gain, etc.) effective with the next fulfillment of supplier purchase orders.  On the liquid detergents, that’s an average increase well over $1 per bottle…. YIKES.

(VIA CNN Business) – It’s going to cost you more to wash your clothes. Procter & Gamble (PG) said Wednesday that it was raising prices by an average of about 8% on retail customers next month for its Tide and Gain laundry detergents, Downy fabric softener and Bounce dryer sheets.

[…] “Transportation and labor markets remain tight. Availability of materials remain stretched,” P&G CEO Jon Moeller said on an analyst call Wednesday. “In some categories and in some markets, inflationary pressures are broad-based with little sign of near-term relief.” P&G makes many of the most recognizable brands in US homes, such as Gillette, Charmin, Bounty, Pampers and Crest.

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Don’t be worried if your comments are in a holding pattern “awaiting approval”, it’s not you.

As you know for Treeper privacy purposes, at CTH we operate a proprietary commenting system and do not use any tech systems that can open us up to Big Tech instability vectors.

We are currently in a little bit of a battle with the internet mafia, related to our core position on commenting privacy and proprietary control.

It’s a long story that you will eventually hear about as we refuse to concede an inch on user privacy.

Bottom line, if you find your comment “awaiting approval” don’t worry, it will surface after a bit of a delay.

We, in combination with our Rebel Alliance members, are working on a parallel track for a solution short-term and long-term. The internet comment mafia will not win.   Our conversation, and user engagement, will always remain secure and private.

The majority of people in the U.K. have been very fortuitous in that their Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was caught in a scandal of partying with his cabinet while the COVID lockdowns were in place.

That weight of “party-gate” meant Johnson needed the support of the British people in order to remain in office. In order to get the support of the people, Johnson is now removing all government COVID restrictions upon them.

The COVID passports, mandated mask requirements – including in schools, and all of the government dictates surrounding COVID have been removed.

The British people are essentially free to live again.  WATCH:

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A shift to commonsense, or just a politically necessary move that coincidentally helps the British people?  You decide.

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The incoherent mess of jumbled marbles occupying the oval office told everyone today that it’s okay if Russia takes a little piece of Ukraine territory, but not too much – or else it’s curtains for Putin, or something.  WATCH:

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Forget Putin for a moment, imagine how Chairman Xi views this against the backdrop of Taiwan.

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When Joe Biden took to the microphones in October to announce, “a series of public and private commitments to move more goods faster, and strengthen the resiliency of our supply chains, by moving towards 24/7 operations at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach,” the supply chain objective was to increase the productivity of the ports.  However, data released for November [SEE HERE] and now December, show exactly the opposite.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited both ports recently.  Both ports, along with Oakland, also made the arriving ships remain further offshore than when the October announcement was made.  They are hiding the ships.

For some unknown reason the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) has delayed reporting of December; but the Port of Long Beach (POLB) just released their data {LINK}.  What the statistics show is that less cargo is being handled now, than it was when the 24/7 port operations announcement was made:

The purpose of telling the ships to await their port time in a queue farther offshore is transparent.  The Biden administration wants to give the illusion they eliminated the bottleneck of container ships.   Out of sight is out of mind.

Operation ‘Hide the Ships’ allows the administration to make claims about port efficiencies and increased productivity that are abjectly false.  The data from the two months after the announcement shows less container offloading and onloading happened in November and December than happened in the prior month of October when the new initiatives were announced.

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