📢 Forum Update - Hello everyone! I've made an improvement to the forum that should make following active discussions much easier. Beginning today, forum topics will display the most recent replies first (while keeping the original topic post at the top), so you no longer have to navigate through multiple pages to find the latest conversation. This change also helps improve the browsing experience in long-running discussions with many pages of replies. If you notice anything that doesn't seem to be working correctly or have any feedback, please let me know. — Richard G. If the economy is fine, why are so many signs of trouble erupting all around us? Those that keep insisting that the U.S. economy is heading in the right direction conveniently ignore the very troubling facts and figures that I regularly share with my readers. When you take an honest look at the cold, hard numbers that the economy keeps producing, there is only one logical conclusion. Our entire system is crumbling, and it appears that conditions will soon get significantly worse. Just look at what is happening to our banks. The FDIC’s most recent report tells us that there are 63 “problem banks” in the United States, and collectively our banks now have 517 billion dollars in unrealized losses… I would love to know what banks are on that list. Wouldn’t you? But the FDIC will not tell us. As Daisy Luther has accurately noted, the FDIC won’t release that information because they are afraid of bank runs… And the condition of our banks just continues to deteriorate because mountains of commercial real estate loans are going bad. At this point, it has become clear that we have never faced a commercial real estate crisis of this magnitude in our entire history… A lot of financial institutions will fail during the months and years that are ahead of us. Just hope that your money is not in one of them. Meanwhile, one recent survey discovered that approximately two-thirds of all small businesses in the United States are teetering on the brink of disaster… I think that it is quite an ominous sign that the household survey showed that the U.S. economy lost a whopping 408,000 jobs last month. Sadly, I think that a lot more months like that are coming. Retailers are also really struggling right now. In fact, as Mark B. Spiegel recently discussed, major retailer after major retailer has been reporting disappointing sales numbers… At one time, Walmart was an unstoppable retail behemoth. But now even Walmart is closing down stores… We really are in the early stages of a historic meltdown. Our leaders were able to keep the game going for years by pumping trillions upon trillions of dollars into the system. But they didn’t fix anything. Instead, they just delayed the inevitable. Since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks against civilians, groups like “Gays for Palestine” and “Queers for Palestine” have become a vocal and visible part of pro-Hamas rallies on American college campuses and in protests in the streets of American cities. And while these groups may passionately and enthusiastically yell anti-Semitic genocidal chats like “From the River to the Sea,” perhaps they should take a beat and really listen to what prominent Palestinian Islamic, political, and cultural figures really think about them. Palestinian Islamic Scholar Sheikh Yousef Abu Islam: Homosexuals Should Be Thrown Off Rooftops, Stoned To Death; Allah Will Punish Us Like Sodom If We Don’t Fight This Abomination – June 26, 2022 “Allah punished male and female adulterers [only] with flogging or stoning, but when He decided to punish homosexuals, He said that they should be thrown head first from the rooftop of the tallest building, and then they should be stoned from the top.” Lab-grown meat faces significant hurdles in the US as multiple states push for bans. Florida and Arizona recently prohibited its sale, and Iowa banned schools from purchasing it. Despite initial optimism after the US approved lab-grown meat in June 2023, federal lawmakers are also considering restrictions. International resistance is also growing, with Italy banning lab-grown meat and France considering similar measures. Proponents argue these products are crucial for global protein needs, while opponents stress the importance of natural foods. The future of lab-grown meat remains uncertain amid ongoing legal and political battles. According to a recent “cradle-to-gate life cycle” analysis, the lab-grown meat industry produces four to 25 times more CO2 than traditional animal husbandry. Cultured meats are ultra-processed and therefore likely to cause health problems similar to those caused by other ultra-processed products, such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, Type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, mental health problems and increased all-cause mortality. The starting ingredients in the new fermented synthetic biology products are cheap sugars derived from genetically engineered (“GE”) corn and soy. GE crops are grown in environmentally destructive monocultures that use loads of herbicides, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. As a result, they’re loaded with chemical residues. Once the target organisms in the ferment have consumed the nutrients they need, what’s left over is hazardous biowaste that must be deactivated and safely disposed of. The waste cannot be sent to a landfill or used for any other purpose. Lab-grown meats are not about your health or the environment; they’re a tool to phase out farmers and ranchers and replace them with an ultra-processed product controlled by patents. Lab-grown, or cultured, meat is being promoted as the wave of the future – the “green, sustainable” way to eat. No animal suffering, no greenhouse gas emissions, just meat-like protein that will taste like the burgers and steaks you’re used to. Too bad it’s all a lie. There are also unanswered questions about the potential carcinogenicity of cell-based meats. Most cultured or cell-based meats are created by growing animal cells in a solution of foetal bovine serum (“FBS”). ...some cell-based meat companies are using embryonic stem cells rather than immortalised cells. Others are using cells from living animals.20 Both of these strategies, however, destroy the argument that cultured meat is animal-free. Aside from the fact that this “green” alternative requires the slaughter of pregnant cows to drain the unborn foetus of its blood, to get the cell cultures to grow fast enough, several companies are using immortalised cells. As reported by The Fern,17 “Immortalised cells are a staple of medical research, but they are, technically speaking, pre-cancerous and can be, in some cases, fully cancerous.” https://expose-news.com/2024/06/08/lab-grown-meats-can-be-weaponised/ Approximately 10,000 jobs have reportedly been slashed at California fast food eateries after the minimum wage was hiked to $20. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) law to pay workers $20 an hour went into effect on April 1 and has apparently taken a devastating toll on the industry, Fox Business reported Wednesday. The California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) said nearly 10,000 jobs have been cut across fast food restaurants since Newsom signed California Assembly Bill 1228 into law last year. To highlight what it says are the unintended consequences of the law, CABIA has taken out an ad in Thursday’s statewide edition of USA Today with mock “obituaries” of popular fast food brands. CABIA’s ad highlights multiple restaurants that have had to raise prices and lay off workers to stay afloat and, in some cases, shut down stores. A California McDonald’s franchisee criticized Newsom’s minimum wage law in March, according to Breitbart News, saying the menu would be “unaffordable” if items on it were scaled to the updated wages. Meanwhile, another fast food franchisee in the state, Harsh Ghai, explained that he was rushing to install kiosks at his restaurants to save money as the $20 minimum wage took effect. “Ghai said he is trying to offset the raised wage by cutting employee hours, doing away with overtime, holding back on opening additional locations, and installing kiosks,” the article stated. Two US B-1 strategic bombers dropped live munitions on the Korean Peninsula in a show of force eyeing Pyongyang. Tensions in the region have ratcheted up during the Biden administration as the president has taken a hardline approach toward the DPRK. The American B-1Bs and two South Korean fighter jets dropped live GBU-38, 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMS) on test targets in South Korea. "This training showcases the incredible capabilities of our combined forces to simultaneously strike multiple targets in a contested environment," said Lt. Gen. David Iverson, US Force Korea deputy commander and Seventh Air Force commander. "The tremendous capabilities of ROK and US airpower is an overwhelming, asymmetric warfighting advantage for our combined force that adversaries cannot match." In addition to the live test bombing, the US and South Korean air forces conducted yet another round of joint war games. The Defense Department press release added that "US Marine Corps F-35Bs, US Air Force F-16s, and KC-135 Stratotankers, and [South Korean] F-35As and KF-16s for air-to-air training over the western region of South Korea." The provocative drills come as the relationship between US-backed Seoul and Pyongyang continues a long downward spiral. After former President Donald Trump’s negotiations with Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un failed, Biden adopted a far more aggressive policy towards North Korea, effectively rejecting diplomacy while carrying out a flurry of exercises with the South. The result has been a massive escalation of military activity on both sides of the DMZ. North Korea has conducted record numbers of weapons tests in recent years – including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICMBs) – while the US and South Korea engaged in historic war games. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-bombers-drop-live-munitions-threat-north-korea 
The Entire System Is Crumbling! Major Red Flags Are Popping Up For Banks, Small Businesses And Retailers:
Reality Check for ‘Queers for Palestine’ Delivered Directly From Palestinian Leaders-“Homosexuals Should Be Thrown Head First From The Rooftop Of The Tallest Building:”
Lab-grown meats are bad for our health, can be weaponised and are a tool to phase out farmers:
Report: 10,000 California Fast Food Jobs Cut Due to $20 Minimum Wage:
US Bombers Drop Live Munitions In Threat To North Korea:
