As noted, AFPC’s study shows farmers are currently facing nitrogen costs 80% higher than last year. That’s as Anhydrous Ammonia prices reached 2008 levels in October at over 1,000 dollars per ton. And those prices have been steadily rising ever since. “You're talking fertilizer price that have gone up somewhere close to $200 an acre for this next year for some producers, and the revenue being generated is not offsetting that. And that's just the fertilizer industry,” says Edgington. “That’s not even talking about the chemistry industry or land values or equipment that people can't get....
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News Roundup 12/30/21
Covid Georgia will spend $100 million to hire medical staff and deploy 200 National Guard soldiers to medical facilities. [Link] Over 3,000 Navy reserve sailors missed the deadline to take the covid vaccination. [Link] US News Illinois bars the state employee pension fund from investing in Unilever - Ben and Jerry’s parent company. The decision was made because of a decision not to sell Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in West Bank settlements. [Link] The NDAA includes a provision that prevents Biden from closing Gitmo. [Link] Great Power Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirms US support...
News Roundup 12/28/2021
Covid The CDC says people who test positive for covid but do not have symptoms only need to quarantine for five days. The CDC then recommends five days of mask-wearing. The World Bank says nearly 100 million people fell into poverty during the covid pandemic. [Link] The State Department sends over 600,000 Pfizer covid vaccines to Nepal through Covax. [Link] US News Biden extended the student loan payment freeze to May 1, 2022. [Link] Las Vegas will pay over $500,000 to Jason Funke who was shot in the back by a police officer. The officer is still employed. [Link] Cedric Lofton was killed...
Salafis Throwing Bombs: How American and British Planners Partnered With Al-Qaeda Affiliated Groups At the Start of the Syrian Civil War
Introduction In the mainstream view, al-Qaeda did not play a role in the Syria conflict until Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dispatched his deputy, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, to Syria in August 2011 to establish a wing of the group there, called Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front. Additionally, al-Qaeda allegedly did not carry out any military operations until December 2011 and did not announce its establishment until January 2012. However, there is evidence that al-Qaeda affiliated militants were involved in the Syrian conflict much earlier. Saudi intelligence...
Lunatic With a Plan: Erdogan and Turkey’s Economic Woes
Since the first assault on Turkey’s finances in 2018, which I wrote about multiple times (here, here, and here), I’ve been the lone voice telling everyone that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a lunatic but he’s a lunatic with a plan. That plan is to de-dollarize the economy of a valuable member of NATO geostrategically. Since the first shots across the bow by the Trump administration at Erdogan’s toying with those powers east of the Bosporus (Russia, China and Iran) the Turkish lira has been the primary mode of attack against Erdogan. Erdogan has pursued what has been deemed unorthodox...
Is Bitcoin A Ponzi Scheme?
Stock analyst Lyn Alden argues it is not. The broadest definition of a Ponzi scheme refers to any system that must continually keep operating to remain functional, or that has frictional costs. Bitcoin doesn’t really meet this broader definition of a Ponzi scheme any more than the gold market, the global fiat banking system, or less liquid markets like fine art, fine wine, collectable cars, or beachfront property. In other words, if your definition of something is so broad that it includes every non-cashflow store of value, you need a better definition. More...
Who Killed Bond Yields?
Central Banks of course. "In lieu of common sense, however, the guilty will use a whole lot of those impressive sounding words to obfuscate instead of argument, while very much counting otherwise on the favorable rulings of the judge (politicians) who lets this charade go on and on because the judge also knows that if the truth ever got out they’d be right there in the defendant’s chair with the central bankers."...
‘Steal Of The Century’: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe
Independent journalist Robert Inkalesh has made a great new documentary about the annexation of the West Bank and the end of the mirage of the two-state solution. It includes interviews with Ahed Tamimi, Jana Jihad, Issa Amro and others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk8Cq2jXhYI
Will Israel Annex the West Bank?
On FPF #514, Will Porter returns to the show to talk about the status of Israeli annexation. The recent power-sharing agreement that created the Israeli government agreed that annexation could have started as early as July 1st. However, the day has come and gone with no annexation. Will looks at the possible annexation plans and when the plans could be enforced. Kyle and Will discuss the impact on Palestinians and American politics.
This Morning on Antiwar Radio: Mitchell Plitnick
On Netanyahu's victory over Gantz and the fate of the West Bank. 8:30 Pacific 90.7 FM in L.A. kpfk.org