USA - Power-grid operators across the US warn that power-generating capacity struggles to keep up with demand, a worrying sign ahead of summer where heatwaves could lead to rolling blackouts. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, operating in 15 states across the US Central region, said last month that capacity shortages this summer due to soaring summer demand might result in outages. Last Friday, California Independent System Operator, or California ISO, outlined energy shortfalls this summer because of heat and wildfires. Texas over the weekend saw triple-digit temperatures in some portions of the state, though grid stability was maintained despite several power plants being offline for maintenance.

UKRAINE - Food planting in Ukraine is down between 25-30 per cent as the country struggles to export already harvested produce. Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to cause havoc for the country’s vital agricultural sector, with crop sowing falling by 25-30 per cent thanks to the ongoing conflict. The war-torn country is also struggling to export crops that have already been harvested, an issue that has already prompted fears of famine across the world due to the nation traditionally being responsible for a major share of the world’s wheat trade. According to a report by Reuters, the country only managed to export around one million tons of grain in April, a small figure compared to the 4-5 million tons per month the country usually ships out. By contrast, 12 million tons of surplus grain remain in the country, with it now being feared that the stuck produce will leave no room in storage for when the next harvest comes.

USA - The Satanic Temple (TST) said its adherents should be permitted religious exceptions to perform religious abortion rituals in states that have put up barriers to the controversial procedure. Responding to a leaked Supreme Court opinion draft that would overturn Roe v Wade, TST said it was committed to protecting "religious abortion access" for its members. "In states that outlaw abortion but grant exceptions for instances of incest and rape," TST said in a statement, "members should be permitted a religious exception to perform TST’s religious abortion ritual." The religious organization introduced the "Satanic Abortion Ritual" to argue for a religious exception under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a 1993 federal law which made it illegal for states to interfere in anyone’s religion without demonstrating a compelling interest.

USA - It seems that 2020 marks the year the United States supposedly hit its lowest marriage rate in more than 100 years. Still, the popularity of reality television shows such as “Married at First Sight” and new research show that it’s not a lack of desire among adults to get married that is causing the slump, but a struggle among many to find the perfect partner. Furthermore, this struggle could put the nation at risk in the long run. New data show that a decline in the marriage rate goes hand in hand with a decrease in the fertility rate. Researchers are now warning that without appropriate interventions, a continuous slide in the nation’s fertility rate will lead to the aging and shrinking of the US population, a downfall in productivity, and instability in financing old-age programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

USA - Whenever there is some sort of a major crisis, our politicians normally attempt to solve it by spending money. But in this case, that isn’t going to work. Our leaders can try to throw billions or even trillions of dollars at the global food crisis, and they may even convince themselves that they are making a difference. However, the truth is that they simply cannot create food out of thin air. As I discussed last week, we are facing a worldwide nightmare of epic proportions. Fertilizer prices have spiked to absurd levels, extremely bizarre weather patterns are playing havoc with crop production all over the planet, and the war in Ukraine has caused a growing supply crunch that will not be resolved any time soon. There simply is no “magic wand” that our politicians can wave that will make this problem go away. Just a few years ago, a worldwide famine would have been unthinkable, but now we are on the precipice of a true global nightmare.

USA - Canola is a coined word. It appeared out of nowhere and is not listed in any but the most recent reference sources. The flip side of the canola coin reads: "rape"! You must admit that canola sounds better than rape. The name canola disguised the introduction of rape oil to America. Canola oil comes from the rape seed, which is part of the mustard family of plants. Rape is the most toxic of all food-oil plants. Like soy, rape is a weed. Insects will not eat it; it is deadly poisonous! The oil from the rape seed is a hundred times more toxic than soy oil. Canola is a semi-drying oil that is used as lubricant, fuel, soap and synthetic rubber base, and as an illuminant for the slick color pages you see in magazines. It is an industrial oil and does not belong in the body!

USA - Get woke, go broke. That is a painful lesson the Walt Disney Co is experiencing as its stock has dropped over 40% in the past year with a 26.2% drop over the past three months. That coincides with Disney’s decision to embrace transitioning children between five and nine-years-old in their fight with Florida lawmakers. Now we’re finding out that to make matters much worse, Disney has donated to a group that pollutes public and private schools with radical LGBT ideology, the Daily Caller reports. Time was when parents didn’t mind getting shaken down by absurd prices for tickets to “The Happiest Place on Earth,” paying $250 a night for postage stamp-sized hotel rooms at Disney resorts, and dropping $150 for a family of four to eat at one of their themed restaurants. After all, it was the whole “magical Disney experience.” Not anymore. Now parents have found out exactly what Disney does with the money parents scrimp and save to spend at the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

USA - Major technology firms have lost more than $1 trillion in combined market value over the past three trading sessions, as investors flee risky growth stocks in favor of safer consumer staples. Since the closing bell on Wednesday, following the Federal Reserve's rate hike announcement, tech stocks have been hardest hit, with Apple alone losing more than $220 billion in market value, according to a CNBC analysis. Though markets rebounded somewhat on Tuesday morning, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite has dropped 26 percent so far this year, and is trading at its lowest level since November 2020. Amid the selling, investors have been flocking to classic consumer staples companies such as Campbell Soup, General Mills and JM Smucker. Between Wednesday's closing bell and the end of trading on Monday, Tesla lost $199 billion in market cap, continuing its slide months after seeing its valuation fall below $1 trillion. Microsoft has lost around $189 billion in value, and Amazon's market capitalization has declined by $173 billion. Google-parent Alphabet has lost about $123 billion in market value over the three days, while Facebook parent Meta Platforms has lost $70 billion in value.

UK - The Bank of England (BoE) has warned shoppers that there are only a few months to go before paper bank notes will no longer be accepted in stores, including supermarkets. Anyone attempting to use paper £20 and £50 notes in stores after the September 30 deadline will have their transaction rejected. Polymer notes have now been introduced as they are more durable than paper and harder to counterfeit. The BoE has slowly been phasing out the paper notes, with the final round of notes being withdrawn from circulation in five months. Those still in possession of paper notes after September 30 will be able to exchange them for the polymer version at banks and post offices nationwide, reports The Daily Star.

UK - At Parliament yesterday, [the Queen's] officials, her parliamentarians and her judiciary were merrily tying themselves up in knots as they attempted to reproduce that greatest of constitutional rituals, the State Opening of Parliament, minus that crucial ingredient – the head of state. However, she had been very clear about one thing. In her absence, due to 'episodic mobility' issues, she had wanted the Prince of Wales to read her speech. And no one was minded to quibble with our longest-reigning monarch in her Jubilee year.

UK - [The Queen's] absence yesterday at the State Opening of Parliament — just a small and woefully inadequate side table bearing the crown in her place — was the graphic, painful realisation of a sad but inevitable truth: she is nearing the end of her great reign.

It is a moment we all knew would eventually come, yet somehow hoped it never would.This is irrational, of course. Her Majesty is 96 — how can she possibly be expected to continue with her official duties? The fact that she has only very recently scaled back is astonishing. Such has been her resilience, her determination — even after the death of her beloved husband — that at times it has seemed she might go on for ever. But no one can cheat time, not even a Queen.

USA - As reported on Friday, US intelligence helped Ukraine sink the Russian flagship, the Moskva, in the Black Sea. Then Biden insiders leaked the news to The New York Times and NBC News who gladly reported the news. But that was not all. The New York Times also reported that the US shared intelligence with Ukraine that led to the targeted killing of senior Russian military leaders. On Friday Joe Biden announced ANOTHER $150 million in military aid to Ukraine. The Biden regime has committed at least $4.5 billion to Ukraine since coming into office. On Friday, Democrat lawmaker Seth Moulton announced the US was already at war with Russia. Representative Seth Moulton (Democrat for Massachusetts): “I support it because it’s the right thing to do for Ukraine. I mean obviously, there’s a lot of politics involved and there will be domestic debates here at home about the policies and what not. But at the end of the day we've got to realize we’re at war. We’re not just at war to support the Ukrainians, we’re fundamentally at war, although it’s through proxy, with Russia. And it’s important that we win.

ISRAEL - "Chariots of Fire" is taking place one year after it was postponed and is set to last the entire month. As tensions boil over in the West Bank amid a string of deadly terrorist attacks in Israel, the IDF launched the largest exercise in its history on Sunday. Thousands of soldiers and reservists will take part in the drill, dubbed “Chariots of Fire,” including the air force, navy and regular and reserve forces. The four-week drill will simulate a multifront and multidimensional war against Israel’s enemies in the air, at sea, on land and on the cyber front. “There won’t be a unit that doesn’t take part in this drill,” IDF Spokesman Brigadier General Ran Kohav said. The goal of the drill is to improve the readiness of the entire military and examine the ability of troops to carry out a powerful and prolonged campaign against enemy forces. It will also reveal logistics and firepower issues that soldiers might face in a war. Hezbollah has an estimated arsenal of 130,000-150,000 missiles and rockets, the majority of which face Israel’s home front and strategic infrastructure.

GERMANY - ‘Millions’ could die because of the pandemic and the ongoing military action in Ukraine, Berlin's development minister believes. The world is about to face an acute food crisis due to skyrocketing food prices, German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Svenja Schulze told the Bild newspaper on Saturday, warning about a looming famine not seen since World War II. The minister has named the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine as its causes. “The situation is highly dramatic,” the minister told the German tabloid in a late Saturday interview, adding that, according to the UN World Food Program, “more than 300 million people” are already suffering from acute hunger and the UN has to “constantly revise” this data upwards. Food prices around the world have grown by a third and have reached “record levels,” Schulze has warned, adding that the “bitter message is that we are facing the worst famine since World War II,” which could see “millions” die.

USA - On top of everything else that is going wrong, shall we add a diesel fuel shortage and a nationwide electricity shortage to the equation? I never imagined that I would be writing about such things in the middle of 2022, but here we are. I will discuss the potential electricity shortage in a moment, but first I want people to understand how serious a widespread diesel shortage would be. Without diesel, our trains and trucks don’t run, and if they don’t run America’s supply chains completely and utterly collapse. So even a moderate shortage would be absolutely paralyzing for the US economy.