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The Myth Of U.S. Invincibility Has Now Been Completely Shattered

August 15, 2021August 15, 2021 by Michael

Nobody is going to respect the power of the U.S. military after this. We spent nearly 20 years and more than 2 trillion dollars fighting the war in Afghanistan. Much more importantly, 2,448 U.S. service members lost their lives and thousands more were seriously wounded. After so much heartbreaking sacrifice, the Taliban have won the war. It is inconceivable that the U.S. military could lose to a ragged collection of drug dealers and goat herders, but thanks to an appalling failure of leadership at the White House and in the Pentagon it has happened. Not only have we lost, but the Taliban is actually coming out of this conflict in better shape than ever before. Incredibly, the Taliban appears to be much stronger today than it was just prior to the U.S. invasion in 2001.

How could this happen? For almost two decades the U.S. military has been pounding on them, and you would think that all of that pounding should have completely wiped out the Taliban by now.

But instead, the Taliban has thrived.

Everyone expected the status quo to change once the Biden administration announced that U.S. troops were leaving, but nobody expected the Taliban to conquer the entire country in just a matter of weeks.

It would have been one thing if the Taliban had reconquered the country a year or two after we left. That would have been embarrassing, but not completely and totally humiliating.

At this point, the Taliban are kicking us in the rear on our way out the door. The Afghan army that we trained collapsed like a house of cards, and U.S. helicopters are racing to evacuate “thousands of U.S. diplomats” as the Taliban take full control of Kabul…

In a swift and stunning rout, Taliban fighters seized control of Afghanistan’s capital Sunday, completing their sweep of the besieged nation as the Afghan government collapsed after two decades of U.S. efforts to reshape the region as part of its “war on terror.”

Embattled President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul, and American troops scrambled to evacuate thousands of U.S. diplomats and Afghans from the U.S. Embassy.

On Sunday afternoon, the entire world was shocked by footage of Taliban fighters “lounging in chairs” inside the presidential palace…

Later, video put out by Al Jazeera appeared to show extraordinary images of armed Taliban fighters inside the Afghan presidential palace, lounging in chairs, strolling around with their guns and taking pictures of each other. The fighters give a tour to the Al Jazeera journalist, and at one point one rolls up an Afghan flag in the palace and puts it on a mantle piece.

They rolled into Kabul with no fear, because they know that the U.S. doesn’t have the will to fight anymore.

If someone else was in the White House, U.S. air power may have been used to bomb Taliban forces into oblivion and prevent them from conquering the capital.

But with Biden in power, nothing was done, and a Taliban commander that spent eight years in Guantanamo Bay gave a victory speech that the rest of the world will not soon forget…

A Taliban commander claimed he spent eight years in Guantanamo Bay in a triumphant speech from inside the Presidential Palace in Kabul as the militants declared an Islamic state of Afghanistan after the country’s president joined thousands of Afghan nationals in a mass exodus.

Taliban fighters stormed the ancient palace on Sunday and demanded a ‘peaceful transfer of power’ as the capital city descended into chaos, with US helicopters evacuating diplomats from the embassy in scenes echoing the 1975 Fall of Saigon which followed the Vietnam War.

The Biden administration is trying to insist that this is nothing like the fall of Saigon, but the truth is that it is exactly like the fall of Saigon.

In fact, iconic photographs taken 45 years apart that are eerily similar are going viral all over social media right now.

After watching what has just transpired, do you think Iran will fear us?

I think not.

And of course the Russians and the Chinese are almost certainly howling with laughter as they watch this drama play out.

We desperately needed to keep the illusion of U.S. military might alive, because the reality is that the U.S. military is now only a mere shadow of what it once was.

Traditional military men have been forced out of the service in large numbers, and they are being replaced by “woke” snowflakes that are far more interested in “social justice” than they are in fighting real wars. Needless to say, this transformation is being spearheaded by the White House and the brass at the Pentagon. When I look at the “men” that are running the Pentagon now, I feel like I am going to throw up in my mouth.

My father served in the U.S. military, and I was proud to be the son of an officer in the U.S. Navy.

But I am not proud of the U.S. military today.

Instead, I am deeply embarrassed by what it has become.

We have completely lost our way, and when it comes time to fight a major war we are going to get our rear ends handed to us.

And now thanks to the Taliban, the rest of the world has been shown how weak we really are.

Nearly 20 years ago we went into Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban, but now we are the ones that have been defeated…

“On Day One, we go in, and the Taliban is in charge. Twenty years later, the Taliban is back in charge,” said Jack Weinstein, a former Pentagon official and expert on international security.

“I don’t know how you couch that as a victory,” he said.

So where do we go from here?

There will come a time when the U.S. military is desperately needed, but at this point it is not ready for any sort of a large scale conflict.

The U.S. military should be the greatest fighting force on the entire planet, but instead our politicians have turned it into a giant social justice experiment.

Sadly, many Americans may not understand the importance of having a competent military until it is far too late.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book I have written five others that are available on Amazon.com including “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help. During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

2021 Is 1984 – Our Liberties And Freedoms Are Being Ripped Away From Us And America Is Almost Gone

August 11, 2021August 9, 2021 by Michael

If only George Orwell could see what we have become. Today I am writing this article in the midst of a deep state of sadness. I have to admit, I haven’t been this sad in a very long time. In fact, I don’t even know if I am going to be able to complete this article. What they are doing to this country that I love is really starting to get to me emotionally. America is supposed to be a beacon of liberty and freedom for the entire world, but now we are on the cutting edge of the global trend toward authoritarianism. I know that a lot of people have been leaving the United States in recent years in an attempt to escape the madness, but at this point we see authoritarianism on the rise just about everywhere. Just look at New Zealand. Just look at Australia. Just look at the Philippines. At one time people were fleeing to those countries, but now they have become some of the most authoritarian regimes of all.

I feel so frustrated because I feel like I have been banging my head against a brick wall. Over the past decade, I have written countless articles warning that we were losing our liberties and our freedoms, and very large numbers of people all over the globe read those articles.

But did they do any good?

Here are just a few examples of what I am talking about…

–“Thoughts On The ‘New Normal’ And The Things That We Are Losing As A Society…”

–“Without Freedom Of Speech, What Is Going To Happen To America?”

–“Less Government. More Freedom.”

–“The Police State Is Coming For ‘Religious Extremists’, ‘Evangelical Christians’, ‘Pro-Life’ Activists And ‘Libertarians'”

–“12 Signs That Americans Who Love Liberty And Freedom Should Watch Their Backs”

I warned that this day was coming, and now it is here.

For a while, they were content to whittle away our liberties and freedoms on the periphery, but now we are facing a full-fledged frontal assault on our most basic liberties and freedoms.

And what makes it even more frightening is the fact that millions of completely brain-washed Americans are cheering them on as they do it.

If our founders could see us today, they would be absolutely horrified at what we have become.

Because I am often so critical of what has happened to us, a lot of people out there assume that I must hate this country.

But of course that is not true at all. I deeply love America. I deeply love our history, I deeply love our traditions, and I deeply love the values that this nation is supposed to represent.

That is why it deeply grieves me that these things are now being ripped away from us.

We are the generation that is witnessing the end of America.

For whatever period of time the political entity known as “the United States” is allowed to continue, it won’t be “America” anymore.

Sure, the U.S. Constitution will still be on public display somewhere, and the politicians will still pay lip service to it. But for all practical purposes, the dream of what “America” was supposed to be will be dead.

Sometimes people say that we have too many complainers and not enough people taking action, but I am one of those people that did try to take action. I spent nearly an entire year of my life running for office, and me and my campaign manager traveled thousands upon thousands of miles so that we could personally talk to as many voters as possible. Everywhere I went I warned that unless emergency action was taken there wasn’t going to be a future for America. I begged, I pleaded, I delivered passionate speech after passionate speech, but in the end it wasn’t good enough.

Why can’t we have extremely passionate politicians that have fire in their bellies?

Just look at what happened today. My father was in the U.S. Navy, and so to see this happen literally made me sick.

So why aren’t liberty-loving members of Congress speaking up about this?

Rand Paul has chosen to make a bold stand.

Where in the world is everyone else?

I am so sick and tired of these “do nothing” politicians. They are standing aside as our Republic is literally being destroyed.

A lot of people out there still think that the changes that we are witnessing are just temporary. They think that eventually this pandemic will fade away and everything will return to “normal” somehow.

But what they don’t realize is that the elite will always find another excuse to move even further down the road toward authoritarianism.

Two decades ago, it was 9/11.

Then it was “the war on terror”, which has now evolved into “the war on domestic extremism”.

For the past couple of years, the pandemic has given them the cover that they needed to greatly accelerate their program.

In 2021, the federal government is working hand in hand with big corporations and the mainstream media to advance the “Big Brother” agenda. At this point things have gotten so bad that we can’t even criticize certain specific points of their agenda anymore because if we do we will immediately get censored.

For a long time, the Internet allowed ordinary citizens like you and me to communicate on a mass scale outside of their control.

But now those days are over, because they are clamping down really hard.

Just like in George Orwell’s novel, they want to control what we say, what we think, what we believe and what we feel.

Having an independent opinion is “dangerous”, and thinking for yourself is “dangerous”.

We have literally become a “1984 society”, and most Americans are just standing by and watching it happen.

And as I have been saying for years, if we stay on our current course there is no future for America.

Even Joe Rogan is using the word “dictatorship” to describe the direction that our country is headed.

Many are putting their heads in the sand and are assuming that our system will correct itself eventually.

But every single day, things are getting even worse.

If you love liberty, now is the time to stand up and say something. Time is rapidly running out, and authoritarianism is on the march.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

“It’s A Biblical Catastrophe” – Are The Cataclysmic Fires All Over The World A Preview Of What Is Coming?

August 8, 2021August 8, 2021 by Michael

Have you noticed that apocalyptic wildfires have been erupting all over the globe this summer? Of course every year there are wildfires, and that has been true all throughout human history. But what we are witnessing this year has truly been unprecedented. In just the past couple of weeks, we have seen historic fires in the United States, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Lebanon and Russia. Hundreds of colossal fires are currently raging around the planet as you read this article, and we are only about halfway through the summer at this point. Authorities are warning that more gigantic fires are surely coming during the second half, because much of North America and Europe is dry as a bone right now.

At this moment, nearly the entire state of California is either experiencing “extreme drought” or “exceptional drought”.

This has created ideal conditions for wildfires, and over the weekend the Dixie Fire actually became “the largest single wildfire in recorded state history”…

The Dixie Fire burning in two Northern California counties is now the largest single wildfire in recorded state history, exploding in size overnight as drought-stricken lands continue to fuel the flames.

We have witnessed some incredibly large fires in California in recent years, and so for the Dixie Fire to take the number one position is really saying something.

And it is still out of control. As I write this article, the fire is “less than a quarter contained”…

The Dixie Fire was less than a quarter contained after burning through more than 700 square miles in Northern California’s Butte, Plumas, Tehama and Lassen counties. At least 400 homes and other structures have been destroyed, Cal Fire said.

The fire was the largest among more than major 100 wildfires in 15 states. Those fires have burned more than 3,500 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

California desperately needs this drought to come to an end, because water levels just keep dropping lower and lower.

Earlier today, I was stunned to learn that a major power facility at Lake Oroville has had to be shut down because the water level there has fallen so low…

California shut down a major hydroelectric power plant at Lake Oroville as water levels fell near the minimum necessary to generate power, state water officials said.

It’s the first time the state has shut down the Hyatt Power Plant due to depleted water levels since the plant went into operation in 1967.

As bad as things are in California, it could be argued that conditions are even worse in Greece right now.

Absolutely enormous wildfires have been roaring through vast stretches of the country for the past six days, and this has created an unprecedented national emergency…

Raging wildfires have ripped through parts of Greece for six straight days, forcing thousands to flee as the blazes threatened entire towns and burned down homes, shops and vast areas of land in their path.

An unprecedented heatwave — Greece’s worst in three decades — sent temperatures soaring over the past week as firefighters worked tirelessly to extinguish the uncontrollable flames.

Record-breaking heat helped to set the stage for these historic fires. At one point last week, the ground temperature in downtown Athens actually reached 55 degrees Celsius…

Little had prepared any of us on the Athens-bound flight for the sight of the great fire-induced clouds that swept either side of the plane as it made its descent on Friday.

News of the extreme heat engulfing Greece had spread beyond its borders all week, packaged in increasingly desperate language. Temperatures were breaking records few had ever imagined. If Monday was bad, then Tuesday was worse. In some parts of the country, the mercury had hit 47C (117F), with thermal cameras on drones recording the ground temperature in downtown Athens at 55C.

If you would like to get a feel for how apocalyptic things have become in Greece, just check out this video.

The fires just continue to creep closer to the capital, and it is being reported that “ash is raining down” on downtown Athens…

“It’s been crazy over here. Between the extreme heat and the wildfires, it feels apocalyptic,” Eleni Myrivili, a friend recently appointed to the role of Athens’ first chief heat officer, wrote in an email on Thursday as the army was deployed to assist firefighters. “Ash is raining down on us here in Athens.”

For other areas of Greece, the devastation has been almost unimaginable.

In fact, one Greek politician used the term “biblical catastrophe” to describe the level of destruction in one particular municipality…

“It’s a biblical catastrophe. We’re talking about three-quarters of the municipality,” East Mani Deputy Mayor Drakoulakou told state broadcaster ERT, pleading for more water-dropping aircraft.

Prior to the fires in Greece, the enormous wildfires in Turkey were getting the most attention in Europe.

According to NASA, at one point more than 130 wildfires were raging simultaneously in that nation…

In the midst of a severe heatwave and following months of dry weather, Turkey is facing some of its worst wildfires in years. Over the past seven days, more than 130 wildfires have been reported across 30 Turkish provinces. Most of the fires have ignited along the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea coasts, several in resort areas around Antalya, Mugla, and Marmaris.

Elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, the scale of the wildfires in Russia has been truly breathtaking.

They aren’t being given a lot of attention by the corporate media in the western world, but so far the wildfires in Russia have burned more than 3.7 million acres in Siberia alone…

The extraordinary forest fires, which have already burned through 1.5m hectares (3.7m acres) of land in north-east Siberia have released choking smog across Russia’s Yakutia region, where officials have described this summer’s weather as the driest in the past 150 years. And that follows five years of hot summers, which have, according to villagers, turned the surrounding forests and fields into a tinderbox.

I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there.

These fires should be a huge wake up call for all of us, but most people will probably forget about them in a few days unless they live in one of the affected areas.

That is extremely unfortunate, because we need to be paying attention. Our planet is rapidly changing, and many believe that what we have witnessed so far is just a small preview of what is coming in the years ahead.

We have grown accustomed to using words like “apocalyptic”, “catastrophic” and “cataclysmic” on an almost daily basis.

If you doubt me, just go to Google News and do a search for those terms.

Historic disasters are happening in such rapid fire fashion that many of us have now become numb to them.

I have been warning that we would start to see an acceleration of events, and what we have witnessed so far is just the beginning.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

And So It Begins – 1000s Of Cattle Are Literally Dropping Dead From Starvation In Northern Mexico

August 4, 2021August 4, 2021 by Michael

A lot of people didn’t think that it would ever come to this. Many simply assumed that conditions would return to “normal” eventually and that everything would work out just fine somehow. But here in the middle of 2021, everything is definitely not fine. In fact, cows are literally dropping dead from starvation in northern Mexico in very large numbers. This isn’t the sort of thing that is supposed to happen in North America.

For years, I have been warning that Dust Bowl conditions would return to the Southwest. Just check my old books and my old articles. Now it has happened, and everyone is in shock.

For years, I have also been warning that global food supplies would get tighter and tighter. And even though they can see it happening, many out there are desperately hoping that I will be proven wrong somehow.

What we are witnessing south of the border right now should be a huge wake up call for all of us. The following comes from an article that was originally published by the Los Angeles Times entitled “In drought-plagued northern Mexico, tens of thousands of cows are starving to death”…

In the parched hills of southern Sonora, Marco Antonio Gutierrez paced around a clearing, counting the dead.

There were seven rotting carcasses — jutting ribs and shriveled hides — and two sun-bleached skulls. Nine cows, felled by heat and hunger.

“There’s nothing for them to eat,” said Gutierrez, a wide-brimmed hat shading his downcast eyes.

I fully understand that it is hard to believe that this is actually happening in our part of the world.

Sadly, Gutierrez hasn’t just lost nine cows.

The article goes on to explain that he has actually lost a total of 70 cows to starvation so far…

Gutierrez doesn’t use the phrase “climate change” to describe what’s happening, but he laments that every year seems drier and hotter than the last. In recent months, he has watched helplessly as 70 of his 100 cows have starved to death.

70 cows!

Of course the losses suffered by Gutierrez represent just a very small fraction of the overall tragedy.

At this point, the number of cattle in Sonora has dropped by nearly half a million over the past two years…

Two years of extreme drought have turned large stretches of northern Mexico into a boneyard. Between starvation and ranchers forced to prematurely sell or slaughter their livestock, officials say the number of cattle in Sonora has dropped from 1.1 million to about 635,000.

If you don’t think that this will affect us here in the United States, you are wrong.

Each year, the U.S. usually imports about 500 million pounds of beef from Mexico.

So get ready to pay much more for beef at the grocery store.

Sadly, NBC News is telling us that the drought in Mexico “looks set to worsen in coming weeks”…

A long-term drought that has hit two-thirds of Mexico looks set to worsen in coming weeks, with forecasts warning of high temperatures, crop damage and water supply shortages on the horizon, including in the populous capital.

Experts are sounding the alarm that parched crops could under-produce as temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104F) on Wednesday in some parts of northern Mexico, including key farming areas.

Meanwhile, we are dealing with a historic drought of our own in the western third of the nation.

At this moment, every square inch of California is in a state of drought, and that is a huge problem because it produces about a third of our vegetables and about two-thirds of our fruits and nuts.

Many other western and midwestern states are also deeply suffering, and this has created a rapidly growing agricultural crisis.

The USDA has released some new numbers that are absolutely staggering. You can find articles about these numbers here and here. But in order to write about these numbers, I had to verify them for myself, and so I went to the original document that these new USDA numbers come from. The following are exact quotes that come directly from that document…

-“Approximately 84 percent of barley production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 36 percent of corn production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 31 percent of soybean production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 86 percent of sunflower production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 99 percent of durum wheat production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 99 percent of spring wheat production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 30 percent of winter wheat production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 36 percent of hay acreage production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 64 percent of alfalfa acreage production is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 44 percent of the hog inventory is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 32 percent of the cattle inventory is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 48 percent of the milk cow inventory is within an area experiencing drought.”

-“Approximately 53 percent of the sheep inventory is within an area experiencing drought.”

We have never seen anything quite like this.

This may surprise some of you to hear, but I am actually at a loss for words. I have been warning that this would happen, but to see it actually play out is another thing altogether.

Initially, the number one way that this will affect you personally is through higher prices at the grocery store.

At the same time that our leaders are dramatically ramping up the money supply, agricultural production will be well below original projections.

This is a slow-motion train wreck of epic proportions, and it is happening right in front of our eyes.

And it isn’t just North America that is having a problem. All over the globe, crazy weather patterns are playing havoc with food production, and global food supplies are just getting tighter and tighter.

This isn’t going to end well, but most of you have already figured that out by now.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

3 New Polls Show That They Are Going To Need To Cart Out Much Bigger Doses Of “Hopium”

August 2, 2021August 2, 2021 by Michael

The mood of the nation has dramatically changed. Survey after survey has shown that Americans are much less optimistic than they were during the first half of 2021, and that could have enormous implications for the economy as we roll through the second half of this calendar year. When consumers are pessimistic about the future, they tend to hold on to their money more tightly, and they also tend to allocate money to different priorities. Earlier this year, so many pundits were telling us that a new golden era of prosperity was ahead because the worst of the pandemic was behind us and Joe Biden was now in the White House. But now the Delta variant is causing another wave of mass panic, and an increasing number of Americans are losing faith in the Biden administration. Needless to say, the honeymoon is over, and Americans are not pleased with what they see as they peer into a very bleak future.

Let me start by discussing the Gallup survey that just came out. In June, Americans overwhelmingly thought that the worst of the pandemic was in the past, but now the numbers have completely changed…

In a dramatic shift from last month, more Americans now say the coronavirus situation in the U.S. is getting worse (45%) rather than better (40%). In June, a record 89% said the situation was getting better, while only 3% said it was getting worse.

I can’t remember the last time I saw poll numbers move that much in such a short period of time.

The Gallup survey also found that a whopping 42 percent of all Americans anticipate that “societal disruptions related to COVID-19” will continue to be around beyond the beginning of the new year…

Americans now expect societal disruptions related to COVID-19 to persist at least through the end of the year, or longer. Whereas in June, nearly half of Americans expected COVID-related disruptions in society to last only a few more weeks or months, now just 17% believe they will end by then.

Instead, 41% expect the COVID-19 disruptions to persist through the end of the year, and 42% — up from 17% in June — believe they will stretch into 2022.

Joe Biden’s job approval rating is also shifting quite rapidly.

In fact, a different survey just found that Biden’s approval rating has dropped a total of 10 points since June…

President Biden and Congress’s job approval are taking a hit amid a resurgence of the coronavirus.

A Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey released Monday found Biden’s approval dropping to 52 percent. He may still be above water — only 43 percent of respondents disapprove of the job he’s doing in the Oval Office — but he’s down 10 points from where he was in June, when his approval was at 62 percent.

Without a doubt, this has not been a good summer for the Biden administration.

If Biden keeps fumbling the football over and over, it won’t be too long before his net approval rating turns negative.

A third survey that I wanted to mention recently found that the percentage of Americans that are “pessimistic about the direction of the country” has risen by 19 points since May 2nd…

As President Joe Biden completed 100 days in office, the country was optimistic about the coming year, but now, just after hitting the six-month mark, Americans’ optimism about the direction of the country has plummeted nearly 20 points, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.

A majority — 55% — of the public say they are pessimistic about the direction of the country, a marked change from the roughly one-third (36%) that said the same in an ABC News/Ipsos poll published May 2.

That is a 19 percent shift in just 3 months!

Have we ever seen a “direction of the country” poll move that much in three months?

I don’t know, but this certainly is not good news for the Democrats. When Americans are in a bad mood, they tend to gravitate toward the party that is currently out of power.

Of course one of the biggest reasons why Americans are in such a sour mood these days is all of the new restrictions that are currently being implemented around the nation.

For example, we just learned that Louisiana Governor Bel Edwards has decided to institute a statewide mask mandate…

Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards has temporarily reinstated Louisiana’s statewide mask mandate indoors for all people age five and older as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise across Louisiana, threatening the ability of Louisiana’s hospitals to deliver care during this fourth surge of COVID. Louisiana is currently in the worst surge of the COVID-19 pandemic so far in terms of case growth rate, percent positivity and hospitalizations.

In recent days, our corporate news outlets have been packed full of stories about the Delta variant. On Monday, the country was shocked by news that U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has tested positive even though he has been “fully vaccinated”…

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, even though he was fully vaccinated.

“I was just informed by the House physician I have tested positive for COVID-19 even after being vaccinated,” he said.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

And it turns out that lots of “fully vaccinated” people have been catching the virus lately…

Fourteen of 24 vaccinated friends who visited the Cape Cod town of Provincetown, Massachusetts, in July caught COVID-19, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

Millions of people raced out to get vaccines because they were promised immunity, but now the CDC is releasing new numbers that are deeply upsetting lots of Americans…

In a study released on Friday, the CDC tracked 469 cases among Massachusetts residents who visited the town.

They found that 74% of those were fully vaccinated. An overwhelming majority of the cases were caused by the Delta variant, the study reported.

Let us hope that the number of new cases starts to fade, because this latest wave of the pandemic is causing a tremendous amount of fear and panic right now.

And the more fear and panic that we see, the less optimistic Americans are going to be about the road ahead.

Of course even if this pandemic disappeared tomorrow, there would still be a great deal for Americans to be concerned about as we roll into the next stages of “the perfect storm”.

I know that most Americans just want life to “return to normal”, but the truth is that the past couple of years have changed the U.S. and nations all over the globe on a permanent basis.

The troubles of 2020 and 2021 should have brought us together, but instead they just keep tearing us apart.

Meanwhile, we continue to see national governments around the planet move in an authoritarian direction, and that is a deeply, deeply alarming trend.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

Paying Attention Yet? Here Are 10 Plagues That Our World Has Had To Deal With So Far This Summer…

July 26, 2021July 26, 2021 by Michael

This is a summer that none of us will ever forget. There has been one apocalyptic disaster after another, and we haven’t even reached the halfway point yet. At the same time that historic flooding has been absolutely devastating parts of Europe and China, unprecedented heat, drought and wildfires have been hitting portions of North and South America extremely hard. On top of all that, countless numbers of birds are suddenly dropping dead, hundreds of millions of sea creatures have been wiped out, the COVID pandemic is experiencing a major resurgence and we are starting to see famine break out in parts of Africa.

What’s next? Should we be expecting a plague of grasshoppers to be unleashed soon?

Actually, that has already happened, and I’ve included it in this article too.

The following are 10 plagues that our world has had to deal with so far this summer…

#1 Historic Flooding In Western Europe

Just 10 days after record flooding killed 37 people in western Europe, Belgium was hit by a flood that was so powerful that it literally picked up vehicles and carried them along like little toys…

In Dinant, within Belgium’s Walloon region, a two-hour thunderstorm turned streets into torrential rivers. Footage on social media showed cars and pavements being swept away by a powerful stream of rainwater.

“I have been living in Dinant for 57 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Richard Fournaux, the town’s former mayor, told the AP news agency.

#2 “Once-In-A-Thousand-Year” Flooding In China

Last week, more than a million people were forced from their homes by flooding in China that was so extreme that it is only supposed to happen one time in a thousand years…

Starting last Tuesday, storms dropped the equivalent of one year’s worth of water on the city in a 72 hour period before moving northward, flooding large swathes of Henan province in China. Authorities say the rains have displaced more than a million people and at least 63 people dead in what should have been – in theory – once-in-a-thousand-year floods.

#3 Countless Numbers Of Birds Are Dropping Dead

This is something that I have written about before. Thousands upon thousands of birds are suddenly dropping dead in the eastern half of the United States, and authorities still don’t understand why this is happening…

Thousands of cases of mysteriously ill songbirds have now been reported in at least 10 Eastern and Midwestern states. Scientists from federal and state agencies and wildlife health centers are collaborating diligently to determine the cause, and perhaps find a treatment for what has so far proved to be an untreatable malady.

Hopefully scientists will be able to figure out what is causing this, because once a bird catches the disease death can come very, very rapidly…

Death seems to descend quickly once birds start showing obvious neurological symptoms, says Evans. A neighbor brought him a sick crow and “literally within minutes, it had gone between being living and standing on the street and looking normal but acting confused, to a dead bird in a box.” Other accounts from wildlife centers tell of birds deteriorating and dying within 48 hours.

#4 A Billion Dead Sea Creatures

A few weeks ago, we witnessed the worst heatwave that the Northwest has ever experienced.

Personally, I know how bad that it was, because I was right in the middle of it.

CBS News Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli explained that there was only a “1/10,000+ chance” that a heatwave of this magnitude could happen in the region, and it ended up killing at least a billion sea creatures…

More than 1 billion marine animals along Canada’s Pacific coast are likely to have died from last week’s record heatwave, experts warn, highlighting the vulnerability of ecosystems unaccustomed to extreme temperatures.

The “heat dome” that settled over western Canada and the north-western US for five days pushed temperatures in communities along the coast to 40C (104F) – shattering longstanding records and offering little respite for days.

#5 Megadrought

The western half of the United States is in the midst of a multi-year “megadrought”, and 2021 has been the worst year of that “megadrought” so far by a very wide margin.

As I discussed the other day, about 20 percent of the West was considered to be experiencing “severe drought” at this time in 2020, but today that number is up to 80 percent.

In California, conditions have been so dry and water levels have gotten so low that the drinking water is literally starting to taste like dirt…

Something is off about Sacramento’s water. It smells and tastes a little “earthy,” residents are saying — an effect of compounding climate change crises: extreme heat, little to no precipitation and a historic drought that has gripped the region for the better part of a decade.

Up and down the state of California, rivers, streams and reservoirs are drying up. In Sacramento, that has led to an increase in the concentration of geosmin in its drinking water, one of two organic compounds that give soil its characteristic smell.

#6 A Plague Of Grasshoppers?

The extremely hot and extremely dry conditions in the western half of the country have created ideal conditions for grasshoppers to multiply.

Now millions of these voracious little creatures are gobbling up fields everywhere they go, and the National Weather Service is telling us that some of the grasshopper swarms are so massive that they are actually showing up on radar…

The National Weather Service (NWS) Glasgow says the radar is lighting up, but not with rain.

Instead, the radar is picking up “countless” grasshoppers in the area according to a post from the NWS.

The grasshoppers are flying as high as 10,000 feet above the ground and are being picked up by the radar the NWS said.

#7 Crop Losses

Severe drought in hitting agricultural production really hard in many parts of the globe right now.

I discussed what we are witnessing in the U.S. in this article, and down in Brazil authorities are openly warning that the crop losses this year are going to be “historic”…

“It is going to be a historic crop loss,” Daniele Siqueira from local consultancy Agrural told Agricensus.

The second Brazilian corn crop safrinha has been severely affected by dry and warm weather during key development stages, and crop conditions worsened further in some regions that were hit by frosts for three days in the end of June.

As a result, Agrural has lowered its estimates of Brazil’s safrinha output to 59.1 million mt in early-July, 22 million mt below the initial crop potential and the new frosts could mean these estimates are dampened even further.

#8 Gigantic Wildfires

Dozens of major wildfires are raging all across the West, and they just keep making headlines day after day this summer.

In the last 24 hours, two major wildfires that were totally out of control in northern California ended up merging, and this has created an absolutely giant inferno that is threatening thousands upon thousands of homes…

Thousands of homes in Northern California are under threat from two wildfires that recently merged, as dozens of other fires continue to burn across the western United States.

Officials say more than 10,000 homes are under threat, and evacuations have been ordered around Lake Almanor, a popular resort area, after California’s largest blaze, the Dixie Fire, merged over the weekend with the Fly Fire.

#9 Mammoth Dust Storms

For years, I have been warning that Dust Bowl conditions would return to the western half of the country, and now it has happened.

Some of the dust storms that are being created are so large they can actually be seen from space, and they can be extremely dangerous for those that are driving on our roads.

For example, eight people were just killed during a series of accidents that were caused by a colossal dust storm in Utah…

Eight people — four adults and four children under 15 — were killed in a multiple-vehicle crash near Kanosh on Sunday, as drivers were blinded by a sandstorm.

The Utah Highway Patrol reported Monday that 10 people were taken to local hospitals Sunday after the series of crashes, which involved 22 vehicles.

The dust stoms in China can be even worse.

In fact, the city of Dunhuang was just hit by a dust storm that was more than 300 feet tall…

A Chinese city is engulfed by a gigantic wall of sand hundreds of feet high in footage straight out of a disaster movie.

A video shows the city of Dunhuang vanishing between the more than 300 feet wall of sand that blew in from the Gobi Desert on Sunday.

The apocalyptic scene was filmed by a resident who shared the scary clip on Twitter.

#10 The Delta Variant

We were dealing with COVID at this time last year too, but now the pandemic is making a major resurgence thanks to the Delta variant.

Many people don’t realize this, but scientists are telling us that those that catch the Delta variant can have viral loads that are more than 1,000 times higher than those that had the original strain…

In a preprint posted 12 July, the researchers report that virus was first detectable in people with the Delta variant four days after exposure, compared with an average of six days among people with the original strain, suggesting that Delta replicates much faster. Individuals infected with Delta also had viral loads up to 1,260 times higher than those in people infected with the original strain.

The COVID pandemic and everything associated with it has already killed millions, and now authorities are threatening us with more lockdowns and more mandates.

And on top of everything else, studies continue to show that any “immunity” is very temporary. Here is another example that I came across just a little while ago…

Antibodies triggered by Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine decline below a key threshold from around six months after a second dose for most recipients, although a third shot could have a strong boosting effect, according to a lab study.

Chinese researchers reported the findings from a study of blood samples from healthy adults aged between 18-59 in a paper published on Sunday, which has not been peer reviewed.

This is quite a list, and we still have more than half of the summer still to go.

Before I end this article, there is one more thing that I wanted to mention. Famine is now erupting in parts of Africa, and things are particularly bad on the island of Madagascar…

The southern part of the island nation of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, is experiencing its worst drought in four decades, with the World Food Program (WFP) warning recently that 1.14 million people are food-insecure and 400,000 people are headed for famine. Hunger is already driving people to eat raw cactus, wild leaves and locusts, a food source of last resort. The WFP, which is on the ground helping with food distribution, describes scenes of unimaginable suffering, with families bartering everything they have—even cooking pots and spoons—for the paltry tomatoes, scrawny chickens and few bags of rice still available in the markets.

So why are so many apocalyptic events suddenly happening all over the globe?

Is it just a coincidence?

That is what some people think.

But I would suggest that it is time for all of us to start paying attention, because our world is being shaken like never before, and what we have experienced so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

For decades, we have grown accustomed to living our lives in an environment of great stability, but now everything is changing.

Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and nothing will ever be the same again.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

Elderly Americans Are Increasingly Being Targeted As Violent Crime Soars To Crazy Levels In Major U.S. Cities

July 25, 2021July 25, 2021 by Michael

Those that prey on elderly people just because they are easy targets should be deeply ashamed of themselves. Unfortunately, we live at a time when violent criminals are roaming the streets of our major cities in packs, and many of them seem to have no sense of honor at all. Women are being attacked, children are being attacked, and those that are advanced in age are often specifically targeted. Reading that may make your blood boil, but they don’t care what you think. Many of these criminals don’t have respect for anyone or anything, and a lot of them have hearts that are as cold as ice.

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. A 68-year-old man in Brooklyn was beaten to a pulp and had his skull stomped on just because his much younger attacker wanted to rob him…

A Brooklyn man has been seen pummeling a 68-year-old victim and stomping on his skull, before going through his pocket as he lay unconscious on the street in a shocking daylight, as the New York City crime wave continues.

In a disturbing video released by the New York Police Department, shows a black man wearing a hoodie and a blue disposable face mask launching the vicious attack at 9am on Saturday morning in the East New York neighborhood.

Even more disgusting is when a group of criminals decides to gang up and physically attack an elderly victim. Last week, a 61-year-old woman in Harlem was violently assaulted by one man and three women…

The incident occurred at about 8:18 p.m. local time on Tuesday in Harlem at the corner of 8th Avenue and West 151st Street, police said. The altercation began with a verbal disagreement that police said the group started with the 61-year-old woman as she was standing at the corner. The incident quickly escalated and became physical.

The group, composed of three women and one man, began kicking and punching the victim, who was tackled to the sidewalk by one of the attackers. The individual who fell to the ground with the victim, a woman seen in the video wearing a yellow T-shirt and light blue pants, continued striking her as the others beat her while standing.

When I was growing up, it was very rare for women to commit violent crimes.

But since then something has dramatically changed in our society, because now we often see gangs of crazed young women commit violent crimes collectively.

And sometimes the packs of violent criminals are so large that they can’t be accurately counted. On Friday, a 44-year-old off-duty New York City firefighter was viciously attacked by “at least 100 kids”…

The 44-year-old victim said he was strolling with his 3-year-old Labradoodle Dylan in Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village at around 9:55 p.m. Friday when he was suddenly targeted by the mob.

“There were at least 100 kids … I was walking my dog. They just picked me out and approached me,” the still-shaken victim, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Post Saturday afternoon.

Thankfully an ambulance was nearby, because otherwise he may not have survived that encounter…

The victim continued: “They didn’t care at all. The kids were going crazy. They were as high as a kite. I got hit, turned around, that’s when the kids started coming at me …. Then I was on the floor, holding one kid and an ambulance pulled up. They were waiting by the park … If they weren’t there I would have been in much worse condition.”

This is what our country has become.

Large packs of violent criminals are just randomly assaulting people in the streets.

The police are supposed to protect us, but way too often they are getting attacked too…

Aurora police said the officer was struck repeatedly in the head and body during the June 21 attack before he was strangled by a female passenger to the point where the officer lost the “ability to breathe.”

Following an investigation into the incident, the three suspects, Jennifer Taylor, 24, of Chicago; Sheba Taylor, 26, of Aurora; and Paul Sherrod, 28, of Aurora, were indicted by a grand jury last week and charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and aggravated assault, police said.

The numbers that are coming in from all over the nation are simply appalling.

In Philadelphia, the murder rate is up 35 percent so far this year, and at this point Philly has “the highest murder rate in the country per capita of the country’s 10 largest cities”…

As of Thursday, the number of homicide victims in Philadelphia this year is up to at least 314 people. That’s up 35% from this time last year.

Philadelphia now has the highest murder rate in the country per capita of the country’s 10 largest cities.

It was going to take a special effort to top Chicago, but Philly has done it.

Of course violence is surging everywhere. According to Zero Hedge, the number of mass shootings in this country so far this year is up by a total of 21 percent…

To date, the number of mass shootings in the U.S. is 21% higher than the same period in 2020 (Jan.1 – July 20), which is 30% higher than the previous high, according to nonprofit research group Gun Violence Archive (GVA).

GVA’s data so far shows the U.S. has recorded 375 mass shootings in 41 different states (and Washington D.C.) in the first 200 days of 2021. Putting that in perspective, the country had 310 by this date last year.

Most mass shootings barely make a blip in the news before the next one comes along.

We are now known around the globe for the blood that runs in our streets, and our leaders seem powerless to do anything about it.

Of course our problems extend well beyond violent criminals. As Business Insider recently noted, it seems like a significant portion of the general population is in a constant state of anger these days…

Violence on airplanes is spiking. Retail and fast-food workers say they’re being harassed and assaulted. And small business owners report experiencing frustrated customers whose patience has evaporated.

Have you noticed this too?

I definitely have.

This is one of the reasons why I just like to stay up in the mountains most of the time.

According to a psychiatrist from Harvard Medical School, the pressure that has been building up in our society is causing a lot of people to finally crack…

All of this behavior is the result of a year and a half of fear and anxiety, according to Luana Marques, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

“We’ve been skating thin ice in the past year, and if the weight [becomes] too much, the ice cracks. I think that’s what we’re seeing,” she said.

If things are this bad already, what is our society going to look like when economic conditions become extremely harsh for an extended period of time?

For a couple of months after Biden was inaugurated, most Americans were feeling pretty good about the future, but now that is changing in a major way.

In fact, ABC News discovered that the percentage of Americans that are feeling pessimistic about the direction of the country rose by nearly 20 points since their last poll…

A majority — 55% — of the public say they are pessimistic about the direction of the country, a marked change from the roughly one-third (36%) that said the same in an ABC News/Ipsos poll published May 2. In the early May survey, Americans were more optimistic than pessimistic by a 28-percentage point margin. Optimism is now under water by 10 points. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, fewer than half — 45% — now report feeling optimistic about the way things are going, a significant drop from about two-thirds (64%) in the May poll.

Of course the truth is that Americans should be feeling pessimistic, because things are only going to go downhill from here.

So if you think that the violence in our major cities is bad now, just wait, because much worse is coming.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

What Will This New Wave Of Lockdowns Do To The Global Economy?

July 20, 2021July 20, 2021 by Michael

For a few months a lot of people were convinced that humanity’s efforts to defeat COVID were being successful, and many believed that the pandemic would soon be behind us for good. But now the “Delta variant” is spreading like wildfire all over the globe, and this is prompting national governments around the world to institute a new wave of restrictions and lockdowns. Needless to say, the restrictions and lockdowns that we witnessed in 2020 were absolutely devastating for the global economy, and many areas of the planet remain economically depressed as a result. As the “Delta variant” continues to spread, will this new wave of restrictions and lockdowns push the world economy into another major downturn during the second half of 2021?

I am extremely concerned about how some national governments are choosing to respond to this new variant. In particular, I think that officials in Australia have gone completely nuts. Now that a third state has implemented new restrictions, more than half of the country is currently under lockdown…

More than half of Australia’s 25 million people were under lockdown on Tuesday after a third state adopted movement curbs to rein in the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.

Australia’s infections and deaths are well below other developed nations, but its use of lockdowns, prompted by a sluggish vaccination campaign, is putting pressure on the national government, with polls at their lowest in a year and just months before elections are due to be held.

Once upon a time, I used to recommend Australia as a potential relocation destination.

But I don’t think that I will ever be able to recommend Australia again after what we have witnessed during this pandemic.

Things have gotten really crazy in Japan as well. Because they are hosting the Olympics, officials have instituted extremely strict restrictions, and this is definitely rubbing a lot of people the wrong way.

Savannah Guthrie is in Japan right now, and she says that it is like “stepping back in time”…

“They have very strict protocols here,” Savannah said. “In a way it’s like stepping back in time. At least for those of us in (the United States), at the height of the pandemic, we remember the washing of the hands, the mask-wearing, all of that. It’s just like that here. It’s really locked down here in Tokyo.”

I don’t usually use the word “paranoia” very much, but in this case I believe that it is justified.

Those that are traveling to Japan for the Olympics are being forced to be tested for COVID over and over again…

Savannah said that the protocols began before she even left the United States. International visitors to Japan have to take two coronavirus tests before they get on a plane. The first has to be taken about 96 hours before travel, the second 72 hours before.

After landing in Tokyo, visitors have to test again at the airport, and then take a daily test for the first three days in the country.

But even with such dramatic restrictions, the “Delta variant” just continues to spread, and the head of the Tokyo games is openly admitting that he is “prepared to discuss a last-minute cancellation” of the Olympics…

As Games-linked Covid cases continue to rise in a city rising in indignation at the Olympics taking place, Tokyo 2020 chief Toshiro Muto said he was prepared to discuss a last-minute cancellation.

Isn’t that insane?

According to Muto, officials are watching the number of new cases in Japan very carefully…

“We can’t predict what will happen with the number of coronavirus cases. So we will continue discussions if there is a spike in cases.

“We have agreed that based on the coronavirus situation, we will convene five-party talks again.

“At this point, the coronavirus cases may rise or fall, so we will think about what we should do when the situation arises.”

Over in France, the implementation of new “health pass” rules is creating a giant uproar…

From July 21st, health passes are required to enter public cultural and leisure venues that welcome 50 people or more. This applies to venues such as theatres, cinemas, libraries, theme parks, concert halls, festivals, museums and monuments, and takes effect ahead of a wider extension of the health pass rules from August 1st.

From now on, those that have not been vaccinated will be relegated to second class status in France, but the truth is that “fully vaccinated” people are catching the “Delta variant” too.

In fact, a “fully vaccinated” White House official and a “fully vaccinated” aide to Nancy Pelosi both just tested positive for COVID.

The “Delta variant” is taking the U.S. by storm, and Los Angeles County has become one of the epicenters of this new outbreak…

Los Angeles County is now recording more than 10,000 coronavirus cases a week — a pace not seen since March — an alarming sign of the dangers the Delta variant poses to people who have not been vaccinated and heightening pressure on health officials to reverse the trend.

A Los Angeles Times data analysis found L.A. County was recording 101 weekly coronavirus cases for every 100,000 residents, up from 12 for the seven-day period that ended June 15. That means the county has surpassed the threshold to have “high” community transmission of the disease, the worst tier as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mask mandates are back, and that certainly will not help the California economy, but what many small business owners are deathly afraid of is another long-term lockdown…

“In general, nobody likes wearing masks – I don’t know anyone that cheers having to wear one – but if the choice is another 15 months of shutdown or wearing a mask inside, then I will be happy to wear a mask,” said Cache Bouren, owner of Haberdasher in San Jose.

“Facing the idea of another six to eight months without any real revenue coming [is] a very scary thing,” admitted Bouren, who is set to open up a new bar called Cash Only soon.

In 2020, countless small businesses in the United States shut their doors on a permanent basis, and countless others barely survived.

In fact, one recent survey found that approximately 20 percent of all the small businesses that actually survived “came frighteningly close” to shutting down for good…

One in five small business owners came frighteningly close to shuttering their business for good during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new survey polled 1,000 small business executives to analyze the impact the pandemic had on their businesses and how they’re planning to recover moving forward.

Three in four respondents agree the past year was the hardest they’ve ever had in business. Those challenges include dealing with decreased sales (46%), fewer customers (42%), and lower production (37%). Two in five small business executives had to take a pay cut to keep their companies afloat during COVID. Other areas bosses cut down on in 2020 include the cost of supplies (40%) and marketing budgets (37%).

We simply cannot afford another round of lockdowns here in the United States.

And the same thing is true for countries all over the globe that have previously experienced lockdowns.

But as the “Delta variant” continues to spread, it appears to be inevitable that more new lockdowns will continue to be rolled out.

Is this going to be the answer every time a new health crisis erupts? Because I believe that we have now entered an “era of pestilences”, and I also believe that the health threats that are ahead of us are going to be far worse than what we have already been through.

The world economy was just getting back to some semblance of “normalcy”, and now things are starting to get completely nuts again.

This pandemic is like a nightmare that never seems to end, and the way that officials have reacted all over the world has just made things even worse.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

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