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As workforces shrink and opting out becomes increasingly attractive, Global Growth implodes on both the production and consumption sides.A funny thing happened on the way to permanent global growth. Actually, three funny things happened. One is the cheap, easy-to-access materials that enabled a vast expansion of consumption have been pulled out of the ground and what's left will cost more going forward, meaning there will be less to squander on consumption.True Believers are confident that some Savior Technology will emerge and scale up globally to save us from any nasty reduction in consumption, but they overlook the inconvenient fact that...

@laurenboebert you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws. You don’t get to “thoughts and prayers” your way out of this. Look inward and change.

BEIJING — Surging Covid infections across mainland China make it harder for the government to achieve zero-Covid without reverting to a harsh lockdown, Macquarie’s Chief China Economist Larry Hu said. In the last few days, the daily case count has climbed to around or more than 28,000 — near levels seen in April during a stringent lockdown in Shanghai, according to CNBC calculations of Wind Information data. The figures showed the last time mainland China saw only a handful of daily infections was in June, shortly after Shanghai eased its restrictions. The latest Covid wave has hit the southern city...

Employees at the world's biggest Apple iPhone factory were beaten and detained in protests over pay amid anti-virus controls, according to witnesses and videos on social media Wednesday, as tensions mount over Chinese efforts to combat a renewed rise in infections. Videos that said they were filmed at the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou showed thousands of people in masks facing rows of police in white protective suits with plastic riot shields. Police kicked and hit a protester with clubs after he grabbed a metal pole that had been used to strike him. Frustration with restrictions in areas...

The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns on babies’ language and social skills are still “ongoing,” according to a report published on Wednesday. The report (pdf), published by the Institute of Health Visiting and charity alliance First 1001 Days Movement, includes a review of relevant reports, research, and national data, and the results of a new UK-wide survey taken between July and early September of 555 professionals and volunteers who work with babies and their families. According to the report, most of the professionals said the most significant ongoing impact of the pandemic on children is on their...

It's been nearly one month since Elon Musk entered Twitter's San Francisco headquarters carrying a sink, and he's apparently still discovering new areas of the seven-story, 480,000 square foot office space. On Tuesday night, Musk stumbled upon quite the find in a closet at Twitter HQ and, while it's not literal skeletons, the find does help explain part of what was wrong with the ideological homogeneity of Twitter's corporate culture that favored leftists and castigated conservatives for years. In a video posted to Twiter, Musk can be heard explaining "Here we are at the merch, and there's an entire closet...

Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo has suffered over UAH 70 billion ($1.9 bil-lion) in losses as a result of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during a Cabinet meeting on Nov. 22.70 repair crews, totaling over 1,000 workers, are currently working to restore the grids, the PM added. Widespread power outages across the country will continue as the work goes on, he noted.Read also: Total blackout unlikely in Ukraine, DTEK says Shmyhal also explained why some cities in Ukraine may get more outages than others.“To put it plainly, there are substations and power transmission...

Now that the Republicans have a slim majority in the House, they need to use all the powers available to them to slow down the Dems’ abuse of power and assault on the Constitution. This means both now and next term, no “bipartisanship,” no preemptive cringes to ward off media attacks, and no “negotiations,” over raising the debt ceiling, for example, that don’t get some substantive concessions for pruning back the Democrats’ fiscal excesses. Come January, the most obvious actions are House committee hearings and investigations. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, along with Jim Jordan (Ohio), James Comer (Ky), and other...

Two economists reported Tuesday in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that President Joe Biden is cutting Medicare benefits through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which cuts payments for prescription drugs for seniors. Casey B. Mulligan and Tomas J. Philipson wrote: President Biden has accused Republicans of scheming to cut Medicare. In fact it is his signature legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, that will lead to benefit cuts and premium increases for seniors. Medicare’s popular drug-coverage program is headed for a painful amputation. The private plans participating in Medicare’s prescription-drug program, known as Part D, currently draw on three sources of...

Following my previous article on U.S. natural gas production, I engaged in a Twitter discussion on the causes of the natural gas price surge over the past two years.What ensued was a discussion of the influences in the natural gas markets in recent years. Indeed, the comment above is correct that most of the demand increase in U.S. natural gas production in recent years has been in power generation, as power plants phased out coal.Over the past 20 years, natural gas devoted to power production has increased from 5.3 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2001 (24 % of production that...

A controversial new proposal to ban diesel-powered trucks in California has sparked a divisive debate among the trucking industry, the state and environmentalists. The California Air Resources Board has laid out an ambitious plan to eventually force all diesel truck fleets off the road, with varying timelines. This includes mandating that all new trucks operating around busy railways and ports be zero-emission vehicles by 2024; phasing out all diesel trucks from those areas by 2035; and eventually taking every diesel truck and bus fleet off California roads by 2045, where feasible. The proposed Advance Clean Fleets regulation first targets the...

Earlier today the Russian military shut down the Ukrainian electricity network. Previous attacks had limited the distribution capacity to some 50% of demand. Controlled blackouts over several hours per day allowed to give some electricity for a few hours to most parts of the country. The attack today created a much larger problem. Not only were distribution networks attacked but also so the elements that connect Ukraine's electricity production facilities to the distribution network. All four nuclear power stations of Ukraine with their 15 reactors are now in shutdown mode. Kiev along with most other cities of Ukraine no longer...

Elon Musk @elonmusk · 5m Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam? Yes 73.4% No 26.6% 127,807 votes · 23 hours left

JUST IN - Elon Musk makes a new poll to offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts -- if not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam

Be our guest—at the unemployment bureau. Restaurants are failing faster in the United Kingdom than they did during the economically devastating COVID-19 pandemic, leading experts to predict over a third of UK “hospitality businesses” will close by 2023. I guess inflation wasn’t transitory there either. The Guardian blamed a “‘toxic mix’ of surging energy costs, staff shortages and falling bookings” for the crisis, as restaurant closures rose 60% this past year. And it’s not just restaurants affected, according to Steve Bannon, who posted on GETTR that “50% of all British small business said they would in all likelihood close shop...

(Nov. 22, 2022) — On Sunday and Monday, for those following him on Twitter, Barack Obama’s purported older half-brother Malik caused quite a stir. On Sunday at one point, he tweeted a graphic of the cover of a book he published in 2020 titled, “Big Bad Brother from Kenya.” On the same day, however, he suggested he and Barack are not brothers. The tweet gained the attention of WheresObamasBirthCertificate.com founder Mike Volin, who pointed it out to CDR Charles F. Kerchner, Jr. In a responsive blog post, Kerchner featured not only the tweet, but also his related research into the...

I’ve been warning for days that the Club Q shooting may not be what it seems. Many on the left quickly jumped to the conclusion that this was a targeted attack on the LGBTQ committee — what they would call a “hate crime” — for which Republicans bore responsibility because of their opposition to the “Respect for Marriage Act” that would codify gay marriage in federal law.Well, it turns out that the shooter is a part of the LGBTQ community.According to court filings, the suspect is identified as “Mx. Anderson Aldrich,” identifies as non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns.In new court...

Some conservatives have raised questions about the impartiality of the newly appointed special council on former President Donald Trump’s case, Jack Smith, after it emerged that his wife donated to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and produced a film for former First Lady Michelle Obama. On Nov. 18 Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to be special counsel in two probes involving Trump.

Members of Germany’s national soccer team protested FIFA’s ban on players wearing LGBTQ armbands at the World Cup by covering their mouths when posing for a team photo. All players for Germany’s starting 11 posed for the team’s official photo before their opening match Wednesday against Japan by using their right hand to cover their mouth. The protest was in response to the international soccer governing body’s threat to impose sanctions on Germany and six other European nations if their players wore rainbow-printed armbands in support of LGBTQ rights during this year’s World Cup tournament. According to FIFA rules, players...

Republicans’ House majority in the next Congress climbed to 220 on Tuesday, when Republican Kevin Kiley defeated his Democratic opponent, Kermit Jones, in the tight race for California’s 3rd Congressional District. The Associated Press called the race for Kiley on Tuesday afternoon, two weeks after voters headed to the polls to cast their ballots in the eastern California district. Kiley, a California State Assembly member, won with 53 percent of the vote. Kiley’s win brings Republicans’ House majority to 220, while Democrats currently hold 212 seats. Three races are still uncalled by the AP: California’s 13th District, Alaska’s at-large district...