The paradigm shift to end the climate crisis can't come soon enough for many Americans.

July 28, 2022
By Ian Livingston

A new round of catastrophic flooding (click here) has struck the central United States, this time in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky, swamping communities and leaving an untold number of people missing or trapped — with at least three people dead.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) called the event “one of the worst, most devastating flooding events in Kentucky’s history” Thursday morning and said “we expect double digit deaths” at a news conference midday.

“I do believe it will end up being one of the most significant deadly floods that we have had in Kentucky in at least a very long time,” he said....

Moscow Mitch sincerely is the grim reaper.

Marc Fogel is another American that has to return home to his family. Leave the medical marijuana at home!

July 26, 2022
By Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler and Michael Conte

Fogel (click here) and his wife, Jane, (pictured above in 2017) were protected under diplomatic status until May 2021, the Russian Interior Ministry added. The US Embassy said it was aware of the case but provided no further comment

The family of an American sentenced to 14 years at a hard labor camp in Russia (click here) fears that he has been given what amounts to a "a death sentence" and is calling on the Biden administration to designate him as wrongfully detained, which would trigger formal diplomatic efforts to secure his release.

American citizen Marc Fogel worked for nearly a decade as a history teacher at the Anglo-American School in Moscow, where children of US diplomats were among his students.

"He is a very, very much beloved teacher, an award-winning teacher," one of his sisters, Anne Fogel, told CNN. "He is an incredibly enthusiastic person, has an amazing zest for life. And that has made him an outstanding teacher, and his students have loved him."

He was arrested 11 months ago at an airport in the Russian capital, where he was returning for the school year, after traveling into the country with cannabis....

I have to wonder how many Ukrainians Marc Fogel is meeting.

Americans need to recognize Russia as a rouge country. It is not a good place anymore for any American interest.

How the heck were these people recruited to Russia? Paul Whelan went to Russia for a wedding. He was arrested as a spy. It is all nonsense. Americans need to realize every one of them are prey to Russia's global gambit for power.

This isn't just the USA. This is only part of a global realignment for the future.

The reason there is a far more severe change in the economy globally is because the changes occurring is happening in a contracted time line. The contraction of the economy is due to transition in a very difficult time on a global scale.

Americans decided to find a better paying job at the onset of the pandemic while the world was not "normal." Those educational goals are still playing out.

But, there is a greater dynamic. Life before the generous funding from the USA Congress at the onset of the pandemic many Americans believed the Working Poor was their life for the rest of their lives. They found out there is a better way for them and their families. I don't care what the conservatives say about the monies for the pandemic they BELIEVE caused a so called inflation, it was very, very worth it when defined as quality of life for generations to come.

Additionally, the First World is finally taking responsibility for the climate crisis. Their economies are transitioning. It is interesting to realize how a stupid Russia in Moscow is opening wounds that serve the future the best. Putin thinks he is hurting the world, what he is doing is not disturbing so much as enlightening and pushing the global community in different decisions.

Just think about it a minute.

Germany is probably the most challenged of NATO when it comes to securing energy. There are now paradigm changes occurring that should have occurred two decades ago. There is power in money and it has held the world hostage to an economy that was killing the very planet we have as a home. That can't happen anymore.

The global community is preparing for the future and there absolutely is contraction of the old world to make room for the future. Our children and young people more than deserve that and NEED it to secure tomorrow for them and their children. There can no longer be the indulgence of the petroleum industry. Look, Saudi Arabia have changed everything in preparing for the future of a no carbon emission economy. The Saudis know that their wealth of oil is not the future. The rest of the world needs to see the future as the Saudis already do.

Get over this idea that bad economic news based in the old world is horrible when it is actually good news. 

July 28, 2022
By Jeff Cox

The U.S. economy (click here) contracted for the second straight quarter from April to June, hitting a widely accepted rule of thumb for a recession, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday.

Gross domestic product fell 0.9% at an annualized pace for the period, according to the advance estimate. That follows a 1.6% decline in the first quarter and was worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a gain of 0.3%.

Officially, the National Bureau of Economic Research declares recessions and expansions, and likely won’t make a judgment on the period in question for months if not longer.

But a second straight negative GDP reading meets a long-held basic view of recession, despite the unusual circumstances of the decline and regardless of what the NBER decides. GDP is the broadest measure of the economy and encompasses the total level of goods and services produced during the period....