News

“Rare emergence of cicadas creating excitement among some dining circles, offering an opportunity to rethink…the eating of insects,” far-left outlet insists.

The left desperately wants you to eat the bugs.

Axios published an article Wednesday titled, “Cicada emergence creates some fine dining options,” claiming the rare emergence of cicada broods in the U.S. heartland this summer is “creating excitement in some dining circles.”

A rare emergence of cicadas is creating excitement among some dining circles, offering an opportunity to rethink entomophagy — the eating of insects. https://t.co/qKlMe1G9v6

— Axios (@axios) May 15, 2024

The article goes on to explain how the cicadas are generating buzz among leftists who are clamoring to feast on the insects.

Two regional broods of cicadas are emerging simultaneously for the first time in 221 years in parts of southern Iowa and central Illinois, an event that Ginny Mitchell, the program coordinator at Iowa State University’s Insect Zoo, plans to take advantage of.

“Mitchell, who eats bugs like ants or crickets regularly, plans to snack on cicadas for the first time this year and will collect them during a trip to Illinois next month. She’s considering air frying and making a special sauce for them,” Axios reported.

“The insects were recently dubbed the ‘noisy lobsters of the trees‘ by the New York Times. Chefs and foragers are collecting them for dishes like cicada-stuffed pasta or kimchi. They have a ‘mild woody flavor,’ per the Times.”

The left’s obsession with persuading people to eat bugs stems from the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset framework which argues that eating insects helps fight “climate change” and is a more sustainable alternative to red meat.

Bill Gates also pushes for humanity to shift to bug-eating

Users on social media, however, roundly mocked Axios’ bug-eating propaganda.

No. Please stop trying to make this a thing.

— often uncommon ? (@oftenuncommon) May 15, 2024

Never going to happen

— Goose (@gosling1212) May 15, 2024

Maybe as an appetizer before my porterhouse.

— Highbrow Haze (@HighbrowHaze) May 15, 2024

this is the future libs want

— Tony (@tbenz1221) May 15, 2024

Just stop!!

— Wendy Kortepeter (@WKortepeter) May 15, 2024

Isn’t this the 1st thing that crosses your mind when you see cicadas?
“Hmm, yummy eats!” ???

— Tracy (@NYTupelo7) May 15, 2024

Never gonna happen! Let Bill Gates eat bugs since he is so fond of them

— TryAndTakeIt (@TryandTakeIt) May 15, 2024

In typical gaslighting fashion, the media dismisses the globalists’ agenda to push eating insects as a “conspiracy theory” while simultaneously normalizing eating the bugs in articles like this Axios piece.

The Washington Post even called for the American people to start eating bugs in 2022 as a way to cope with skyrocketing prices brought on by inflation under Joe Biden.

“Consumers can already find foods like salted ants on Amazon and cricket powder protein bars in grocery stores!” the outlet noted.

Some major companies have also quietly added insects to their food products, such as “organic cricket flour.”

The WEF claimed bug-based diets are needed to control carbon emissions and to address exploding human population growth.

“The world’s population will reach 9.7 billion people by 2050. This means that despite only 4% of arable land remaining available on the surface of our planet an additional 2 billion more humans will have to be fed,” the WEF wrote in a 2021 article.

“In order to address this impending crisis, world experts and leaders will meet this autumn at the UN Food Summit and then the COP26. Often overlooked in these discussions is the potential role insects can play in helping meet this challenge.”

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Limousine liberal descends from ivory tower to voice expletives towards former president, MAGA fan base.

Actor Robert De Niro revealed he still suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome in a recent appearance on “The View,” uttering expletives to convey his deep hatred towards the current Republican presidential frontrunner.

Touching on his infamous “punch Trump in the face” remark from 2016, the 80-year-old actor was asked by the ABC daytime talk show’s left-leaning hosts if he had advice for Joe Biden’s campaign, considering he’s losing to Trump in five battleground states.

“I don’t understand why people are not taking him seriously,” De Niro said of Trump, “because you read about it historically in other countries that they didn’t take the people seriously. I think of Hitler and Mussolini. Fools and clowns… I mean, who does not think that this guy is going to do exactly what he says he’s going to do?”

“It’s going to happen,” De Niro continued. “If he gets elected, it’s going to change this country for everybody, and they might think that it’s going to make their life better, or they just want to, excuse my French, [muted] with the country.”

“Those people who support him with anger and hate, because that’s what he’s about, they’re going to see,” he added, going on to take issue with Trump’s tiff with Rosie O’Donnell.

“He’s vicious,” De Niro claimed. “Why will he not do that in this country? He’s already done it. Why would he not — when I say, ‘I want to punch him in the face,’ it’s because what he said to a person — a bystander, somebody in one of his rallies, he wants to punch him in the face. You don’t talk that way to people. What kind of person does that?”

De Niro’s next comments were heavily censored, but his deranged animosity toward Trump came through.

“It’s almost like he wants to do the worst that he could possibly do to show this country and to [bleep] with us. His slogan should be, [bleep] America. I want to [bleep] you, America,” De Niro said, as the show’s leftist audience erupted in applause.

Here’s the full segment:

The segment highlights how limousine liberals like De Niro prioritize keeping Trump out of office over addressing Americans’ suffering under Biden’s disastrous policies.

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Suspension comes in response to damning Congressional report concluding EcoHealth Alliance “used taxpayer dollars to facilitate gain-of-function research on coronaviruses in Wuhan at the WIV, contrary to previous public statements, including those by Dr. Anthony Fauci.”

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has formally commenced debarment proceedings against EcoHealth Alliance from receiving taxpayer-funded government grants over its role in facilitating gain-of-function research in China.

In its action referral memorandum published on Wednesday, HHS explained how EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) and its president Peter Daszak skirted government oversight and regulations to conduct risky gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) that led up to the release of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that became COVID-19.

“The information in the record establishes EHA did not adequately monitor WIV’s compliance, and, therefore, its own compliance, with the terms and conditions of its grant award,” wrote HHS Suspension and Debarment Official Henrietta Katrina Brisbon.

?BREAKING?

Today, based on evidence uncovered in @COVIDSelect‘s recent report, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services commenced formal debarment proceedings against EcoHealth Alliance.

EcoHealth will now face an immediate, government-wide suspension of taxpayer… pic.twitter.com/gLxg6R3Enw

— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) May 15, 2024

“Therefore, given the issues regarding the management of EHA’s grant awards and subawards, I have determined that the immediate suspension of EHA is necessary to protect the public interest.”

The HHS memorandum came in response to a damning report issued by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic earlier this month finding EcoHealth Alliance “used taxpayer dollars to facilitate gain-of-function research on coronaviruses in Wuhan at the WIV, contrary to previous public statements, including those by Dr. Anthony Fauci.”

The report, which was based on over “one million pages of documents” and testimony from “more than a dozen fact witnesses” also found “EcoHealth violated its grant terms and conditions by failing to report a potentially dangerous experiment conducted by the WIV.”

Additionally, the report concluded the National Institute of Health “may not have known about EcoHealth’s actions without proper intervention by former-President Donald Trump and former-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.”

Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) issued a statement Wednesday praising HHS’s move to suspend EcoHealth Alliance from government grants:

“EcoHealth Alliance and Dr. Peter Daszak should never again receive a single penny from the U.S. taxpayer. Only two weeks after the Select Subcommittee released an extensive report detailing EcoHealth’s wrongdoing and recommending the formal debarment of EcoHealth and its president, HHS has begun efforts to cut off all U.S. funding to this corrupt organization.

“EcoHealth facilitated gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China without proper oversight, willingly violated multiple requirements of its multimillion-dollar National Institutes of Health grant, and apparently made false statements to the NIH. These actions are wholly abhorrent, indefensible, and must be addressed with swift action. EcoHealth’s immediate funding suspension and future debarment is not only a victory for the U.S. taxpayer, but also for American national security and the safety of citizens worldwide.

“The Select Subcommittee’s investigation into EcoHealth and the origins of COVID-19 is far from over. Dr. Daszak and his team are still required to produce all outstanding documents and answer the Select Subcommittee’s questions, specifically related to Dr. Daszak’s potential dishonesty under oath. We will hold EcoHealth accountable for any waste, fraud, and abuse and are committed to uncovering any illegal activity, including lying to Congress, NIH, or the Inspector General.”

The nonprofit’s suspension also undermines former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci’s repeated testimony — under oath — that EcoHealth Alliance never facilitated gain-of-function research in Wuhan.

Fauci vs. Fauci: A compilation of countless lies and contradictions on gain-of-function, lab leak, masks, lockdowns, and vaccine side effects. pic.twitter.com/DVZXxeR5Ce

— Kevin Bass PhD MS (@kevinnbass) January 8, 2024

Rep. Wenstrup last week also called on the State Department to release all classified documents related to the origins of COVID-19 and claimed the Chinese Communist Party attempted to cover it up.

Notably, despite Daszak admitting in 2021 to helping China develop weaponized coronaviruses, the Biden administration awarded EcoHealth Alliance another $2.3 million in government grants for research on bat coronaviruses two years later.

John Kirby’s answer to the question of whether Biden thinks conducting Gain of Function research is prudent: “I think that’s a fancy way of saying yes”

pic.twitter.com/kNE9ExvlDJ

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 27, 2023

Read the HHS memo:

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Used car and truck prices have come significantly back down to earth since rocketing up between 2020 and 2022, but still have a long way to go to reach pre-2020 levels.

American car owners are facing a wall of bad debt to finance vehicles they can’t afford — especially pandemic buyers who took on huge loans to buy overpriced used vehicles that are now depreciating in value. With inflation running hot and poised to get even hotter if the Fed is forced to cut rates, it turns out that Americans can’t afford to insure those cars either. 

Used car and truck prices have come significantly back down to earth since rocketing up between 2020 and 2022, but still have a long way to go to reach pre-2020 levels. Meanwhile, the number of loans in default has risen (defined by being at least 90 days delinquent), and the average borrower is facing a loan balance of about $23,945 according to TransUnion.

CPI: Used Cars and Trucks in U.S. City Average

Source: St. Louis Fed

The potent cocktail of high interest rates and high inflation is making owning the car itself unaffordable — but it’s drastically driving up car insurance premiums as well:

Data Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Mainstream media and Keynesian economists love claiming that high prices cause inflation, but they have it backwards. Higher prices are primarily an effect of inflation because your purchasing power is being diluted.

While higher prices and inflation can become a vicious cycle where the former helps feed the latter once it gets going, the prices are higher to begin with because your dollar is buying less than it used to. That includes not just food, gas, and gold, but insurance for things you already own, like your car and your house. If the cost of repairing damage or replacing a totaled car is drastically higher than it was a year ago (or five years ago), insurers have to charge you more to compensate for that increase.

There’s also the problem of fewer mechanics in the labor market to service and repair vehicles. A shortage of qualified mechanics and technicians is worsened by the rising popularity of EVs that many mechanics aren’t properly trained or experienced enough to fix. Mechanic shops already struggling with higher prices are under pressure to offer higher wages to get (and retain) good help.

With even good old-fashioned gasoline cars now dependent on software to run, an increasing number of repair jobs have to be referred to dealers or require costly software troubleshooting, adding delays to the repair process. All those factors are conspiring right now to keep pushing car insurance premiums even higher.

When gas, repairs, insurance, and debt itself all become too expensive for Americans to own cars, it implies a dire economic scenario. The Fed is screwed if it raises interest rates, and it’s screwed if it doesn’t: It can hike rates to reign in inflation and bring prices back down (sending any indebted car owners with variable-rate loans into default, and making fixed-rate loans unaffordable for Americans with aging and breaking-down cars. Or, it can lower rates to encourage Americans to take on more debt and let inflation rip, sending the price of car insurance — and car ownership in general — further into the stratosphere.

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EMERGENCY FINANCIAL NEWS: Economist Warns The Collapse Has Already Begun – Will Be Worse Than The Great Depression

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Young wave of MAGA Republicans are quite bold

Missouri Republican secretary of state candidate Valentina Gomez is causing a stir online as her controversial videos shock leftists and receive praise from the MAGA crowd.

A recent video posted to social media shows Gomez jogging while wearing a bulletproof vest, telling the camera, “In America, you can be anything you want. So, don’t be weak and gay. Stay fucking hard.”

In another clip, Gomez said a lot of “Hamas people” were coming after her on social media.

Wearing an NRA hat and cocking a firearm outside her home, the secretary of state candidate told haters, “My address is public, so fuck around and find out.”

The fiery rant posted below is also being widely spread:

Gomez hopes to replace Republican Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who is now running for governor of the state.

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Our central bank has been developing digital currency for some time, hoping to eliminate our ability to keep our business to ourselves.

Prepare for total control of your economic life. That is the message from Brownstone Fellow Aaron Day at his 4-hour workshop in San Jose, California last Saturday, May 11th.

Day has written the excellent book The Final Countdown, which carefully describes the increasingly aggressive assaults on our freedoms by our government and by the global elites. He has just begun a series of workshops around the country to deliver that message and to show us a way to resist. The book was published just last year, but Day acknowledges during the presentation that he had to make alarming updates to his slides from current news, not even weeks old – more government intrusion, more legislation, and more spurious arrests, all attacking our ability to interact freely and transact our business.

As in the book, the presentation begins with a fictional account of a family set in the near future in a Western democracy, but perhaps all too familiar to current denizens of China, with their controlled currency and social credit scores. The image is easy to dismiss; it could never happen here. And yet, Day goes on to show how it actually is happening here. With a litany of article after article, official statement after statement, and video after video he makes his case. It is happening – he leaves no doubt.

Day gives ample historical reference points as well. How did we get here? It has been a long time coming. The constant push of globalist powers to remove our freedoms and control all resources has been in the works for a century. Perhaps it has never been different; the powerful seek more power, and the levers of technocracy make that easier than ever. The difference now is that the reach is truly global. There has been ever-increasing control over food, water, energy, and even the space we occupy and the air we breathe. 

The particular focus of the workshop is on CDBCs in America and throughout the West. Our central bank has been developing digital currency for some time, hoping to eliminate our ability to keep our business to ourselves. In this new world, all our actions can be easily monitored, tracked, and nudged into whatever direction the elites deem right or beneficial to their wealth and status. 

Within the two hours of historical facts, somber reflections, and sometimes horrifying news, the audience did not sit quietly and take the emotional beating. On the contrary, there was already much knowledge of these events, grunts of awareness, gasps of disbelief – we all knew it, but perhaps didn’t know it was this bad, with all the detail that Day presented. 

Digital currency is in the works, folks, and it is undoubtedly coming, sooner than we all think. One more emergency is all it could take for the government to say we are all doing this now. 

The audience was generally older, probably retired, or with a nest egg they were hoping to protect from debasement. A lively bunch, clearly committed to freedom, voiced their questions often in the quickly paced session. Each query exhibited a tacit but palpable urgency from the attentive crowd, who are all fully aware that what Day exposits is not some futuristic dystopian fantasy, but soon to be the new reality as he predicts.

The age of the audience is to be expected, perhaps: with time and money on their hands, they are probably more aware of the unfolding events with a perspective of history and have more wealth to lose. Indeed, many of the questions the audience asked centered around their ability to maintain their legacy when a CDBC replaces the dollar – how do I protect my assets when the currency falls and centralized control follows? 

But that is not the point, says Day. The point is not that our money is a store of value; the point is that it is a medium of exchange. It is not the inherent value of gold or crypto that is important, whether it goes up or goes down; its importance is its utility and its freedom from tracking by the State.  

Viewing the importance of money through this lens of freedom and impact on the future, we could easily see that those with truly the most to lose were largely not present at the workshop. The young adults – whose lives will be impacted the most gravely should the economic stranglehold ensue – will not make their financial decisions freely according to their own obligations, their own goals, and their own dreams. 

Every purchase will ultimately have to pass the test of the State’s agenda: did they use too much gas or too much water? Did they say something against the State? Will it be possible for them to attain the kind of comfort that their parents attained, out of the State’s watchful eye? If Day’s CDBC roadmap to economic tyranny is deployed, he clearly demonstrates what follows, and he proves it by citing recent events. 

The second part of the workshop focuses on what can possibly be done to counter this insidious march into economic slavery. Unfortunately, as Day describes, it is not possible to simply pack up and move out. Even with ample wealth and mobility, escape is not possible. Day recounts the stories of several colleagues who tried a different way – many of them arrested for saying too much and being too influential. Live in a different country? Doesn’t matter. We’ll call our people there and have you picked up. 

No, the only true way to beat this movement into CDBC tyranny is to stand in the light and refuse to participate. Use other methods to transact your business wherever you can and get others to do likewise. See which businesses will accept payment in crypto, and get yourself a wallet. Giving the waiter a tip? Give her a Goldback. 

As Day also makes clear, no one such solution will work; we have to use them all, as the effort to undermine the options is well underway. You may have heard that the largest threat to the dollar, Bitcoin, has been subverted into a system to be controlled by insiders, who are ultimately influenced by the State. Roger Ver’s recent book, Hijacking Bitcoin, tells this story. Tellingly, Ver, a citizen of St. Kitts since 2014, was arrested in Spain at the behest of the US just weeks ago.

Day explains that this is the point of using every way possible to sidestep the use of the dollar. If one method gets too big it becomes compromised by attacks of the State. 

The other important takeaway from the workshop is the idea of self-custody. Any crypto account you keep, or any asset anywhere, should be kept under your own custody, where only you have the keys. This is not possible with many cryptocurrencies by their construction, and not possible if you leave custody with a bank. It’s a lot harder for the State to go after millions of anonymous accounts than to go after one central repository that has the keys. Day notes which cryptos do and don’t allow self-custody. If you trade crypto through a large exchange, they too will most likely keep the keys.

I have only touched on the depth and breadth of Aaron Day’s workshop. It is well worth the time to understand the evil before us and practical ways to combat it. We will all need to work together to keep our financial freedom. Get in touch with Aaron via email and ask him to visit your city and present his workshop, or sign up to receive information through his website. Share those valuable lessons with your family and friends, and pay particular attention to the youth. It is their world being taken from them before they even get the chance to call it their own.   

Every attendee walked out of the workshop empowered with practical tools for resisting the move to CBDC. We each had a crypto wallet set up on our phone, to which one of Aaron’s sponsors donated $5 in self-custody crypto. We also left with a New Hampshire Goldback, currently worth $5, and a Citizens for Sound Money 1/5 oz round of silver worth about $5. As Aaron explained, there is growing acceptance of these forms of payment everywhere. Goldbacks can be used in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and South Dakota. The workshop also included a signed copy of Aaron’s book.

On my drive back home after the workshop I met some friends at a local pub. I tried out my newfound power as I attempted to buy a beer with the Goldback, going through all the waiters all the way up to the owner. He looked the gold foil leaf up and down examining the obvious care and purpose in its making. He scowled. “I don’t think so,” he said. 

We have a ways to go in California. I for one will keep trying, and encourage all to join me in the pursuit of economic freedom.

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EMERGENCY FINANCIAL NEWS: Economist Warns The Collapse Has Already Begun – Will Be Worse Than The Great Depression

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