Society's ChildS


Beer

Former Anheuser-Busch exec: Bill Gates' foundation trust making Bud Light bet is a 'mistake'

Madeline Coggins
Fox News
Thu, 07 Sep 2023 18:16 UTC
bud light bill gates Anson Frericks Anheuser-Busch
© Fox News/FoxBusinessFormer Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks says billionaire Bill Gates is "making a mistake" with recent investment into the beer maker.
Microsoft co-founder's foundation trust purchased 1.7 million shares of Anheuser-Busch last quarter

Despite Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch's recent struggles, billionaire investor Bill Gates has poured nearly $100 million into the beer maker.

A former executive of the brand warned simply, it is a "mistake."

"Bill Gates is definitely making a mistake," former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks said. "Earlier this year, he already made a $900 million mistake when he invested into one of Anheuser-Busch's largest rivals, Heineken. He did that earlier this year. And since that investment, Heineken's down about 10%, whereas the broader markets are up 10%."

"So if I was looking for advice on investing to software companies, tech companies, I might go to Bill Gates. But if you're looking at the beer industry, he doesn't have a great track record of investing in winners at this point," he added while on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Wednesday.

Comment: A-B could have gone for a much better fit:

Anheuser-Busch family heir offers to buy back company from current owners: 'Make that brand great again'

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Cardboard Box

Birmingham residents warned 'all bets are off' on cuts as city council effectively bankrupt

Joe Middleton
Independent
Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00 UTC
Street Birm
© UnknownStreet in bankrupt Birmingham
Birmingham residents have been warned "all bets are off" on what services could be cut after the city council declared itself effectively bankrupt.

The Labour-run council might have to shut libraries, lessen the frequency of bin collections or raise council tax after it issued a section 114 notice - meaning it cannot meet its financial liabilities.

The council has blamed £760m of equal pay claims, the expenses of a new IT system, and years of funding cuts by successive Tory governments for its financial woes. It has an in-year financial gap in its budget of £87m.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said:
"Birmingham City Council has issued a 114 notice as part of the plans to meet the council's financial liabilities relating to equal pay claims and an in-year financial gap within its budget which currently stands in the region of £87m.

"In June, the council announced it had a potential liability relating to equal pay claims in the region of £650m to £760m, with an ongoing liability accruing at a rate of £5m to £14m per month. The council is still in a position where it must fund the equal pay liability that has accrued to date (in the region of £650m to £760m), but it does not have the resources to do so."
A section 114 notice means that Birmingham City Council, which is the largest authority in the UK and Europe, will stop all new spending, with the exception of protecting vulnerable people and statutory services.
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Control Panel

Energy Bill authorises 'reasonable force' to install smart meters that allow authorities to turn customers' energy off and on

David Craig
The Daily Sceptic
Thu, 07 Sep 2023 11:29 UTC
meter
© unknownSmart Meter
You probably know that a massive Energy Bill is being rushed through Parliament by our fake 'Conservative' Government in the first two days of our parliamentarians' return from their generous summer break. The Bill is 446 pages long and written in dense, largely-incomprehensible-to-any-normal-person legalise. Moreover, many clauses in the Energy Bill make reference to other pieces of previous legislation. So, to fully understand the Bill, you would have to read at least a thousand pages of dense legalistic gobbledegook. Given that our MPs have just passed the Bill with a mere nine voting against it, one must assume that they have spent their summer holidays diligently reading through the Bill and other relevant legislation in order to fully understand what they were voting for.

Here's the full title of the Bill:
'A Bill to make provision about energy production and security and the regulation of the energy market, including provision about the licensing of carbon dioxide transport and storage; about commercial arrangements for industrial carbon capture and storage and for hydrogen production; about new technology, including low-carbon heat schemes and hydrogen grid trials; about the Independent System Operator and Planner; about gas and electricity industry codes; about heat networks; about energy smart appliances and load control; about the energy performance of premises; about the resilience of the core fuel sector; about offshore energy production, including environmental protection, licensing and decommissioning; about the civil nuclear sector, including the Civil Nuclear Constabulary; and for connected purposes'
As you'll see, this legislative monster covers an awful lot of areas - energy production, regulation of the energy market, CO2 transport and storage, carbon capture, hydrogen production, low-carbon heat schemes, hydrogen grid trials, heat networks, smart appliances, load control, energy performance of industrial and residential premises, offshore energy production and the civil nuclear sector. We must be considered fortunate in Britain to have MPs who have such a strong work ethic and such a deep understanding of all these disparate issues to be able to vote for the new Energy Bill knowing exactly what they are voting for.

Comment: The trend to write and not read bills before passage has become a default policy in numerous countries. Regulatory issues provide no time margin for discussion or revision, regardless how unfair or cost-prohibitive to the public.

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Bad Guys

Global anti-doping agency accused of 'blackmailing' Olympic host - AFP


RT
Thu, 07 Sep 2023 15:30 UTC
Olympic rings in front of Paris City Hall
© Mustafa Yalcin / Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesFILE PHOTO: The Olympic rings in front of Paris City Hall
Anti-doping authorities in France have lashed out at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over a letter in which the organization accused them of leniency and threatened them with punitive action ahead of the Olympics in Paris next year, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

On Tuesday, the news agency revealed details of a brewing conflict between the Montreal-based global doping watchdog and the French body tasked with keeping sports clean in the country.

In late July, WADA wrote to the AFLD, the French anti-doping agency, listing three cases in which it claimed decisions had been inconsistent with international standards. It told the French watchdog to "change its behavior in the future" or face non-compliance procedures, AFP reported.

WADA has the authority to decertify national anti-doping agencies, jeopardizing the ability of a country's athletes to enter international competitions.
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Cardboard Box

We're living in a neofeudal bubble

Charles Hugh Smith
oftwominds.org
Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00 UTC
serfdom sucks
If you want to understand the neofeudal reality, study these charts.

If you listen to conventional economists, everything's rosy: thanks to the expansion of alt-energy like wind and solar, energy is getting cheaper, batteries will power the new global economy, we're getting smarter -- just look at the rising number of advanced college degrees, wages are finally growing, inflation is trending down, household balance sheets and corporate profits are strong, debt loads are not an issue yet and GDP is rising.

All this happy news is backed by statistics, of course, but there's one little problem: all the conventional cheerleaders are living in a bubble of like-minded elites who are insulated from the neofeudal realities of life in the real world.

Outside the bubble of wealthy, protected elites that generate the statistics and the "news," the global economy is completely, totally neofeudal -- and so is the American economy. What does neofeudal mean? It refers to a two-tiered socio-economic system in which an aristocracy owns the vast majority of the wealth and collects the lion's share of the income, and uses this financial dominance to buy political and narrative dominance.

In a neofeudal arrangement, the machinery of governance protects and enforces elite dominance. Cartels and monopolies have free rein to price-fix and exploit, tax revenues flow freely to cartels, elite organizations such as family trusts get tax breaks, and so on.

In other words, "the market" is rigged and the government maintains the status quo.
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Cowboy Hat

Russia finalizing second gas pipeline route to China


PressTV
Wed, 06 Sep 2023 19:10 UTC
Alexander Novak
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak
Russian authorities say a decision on the route planned for the country's second gas pipeline to China, known as Power of Siberia-2, is at the final stage.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in comments published on Wednesday that Power of Siberia-2, which will carry natural gas from areas in western Siberia to China, will traverse Mongolia after passing through regions south of Lake Baikal in Russia's Buryatia.

In an article for Russia's energy ministry's in-house magazine, Novak, a former energy minister, said the pipeline will pass near the eastern Siberian cities of Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kansk, Sayansk, Angarsk and Irkutsk before reaching Buryatia.

Comment: It's becoming increasingly obvious that Russia, and China, are hedging their bets on the increasing influence of BRICS friendly nations: China's Xi Jinping likely to skip G20 summit in India, Putin has already declined invitation

See also: Pepe Escobar: Exit Nord Stream 2, enter Power of Siberia 2 (2021)

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Eye 1

Best of the Web: US is latest Western country to test new nationwide emergency alert system to phones, TVs, and radios

Andrew Paul
Popular Science
Mon, 04 Sep 2023 13:00 UTC
satellite
The next nationwide test will occur on October 4.
Wednesday, October 4, 2023, at approximately 2:20 PM Eastern Standard Time — you've been warned. Or, rather, you will be. But don't take it personally. Pretty much everyone in the U.S. will receive the same message.

That's the date the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Federal Communications Commission are scheduled to test their National Wireless Emergency Alert System, which will issue to every television, cellphone, and radio. The runthrough will actually consist of two parts, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). The former will transmit to radios and TVs, while the latter will issue to all consumer cell phones, according to FEMA's announcement earlier this month.

Individuals with phones in range of a cell tower will receive a message to the effect of, "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed." Meanwhile, phones set to Spanish will receive the same bulletin in users' default language. Television and radio broadcasts will be interrupted for approximately one minute with a message stating, "This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public."

Comment: Whilst some countries have had some form of national and regional alert systems in place for a while now, considering the rapidly deteriorating state of Western society, alongside the increasingly totalitarian nature of its governments, and their admitted use of behavioural modification ('nudge') techniques on their populace (such as during the contrived coronavirus crisis), it's particularly suspect that in the space of about a year, a number of nations, including France, the UK, Luxembourg, and now the US, are trialling regional and nationwide alert systems.

Since the technology to issue these alerts has been available for many years now, one wonders why now? Do governments believe there may be unusual occurrences coming in the future where their use might be deemed critical? Furthermore, what nefarious use might the establishment have in mind for them that might enable them to further their agenda on a seemingly easily hystericised populace? As noted above, one of the more revealing incidents was the 'accidental' ballistic missile alert in Hawaii which caused untold panic across the country: 'This is not a drill': 'Mistake' puts Hawaii on alert over ballistic missile threat

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Stock Down

UK house prices fall at fastest rate since 2009 - when country was in 'depths of a financial crisis'

Mark Sweney
The Guardian
Fri, 01 Sep 2023 08:27 UTC
UK home
© Maureen McLean/ShutterstockThe price of a typical UK home has fallen £14.600 since last summer to £259,153. August 5.3% drop comes as sales completions down by about 40% in first half of year compared with 2021.
UK house prices fell 5.3% in August compared with the same month last year, the fastest annual drop in 14 years, according to Nationwide Building Society.

The lender said the fall, which was the biggest since July 2009, when the global economy was in the depths of the financial crisis, was driven by soaring mortgage costs, which are putting off potential buyers. Average house prices are more than £14,500 lower than they were a year ago and mortgage approvals have plummeted by a fifth compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Prices fell 0.8% in August compared with July, dragging down the typical price of a UK home to £259,153.

"The softening is not surprising given the extent of the rise in borrowing costs in recent months, which has resulted in activity in the housing market running well below pre-pandemic levels," said Robert Gardner, the chief economist at Nationwide.

Comment: Meanwhile over in the US: Investor home purchases crash 45%, sharpest decline since 2008 threatens housing bubble



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Cardboard Box

Ukraine threatens Poland & EU with legal action over extended grain export ban


Voice of Europe
Wed, 06 Sep 2023 20:40 UTC
Granos grain
© Augst Eibner / Pressefoto / Legion-Media
Ukraine has put forth a stern warning to Poland and the European Union, indicating potential legal action if the ban on agricultural product exports is prolonged beyond September 15. This was asserted by Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Economy, Taras Kachka, in an interview with Politico.

Kachka conveyed that if Poland, along with other EU countries extends the ban, Ukraine will initiate a lawsuit against both entities at the World Trade Organization (WTO). He stated, "With all due respect and gratitude to Poland in the event of any extended bans post September 15, Ukraine will bring the matter to the WTO against Poland and the EU."

The crux of Ukraine's contention is that these restrictions infringe upon the free trade agreement they established with the EU in 2014. While Kachka emphasized the spirit of camaraderie and mutual respect between Ukraine and the EU, suggesting that Ukraine would not hastily resort to countermeasures. He pointed out that consistent threats to Ukraine's interests compel them to approach the WTO.

Comment: Lest we forget that, back in April, an investigation by Hungary found that these agricultural exports from Ukraine contained unacceptable levels of GMOs and toxins - probably another benefit of Kiev selling off its agricultural industry to US corporations.

Further, does Ukraine really want to antagonise Poland? Poland which, in a rather sinister move, is the first country to begin extraditing Ukrainian citizens back to the Kiev juntas meat grinder? Poland begins extraditing Ukrainian men who fled conscription



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Cult

What the Left did to our country

Victor Davis Hanson
The Blade of Perseus
Mon, 04 Sep 2023 20:06 UTC
obama portrait sinister evil
Barack Obama
In the last 20 years, the Left has boasted that it has gained control of most of America institutions of power and influence — the corporate boardroom, media, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, the administrative state, academia, foundations, social media, entertainment, professional sports, and Hollywood.

With such support, between 2009-17, Barack Obama was empowered to transform the Democratic Party from its middle-class roots and class concerns into the party of the bicoastal rich and subsidized poor — obsessions with big money, race, a new intolerant green religion, and dividing the country into a binary of oppressors and oppressed.

The Obamas entered the presidency spouting the usual leftwing boilerplate ("spread the wealth," "just downright mean country," "get in their face," "first time I've been proud of my country") as upper-middle-class, former community activists, hurt that their genius and talents had not yet been sufficiently monetized.
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