As the article points out, it’s not just drought. We’ve had weather this hot and dry before, many times. It’s the higher cost of feed, and fuel, that is driving the problem, which is that raising cattle before economically impossible……
For this you can thank SloJoe and all his econuts friends and allies.
I’d stock up your freezers while the getting is still good.

Ranchers Are Selling Off Their Cattle in Unprecedented Numbers Due to the Drought, and That Has Enormous Implications for 2023

Thanks to the horrific drought which is absolutely devastating ranching in the Southwest, ranchers are now in “panic mode” and are selling off their cattle at an unprecedented rate.  In fact, some are choosing to sell off their entire herds because they feel like they don’t have any other options.  In recent days, seemingly endless lines of trailers waiting to drop off cattle for auction have gone viral all over social media.  Everybody is talking about how they have never seen anything like this before, and if the drought in the Southwest persists the lines could soon get even longer.  In the short-term, this is going to help to stabilize meat prices.  But in the long-term the size of the U.S. cattle herd will steadily become much smaller, and that has very serious implications for our ability to feed ourselves in 2023 and beyond.

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What Recession? You Won’t Believe Biden’s Latest Goalpost Adjustment

When is a recession not a recession? When Presidentish Joe Biden says it ain’t, Jack. That’s why the White House “is seeking to preempt heightened recession chatter that would accompany two quarters of shrinking GDP.”

By changing the accepted definition.

Citing a “holistic look at the data,” the White House Council of Economic Advisors claims that “it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year—even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter—indicates a recession.” That’s from CEA chair Cecilia Rouse and member Jared Bernstein.

The economy shrank in the first quarter of this year at an annualized rate of 1.6%. The Atlanta Fed’s growth tracker “sees the second-quarter running at negative 2.1%.”

So not only are we technically already in a recession (it won’t be official until next week), the contraction appears to be accelerating rather than easing off — just like that “transitory” inflation.

Economist Art Laffer — one of the architects of Ronald Reagan’s boom times — told Fox News this week that “Recession ‘is here’ and will ‘last for awhile.’

Most Americans think we’re already in a recession, including some big names:

Surveys show consumers have the lowest levels of confidence in the U.S. economy ever and business executives are the most downbeat since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Even major figures are starting to bring more attention to the problem — from entrepreneur Andrew Yang, rapper Cardi B and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Can barely put gas in the car? Sick of being told by the secretary of Transportation to spend $60 grand you don’t have on a Tesla? Steak is now a rare treat (no pun intended)? You’re wondering how many extra years you’ll have to work to get your 401K back to where it needs to be?

These are just some of the pains Americans feel under the Biden administration, but the administration wants us to believe everything is hunky-dory.

Politically, how is the White House’s new denial therapy supposed to play out?

This administration has a shabby habit of telling Americans precisely what we know not to be true: The southern border is secure, the Afghanistan bugout was not a failure, inflation is a high-class problem, etc.

The gaslighting is as obvious as it is lame.

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BLUF
Extreme environmentalism is an ideology that cares little for human life, even regards it as a blight on the Earth that should be reduced. Its instinctive sympathies are against our species. It wants less economic growth, less entrepreneurial spirit, less development, less energy, less safety, less food, less comfort.

The real-world consequences of green extremism

Glorious pictures from the edge of the universe have arrived on Earth just when events here force us to consider the possibility that governments are run by aliens. They are so out of touch with common sense that they must come from other planets.

The James Webb Space Telescope, a wonder of human ingenuity, resourcefulness, imagination, and creative curiosity, is revealing the birth of galaxies to a world in which, by contrast, overreaching oligarchs and bossy bureaucrats constrict the actions of ordinary people trying to make their own lives and the lives of others better.

Much of the world groans under immiserating rules handed down by a “theory class,” even though they obviously don’t work. The accolade for the most disastrous policy outcome is hotly contested, and Wednesday’s grim revelation of 9.1% inflation shows that President Joe Biden’s spending agenda is a strong contender. But even that might not take the cake.

Worse, perhaps, are the results of hyper-alarmism on climate change. Excessive environmental policies are proving disastrous worldwide. Suddenly, all the green chickens are coming home to roost.

Intolerant “liberals” keen to “save the planet” are ruining it — officiously preventing the poor from lifting themselves out of poverty, forcing wealthy nations to retreat from comfort and efficiency into backwardness, even killing people by the hundreds of thousands.

Humankind long ago acquired the technological ability to thrive in all climes, but citizens of the most advanced nations must now check the weather forecast to know if their fridges and household lights will work or be shut down in an electricity blackout.

In Britain, overdependence on wind turbines built to cut carbon emissions leaves inhabitants at the mercy of the weather . When the wind doesn’t blow, the economy doesn’t work.

Likewise, in Germany, the world’s fourth-biggest economy, calm summer air means turbines stand idle, incapable of producing electricity and jacking up energy prices irrespective of the nation’s equally asinine overdependence on gas supplies from a recalcitrant Russia.

Excessively tight emissions rules, which amount to “anti-farming policies,” have triggered protests across Europe. They started in the Netherlands, where 30% of farms might be put out of business. And they have spread to Germany, Italy, Spain, and Poland, where farmers fear being subjected to the same privations.

If, as expected, bureaucratic meddling slashes Dutch output — the Netherlands is one of the biggest and most efficient farming nations in the world — production will shift to less efficient, more polluting producers elsewhere.

This is similar to the attack that green zealots in the Democratic Party launched against American energy production at the start of the Biden administration. By shutting down energy leases and discouraging investment in the United States because of exaggerated and parochial climate concerns, the green oligarchy transfers production and wealth to dirtier producers overseas, such as Russia.

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BLUF
While the supply chain crisis and the placation of the California protestors continue, for now, remember the Democratic Party ultimately intends to take AB5 national, so be on the lookout for more freedom-damaging bills just like it coming soon near you.

Truckers Say California Law Likely to Make U.S. Supply Chain Crisis Even Worse.

Since last fall, PJ Media has been chronicling the U.S. supply chain crisis at our nation’s portsrailroadshighwaysairports, and supermarket shelves. Over the intervening months, no amount of presidential or gubernatorial bloviating, photo-op visits, or misguided fines has truly fixed the congested conditions to get the supply chain back on track. And this month, a 2019 Democratic law is set to go into effect which will add even more stress to the already broken system.Yes, in their oh-so-vast wisdom, California Democrats passed Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) to force perfectly content freelancers and independent contractors (also known as “gig workers”) to be reclassified as employees. Like most leftist regulations, AB5’s initial intentions were one thing (“to protect all the poor mistreated gig workers” who didn’t  actually need or want protection) while its real-world outcomes are something thoroughly different (forcing employers to replace gig workers and decimating the industries that rely on them).

Touted as the leftist cure to save gig workers from exploitation, in reality, AB5 is simply a job- and freedom-killing monstrosity. AB5 limits the freedom of California’s workers to be independent contractors. Instead, it forces them to be considered salaried employees, which means the employers are also forced to place them under the existing laws for health insurance, retirement, and a myriad of other regulations concerning full-time employees. While AB5 does exempt some specific occupations from its onerous regulations, the state’s over 70,000 independent truckers were not explicitly among those exemptions in the original bill.

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After Sri Lanka, Globalist Green Agenda Pushes Ghana on Brink of Collapse.
From the Netherlands to Sub-Saharan Africa, ‘Climate Change’ policies devastate farmers’ livelihood and food supply.

From the Netherlands to Sub-Saharan Africa, the radical ‘Climate Change’ agenda is having a devastating impact on farmers’ livelihood and the world’s food supply. Days after the government in Sri Lanka collapsed after food riots triggered by ‘climate-friendly’ farming, the West African country of Ghana is on the verge of bankruptcy primarily due to these globalist policies.

Once among the fastest-growing economies in Africa, the country is now seeking a bailout from international financial institutions. “Ghana’s debt has steadily climbed from 54.2% of GDP in 2015 to 76.6% at the end of 2021, according to government data. Debt servicing cost just under 48% of government revenue in 2021 and Eurobond yields have been too high this year to issue new ones,” CNBC Africa reported Thursday.

Until recently, Ghana was the poster boy for the globalists. Under the Paris Agreement, Ghana “sought to reduce emissions by 15 to 45 percent … by 2030 and strengthen climate resilience in close alignment with its development priorities,” the United Nations reported in September 2020.

But that wasn’t radical enough. A year later, the country presented sweeping Climate goals that were “with more ambition across sectors and the inclusion of new greenhouse gases,” the UN acknowledged. This drastic cut in greenhouse emissions requires a massive reduction in the use of fertilizers in the farming and livestock sectors.

As the price of fertilizers rises in the international market in the wake of the Ukraine conflict, the West African country struggles to meet even its current requirement.

However, Ghana and other cash-strapped African countries cannot rely on Western support for their fertilizer procurement. The European Union has refused to help African countries to their boost domestic fertilizer production as this goes against the “EU green goals.”

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‘America Has Become Unsafe:’ Starbucks CEO Rips Politicians In Decaying Cities After Closing 16 Urban Stores.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz blasted the leadership of Democrat-run cities for abdicating their duty to address crime and homelessness after the chain shut down several stores due to safety concerns.

The coffee chain said in a Monday memo that it would shutter 16 stores in major metropolitan areas, including SeattleLos AngelesPortland, Oregon, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

In videos of an alleged internal company meeting obtained by The Post Millennial editor Ari Hoffman, Schultz argued that “America has become unsafe” and noted that the stores facing closures are nevertheless “not unprofitable.”

“It has shocked me that one of the primary concerns that our retail partners have is their own personal safety,” Schultz said of conversations with employees. “And then we heard the stories that go along with it about what happens in our bathrooms, the issue of mental illness, the issue of homelessness, and the issue of crime.”

 

The cities of Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., have witnessed surging crime over the past two years. As of last month, Los Angeles and Washington were on pace to surpass their homicide totals seen in 2021, according to crime data reviewed by Fox News.

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Coming here too, if we let the econuts in our goobermint do it.

BLUF
“The farrago of magical thinking, technocratic hubris, ideological delusion, self-dealing and sheer shortsightedness that produced the crisis in Sri Lanka implicates both the country’s political leadership and advocates of so-called sustainable agriculture.”

Eco-extremism has brought Sri Lanka to its knees
An obsession with organic farming ‘in sync with nature’ triggered an unsustainable but predictable economic crisis.

Sri Lanka’s collapse, from one of the fastest growing Asian economies to a political, economic and humanitarian horror show, seems to have taken everybody by surprise.

Five years ago, the World Bank was extolling “how Sri Lanka intends to transition to a more competitive and inclusive upper-middle income country”. Right up to the middle of last year, despite the impact of the pandemic, the country’s misery index (inflation plus unemployment) was low and falling. Then the misery index took off like a rocket, quintupling in a year.

What happened? There is a simple explanation, one that the BBC seems determined to downplay. In April 2021, president Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that Sri Lanka was banning most pesticides and all synthetic fertiliser to go fully organic. Within months, the volume of tea exports had halved, cutting foreign exchange earnings. Rice yields plummeted leading to an unprecedented requirement to import rice. With the government unable to service its debt, the currency collapsed.

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As Ranchers Sell Their Calf Producing Cows, Major Cattle Deficit Predicted in 2024

The drought hit a turning point in Texas last weekend as ranchers made a mad dash to the sale barns, liquidating unprecedented amounts of beef cattle. Cattle industry leader Corbitt Wall, host of the FEEDER FLASH at NationalBeefWire.com gives an update on drought conditions across Texas. In his words, the effects of this drought combined with economic factors (fuel and fertilizer prices) are “unbelievable” with 3 mile line of trailers for the dropoff line at Emory Texas sale barn. The sale barn received such a surplus that they were auctioning off cattle through 5am the next morning.

This sale barn was 30 miles south of me and I was an eyewitness to these unbelievable lines. My local sale barn was packed. It is real.

As far as I am finding, hay bales are at minimum $85 for 4×5’ rounds (if you can find them). $100-125 per bale by fall will not be out of the question. For reference, 2021 prices in my area were $50/bale for 5×6’ rounds.

This drought-induced cattle liquidation is going to disrupt our meat supply chain in previously unforeseen ways… which says a lot given everything it has been through in the past two years. The cows being sold at these sale barns are ones that would, in normal circumstances, be producing calves for 4-5 more years. Instead, they are going to feed lots.

With so many productive cows heading to slaughter and not producing calves, the US is going to face a major beef cattle deficit in 2024.

  1. Live Cattle prices will explode.  Ranchers will be attempting to restock their ranch and that 3 mile line to sell will be replaced (at least in part), by a line to buy.  That line to buy will be shorter, however, because with the exorbitant cost of inputs, many ranchers will go out of business permanently.
  2. Foreign beef imports will drastically increase.  To cover for the deficit stateside meat packers will increase beef imports from South America.   Meatpacking giant JBS is actually a Brazilian owned company.  JBS has an Argentine slaughter facility that has a capacity of 500,000 head of beef cattle per year. They are already in the practice of  importing foreign beef carcasses.  This increased reliance on imports is going to further destroy American food infrastructure.

And this is where I am looking straight at you right now:  If you have 3-5 acres, one of the best things you can do for both personal and national security is to go buy one of these cows.  The book: Salad Bar Beef will be your roadmap will give you step by step instructions on how to raise your own grass fed beef as an absolute beginner. Please bypass Amazon and purchase at shopshepherdess.com, it would really support my work!

It’s exactly what I did (with no previous farming experience) and I outline the whole process of raising 1000 lb of beef as a beginner in this video: Raising 1000lb of Beef as an absolute beginner.

-the Shepherdess

New Poll Shows Inflation, Not Guns Top Americans’ Concerns

A new Associated Press-NORC poll released Friday revealed the major concerns for a majority of Americans are inflation and rising fuel prices, not social issues such as guns.

Guns only seem to be a big issue with identified Democrats, perhaps because it distracts them from thinking about the economy and fuel prices under Joe Biden and a Democrat majority on Capitol Hill.

Republicans and Independents are on a different wavelength. Their priorities are closely associated with their pocketbooks. Food, other staples and fuel are their big concerns by a wide margin, perhaps because those costs are eroding savings accounts and making it harder to pay the bills.

As noted in a release by the AP and NORC, “Dissatisfaction with the country’s economy has been growing, as inflation continues to rise, interest rates increase, and stocks enter a bear market. Inflation and gas prices top the list of Americans’ priorities for the government to address in the next year…”

With the midterm elections only four months away, these issues are likely to guide the discussion as campaign season kicks into high gear.

“The poll found that 40% of Americans see the spike in gas prices as the biggest concern for our country, a rise of 26% since December,” Fox News reported, “and 33% of the voters believe gas and energy prices are the top issue, rising 23% since the winter.”

But for Republicans and Independents, gun issues are only important to 12 percent of GOP voters and 23 percent of Independents. Forty-five percent of Democrats, on the other hand, point to guns as a top priority.

The AP/NORC report said gun issues have replaced COVID-19 as the top issue among Democrats. In the aftermath of last month’s gun rights ruling by the Supreme Court, “high prices continue to trump gun laws” as issues of major import among the population in general, according to Fox.

While that may change in the aftermath of Buffalo, Uvalde and Highland Park, so long as fuel and food prices, the shaky stock market—which affects retirement accounts—and general inflation offer daily reminders about the economy under Biden, guns may gradually slip off the radar through Nov. 8.

Rasmussen’s Daily Presidential Tracking poll for Friday “shows that 37% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Biden’s job performance. Sixty-one percent (61%) disapprove.”

It breaks even worse for Biden, however when considering the disparity between the 16 percent who “strongly approve” of the job he is doing, while 48 percent—a staggering three times as many people—say they “strongly disapprove.”

This gives Biden a Presidential Approval Index rating of -32, Rasmussen said.

Dear Democrats, demoncraps THIS Is What Your Oppressive Global Initiatives Lead To

After suffering from weeks of brutal food and fuel shortages, as well as crippling inflation, Sri Lankans have had enough.

Riots have broken out throughout the impoverished country. Police have used tear gas and water cannons but to little effect.

Shortly after thousands of angry citizens stormed the presidential palace, even going so far as to swim in his pool, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared that he will step down. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to resign as well after his home was torched.

FAST FACTS – Sri Lanka Went Woke:

  • In an attempt to improve Sri Lanka’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score (which is totally communist), President Rajapaksa forced farmers to grow food organically and banned the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, thus causing the nation’s rice crop to fall by 20% in the first six months. Crop productions dropped 40-50%.
  • Food shortages were next. (Hey Netherlands, are you watching?)
  • Inflation rose to 54.6% as of June.
  • Sri Lanka incurred outrageous expenses importing food and “organic” fertilizer.
  • Tea production, Sri Lanka’s largest export, was decimated.
  • Inflation exploded and half a million Sri Lankans slid into poverty.

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Oil from U.S. reserves sent overseas as gasoline prices stay high

HOUSTON, July 5 (Reuters) – More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency reserves release to lower domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices hit record highs.

The export of crude and fuel is blunting the impact of the moves by U.S. President Joe Biden to lower record pump prices. Biden on Saturday renewed a call for gasoline suppliers to cut their prices,  drawing criticism from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

About 1 million barrels per day is being released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) through October. The flow is draining the SPR, which last month fell to the lowest since 1986. U.S. crude futures are above $100 per barrel and gasoline and diesel prices above $5 a gallon in one-fifth of the nation. U.S. officials have said oil prices could be higher if the SPR had not been tapped.

“The SPR remains a critical energy security tool to address global crude oil supply disruptions,” a Department of Energy spokesperson said, adding that the emergency releases helped ensure stable supply of crude oil.

The fourth-largest U.S. oil refiner, Phillips 66 (PSX.N), shipped about 470,000 barrels of sour crude from the Big Hill SPR storage site in Texas to Trieste, Italy, according to U.S. Customs data. Trieste is home to a pipeline that sends oil to refineries in central Europe.

Atlantic Trading & Marketing (ATMI), an arm of French oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), exported 2 cargoes of 560,000 barrels each, the data showed.

Phillips 66 declined to comment on trading activity. ATMI did not respond to a request for comment.

Cargoes of SPR crude were also headed to the Netherlands and to a Reliance (RELI.NS) refinery in India, an industry source said. A third cargo headed to China, another source said.

At least one cargo of crude from the West Hackberry SPR site in Louisiana was set to be exported in July, a shipping source added.

“Crude and fuel prices would likely be higher if (the SPR releases) hadn’t happened, but at the same time, it isn’t really having the effect that was assumed,” said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler.

The latest exports follow three vessels that carried SPR crude to Europe in April helping replace Russian crude supplies.

U.S. crude inventories are the lowest since 2004 as refineries run near peak levels. Refineries in the U.S. Gulf coast were at 97.9% utilization, the most in three and a half years.

Amber Waves Of Pain: How Bad Is The Food Shortage Crisis Going To Get?

As I sit here, studying my screen as it scrolls through the various commodities I either trade or simply follow out of professional curiosity, I find myself once again staring at a sea of green –  meaning the markets are positive for the day. Cash corn, for example, is trading at $7.97 per bushel. This is a run-up of 63% since January 2021. Cash wheat is trading $10.63 per bushel, up 73% since January 2021. Soybeans are up 43%. And so on. This is just in 18 months. The rise in commodities prices, especially food and energy, has been epic since their nadir during the Covid lockdowns went into full force around April 2020.

These flashing digits on my screen represent not just data points but very real and deep pain for hundreds of millions around the world. At least those without the wherewithal to leverage access to an important father to ink million-dollar “consulting” deals with Ukrainian oligarchs or Chinese despots, or the ability to enact market-moving laws while making personal insider stock trades so presciently timed they’d make Jesse Livermore salivate. Indeed, every uptick I see tells me someone on a fixed income or desperately trying to hang on to middle-class status, let alone half the world’s population who earn less than $10,000 per year, faces a crisis not seen since the advent of the postmodern age. And now we are starting to hear a frightening phrase bantered about not just in the media but also in the halls of power: food shortages.

In May, while speaking to the Treasury Select Committee, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said: “The [risk] I’m going to sound rather apocalyptic about, I guess, is food…It is not just a major worry for this country; it is a major worry for the developing world.”

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Many Wheat Crops Are Failing

Russia’s war in Ukraine has disrupted global food supplies, driving up demand and prices for wheat. But after months of drought, many western Kansas farmers won’t have a crop to sell.

LANE COUNTY, Kan. (Kansas News Service) — This time of year, the wheat growing in this part of western Kansas should be thigh-high and lush green.

But as a months-long drought continues to parch the region, many fields tell a different story.

“There’s nothing out there. It’s dead,” farmer Vance Ehmke said, surveying a wheat field near his land in Lane County. “It’s just ankle-high straw.”

Across western Kansas, many fields planted with wheat months ago now look like barren wastelands. The gaping spaces between rows of brown, shriveled plants reveal hardened dirt that’s scarred with deep cracks from baking in the sun.

Of all the years for drought to hit western Kansas wheat farmers, it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Even with wheat selling for near-record-high prices as the war in Ukraine disrupts the world’s food supplies, a lot of farmers in western Kansas won’t have any to sell. And those who made it through the drought with enough crop to harvest will likely end up with far fewer bushels than they had last year, a downturn that limits the state’s ability to help ease the global food crisis.

A dead wheat field with cracking dirt
Projections estimate that more than one of every ten wheat fields in Kansas will be abandoned this season due to the drought.

Wheat prices have bounced between $10 and $12 per bushel since setting an all-time record north of $13 in March. So it might stand to reason that farmers should be able to make up for poor harvests by selling the wheat they do have for more money.

But it’s not that simple.

The US Department of Agriculture estimates that wheat fields statewide will average roughly 39 bushels per acre this year, down sharply from 52 bushels per acre last year. But many farms in the western half of the state will produce far less than that.

USDA projections for Lane County say wheat farmers here will end up harvesting an average of 27 bushels per acre — less than half of what the county’s farmers averaged last year.

Ehmke considers himself fortunate. He expects his wheat to end up higher than that 27 bushel average, something he credits to the way he lets his land rest between plantings. But even with conservative land management strategies, his fields might still only produce half of what they did last year — all because of too much heat and not enough rain.

And he figures that at least half the wheat fields in western Kansas won’t produce enough for farmers to break even.

“They’re losing money,” Ehmke said, “even with the highest price of wheat that we’ve probably ever seen in the past 50 or 100 years.”

Part of the problem is an increase in costs. Farmers face higher expenses across the board this season, largely thanks to supply chain issues caused by the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

The price of diesel — the fuel required to run the tractors and trucks that keep farms going — reached an all-time high last month and remains more than $5.50 per gallon.

Nitrogen fertilizer prices also soared to record levels this spring, peaking above $1,500 per ton — more than twice what it cost one year ago.

“It’ll be a very difficult year,” Rejeana Gvillo with Farmers Business Network said. “Just because commodity prices are high, it does not mean that producers are better off.”

She said the differences between wheat stands in eastern and central Kansas — areas that should still see a decent harvest this year — and western Kansas were stark.

“Shorter crop. Uglier fields,” Gvillo said. “As we drove west, it just got way worse.”

A map of the Kansas wheat tour
This map of stops from the Kansas wheat tour shows that northwest and southwest Kansas have the state’s poorest crop conditions.

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These days, such doesn’t sound so crazy


Rep. Markwayne Mullin: Biden Administration ‘Trying to Wreck Our Economy’ for a ‘Socialist Takeover

Rep. Markwayne Mullen (R-OK) said the Biden administration is deliberately harming the U.S. economy to create pretexts for further governmental seizures of power and control over society, offering his remarks on Wednesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with special guest host Jerome Hudson.

Inflation of gas prices due to government decrees and policies is part of a broader undermining of U.S. prosperity driven by the Democrat Party to create citizens’ dependency on the state, Mullen stated.

“There are three things that a socialist takeover has to control,” Mullen said. “They have to control the education system, the healthcare system, and the energy sector. The energy sector, because the energy sector is the backbone of every economy. Without strong and affordable energy, you can’t have a strong economy. If you show me a country that doesn’t have reliable and affordable energy, I’ll show you a third-world country, and that’s the advantage that a socialist dictator [uses]. They take advantage of that.”

He continued, “They’re not disguising what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to wreck our economy so that the government can come back in and try to raise it back up. … They’ve literally taken the mask off. … They’re trying to destroy the market [for fossil fuels], and that market disruption happens to be in red states.”