“…Our world is strange, and often fake and corrupt, but how did we get here?
We live in a time of great uncertainty and confusion. Events keep happening that seem inexplicable and out of control. Donald Trump, Brexit, the War in Syria, the endless migrant crisis, random bomb attacks. And those who are supposed to be in power are paralysed – they have no idea what to do.

This film is the epic story of how we got to this strange place. It explains not only why these chaotic events are happening – but also why we, and our politicians, cannot understand them.

It shows that what has happened is that all of us in the West – not just the politicians and the journalists and the experts, but we ourselves – have retreated into a simplified, and often completely fake version of the world. But because it is all around us we accept it as normal.

But there is another world outside. Forces that politicians tried to forget and bury forty years ago – that then festered and mutated – but which are now turning on us with a vengeful fury. Piercing though the wall of our fake world…”

~ Watch…

“…The leader of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for a scheme that a judge said exploited vulnerable women and coerced them into performing sex acts with the company’s clients and investors.

Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc, was also ordered to forfeit $12m, and seven victims were awarded roughly $890,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors said.

“Coercion disguised as wellness or empowerment is still exploitation and it is a crime that causes harm to vulnerable victims,” said Joseph Nocella, US attorney for the eastern district of New York, in a statement…”

~ Full article…

“…The shift in political mood is clearest in Germany. Europe’s biggest polluter is watering down laws to phase out gas boilers, which the previous government brought in after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and last week its economy minister told an audience of oil and gas executives that the EU should relax its net zero target. Meanwhile, the prospect of joining the rest of the democratic world by implementing a blanket speed limit on its motorways is still a political taboo. Pleas from the International Energy Agency to survive the oil price shock with more radical measures – avoiding flights, driving slower, working from home – have been roundly ignored.

Perhaps the greatest threat to the green transition is the attacks on the EU’s flagship emissions trading system, which puts a price on carbon pollution. Several EU member states and the powerful chemical lobby set it in their crosshairs well before the war broke out. On Wednesday, EU officials announced plans to weaken its carbon price by ending the automatic cancellation of extra permits in a buffer pool. The move fell short of the more radical overhaul demanded by some member states, but alarmed green groups who fear it will lead to “significantly higher” emissions after 2030…”

~ Full article…

“…By the time food reaches your plate, fossil fuel has been burnt to make the fertilizer and pesticides, to pump irrigation water, to run tractors and combines, to process and refrigerate, to ship in bulk and then distribute to local warehouses and stores. The supermarket aisle is just the final, brightly lit organ at the end of a long fossil‑fueled digestive tract. When that upstream system shudders, the illusion that food is a simple consumer product dissolves very quickly.

The cornucopia mask is not just about what we grow, but how we wrap it. Modern food is entombed in layers of plastic, cardboard, metal and ink that often cost as much as, or more than, the raw calories inside, especially for processed and branded products. The packaging industry is itself a petrochemical enterprise, drawing heavily on oil and gas to make plastics and coatings, and on additional energy to manufacture and move them. In other words, a non‑trivial share of the “food system” is really a packaging system whose main job is to make fragile, just‑in‑time calories look abundant and permanent on the shelf—for as long as the fossil inputs keep flowing.

How the Iran War Hits the Global Dinner Table

The Iran war is already tightening this fossil‑food umbilical cord. Nearly one‑third of the world’s fertilizer normally transits the Strait of Hormuz, and Middle Eastern gas is a key feedstock for ammonia plants around the world. As U.S. and Israeli strikes crater Iranian infrastructure and Iran weaponizes Hormuz, fertilizer shipments are getting stuck on the wrong side of the bottleneck. What first appears as a problem for oil traders quickly becomes a problem for anyone who depends on affordable grain.

One month into the war, the abstraction of “Hormuz risk” has hardened into specific, measurable damage to the machinery that sits upstream of harvests. Iranian missile and drone attacks, U.S.–Israeli bombardment, and Houthi strikes on shipping have turned Hormuz and nearby sea lanes into a zone of chronic disruption rather than a temporary scare. The consequences are already visible in fertilizer and energy markets. As insurance premia climb and sailings are delayed or rerouted, prices for nitrogen products have begun to climb. Plants in gas‑dependent producers from India to Europe are reporting reduced operating rates or temporary shutdowns as input costs spike, while China has tightened export controls to safeguard its own domestic supply.

What looks like a shipping issue on a map is, in practice, a squeeze on the molecules that feed next season’s crops…”

~ Full article…

“…In a new report titled “This is what corporate capture looks like”, Corporate Europe Observatory shows how this so-called ‘simplification agenda’, is a cooperative endeavour between European Commissioners and lobby groups.

While deregulation campaigns are nothing new to Brussels politics, this one stands out with its scope and methodology: strong obligations are imposed on all EU Commissioners to deliver on deregulation, and it is set to last for years. Corporate lobbyists and other business representatives are invited in to take a major role.

In the report we show how a high level of ‘corporate capture” can be seen in the many meetings Commissioners have had with business representatives, and in the two new types of dialogue set up to move the deregulation strategy forward, the so-called Implementation Dialogues and the Reality Checks, both of which are dominated by business representatives.

The result is an avalanche of proposals for deregulation, tabled by the European Commission in the form of so-called Omnibuses, ten of which were presented in 2025. And a careful look at them, shows how the main proposals can be traced back to demands from particular companies or lobby groups.

In sum, this ‘simplification agenda’ – this deregulation campaign – risks paving the way for an even stronger role for corporate lobby groups in the European Union in the future…”

~ Source…

“…Apple’s sleek designs and cutting‐edge innovations have long set the benchmark for the tech industry. Yet behind the glossy facade lies a history peppered with controversies—moments when the company’s ambition collided with unexpected challenges. From engineering missteps to ethical dilemmas, here’s a look at the 11 scandals that not only rattled the Cupertino giant but also reshaped public perception…”

~ Full article…

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ADDENDUM

E-book Conspiracy: Apple’s Agreement with Publishers Violates Antitrust Laws
July 21, 2013

“…On July 10, 2013, the Southern District of New York held that Apple conspired to raise e-book prices by playing a central role in “facilitating and executing [a] conspiracy” among five major book publishers to “eliminate retail price competition” in the e-book market. Apple, at 9. The court ruled that Apple was per se liable for violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act, finding “overwhelming evidence that the Publisher Defendants joined with each other in a horizontal price-fixing conspiracy” in which “Apple was a knowing and active member.” Id. at 113…”

“…While Florsheim enjoys success in the small, albeit influential market of Washington’s elite, the company has reportedly been priced out of operating in the U.S.

The firm, founded in 1892, cannot afford to make its affordably priced shoes domestically, according to The Milwaukee Business Journal.

Production has been outsourced to China, Cambodia, Mexico, India and the Dominican Republic, Justin FitzPatrick, the owner of J.FitzPatrick Footwear and menswear blogger, told CNN…”

~ Full article…