Seven in ten people will live in urban areas by 2050, according to predictions by the UN World Population Division. That’s up from just three in 10 in 1950.
The following chart, via Statista’s Anna Fleck, looks at a small selection of countries from around the world to highlight some of the patterns expected in the future. Of these, China is expected to see the greatest percent change over the 100 year span, increasing from 11.8 percent of the country living in urban centers in 1950, up to 80 percent in 2050 – a difference of some 68.2 percent. This has partly been driven by its rise of urban manufacturing and service sector jobs.
Japan, Brazil and the United Kingdom are among the countries expected to have over 90 percent of their populations living in urban areas by 2050. As this chart shows, the UK was highly urbanized fairly early on, largely due to its early industrial revolution and the culture of people living in towns. It’s a similar story for other countries in Northern and Western Europe, which are forecast to have just below the 90 percent of their populations living in urban areas by 2050. In Southern Europe, the forecast is an average of 82.1 percent, while Eastern Europe is expected to be slightly lower at 79.4 percent. Meanwhile, in the United States, 83.7 percent of people are estimated to be living in urban centers in 2025, set to rise to 89.2 percent by 2050.
These can broadly be understood as ‘push factors’, which could include being forced to leave a rural area due to natural disasters or agricultural automation and land consolidation leading to fewer rural labor jobs, while ‘pull factors’ may look more like better employment and education opportunities or an interest in a different lifestyle.
The impacts of a changing climate are allegedly an important factor here too, as some areas will become increasingly uninhabitable such as at the equator or along coastlines. This was highlighted in a recent study, which indicates that some 13 million people could be forced to move in the United States by 2100 due to rising sea levels.
Urban growth is by no means universal though, with some cities seeing population decline.
The issue of microplastic pollution in the environment is gaining increasing societal attention. Research indicates that once microplastics enter the human body, they can increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes, or even death. What kind of everyday behaviors raise the risk of ingesting microplastics?
Lin Xiaoxu, a U.S. virology expert with a doctorate in microbiology, explained what microplastics and nanoplastics are on New Tang Dynasty TV’s “Health 1+1” program and how to reduce exposure to them.
Plastic is a crucial product in industrial production and is deeply intertwined with daily life. When plastic products break down, they become microplastics or even smaller nanoplastics. Microplastics are plastic pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, while nanoplastics measure below 1 micron (1,000 nanometers).
Sources of Microplastics
Mr. Lin explained that everyday plastic products release microplastics. Synthetic textiles shed fiber fragments, and worn-out tires produce plastic-containing dust. Even seemingly smooth plastic water bottles can shed microplastics during washing.
In nature, sunlight and ultraviolet radiation continuously degrade plastics into smaller particles. Textiles, hygiene products, bottles, bags, particles emitted from factories, tire dust, fishing nets, and more all contribute to microplastic pollution. Humans and other animals ingest some of these particles, while others accumulate and break down in oceans and soils. Marine organisms like shellfish, small fish, and shrimp, especially those near coastlines, are particularly prone to ingesting microplastics.
Mr. Lin emphasized that the main sources of microplastics are industrial waste and wastewater discharge, which can cause significant environmental damage if not adequately treated.
Therefore, before wastewater is released from factories, it must undergo processes like screening, sand removal, sedimentation, biological reactions, chlorination, ultraviolet treatment, membrane technology, etc., to remove over 90 percent of microplastics. However, complete elimination is not achievable. Natural environments may take thousands to tens of thousands of years to fully degrade microplastics.
Health Hazards of Microplastics
Microplastics typically enter the body through food and drink ingestion, while nanoplastics can be inhaled. Apart from directly irritating mucous membranes, microplastics can carry environmental microbes like bacteria and viruses into the body.
“If you ingest something toxic, people usually say to wash it out quickly, but microplastics are very tiny particles that adhere to the surface of the stomach. It’s not guaranteed that washing out will remove them; the body needs to slowly eliminate them, increasing the burden on the body,” Mr. Lin noted.
Studies have found that after exposure to ultraviolet light and microbial degradation in the natural environment, microplastics become more adsorbent, forming complexes with various environmental pollutants on their surfaces, making them more toxic to organisms.
Microplastics, which serve as carriers for heavy metals and pathogens, exhibit various toxicities upon entering the body. Most microplastics ingested through food are excreted via feces, but a small portion can remain in the intestines for days, causing intestinal damage, inflammation, and disruption of gut microbiota. Over time, microplastics can be absorbed into intestinal cells and enter the bloodstream, damaging organs and systems throughout the body. Organs like the liver and kidneys and bodily systems such as the immune, reproductive, and nervous systems are particularly affected. Additionally, excessive inhalation of microplastics can cause respiratory tissue damage and disease.
In March, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that most carotid artery plaques contained microplastics. The study included 257 patients aged 18 to 75 with asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Following plaque removal from the arteries, researchers detected polyethylene in 150 patients (58.4 percent) and polyvinyl chloride in 31 patients (12.1 percent) of removed carotid artery plaques.
Macrophages within the plaques contained visible foreign particles, some with jagged edges and chlorine content. The study suggested that patients with detected microplastics had over 4.5 times higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, or death compared to those without microplastics.
On Feb. 27, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on microplastics in water.
Susanne Brander, an associate professor at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences who has been researching microplastics and plastic pollution for nearly a decade, pointed out at the hearing that microplastic particles exist in the human heart, placenta, and lung tissues and circulate in blood. Microplastics harm marine and terrestrial organisms, slowing growth, altering behavior patterns, and causing reproductive disorders, particularly adversely affecting mammals.
She described plastic pollution as one of humanity’s most significant environmental challenges and one of the world’s “most expensive” problems. It causes annual economic losses of $13 billion to fisheries, tourism, and shipping industries. In 2018, health care costs related to plastic-associated chemicals in the United States were estimated at up to $249 billion.
How to Avoid Ingesting Microplastics
How can we reduce the intake of microplastics in everyday life? Mr. Lin suggested the following preventive measures:
Filter water: Invest in a high-quality water filter capable of removing microplastics. Look for filters with a fine pore size or those specifically designed to filter out microplastics.
Avoid plastic containers: Opt for glass or stainless steel water bottles instead of plastic ones. Plastic bottles can shed microplastics, especially when exposed to heat or sunlight. Switch from plastic to glass containers for storing food. Glass does not degrade into microplastics and is safer for food storage.
Be cautious with food packaging: Choose fresh, unwrapped produce over prepackaged items. When buying packaged goods, select those in glass or cardboard rather than plastic.
Minimize processed food consumption: Processed foods often come in plastic packaging and can contain higher levels of microplastics. Cooking at home using fresh ingredients reduces exposure.
Avoid single-use plastics: Reduce the use of single-use plastics such as plastic cutlery, straws, and bags. These items contribute to pollution and degrade into microplastics over time.
Use natural fabrics: Synthetic fibers from clothing can shed microplastics during washing. Choose natural fabrics like cotton, wool, and silk, and use a laundry bag designed to capture microfibers.
Wash hands frequently: Wash hands often, especially after using gloves, as plastic residues inside gloves can transfer to hands.
Scrutinize cosmetics: Avoid cosmetics containing microplastics, such as microbeads in scrub creams and glitter in makeup products. Look for natural alternatives instead.
La Nina Watch Remains In Effect As Development Odds High For Northern Hemisphere Winter
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an update Thursday stating that there is a 70% chance La Niña will develop between August and October and a 79% chance between November and January.
#ENSO-neutral is expected to continue for the next several months, with La Niña favored to emerge during August-October (70% chance) and persist into Northern Hemisphere winter 2024-25 (79% chance for November-January). A #LaNina Watch remains in effect. https://t.co/5zlzaZ0D9Zpic.twitter.com/28c2iye7MM
— NWS Climate Prediction Center (@NWSCPC) July 11, 2024
In the first half of the year, waters across the eastern Pacific have rapidly cooled, signaling the end of a strong El Niño. Surface waters across the eastern Pacific have bottomed in recent months. If cooler ocean waters are seen in the months ahead, a stronger La Niña could emerge, producing a more active hurricane season.
The latest reading shows water temperatures in June were just 0.16 °C (0.3 °F) above the long-term average.
NOAA’s computer model, including the North American Multi-Model Ensemble, forecasts a “moderate” La Niña later this year.
NOAA’s historical winter precipitation data forecasts warmer- and drier-than-average conditions across the southern part of the US, colder-than-average conditions across the north-central Plains, and wetter-than-average conditions in the Ohio Valley and Pacific Northwest/northern California.
Government scientist pointed out, “Also keep in mind that there’s about a 1-in-5 chance that La Niña won’t show up, and neutral conditions will last through the winter.”
Let’s remind readers that NOAA has previously stated, “El Niño and La Niña are naturally occurring climate patterns and humans have no direct ability to influence their onset, intensity, or duration.”
Avoid far-left corporate media outlets that inject climate politics into nearly every weather headline and story they get a hold of to further their radical progressive agenda that’s not rooted in reality. Folks are realizing the leftist media is as clueless as Biden.
Saudi Aramco has attracted orders worth a total $31 billion for a fresh bond the company said it would place on international markets. The size of the bond was $6 billion.
In its first debt offering in three years, the Saudi energy giant offered 10- and 30-year notes, with offers for both topping $11 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the deal. The company also offered investors a 40-year note in the tranche.
Initially, plans were to offer some 140 basis points over U.S. Treasuries for the 10-year bond, 180 basis points over UST for the 30-year bond, and 195 basis points for the 40-year note. However, thanks to strong investor interest, the spreads were tightened to 105 basis points for the 10-year note, 145 basis points for the 30-year note, and 155 basis points for the 40-year note.
According to early reports about the bond offering, the proceeds would go towards refinancing existing debt and helping the investment program of the world’s largest oil company by market value and production.
“Aramco is extending maturities as it will continue to gradually leverage up given their expansion plans and capex needs,” the managing director of fixed income advisory at Union Bancaire Privee told Bloomberg.
Aramco is a major source of income for the Saudi government that has large-scale plans for the diversification of the Saudi economy. The Saudi government holds 81.5% directly in Aramco with another 16% held by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund—the Public Investment Fund. Per Reuters, Aramco plans to pay some $124.3 billion in dividends this year.
A month before the bond announcement, Aramco said it would also offer more stock to investors. The offering, priced at a discount, raised over $12.3 billion for the Saudi company. The initial proceeds came in at $11.2 billion, but the offering had an over-allotment option that kicked in, bringing the total to $12.35 billion.
Lawsuit Alleges Hyundai Conducted “Secret Program” With Dealers To “Inflate” EV Sales
Napleton Aurora Imports in Illinois recently filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, alleging that Hyundai pressured US auto dealers to “artificially inflate its publicly reported sales” of electric vehicles, creating a “false narrative” for consumers.
The suit, Napleton Aurora Imports Inc et al v. Hyundai Motor America Corp, claims Hyundai instructed some dealers to “falsely report unsold vehicles as ‘sold’ to a retail customer or placed into loaner service, only to reverse the ‘sale’ the following month.”
The suit, filed by Napleton Aurora Imports Inc. and other Hyundai franchises, detailed how there was an audio recording “demonstrating the existence of this scheme” with a dealer and district sales manager:
“We gotta hit a number for the press and for the Koreans.”
The suit alleges that Hyundai would reward dealers with “unlawful” perks, price discounts, and allocations of popular models in exchange for faking the sales numbers for EV cars.
Boosting fake EV sales allowed Hyundai to pump out a “press release touting its increased year-over-year sales and its growth in the electric vehicle (EV) sector.”
“Dealers who refuse to help HMA boost its fake numbers—like Napleton—are punished with allocations of slow selling vehicles, and denied wholesale price discounts, allocation, and retail price discounts to offer consumers, stifling competition and harming both Napleton and the public,” the suit said.
It seems like a classic case of “fake it till you make it.” This intriguing lawsuit raises the possibility that the demand for EVs reported in the corporate media might be inflated.
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., brushed off the anonymous allegations from Capitol Hill insiders that his recent primary defeat by a razor-thin margin was the result of an abrasive personal demeanor.
In a statement to Headline USA through his communications director, Marjorie Jackson, Good said the halls of Congress were no place for sugar-coating the work that needed to be done in order for lawmakers to do right by their constituents.
“I believe we should do what we tell people we are going to do when we ask them to vote for us and trust us with the majority,” Good said in the statement.
“With $35 trillion in debt, a border invasion, and an unprecedented assault on our constitutional freedoms, we cannot afford to wait till the next election to fight for the American people,” he added. “We should use every tool available to reverse the harm caused by the Democrat policies that are destroying our country and causing so much suffering.”
Despite having one of the most conservative voting records in all of Congress, Good—the current chair of the House Freedom Caucus— lost his primary election in Virginia’s 5th District by 0.6% of the vote to state Sen. John McGuire.
The contentious primary race made national headlines after Good and presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump each backed the other’s primary opponent—a significant departure from the days when Trump drew some of his staunchest support from Freedom Caucus members (even selecting two chiefs of staff, former Reps. Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows, from its ranks).
Good declined to endorse Trump until Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—another Freedom Caucus alumnus—dropped out of the race in January. Consequently, he became the object of Trump’s ire.
Good also invited attacks from loyalists to ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after he was one of the “Gaetz Eight” who voted with Democrats to invoke the motion to vacate the speakership.
“I didn’t come to Washington to make friends, and some of my colleagues are angry with me because they have to answer for their bad votes when they go back home,” Good said in his statement to Headline USA. “If they can’t defend these votes, they should vote differently.”
Good, however, ultimately reaped the political consequences of his tough decisions, including the dubious achievement of uniting both Trump’s America First populist supporters and the D.C. insiders of the McCarthy-linked Republican Main Street Partnership against his campaign.
Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a well-known ally of both Trump and McCarthy, made several withering statements against Good, going as far as to call him “toxic” to Trump’s reelection efforts.
Speaking anonymously to the Daily Caller on Monday, some Capitol insiders took it to an even more personal level.
“He’s an a**hole” said one individual.
A Republican member of Congress elaborated: “He’s perhaps the most unlikable guy in Congress, and that’s saying a lot with the likes of some others who are major-league a**holes. I don’t think there is anyone in Congress, conservative or not, who would pee on Bob Good if he was on fire.”
A GOP ad-maker accused him of getting “out-hustled” by McGuire on the campaign trail.
“Bob Good decided to spend his time in Washington making enemies out of literally everyone he met,” the source said. “He wasn’t being a principled conservative; he was being an unnecessary jerk.”
The aftermath of the primary battle, with its razor-thin finish in an unpredictable district that encompasses both ultra-liberal Charlottesville and the Jerry Falwell-influenced Lynchburg, has brought little closure to the wounds that were openened during the course of the campaign.
He also signaled his intention to move forward with a recount, even though 374-vote gap in the final tally fell outside the 0.5% threshold for the state to cover it—meaning Good must foot the bill himself.
“In a race with nearly 63,000 votes that is separated by a 0.6% margin, Republican voters across the 5th District deserve to know that all legal votes have been accurately counted,” Good’s campaign manager, Diana Shores, told the Daily Caller. “We will vigorously pursue that objective over the coming days and weeks, as permitted by Virginia law.”
Good—who took over from Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., as the fifth chair of the Freedom Caucus at the start of the current session—may not finish his term in the leadership role. Politico reported indicated that fellow caucus members were privately discussing his replacement following the presumptive primary defeat.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
China Has Been Practicing For Strikes On US Jets & Warships In Remote Desert Region
Recently emerged satellite images reveal that the Chinese military has been practicing for attacks on US fighter jets and aircraft carriers in the remote deserts of Xinjiang in northwest China.
South China Morning Post (SCMP) in a fresh report analyzing the photographs identifies that the images were taken by Google Earth on May 29 and show mock-ups of jets resembling advanced US stealth fighters.
SCMP highlights a post by the Turkey-based Clash Report which was the first to highlight the photos with a caption: “Chinese PLA Air Force pilots are learning to practice air strikes on American F-35 and F-22 mock-ups.”
A likely location within Xingjiang region has been Qakilik (or Ruoqiang County) in the Taklamakan Desert, but this has neither been acknowledged by the Chinese government nor confirmed by any official source.
A number of the mock-up stealth fighters appeared to have suffered damage, likely by PLA aerial bombing runs, with blackened craters in a runway at the fictional airbase.
Chinese PLA Air Force pilots are learning to practice air strikes on American F-35 and F-22 mockups.
A separate report in Business Insider appears to show separate satellite images, obtained on a different date, of the same location in the desert. The images, captured in late April by Planet Labs PBC, similarly show around 20 aircraft near a runway.
Among the planes that resembles US stealth fighters, there also appears to be a P-8A Poseidon and the U-2 reconnaissance plane.
Planet Labs was also able to capture an apparent US Arleigh Burke class destroyer mock-up in the Taklamakan Desert earlier this year.
One analyst highlighted in comments made to the publication that the mock-ups likely are not just for target practice, but for honing radar and weapons-guidance software and sensitive technology.
The expert described that “these mock-ups potentially allowed China to refine seekers with image-recognition capabilities and help it develop the ability to accurately target particular ships or even specific parts of ships where a missile could do the most damage.”
Participation in Gaza solidarity protests and student groups could become a disqualifying factor for applicants at a prominent Wall Street law firm, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The 145-year-old law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, which employs close to 900 lawyers and has had Amazon and Goldman Sachs among its clients, has hired the background check company HireRight to assess an applicant’s participation record in pro-Palestinian protests and student groups.
HireRight will scour a candidate’s social media profiles alongside news reports and footage from protests. Applicants will also be asked to list student groups they have joined.
Based on the materials found, the firm has the right to refuse employment. Using a private background check company to ensure compliance with existing workplace prohibitions on hate speech is not an uncommon practice in the US, only a handful of restrictions are in place to prevent discrimination.
The case of Sullivan & Cromwell, however, sets a new precedent, since it is the mere involvement in a protest that is enough to hold an applicant accountable, even if no problematic language was used by the candidate itself.
Under the firm’s new policy, it is enough if the slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”, was chanted at a protest that the applicant attended.
Sullivan & Cromwell did not reportedly disclose whether the firm has already dropped candidates because of the policy.
Consequences
After the background check is performed, and material that Sullivan & Cromwell considers to be objectionable is found, the candidate will be asked to explain their role in the protest, including what efforts the candidate engaged in to prevent others from making offensive or harassing statements, a New York Times article published on Tuesday says.
No other law firm on Wall Street has publicly discussed a similar policy toward protesters, but several have considered adopting similar rules.
“Disqualifying people based on what someone else nearby may have been doing seems to characterize all protesters as having a single mindset,” Roderick A Ferguson, a Yale professor of American studies, told The New York Times. “Such thinking can mimic racist thinking, sexist thinking, homophobic thinking, that one instance becomes a character of all.”
Over the last couple of months, several reports have emerged of employees losing their jobs, or job offers being rescinded over their actions or statements regarding the war in Gaza. Faculty members at various colleges across the US have been fired, suspended or removed from the classroom for speech expressing solidarity with Palestine.
Last October, The Washington Post reported an incident in which a New York University law student was faced with a job offer being rescinded due to a letter she wrote to the Bar Association saying that Israel bears responsibility for the war in Gaza.
Sam Altman-Backed Nuclear Startup Oklo On Pace To Launch First Reactor By 2027
Sam Altman-backed nuclear company Oklo is “push[ing] towards its target of building its first small modular reactor by 2027 at the Idaho National Laboratory,” according to a new report from Reuters.
The company – which we have highlighted as the potential solution to the extreme forthcoming demands in energy as a result of artificial intelligence – makes nuclear power plants, ranging from 15 MWe to 50 MWe, utilizing liquid metal reactor technology.
And while licensing and fuel supply are still bottlenecks, according to the report, the company has “been selected by the Department of Energy for four cost-share awards to potentially commercialize advanced recycling technologies” and has “secured a site use permit from the DOE and a fuel award from INL,” Reuters reports.
Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte commented: “We’ve tried to design and approach this whole thing in a way that we can get it built as soon as reasonably possible.”
DeWitte added: “We’re excited about the diversity of customers, because it shows that our size and business model clearly match with what customers are interested in.”
“They’re not starting overnight with a facility that’s using that much power, but they typically build into that, and they want to have that n+1 or n+2 dynamic build up with them,” he added.
“You can’t really do that if you’re building a 300 MW reactor, but you can do that with what we’re doing and that adds a lot of value.”
Oklo’s ‘Aurora powerhouse’ reactor will cost around $70 million for the 15 MW version, with an LCOE of $80-$130/MWh, similar to peaking gas-fired plants and offshore wind, per Lazard analysis.
The Reuters report notes that Oklo has signed an agreement with the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative for its second and third commercial plants at the DOE Piketon Site and has interest in building over 50 reactors with a total capacity exceeding 700 MWe.
In May, Oklo partnered with Atomic Alchemy to produce medical isotopes from its recycling process for cancer treatment and diagnostic imaging. It also signed an LOI with Wyoming Hyperscale for a 20-year PPA to supply 100 MW to its data center campus.
In April, Oklo signed an LOI for a 20-year PPA with Diamondback Energy to power its shale-oil operations in the Permian Basin.
Oklo is preparing a pre-application readiness assessment for its reactor with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In 2022, the NRC denied Oklo’s application for a combined construction and operation license (COLA), the first for an advanced non-light water reactor. DeWitte notes this pre-assessment is a “dress rehearsal” for their application, expressing optimism despite previous delays caused by the pandemic.
The federal ADVANCE Act, passed in June, aims to speed up licensing, mobilize the fuel supply chain, and benefit Oklo by reducing fees, shortening timelines, and offering incentives.
We noted about a month ago that the company had signed a deal to power data center Wyoming Hyperscale.
As we wrote back in May, Oklo won shareholder approval on May 8 for its NYSE listing. The company’s mission is “to provide clean, reliable, affordable energy on a global scale through the design and deployment of next-generation fast reactor technology”.
Backed by investors like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Peter Thiel, the who’s who of the AI revolution, nuclear fusion startups are gaining traction. Sam Altman, who invested in Oklo in 2015, believes the company is “best positioned to commercialize advanced fission energy solutions,” per a July press release.
For those who missed it, in “The Next AI Trade,” we outlined various investment opportunities for powering up America, most of which have dramatically outperformed the market. In the next iteration, we will likely add Oklo to the list of beneficiaries certainly ahead of the inevitable cascade of Buy ratings sure flood the name over the next month.
Leonid Brezhnev led the former Soviet Union as General Secretary of the Communist Party until 1982. But like most Russian apparatchiks who excessively smoked, drank, and gained weight, he aged prematurely. Also like them, his disabilities never led to his abdication.
By Brezhnev’s late sixties and early seventies, he was too ill to travel abroad or make public appearances. Indeed, his debility left the Soviet Union without a real leader for the final six or seven years of his tenure.
Brezhnev got away with it because the Soviet state-controlled media doctored photos and videos to attest to his supposedly vigorous health and constant hands-on involvement.
“Journalists” sent out false communiques. They spun narratives that Brezhnev was robust, hale, and working long hours on behalf of the Russian people. Any dissenting journalists who sought to report the true, sad state of affairs were in danger of losing their jobs, freedom—or even their lives.
Instead, the “reporters” of Pravda (“Truth”), the official print megaphone of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, wrote lies about Brezhnev’s busy workdays. Pravda’s handlers spun fables about the respect (and fear) the rest of the world held for such a dynamic leader—even as Brezhnev became an ill virtual recluse.
The cynical Russian people shrugged because they had long been accustomed to their lying media and the falsehoods they peddled. And besides, Brezhnev was a doctrinaire Stalinist communist. So his job was not to rock the boat or upset the Russian communist hierarchy.
Instead, he reigned over the penultimate Soviet “era of stagnation,” while an ossified communism increasingly destroyed all incentives and hope, leaving the Russian people poor, cynical, and helpless.
Something similar has happened to a calcified America under President Joe Biden. Like the late-stage Leonid Brezhnev, Biden is now a president in name only. He has outsourced his administration to a vestigial hard-left apparat from the Obama years.
Now, Biden can no longer even perform his assigned ceremonial tasks of putting a moderate veneer on radical, nihilist agendas that are stagnating the country.
Yet our Pravda journalists have sworn to the American people that, in private, the reclusive, three-day-a-week Biden outpaces the energy and drive of those half his age. Obsequious staffers plant stories in the Soviet-like ears of reporters about Biden’s singular dynamism.
Any dissenters are publicly demonized as peddlers of “cheap fakes.”
When Biden’s reclusiveness prompts too much gossip that he is near senile, he is wheeled out for a staged interview that must be edited before release. Or he answers questions secretly shown to him in advance.
On sporadic occasions where the state media and the Biden nomenklatura cannot control events—such as rare presidential debates or international summits—our Pravda media go into overdrive to convince the public that what they see and hear is not real.
In the end, Brezhnev could not even hobble to the May Day dais to celebrate communism’s national holiday.
He soon reached the point that his debilities were so manifest that even his hirelings and the media could not hide them. He then vanished from public view, leaving the Russian people with no idea as to who was running their communist nation.
Then one day, Soviet propagandists announced suddenly but matter-of-factly that the dynamic Brezhnev had died and that his successor, Yuri Andropov, was now brilliantly running the Soviet Union.
Biden, too, is at that point of stasis.
He cannot do press conferences, town halls, debates, or real interviews. To do so would confirm to the public the truth: that Biden is too cognitively challenged to continue his presidency.
And yet the cloistered Biden can no longer hide during a campaign season with his accustomed three-day workweek.
The media has done its best to continue its Orwellian ruse.
They claim that Trump interrupted Biden (he did not) in the recent debate and that he lied (if so, not as much as did Biden). Sometimes, the press corps just blurts out that an inert, left-wing Biden is still preferable to a dynamic, conservative Trump.
What is next for our increasingly Soviet state?
We will continue to be lectured on the vigor of Biden—until one day we aren’t, when Biden either steps down—or worse.
Then, our Pravda will likely present the new official narrative.
They will convince us that his successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, is an underappreciated genius whose past portfolios led to solving the border crisis and renewing American dominance in space.
One day, the same reporters who swore Biden was a virtual Socrates behind closed doors and then suddenly just confessed he was not when their lies were no longer operative will sing the praises of our new comrade leader—the brilliant, accomplished, eloquent, and articulate Kamala Harris.
