Closing Thought–27Nov23

I thought it was about time for me to reinstate the ‘Closing Thought’ portion of my day.

EGG PRICES

A few months ago the word came out that many chickens had to be destroyed because of Avian Flu and there would be a shortage of eggs for market….as soon as word got out supermarkets in my area raised prices of eggs to 6 and 7 dollars a dozen….not all followed suit but the chain stores seem to be more inclined to do so.

I said then that it was all so much bullsh*t.

There has been a legal ruling against some egg producers….

An Illinois jury ruled this week that several major egg producers conspired to limit the country’s supply of eggs in order to raise prices in a case stemming from a federal lawsuit originally filed 12 years ago, per the AP. Kraft Foods, the Kellogg Company, General Mills, and Nestle USA alleged in the lawsuit originally filed in 2011 that producers used various means to limit the US domestic supply of eggs to increase the prices of eggs and egg products during the 2000s, causing them to overpay for eggs. The time frame of the conspiracy was an issue throughout the case; jurors ultimately determined damages occurred between 2004-2008. A jury unanimously delivered its verdict Tuesday in the Northern District of Illinois and damages will be decided in a trial scheduled for next week.

The jury found the egg suppliers and trade groups who participated in the conspiracy were Cal-Maine Foods, United Egg Producers, United States Egg Marketers, and Rose Acre Farms, the family company of John Rust, who’s running for Indiana’s US Senate seat in 2024. Court documents show the defendants denied the claims. However, the jury found the egg suppliers exported eggs to reduce the overall supply in the domestic market, as well as limiting the number of chickens through means including cage space, early slaughter, and flock reduction, court documents say.

The jury found the egg suppliers and trade groups who participated in the conspiracy were Cal-Maine Foods, United Egg Producers, United States Egg Marketers, and Rose Acre Farms, the family company of John Rust, who’s running for Indiana’s US Senate seat in 2024. Court documents show the defendants denied the claims. However, the jury found the egg suppliers exported eggs to reduce the overall supply in the domestic market, as well as limiting the number of chickens through means including cage space, early slaughter, and flock reduction, court documents say.

Bloomberg Law reports lawyers for Cal-Maine Foods “appeared stunned by the verdict,” with two lawyers dropping their heads to their chests and leave them there. For the first time, the defendants have been held liable for their antitrust violations,” Brandon Fox, an attorney representing the food manufacturers, said in a statement. “We are now going to turn our attention to the damages phase.” Bloomberg Law reports the same jury will decide the damages amount in a trial slated for next Wednesday, and whatever number they settle on will be trebled.

I say good!  Make the bastards pay and the candidate should withdraw for being a money grubbing tool.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Rise Of The Fourth Reich?

With the victory of Wilders in the Nederlands I thought I would take a closer look at what is happening here in the good old US of A.

It is looking more and more like the tide of Fascism is coming at a break neck pace to the US and the 2024 election will tell the tale.

There has been much talk and speculation that a Trump win in next November contest would spell disaster for this country (something I agree on)

There is a specter on the horizon of a republi-fascist coming…..

The ridiculous Trumpenleft fascism-denying criticism continued even after the orange beast sent thousands of his frothing backers to physically attack the US Capitol in an effort to block Congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election –  the putsch attempt that Trump wanted to participate in alongside AR-15-toting Oath Keepers, Three Percenters and Proud Boys.

Here we are now coming up on the third anniversary of January 6.  Trump and his party have been screaming it off the rooftops ever since: they are a fascist menace to what’s left of US democracy. And now they may well come to power in 2025 with a fully worked up plan for the Christian white nationalist takeover of the US state.

I have been documenting this at painstaking length here and on CounterPunch across the Biden years and cannot repeat all the details here (my writing on this topic is probably already at the word count level for a small book).

That said, here are four of the most relevant recent developments:

The Republi-Fascist Specter Looms

Trump is looking for few good men (fascists)…..

During a Sunday morning panel, MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin referenced a recent Axios report by Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, in which they exclusively report ex-President Donald Trump “allies are pre-screening the ideologies of thousands of potential foot soldiers, as part of an unprecedented operation to centralize and expand his power at every level of the U.S. government if he wins in 2024.”

Watch this video….

Could Trump be yet another Mussolini?

Good question and the answer is….

Former senator and MSNBC political analyst Claire McCaskill is comparing former President Donald Trump to fascist leaders such as Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, saying that Trump is “even more dangerous” because of his extreme self-centeredness and lack of political center.

McCaskill made these remarks during a discussion on the New York Times‘ analysis of Trump’s recent rhetoric against his political enemies.

McCaskill pointed out that Trump’s use of derogatory language, such as calling his opponents “vermin,” echoes the tactics employed by Mussolini and Hitler in their drives towards autocracy and dictatorship.

https://okmagazine.com/p/donald-trump-more-dangerous-mussolini-hitler-political-analyst/

From experience we know that Trump hates some Americans….the handicapped, minorities, etc….and demonizing people is what fascists and authoritarians do….every speech he makes seems to be sermon of hate….kinda like the 20s and 30s in Germany.

Donald Trump’s hate sermons are becoming even more intense and combustible. As he comes ever closer to openly quoting Adolf Hitler and the other 20th-century fascists, his behavior is clearly intentional and strategic.

Trump publicly admires and praises tyrants and demagogues and views them as role models. If he returns to power in 2025, he intends to create an American Fourth Reich. Consider Trump’s speeches, interviews and social media posts over the last few weeks.

At a rally in Hialeah, Florida, last Wednesday, Trump painted a picture of a hellish (predominantly white) America overrun by serial killers and other human monsters from foreign (and predominantly nonwhite) countries, insisting that only he could save (white) America from the death and contamination caused by Democrats and “the left.”

https://www.salon.com/2023/11/20/working-reich/

Does Donald the Orange want to set up his own little Reich with him as the master of all?

You bet your ass he does!

Just look at the speech he made on Veterans Day….it smacks of fascism…..period!

Trump’s Veterans Day Speech

Please stop being a blind follower!

Think about the future.

With Trump our future looks pretty damn bleak.

Be Smart!

Learn stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”