USA - Since March of 2020, Americans and the world alike have watched from the sidelines as power hungry politicians have ushered in draconian lockdowns, shutdowns, police state measures, and brought the economy to its knees. While governments around the planet used their central banks to devalue their currencies by printing money to fund their tyranny, the US led the way down this road to fiscal horror.

USA - The US is approaching the end of a “superbubble” spanning across stocks, bonds, real estate and commodities following massive stimulus during the COVID pandemic, potentially leading to the largest markdown of wealth in its history once pessimism returns to rule markets, according to legendary investor Jeremy Grantham. “For the first time in the US we have simultaneous bubbles across all major asset classes,” said Grantham, co-founder of investment firm GMO, in a paper Thursday. He estimated wealth losses could total $35 trillion in the US should valuations across major asset classes return two-thirds of the way to historical norms.

USA – The Wall Street Journal reports: From South America’s avocado, corn and coffee farms to Southeast Asia’s plantations of coconuts and oil palms, high fertilizer prices are weighing on farmers across the developing world, making it much costlier to cultivate and forcing many to cut back on production. That means grocery bills could go up even more in 2022, following a year in which global food prices rose to decade highs. An uptick would exacerbate hunger—already acute in some parts of the world because of pandemic-linked job losses—and thwart efforts by politicians and central bankers to subdue inflation.

CHINA - China’s dispute with Lithuania over its recognition of Taiwan attracted a lot of headlines in 2021, and it will surprise few that the repercussions are still rumbling on into the new year. In retaliation for the opening of a “Taiwan representative office” in Vilnius, China has not only downgraded its diplomatic ties with the Baltic country, but has also imposed an unofficial trade embargo in the form of secondary sanctions. Not only is Beijing directly blocking exports to it, but it is also demanding European countries in the Chinese market refrain from supplying to the Baltic country. Very simply, these revelations illustrate that China is effectively winning its dispute with Lithuania and that its economic power is compelling others to demand Vilnius change course. The suggestion that Washington is now urging it to back down should be a sufficient warning. Beijing is humiliating Lithuania, while firmly demonstrating its economic strength...

INDIA - India and Germany are opening a new chapter in their defence and security ties as Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla held maritime security cooperation talks with Germany’s navy chief Kay-Achim Schönbach, and a German frigate entered Indian waters for a rare port call. The developments, seen as a major signal to China, come as Germany strengthens its own Indo-Pacific policy and Berlin identifies New Delhi as one of its key partners in the Indo-Pacific strategic framework. Germany was the second European country after France to unveil its own Indo-Pacific policy in 2020. The German frigate — Bayern — arrived in Indian waters Thursday and will be docked at the Mumbai Port Friday, in a move that’s expected to open a new chapter in India-Germany defence and security ties, sources told ThePrint.

USA - Virginia Democrats are fighting not only to keep sexually explicit materials in public schools but also to kill a bill that would require school boards to notify parents of sexually explicit materials being introduced. Maintaining the ideology behind former Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe’s campaign-ending gaffe saying, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” Virginia Senate President Louise Lucas (Democrat) said, “when it comes to what’s in the curriculum, that should be left to the school boards and to the boards of education. And if a parent wants to opt out, I think they should have the right to do that.” Democrats in Richmond, however, appear steadfast in their defense of these books and their denial of the ability for parents to review the material before being shown to their children.

USA - An Elementary school in Warren County, Ohio is under intense scrutiny from parents and community members after the school decided to allow an after-school Satan club that is being offered by the Satanic Temple to be held on its campus. Rightfully outraged parents are demanding answers after a flyer that invites 5 to 11-year-old Donovan Elementary students to join the demonic club circulated among the school and on social media this week. Per the flyer, the club will hold four gatherings through the spring semester at the elementary school. What is going on? As for the group organizing the event, The Satanic Temple, their co-founder claimed the Satan Club won’t try to convert children to Satanism or force them to worship the devil. Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves told WQAD. “This is an educational program meant to focus on critical thinking and just basic education skills.”

RUSSIA - If Russia were to invade Ukraine, would Germany side with the Russians? For most of our post-war history, that would have been an absurd question, but things are changing fast in Europe. In the wake of recent events, it would not be irrational for Vladimir Putin to bet that if push came to shove, he could count on German neutrality — or even support.

TONGA - Tonga, a tiny Polynesian island nation located deep in the South Pacific, has been struck by a devastating volcanic eruption which subsequently triggered tsunamis. Damage to this small archipelago, home to little more than 105,000 people, has been extensive. The event destroyed its internet cable to the outside world, flattened all of the houses on an entire island, and polluted its water supply with volcanic ash, causing a humanitarian crisis. A number of countries have quickly offered support, including China, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. But that response tells us an unspoken story.

TONGA - Last week's eruption of the volcano near the Pacific island nation of Tonga was 600 times more powerful than the nuke dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in World War II. As a result, the eruption was so loud that many Tongans went deaf after the first explosion. The eruption was so loud that it could be heard across the world, even thousands of miles away in Alaska. On Tuesday, the first satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies showed the tiny island nation is smothered in volcanic ash, and building structures were destroyed after a tsunami. Days later, with limited communications due to a severed undersea communications cable between Tonga and Fiji, pictures showed the devastation on city streets. The island's airport was cleared of ash and fixed on Thursday, allowing New Zealand and Australian military transport planes to deliver generators, hygiene supplies, freshwater, and communications equipment.

USA - This spring, American University students can learn about "the lived experience of madness" and what it means to be "neuroqueer." According to the course description for “Mental Health, Madness, and Neuroqueerness," the class will, “critically examine how ideas about mental health and wellness are situated in systems of colonialism, white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy.” The course will also explore, “the life stories and knowledge of those who have been labeled or claimed the label of mad, neuroqueer, and/or mentally ill,” and “the longer histories of mental health discourses and encounters the lived experience of madness and neurodivergence.” The course falls under the University’s American Studies program and is set to be taught by Professorial Lecturer Tanja Aho, who teaches about "disability and madness, settler colonialism and racial capitalism, and gender and sexuality.” Aho belongs to the university's Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies. Campus Reform has been covering the growing trend of American Universities offering similar queer-focused classes.

GERMANY - A potentially explosive report into the handling of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church will on Thursday be published in Germany, with former pope Benedict XVI among those in the spotlight. The report by law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) will analyse how abuse cases were dealt with in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising between 1945 and 2019. The Munich archdiocese, which commissioned the report, said it will examine "whether those responsible complied with legal requirements... and acted appropriately in dealing with suspected cases and possible perpetrators". Ex-pope Benedict - whose civilian name is Josef Ratzinger - was the archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.

USA - During Wednesday’s edition of the “Dr Phil” show, conservative commentator Matt Walsh exposed the trans community’s pronoun nonsense. Walsh recently released an Amazon chart-topping children’s book that pushes back against the LGBTQ movement confusing kids with gender fluidity. Walsh appeared on the program to debate a non-binary married couple who have become LGBT activists.

USA - The Doomsday Clock was unveiled for the 75th time on Thursday. It stayed at 100 seconds to midnight for the third year in a row, as the world remains the "closest to apocalypse" it has ever been. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board, the clock's keepers, said things COVID-19, climate change, disruptive technologies and threats posed by nuclear weapons were all exacerbated by "a corrupted information ecosphere that undermines rational decision making". They said the decision to keep the time the same as last year "does not, by any means, suggest that the international security situation has stabilised". In its history, the clock has been moved backwards and forwards 24 times, the farthest being 17 minutes to midnight in 1991, the nearest being today's 100 seconds.

USA - On 24 October 1962, an American nuclear chemist, Harrison Brown, started to pen a guest editorial for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists just as the Cuban missile crisis reached its climax. “I am writing on a plane en route from Los Angeles to Washington and for all I know this editorial … may never be published,” Brown said. “Never in history have people and nations been so close to death and destruction on such a vast scale. Midnight is upon us.”