{"id":284734,"date":"2024-04-01T07:40:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T07:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=284734"},"modified":"2024-04-03T07:49:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T07:49:09","slug":"this-easter-in-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=284734","title":{"rendered":"This Easter in the New Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Off-Guardian \u2013 March 31, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Our successor to <em>This Week in the Guardian<\/em>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/category\/this-week-in-the-new-normal\/\">This Week in the New Normal<\/a><\/em> is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Climate Change is altering time!!!<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A new study published this week caused multiple papers to run headlines along these lines:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Climate change is altering Earth\u2019s rotation enough to mess with our clocks<\/p>\n<p>That particularly egregious example is from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/science\/2024\/03\/27\/leap-second-melting-poles-climate-time\/\">the Washington Post<\/a>, but CNN, the New York Times the BBC and many others went the same way with it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s pathetic clickbait nonsense. Here\u2019s an accurate summary of the situation:<\/p>\n<p>The truth is that micro-alterations in the speed of the Earth\u2019s rotation mean we add and remove so-called \u201cleap seconds\u201d every few years. They have added 27 seconds in this fashion in the last 45 years. They were due to add another in 2026, but new calculations show it may not be needed until 2029.<\/p>\n<p>One study <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-024-07170-0.epdf?sharing_token=0eGECVHl_wr9ZzO1DmJ3cdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0M8eI6W1yLpWHEpE-RIkTCyYE2WIbRIkp2z3i1LfYhEU8E2ZlgGO4sb6UL7JH46wKqxJIWnXIdxyrx2wD_A6hsU0V885p4ZpCbd1ZzxDzqhjc2cKGh7tFwffk8DJgLJ6cCVK2%20\">published in Nature<\/a> claims this <em>potential<\/em> change <em>might possibly<\/em> be caused by melting ice caps which are <em>allegedly<\/em> due to climate change which is <em>theoretically<\/em> anthropogenic.<\/p>\n<p>So while the papers report <em>\u201cclimate change is altering our time\u201d<\/em>, the more accurate headline would be <em>\u201cour time is altering less than we expected, and one guy thinks maybe it\u2019s because of climate change.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But I guess that\u2019s not a catchy title.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. \u201cFlexitarian\u201d Diets to save us from climate change<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Speaking of climate change, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/environment\/2024\/mar\/27\/flexitarian-diets-global-warming-climate-change\">the Guardian reported<\/a> earlier this week that:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Plant-heavy \u2018flexitarian\u2019 diets could help limit global heating<\/p>\n<p>Yes, yet another study has found yet another establishment-serving conclusion:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The researchers found that adopting a flexitarian diet could lower methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture and lower the impacts of food production on water, nitrogen and biodiversity. This in turn could reduce the economic costs related to human health and ecosystem degradation and cut GHG emissions pricing, or what it costs to mitigate carbon, by 43% in 2050. The dietary shift models also show limiting peak warming to about 1.5C can be achieved by 2045 with less carbon dioxide removal, compared with if we maintain our current diets.<\/p>\n<p>For those of you wondering, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbcgoodfood.com\/howto\/guide\/what-flexitarian-diet\">\u201cflexitarian diet\u201d<\/a> is supposedly a diet which <em>\u201cfocuses on whole, plant-based proteins and other minimally processed foods, while enjoying meat, dairy, eggs and fish in moderation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s basically how they are going to pitch quasi-forced vegetarianism to people who don\u2019t want to stop eating red meat.<\/p>\n<p>The Guardian article quotes Professor Jason Hill of Minnesota University, who gives us a hint on how they plan to subtly twist the rhetoric on red meat [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cThe overall food system has many players\u2026There\u2019s the producers, the consumers who choose what to eat, and in the US especially, the government, which supports the type of agriculture that leads to <u>excess production of red meat<\/u>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>See, they\u2019re not going to forcibly reduce the amount of red meat people eat to the point of near-rationing, they\u2019re just going to stop \u201cexcess production\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Slimy language.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Baltimore Bridge Collapse\u2026the first of many?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>You likely already know about the cargo ship crashing into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing a collapse of a huge section of the span.<\/p>\n<p>The internet has been abuzz with theories and discussions. The predictable crowd are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/baltimore-key-bridge-collapse-maria-bartiromo-immigration-b2519268.html\">blaming immigrants<\/a>, and others blaming capitalism. Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was a conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p>Did you see it in <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/factcheck\/2024\/03\/29\/no-key-bridge-in-obama-film\/73135338007\/\">that Obama film<\/a>? Was it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/no-evidence-cyberattack-baltimore-ship-213454287.html\">because of a cyber attack<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the truth of the situation, there\u2019s no denying it\u2019s already being used to further the ever-present anti-human agenda, specifically the forced scarcity driving up prices. As the Daily Mail reports, the collapse has<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-13245225\/Baltimore-Francis-Scott-Key-Bridge-collapse-port-shipping-supply-chain.html\"> <em>\u201cwreaked havoc on the supply chain\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Global shipping has been being sabotaged for a few years now with crises \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2024\/3\/27\/24112995\/baltimore-bridge-collapse-dali-shipping-panama-houthis\">or claimed crises<\/a> \u2013 being blamed for a quite deliberate policy of increasing the basic cost of living.<\/p>\n<p>CNN is now warning that <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/03\/30\/business\/americas-bridges-climate-infrastructure\/index.html\">\u201c1 in 13\u201d of America\u2019s bridges<\/a> are vulnerable to such collisions. Is this true? Will there be more \u201caccidents\u201d? Will there be some super-corrupt trillion-dollar \u201cbridge refurbishment bill\u201d passed in the near future?<\/p>\n<p>Or are they just trying to scare people?<\/p>\n<p>The situation mirrors the Boeing \u201cleaks\u201d, which I half suspect were put about to discourage people from flying.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>BONUS: Missed point of the week<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Today CNN published this piece on the <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/03\/31\/us\/jesus-christ-skin-color-easter-blake-cec\/index.html\">historical Jesus\u2019 skin color<\/a>, and rarely has a point been so thoroughly missed. It contains this beauty of a sentence:<\/p>\n<p>In a rapidly diversifying multicultural America, more Christians want to see a Jesus that looks like them.<\/p>\n<p>Never before has our society\u2019s collapse into a self-worshipping narcissism been better illustrated.<\/p>\n<p>If you can only relate to the Jesus who looks like you, there\u2019s no hope for you anymore.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>It\u2019s not all bad\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s Easter, the chocolate-delivering rabbit has been, daffodils are flowering and Ben Hur is being endured the world over. That\u2019s nice to think about, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<p>I made a carrot cake.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s some Beethoven.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aW-7CqxhnAQ?si=obuu-aiABcrtmWVO\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n&#8212;<\/div>\n<p>All told a pretty hectic Easter week for the new normal crowd, and we didn\u2019t even mention hot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/lifestyle\/food-drink\/brits-warned-common-error-could-32460329\">cross buns being a fire hazard<\/a> or TikTok\u2019s new campaign against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/tiktok-facts-b2519772.html\">\u201cmisinformation\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of change in the air, a lot of agendas in the works, if you see a headline, article, post or interview you think is a sign of the times, post it in the comments, <a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/submissions\/\">email us<\/a> or share it on social media and we will add it to the next edition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Support Off-Guardian:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/offguardian\">Ko-fi<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.subscribestar.com\/offguardian\">Subscribestar<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=CKFB3MH8CGB9U\">Paypal<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2024\/03\/31\/this-easter-in-the-new-normal-2\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charting the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":280317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=284734"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284737,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284734\/revisions\/284737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/280317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=284734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=284734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=284734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}