{"id":319138,"date":"2025-11-28T08:29:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T08:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=319138"},"modified":"2025-11-30T08:20:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T08:20:33","slug":"this-thanksgiving-in-the-new-normal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=319138","title":{"rendered":"This Thanksgiving in the New Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Off-Guardian \u2013 Nov 22, 2025<\/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<h2><strong>1. Guess who\u2019s back, back again? Bird Flu\u2019s back, tell a friend<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We have a new bird flu scare! Just in time for the Holidays, isn\u2019t that weird?<\/p>\n<p>In the US, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/first-human-dies-of-rare-h5n5-bird-flu-strain-heres-what-you-need-to-know\/\">\u201cfirst ever human fatality\u201d<\/a> was attributed to H5N5 bird flu earlier this week, when an unnamed and ungendered individual (allegedly) succumbed to the disease in Washington State. The deceased was supposedly elderly and dealing with multiple health issues, so one really wonders why they bothered putting it in the papers.<\/p>\n<p>You know, outside the obvious propaganda stuff. For example: Did you know the dead person is supposed to have got bird flu from their backyard chickens? Maybe we should have licenses and registries!<\/p>\n<p>The bird flu scare has already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accuweather.com\/en\/health-wellness\/bird-flu-spike-driving-up-thanksgiving-turkey-prices-experts-warn\/1834324\">driven up the price of turkeys<\/a> in the run-up to Thanksgiving, and lawmakers are calling on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agdaily.com\/news\/lawmakers-urge-usda-to-restore-full-avian-flu-surveillance\/\">USDA to increase bird flu surveillance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On our side of the Atlantic, in just the last week, bird flu cases have popped up in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c208gynejw2o\">Norfolk<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c1m3ml5pv22o\">Wales<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c1j9rjegk4wo\">Kent<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cj9yj9vnje4o\">Nottinghamshire<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miltonkeynes.co.uk\/news\/people\/warning-to-humans-during-bird-flu-outbreak-in-milton-keynes-5417794\">Buckinghamshire<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c04vl4ndld9o?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\">Yorkshire<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/news\/scottish-news\/several-swans-die-cygnets-euthanised-36296667\">Dundee<\/a> in just the last few days, leading to culls of farm birds and wild poultry.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s word this will drive up the price of poultry just before Christmas, and maybe even lead to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/business\/2025\/11\/21\/christmas-turkey-shortage-bird-flu-farms\/\">shortages<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>Isn\u2019t that a terrible twist of fate? That things should conspire to pile expense, stress and anxiety on ordinary people who just want to relax and enjoy the holidays?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2. Enjoy the last Thanksgiving with tax-free Ultra-processed foods<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(25)01566-1\/abstract\">paper has just been published <\/a>warning of the long-term health impacts of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), and demanding changes in policy to <em>\u201chalt and reverse the rise in ultra-processed food production, marketing, and consumption\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Covered in the Lancet, The European Medical Journal, the BBC and others, the literature review claims there is strong evidence linking UPFs to dozens of long-term ailments, including type-2 diabetes and depression and calls them a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2025\/nov\/18\/ultra-processed-food-linked-to-harm-in-every-major-human-organ-study-finds\"> \u201cseismic threat\u201d to public health<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This is an irritating item to cover because there\u2019s some truth in it.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, we know ultra-processed foods \u2013 along with chemical additives and artificial sweeteners \u2013 are very bad for you.<\/p>\n<p>But at the same time, we also know that this only gets mainstream coverage because the elite plan to \u201crebuild our food system\u201d \u2013 which means taxation, carbon credits and rationing.<\/p>\n<p>Case in point, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/general-healthcare\/news\/ultra-processed-foods-threaten-global-human-health-experts-warn\/\">from the EMJ<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">To curb this public health crisis, the series recommends comprehensive, coordinated action. Key measures include: front-of-pack warning labels, marketing restrictions for children, bans on ultra-processed foods in schools and hospitals, and higher taxes on ultra-processed foods [\u2026] Ultra-processed foods represent a global health crisis, affecting both human and planetary health. Experts urge immediate, coordinated policies to reduce consumption, regulate corporate practices, and transform food systems worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>The<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(25)02322-0\/fulltext\"> Lancet Op-ed<\/a> claims we need to \u201creplace self-regulation with mandatory regulation\u201d to protect public health<\/p>\n<p>This has nothing to do with actual public well-being, and everything to do with a totemic worship of \u201cpublic health\u201d to justify massive amounts of social control.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s going to be interesting to see this narrative progress, because it\u2019s going to be very hard to define lab-grown meat or yeast-goo as anything but \u201cultra-processed\u201d, but they\u2019re supposed to save the planet.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>3. \u201cHave your best baby\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>OK, this isn\u2019t Thanksgiving-related but it IS very creepy, and since I have to know about it, I think everyone else should too.<\/p>\n<p>IVF company Nucleus is apparently advertising its services with the slogan <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/e1Fd9\">\u201chave your best baby\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/have-your-best-baby.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt aligncenter size-full wp-image-319139\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/have-your-best-baby.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/have-your-best-baby.png 650w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/have-your-best-baby-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 650px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>\u2026alongside taglines talking up the gene-centric nature of height and IQ.<\/p>\n<p>It is unabashedly eugenicist to the point where I almost question its sincerity, and circle round to wondering if the ads themselves are some strange psy-op.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, it\u2019s weird.<\/p>\n<p>To tie it into our theme, let\u2019s just all be thankful we were born before our parents had the option to dispose of us as short, stupid <em>Untermenschen<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>BONUS: Throwback of the week<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Did you know some people still talk about COVID like it\u2019s a thing? AOL has a map tracking \u201cCOVID activity\u201d in the run-up to Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/covid-sctivity-map-650x597-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt aligncenter size-full wp-image-319140\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/covid-sctivity-map-650x597-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"597\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/covid-sctivity-map-650x597-1.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/covid-sctivity-map-650x597-1-480x441.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 650px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s so <em>retro<\/em>. Like those people who pointedly write on typewriters.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>BONUS II: Bleak video of the week<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>CBS have brought a psychiatrist on board to help teach people how to have awkward conversations with family members.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Privacy-settings.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt aligncenter size-full wp-image-319141\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Privacy-settings.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"610\" height=\"348\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Privacy-settings.png 610w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Privacy-settings-480x274.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 610px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>I\u2019m not going to explain why that\u2019s bleak and depressing.<\/p>\n<h4>Something to <em>actually<\/em> be thankful for<\/h4>\n<p>A new study has shown that former anti-diabetes drug and current weight loss trend Ozempic does nothing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2025\/nov\/24\/novo-nordisk-shares-ozempic-alzheimers-trials-weight-loss-drug\">to slow the course of Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The terrible news caused the share price of pharma giant Novo Nordisk to crash.<\/p>\n<p>Isn\u2019t that a shame? Couldn\u2019t have happened to a nicer guy.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in Spain a new law has been passed reclassifying pets as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/articles\/spain-just-passed-law-saying-193851863.html\">\u201cfamily members\u201d rather than possessions<\/a>. Among other things, pets will no longer be considered part of a household inventory or subject to seizure to settle debts.<\/p>\n<p>As someone who spends a good deal of time looking for someone who is very much a member of the family, I like this news.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*<\/p>\n<p>All told a pretty hectic week for the new normal crowd, and we didn\u2019t even mention <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2025\/11\/26\/tech\/ai-holiday-explainer\">CNN trying to teach us how to explain AI<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/i-tasked-rival-robots-with-cooking-my-thanksgiving-dinner\/\">the coming of the robot chefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends, have a nice Thursday everyone else.<\/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\/2025\/11\/27\/this-thanksgiving-in-the-new-normal-2\/\">Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charting the resurgence of authoritarianism. This week to include a reappearance of Bird Flu and eugenics   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":319143,"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-319138","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\/319138","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=319138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319142,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319138\/revisions\/319142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/319143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}