USA - Amid scorching temperatures which have hovered above 100 degrees all week, one Texas city has had its water supply shut off for multiple days running. What started as a possibly 48-hour local crisis for Odessa, a West Texas town long known for oil production, has gained national media attention at a time of severe record-breaking heat waves in various parts of the US. The crisis is now pushing toward a full week of over 120,000 residents having no water supplying their homes and businesses, as Axios reports Saturday: After a major water line break struck the city of more than 122,000 people amid scorching temperatures, local officials warned residents to protect themselves against the "imminent threat" of "widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property." "It’s an aging infrastructure that we’re seeing. It’s a cast iron pipe, and so those are typically more susceptible to breaks than other new technologies like PVC pipe that’s going in the ground," the city manager was cited as saying this week. Odessa, TX is currently experiencing a water shortage due to mass infrastructure failures.

USA - Diesel prices hit another new record high on Father’s Day at $5.816/gallon. The costs for gas and diesel has yet to hit the American consumer with inflation already at a 40-year high under Joe Biden. In May The Gateway Pundit warned that major trucking firms were bracing for diesel shortages in the eastern half of the United States. The experts are blaming the emergency on Joe Biden and Democrats. And now the shortages have arrived. East coast truckers are stranded on the highway waiting for gas. The highway oasis gas stations are out of diesel. Now there are diesel shortages. This is not going to end well.

USA - As the US national average price of gasoline hits $5 per gallon, higher fuel exports out of America are additionally sapping domestic fuel inventories, which are already at multi-year lows. Reduced refining capacity since the start of COVID, low inventories, and strong post-COVID demand, alongside $120 a barrel crude, have sent US gasoline prices soaring over the past months to reach a record-breaking $5 a gallon on average. Refiners have boosted exports of refined petroleum products this year, especially to Latin America, which isn’t getting much fuel these days from Europe, which in turn is grappling with its own set of fuel supply troubles with the sanctions and embargoes on Russian oil after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Exports of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from the US Gulf Coast were up by 32 percent in March, April, and May compared to those three months of 2021, and up 11 percent compared to those months in the pre-pandemic 2019, data from market-intelligence firm Kpler cited by The Wall Street Journal showed.

UK - Russia and the UK haven’t engaged one another directly in battle since the Crimean War of 1853-1856. It was that conflict which became the subject of Lord Alfred Tennyson’s famous poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, the disastrous cavalry charge against Russian troops during the 1854 Battle of Balaklava which nearly wiped out British forces. Britain must prepare to return to continental Europe to fight and win a conflict against Russia, General Sir Patrick Sanders, the new Chief of the General Staff of the British Army, has said. “There is now a burning imperative to forge an Army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle. Russian officials have accused the West of sending billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware to Ukraine to prolong the crisis as long as possible, and “fight Russia to the last Ukrainian” through the proxy conflict. The Russian military has warned that it will destroy Western arms deliveries and foreign mercenaries.

SWITZERLAND - Global atomic weapon spending saw a significant increase in 2021 according to the latest International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) report published on Tuesday. In just one year, the nine nuclear-armed nations - US, China, Russia, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United Kingdom – spent a total of $82.4 billion on upgrading and maintaining their estimated 13,000 nuclear weapons, marking a 9% hike from the year before, according to ICAN’s estimates. The report goes on to question why and how these countries spent so much on nuclear weaponry amid myriad global issues such as food and energy shortages, but comes to the conclusion that the biggest driver of nuclear weapon spending was not security concerns but, rather, business interests.

USA - Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for policy, said Tuesday that a Chinese “act of aggression” against Taiwan would likely see a global response similar to what the US and its allies have done in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Potential adversaries and aggressors everywhere else in the world are looking at the global response in Ukraine,” Kahl said at an event hosted by the hawkish Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank.

USA - We were foolish enough to believe we could water the entire southwestern US with the Colorado River. Nothing could go wrong. Now it has, and tens of millions of people are staring down the barrel of real trouble. As much as 75% of the water from Lake Mead (fed by the Colorado River) goes to agriculture… so now we have a potential food production problem. Major cities like Las Vegas depend on that water for its citizens… now we have a potential personal survival problem for local residents. More than 40 million people in seven states need to decide how they go on living if the rains do not return. Is anyone worried? Is there an emergency management team in place? Doesn’t seem that way if you review the local news there. Are they prepared? No. Maybe 3% of the population has anything in place for survival. What do they do? Where do they go? Is Kansas ready for an influx of evacuees from California? Can the East Coast handle another few million people?

USA - Unless you have a farmer in your family, or in your circle of friends and contacts, chances are that you are among the millions of people in the United States that seldom give thought to how the food you buy and eat is produced. Ask the typical American where the food on their table comes from, and probably 99.9% of them will answer: the grocery store. The grocery store is a modern-day retail outlet that most of our forefathers did not enjoy. Prior to the industrial age post WWII, most neighborhoods had local businesses and farmers who supplied the bulk of that community’s food, from the milkman who delivered dairy products, to the town butcher who processed meat, to the town baker who produced products from grains, etc.

USA - Pennsylvania farmers are being "crushed" by the record cost of diesel - so much so, that questions about a food crisis are starting to loom, the Morning Call reported. One farmer in Lehigh County is quoted as saying: “I’ve got a tractor hooked up to my corn planter out here, no diesel fuel, and I can’t afford to get any.” Kotzmoyer lamented the possibility of a food shortage: “One, if they can’t afford to put it in the ground. Or, two, if they can’t afford to take it out.” The PA average for diesel is now $6.19 per gallon, up about 75% from a year ago, the report notes. It is a “huge, huge expense” for farmers, Kotzmoyer told state legislators. One farmer who works on about 3,500 acres burns through about 2,000 gallons of diesel per month, he said. “If the farmers cannot get crops out of the ground, then there is not food on the shelves.”

USA - Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order aimed at harassing Republican states like Florida and Texas because they want to protect children from groomers. “Hateful discriminatory laws that target children are out of line with where the American people are, and President Biden is going to use his authority to protect kids and families,” a senior White House official said, according to The Hill. This is what Biden is focused on amid a baby formula shortage, tampon shortage, soaring gas prices and record high inflation rates. Biden mumbled as he signed the executive order. He had no clue what he was signing. “Advancing equality for liberation, gay — for, excuse me, for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex individuals. That’s what I’m about to sign,” Biden said.

USA - I have previously written that if the Supreme Court does strike down the infamous Roe vs Wade abortion decision, that this will NOT decrease abortions in the United States, but actually increase them. The issue of abortion will now be dealt with at the State level, and some states, like California, will increase abortion services and become “Abortion Tourism States.” In states that restrict or ban abortions altogether, look for legislation to be adopted that forces employers or the state to pay for pregnant employees who want abortions that are illegal in their state to travel to one of these “Abortion Tourism” states. It will open up a whole new market to make money off of abortions in the US. In California, the State Assembly just passed AB 2223 which will also probably pass the Senate and be signed into law by Governor Newsom, which approves abortions not only through the 3rd trimester, but also after birth in what are called “perinatal deaths.”

USA - Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, remain tightly in the grip of the oligarchy, which in 1993 Lewis Lapham described as: “that 2% of the population who own the media and the banks, manage the government, operate the universities, print the money, write the laws and, every four years, hire a President.” The Republican and Democrat parties, as presently constituted, do not want the United States to function as a constitutional republic accountable to the people because it inhibits their ability to accrue personal power and profit for themselves and their financial backers. Stated simply, an oligarchy is incompatible with a functioning constitutional republic. They are mutually exclusive.

EUROPE - The heads of state of three great European powers – Germany, France and Italy – arrived in Kyiv this week, and unexpectedly re-enacted one of history’s most tragic farces. In 1938, the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and his French counterpart Edouard Daladier betrayed Czechoslovakia by handing Adolf Hitler a portion of that country in a bid to avert a second world war. Today, standing in for these unenviable roles, are Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron and Mario Draghi.

RUSSIA - A mystery blaze has broken out at Russia’s largest gas field, sending flames shooting into the air sparking concerns the inferno could hit Europe’s gas supply. The dramatic moment was caught on camera and showed the country’s Urengoiskoye deposit in the far east engulfed in a giant fireball. A blaze in a nearby location last year saw gas prices in Europe shoot up by six percent. Gazprom officials said today that the major fire had been extinguished, however, it was unclear from officials what damage had been sustained. They also shied away from explaining what knock-on effect the blaze would have on gas supplies to Europe, which are at already high prices and causing economic hardship. It is the latest in a series of blazes at key Russian installations during the war with Ukraine.

USA - The 'Ruth Sent Us' group hinted at targeting supreme court justice barrett's children, church. Pro-choice group ‘Ruth Sent Us’ hinted at targeting protests at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett after the attempted attack on Justice Brett Kavanaugh. ‘Ruth Sent Us’ posted a call for demonstrations at Barrett's home and church in response to speculation that she will concur with a previously leaked draft court opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade. A Department of Homeland Security report said the Supreme Court draft opinion has unleashed a wave of threats against officials and others and increased the likelihood of extremist violence. "If you’re in the DC metro area, join us. Our protests at Barrett’s home moved the needle to this coverage," the group said on Twitter. ‘Ruth Sent Us’ specifically noted the Barrett family's daily schedule and the school her children attend.