90 Miles From Tyranny

Friday, March 25, 2022

"Mega Emergency" Unfolds For World's Top Coffee Growers As Fertilizer Costs Spike

Coffee farmers worldwide are feeling the pressure of sanctions, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent fertilizer prices soaring, prompting concerns of declining harvests this year.

Bloomberg reports coffee farmers in Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, some of the largest coffee-producing countries in the world, are having trouble affording high fertilizer costs. Some farmers are substituting organic waste as a low-cost solution to nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash fertilizers. The move, however, will result in significantly reduced harvests of the bean.

Readers may recall we published a chart pack over the weekend of how the Ukrainian conflict and resulting sanctions by western countries on Russia have choked the world of natural resources, sending prices of commodities higher as traders fear shortages.

One chart shows that Russian fertilizer exports end up in South America, a top coffee-producing region.

We noted in a separate piece that Brazil, the world's top coffee producer, imports more than 85% of its fertilizer demand. Russia is its leading supplier, and Belarus provides 28% of the total. High prices for the nutrient and or even reduced shipments because of sanctions could jeopardize the world's coffee harvest this year.

"The situation represents a mega emergency for our members," said Fatima Ismael, general manager of the Nicaraguan coffee cooperative Soppexcca in Jinotega.

Prices for arabica in New York are flat on the year but could soon increase as fuel and fertilizer prices skyrocket. The Green Markets North American Fertilizer Index is up a little more than 30% this year, and crude oil is up 50%. Fertilizer and fuel are two major cost factors in cultivating coffee.

Xinia Chaves, executive director of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute, warns that insufficient fertilizer will reduce farmers' yields this year.

Rodrigo Vargas, president of Doka Estate in Costa Rica, said his farm needs 1,400 tons of fertilizer to produce 40,000 bags of coffee each harvest. Due to soaring prices, he'll be spreading less fertilizer on the soil and understands this will hurt yields.

Arabica coffee prices have risen 86% over the last two years due to adverse weather conditions affecting Brazilian harvests and...

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China Closer to Dominating Southeast Asia

While the world is preoccupied with Ukraine, China continues to make aggressive moves in the South China Sea, almost the entirety of which China claims to be part of its territory. One of China's most controversial moves in the area has been to build artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago and then proceed, despite promises to the contrary, to militarize them.

"China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment, and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby... that buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region." — US Admiral John C. Aquilino, Associated Press, March 21, 2022.
"Relevant construction activity that China is undertaking does not target or impact any country and there is no intention to militarize." — Communist Chinese President Xi Jinping, in 2015, The Times, March 21, 2022.
"[T]his presents a security risk to all countries in southeast Asia... where China has now built itself the capacity to control the skies and control the sea lanes through that region very effectively... It reflects the overall growth of the Chinese military... control of the South China Sea would be a major step for the PRC in prosecuting a military campaign against Taiwan. It certainly makes it much harder for the United States for example to get its military forces closer to Taiwan... it really becomes a mechanism to control all of southeast Asia, this is a region of ten countries, 650 million people... if you are the military dominant power in the South China Sea you dominate south east Asia. That at least was the strategic thinking of the Japanese in the Second World War and I think it is the strategic thinking of China right now." — Peter Jennings, Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, interview with ABC Radio Australia, March 22, 2022.
The drill coincided with China's announcement of its annual military budget for 2022, according to which China will be increasing its defense spending by 7.1% to $230 billion, up from a 6.8% increase the year before.... The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has found that China consistently under-reports its actual defense budget.
China, however, is not transparent about what its defense budget includes -- and does not include.
"Beijing conducts dozens of operations in its neighbors' EEZs every year which, if civilian in nature, are illegal or, if military, are exactly what China claims other countries are not allowed to do in its own EEZ." — Greg Poling, Center for Strategic and International Studies, rfa.org, March 1, 2022.

"China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment, and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby.... They have advanced all their capabilities and that buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region."

The South China Sea covers roughly 3.5 million square kilometers, and is estimated to have deposits under the seabed of around 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil, in addition to (fast declining) fishing stocks that are estimated to generate $100 billion annually. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague firmly rejected China's claims of sovereignty over the South China Sea.

China, however, has never accepted the court's authority, and continues to pursue sovereignty over the sea, parts or all of which are claimed by other countries in the area, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

"The ruling is illegal and null and void. China does not accept or recognize it," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said as recently as January 2022.

"China has historical rights in the South China Sea. China's sovereignty and related rights and interests in the South China Sea have been established in a long period of history and are consistent with international law."

Wang's comments were in response to a US State Department report, "Limits in the Seas", released in January, which presented the US view that China's claim is inconsistent with international law and has no legal basis.

One of China's most controversial moves in the area has been to...

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Don't Miss The Bonus Video:

New education standards in the state of Illinois call for children as young as 8 years of age to be taught how to masturbate and to learn about drugs that can be used to induce their so-called gender transition.

The standards were developed as a result of Senate Bill 818, which was signed into law by Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker last year. He claimed it was a reform that would modernize the state’s “sex education standards will help keep our children safe and ensure important lessons like consent and internet safety are taught in classrooms.”

The measure would do this, according to Pritzker, by bringing Illinois’ “sexual health education into the 21st century by adding new personal health and safety education standards in kindergarten through 5th grade, and making comprehensive health education more inclusive in grades 6 through 12.”

The result is these new standards, which are being exposed by the popular Libs of Tik Tok Twitter account. The standards claim that children in the third grade should be able to “outline and explain the differences between gender, transgender, gender non binary, gender and gender identity” and to “explain that gender aggression and gender identity exist along a spectrum,” according to a summary released by IPS.

There is also a vulgar representation of a “gingerbread person” in the standards that is filled with reprehensible propaganda meant to groom children into the satanic LGBT agenda.

Some of the new educational standards can be seen here:

Big League Politics has reported on how the Pritzker family uses their wealth to...

Visage à trois #139

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Three Additional Bonus Videos:

A number of counties in Florida have opened investigations into whether convicted felons, ineligible to vote, cast votes in the 2020 presidential election.

A Politico report this week confirmed that investigations are underway after researcher Mark Glaeser began crossing-checking Florida voter lists against lists of the state’s convicted sex offenders and felons still in the Alachua County, Florida, jail.

In one such case, an election official in Alachua County is accused of registering felons to vote at the county jail despite their being ineligible.

Politico reports:

The probes or investigations are in varying stages, with some county supervisors forwarding information to local prosecutors and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or handing it off to the Department of State. But it appears dozens of potentially illegal voters have been flagged in counties such as Alachua, Duval, Gadsden, Leon and Lake.

…

“As such, it is quite possible that some individuals who voted in the 2020 General Election had not satisfied all legal financial obligations or were otherwise ineligible under the parameters of the restoration of voting rights framework,” said Mallory Morgan, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Laurel Lee. “Eligibility screening continues without ceasing and the Department is hopeful that new FTE positions sought in this year’s budget will assist with this work, which expanded significantly in terms of time and complexity following the passage of Amendment 4 in 2018.” [Emphasis added]

Morgan added that the department was aware that several counties had received information and noted that they have power to forward complaints to local prosecutors. FDLE, meanwhile, has acknowledged that it investigated — and forwarded a report to local prosecutors — regarding allegations that a former employee with Alachua’s election office registered people at the jail even though some had felony convictions.

Employees of Miami-Dade Elections Department scan the votes for counting during Florida Primary Election amid the coronavirus pandemic, at Miami-Dade Elections Department in Miami, Florida on August 18, 2020. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

In November 2018, Florida voters approved an amendment that restored voting rights to potentially 1.5 million convicted felons excluding those who committed murder or sex crimes. The amendment changed state law that had previously placed a lifetime ban on convicted felons voting in local, state, and federal elections.

This year, at the behest of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Florida legislators approved a measure to set up the Office of Election Crimes and Security to “investigate, detect, apprehend, and arrest anyone for an alleged violation” based on election fraud tips from the public.

Aside from felons, the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) has been uncovering records showing foreign nationals on state voter rolls in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, New Jersey, and California.

Most recently, PILF reached a settlement with North Carolina election officials to disclose the number of foreign nationals on the state’s voter rolls.

In Florida, PILF has found...

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #312

Federal Court Rules in Favor of UNT Professor Fired for Criticizing Microaggression Policy

We previously discussed concerns over free speech on the campus of the University of North Texas, including the canceling of an event on child gender transitioning. Students and faculty were not content to protest such events but acted to prevent others from hearing opposing views. Now, the university itself has lost a critical motion in a free speech case brought by Mathematics Professor Nathaniel Hiers after his contract was not renewed due to his criticism of the school’s microaggression policies. Judge Sean Jordan ruled that Professor Hiers may proceed to trial on his free speech claim.

Professor Hiers sued the Board of Regents of the University of North Texas after it told him that it did not renew his contract due to his criticism of the policy. Mathematics Department Chair Professor Ralf Schmidt expressly stated that “[m]y decision not to continue your employment in the spring semester was based on your actions in the grad lounge on 11/26 [2019], and your subsequent response.”

That is a reference to a controversy when a copy of the school’s microaggression policy was called “trash” on a blackboard in the graduate lounge. The court included the picture in its opinion:

When Schmidt sent around a demand for the person responsible to step forward, Hiers publicly accepted responsibility. He was later canned.

We have previously discussed microaggression policies and the concerns over free speech over their fluid definition and controversial examples. I have had debates over such policies and I am often struck by the difficulty of those on the other side to clearly define the scope of the term. That lack of clarity (and the subjectivity of some of the term) creates a chilling effect on free speech. Free speech demands bright lines to avoid self-censorship and coerced silence.

This policy contains many such examples including referring to America as a “melting pot” or saying “there is only one race, the human race.” It includes clear political speech like “calling affirmative action racist.” They are all microaggressions and could be used as the basis for...

FORT PIERCE, FL – According to reports, a lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, on March 24th by none other than former President Donald Trump, which the suit is taking aim at Hillary Clinton and others over their repeated claims that Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

Often dubbed as the “Russia hoax” that plagued Trump’s presidency for most of his term, the negative impacts caused by this oft-repeated narrative can’t be understated – and Trump is now seeking justice in the matter.

Named in the lawsuit is Clinton, her 2016 campaign, campaign aides of hers at the time, former FBI Director James Comey, the Democratic National Committee and a handful of others, as Trump’s suit alleges they all played a role in knowingly manufacturing this false Russian collusion conspiracy.

“In the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton and her cohorts orchestrated an unthinkable plot – one that shocks the conscience and is an affront to this nation’s democracy. Acting in concert, the Defendants maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that their Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty.”

Outside of spinning the unfounded Russian collusion narrative, the suit accuses Clinton and others of the outrageous methods they employed to further the narrative of Trump colluding with Russia.

“The actions taken in furtherance of their scheme—falsifying evidence, deceiving law enforcement, and exploiting access to highly-sensitive data sources—are so outrageous, subversive and incendiary that even the events of Watergate pale in...