#egg prices soar

[reasoningdaily]

As they were in 2021, egg prices in the US were exceptionally high in November and December 2022. This was due to several major factors, and there hasn’t been much change in these factors so far in 2023. Poultry World has the latest on the many factors causing huge increases in the retail price of US eggs and looks at what’s ahead.

In November, US consumers started noticing an exceptional increase in the price of table eggs and major media outlets reported that the national average price for a dozen hit US$ 3.59, up from US$ 1.72 a year earlier.

At that point, high prices were being driven up to some extent by holiday festivities and baking demands, but most of the price increase was due to the continued upswings in feed, fuel and labour costs (i.e., inflation). In addition, supply was obviously limited due to the widespread outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) across the US. These outbreaks have so far resulted in over 58 million birds being culled.

The national flock is recovering, and Nathan Jervey, spokesperson at the American Egg Board (AEB) industry association, reports: “The US Department of Agriculture estimates that at the start of February, we were sitting at 303 million. We typically have 320 million laying hens at any given time”. That’s a current difference of about 9%. So although farms are getting back to normal, US egg supplies have also been negatively affected in at least 2 states due to fires.

Forsman Farms in Minnesota, an operation that sold more than 3 million eggs a day to some of the largest retailers in the US, was hit by fire in May 2022. In January 2023, Hillendale Farms, Connecticut’s largest supplier of eggs, went up in flames resulting in the death of about 100,000 hens, with cage-free mandates from California and Massachusetts also adding to the tight supply situation.

A closer look

As indicated, some of the factors causing these high egg prices in the US include rising feed, fuel and labour costs. There are also higher packaging costs and supply chain constraints. But which of these are likely to be most impactful and which could ease for any reason, going forward this year?

“As each farming operation is different and located in different parts of the country, it would be inappropriate for me to hazard a guess as to how each element factors into the cost for consumers,” explains Jervey. “Along those same lines, I can’t speak to them easing but can say that inflation is cooling, as noted by the consumer price index (CPI).”

The CPI is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. In December, the CPI dropped by 0.1% after the seasonal adjustment, while, without seasonal adjustment, it had risen by 6.5% over the last 12 months.

AEB cannot predict the price of eggs this year, but Jervey says: “Demand has remained high, as evidenced by the retail volume of shell eggs remaining constant year-over-year.”

As to whether more HPAI outbreaks will affect prices, Jervey says, “it’s hard to say” and reiterates: “Prices reflect several factors. The good news is that our farms are recovering quickly.”

An agricultural economist’s view

Dr Jada Thompson, an agricultural economist at the University of Arkansas, has been closely following egg price developments. While she noted that egg price relief might come from egg farmers steadily replacing their lost flocks, she also observes that: “Feed, fuel and labour are all still higher than 2021 levels. Feed prices were up by about 13-23% year-over-year for corn and soybeans [in 2022]. That is a substantial part of the cost of producing an egg. These factors will continue to affect egg prices.”

However, at the same time, Thompson expects egg prices in 2023 to drop below the higher prices seen in 2021 and in November-December 2022. “I don’t think we’ll hit the 2021 lower prices with the higher feed, fuel and labour costs,” she says. “The issue is that we will likely have more HPAI outbreaks, but it seems the industry is working on pre-emptive supply planning to try to ease some of the potential supply shocks. Only time will tell how many birds will be impacted or the effect on prices this year.”

Thompson reminds us that this particular HPAI strain is troublesome because of its longevity. “If it affects the poultry industry, and specifically the layer industry, like it did last year, we would likely see shorter supplies which would drive the price up,” she explains.

“The silver lining is that with replenishment efforts working double time to try to get layers back on track, there may be hope that if the layer industry can keep a bit ahead of HPAI this year, this will limit the pricing impact,” she added.

[gothhabiba]

The immediate impact of the Israeli occupation was to exacerbate unemployment: service jobs for the Egyptian army and UN forces vanished, trade with Egypt halted, and the port was closed. Moreover, since the combined GNP of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip was only 2.6 percent of the Israeli GNP in 1967, they faced inevitable integration into the Israeli economy as the occuption continued. Furthermore, Israeli policies increased the Strip's dependency. These practices included permitting only certain Gaza products to be sold within Israel, flooding the Gaza market with Israeli goods, restructuring Gaza's agriculture, and encouraging Arab laborers to work in Israel.

The Balance and Composition of Trade. After only one year of occupation, 72 percent of Gaza's imports came from Israel; no imports were allowed from Egypt, and 1 percent of its imports came from Jordan (the balance came from Europe). This represented a dramatic shift, since all the prewar trade had been either directly with Egypt or with Europe and Asia through the Gaza port. [...]

A decade later the shift in trading patterns was even more pronounced. [...] 91 percent of imports came from Israel, and nothing was imported from Jordan or Egypt. [...] Dates, strawberries, and vegetables were also sold to Israel, and local industries engaged in subcontracting for Israeli firms.

Agriculture and industry were both hard hit by Israeli competition. Israeli eggs, poultry, and even vegetables sell at lower prices than local produce, and virtually all canned and bottled goods come from Israel. [...]

A 15 percent excise tax and soaring inflation erode the profits of merchants and factory owners. Gazans have no way to hedge against inflation, since the Israeli shekel is the only legal tender on the Strip.

Restructuring Agriculture. Israel has prevented farmers from exporting to Israel any items that compete with Israeli produce and has imposed restrictions on the planting of certain crops. As a result, the output of melons, onions, grapes, almonds, olives, and fish has decreased. Farmers need permits to plant trees and vegetables.

[...] The government has encouraged production of some specialized crops, such as strawberries and dates. Farmers in Beit Lahiya village say that they were ordered to grow strawberries and would otherwise have been prevented from using their land and well. These strawberries are marketed exclusively through Ashkelon port by the Israeli export firm Agrexco. No permits, however, have been given to farmers to plant such crops as mangoes and avocados, which are also grown in Israel.

Arab Labor in Israel. In 1970, 10 percent of the Gaza labor force was employed in Israel, but at present approximately 40 percent (35,000 persons) work there. This includes 25,000 workers who are registered with the official labor exchange and another 10,000 who work illegally. The high unemployment within the Strip and the fact that wages inside Israel were five times those in the Strip made such employment irresistible.

[...] Even those holding regular jobs face difficult conditions. For example, it is illegal for them to remain inside Israel from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. But employers and workers collude in circumventing the law so that the workers will not have to spend several hours every day commuting. Farmers let laborers sleep in huts, abandoned buses, or even in the open under the orange trees. In town, workers jam into hostels, sleep on construction sites, or spread out on the floor in restaurants. There have been cases of disasters when workers locked into factories at night were unable to escape when fires broke out. [...]

The overall impact of Israeli economic policy is to turn the Gaza Strip into a large labor camp. The Strip is a source of cheap labor for Israel and its internal economic base is continually eroded.

– 1985. Ann M. Lesch, "Gaza: Forgotten Corner of Palestine." Journal of Palestine Studies 15.1, pp. 43-61. Emphasis mine.

[malleusarcanum]

⚠️: make sure you're not eating

Mc: *pulled the wrist of Sebek vigorously* you owe me a brief discussion about-

Sebek: Human! Why would you come up with such uncommon subject.

Mc: What? I haven't said much...

Sebek: don't underestimate my knowledge my human friend. I already know what your discussions about.

Mc:....

Sebek: do you really want to discuss this.

Mc: Ahh.. yes that's what I'm here for

Sebek: Well if that's what you desire

Mc: ???

*Sebek looked at his pants and starts to unlock his belt*

Mc: what are you doing?

Sebek: discussing about my brief---

*almost unziping his pants*

Mc:what?!!! THE HECK!! THATs NOT IM---

*stopped after hearing the creak of the door then looked who opened it*

Riddle: Disgraceful...

Trey : Why only...the two of you?

Deuce: What..

Cater: the...

Ace: F***

Vil: the bird is ready to soar

Rook: Je n’en reviens pas!

Epel: the horror

Jack:?!

Leona: Why not mine?

Ruggie: Not the time for those

Azul: My contracts are available for memory erasure...

Floyd: this is more worse than on tv

Jade: you just said what's on my mind.

Ortho: hey I can't see! *Jeered while struggling to take off Idia's hand on his eyes*

Idia: some things in this world are not meant for little ones

Jamil: We should have rescheduled this meeting

Kalim: So that's why they're missing

Silver: I wish this is just a dream.

Lilia: Mc! Sebek! How could you?!!!

Mc: T-this was j-just a misunderstanding!!

Jade: tsk, tsk tsk looks like she is no longer innocent

Floyd: Off all creatures?! Why Sebek!

Sebek: Well she said about brief discussions....

*all of their heads turned to Mc waiting for an explanation with eyes almost aching to kill*

Mc: not in a literal way!!! it means I need to talk to him about something!!!

All of them: about? *Eyes still fixing on Mc with disbelief*

Mc: about..... * Doesn't want to tell the secret only Sebek knows. That they broke the queen of hearts statue.*

Leona: alright I'll forgive you as long as you ask mine?

Riddle: as if she'd ask to a potato sack.

Ruggie: speak for yourself tomato head!

Ace: No one talks to riddle like that! Except me...

Jack: were you saying something? *Said while punching his fist together*

Deuce: Why can't you shut your mouth in times of trouble? *whispered to ace*

Ace: I can't stop when I'm pissed!

Deuce: then control yourself! I'm not a babysitter watching out a kid bragging nonsense.

*they started to fight and all of them watched as they do*

*Floyd secretly hold the hand of mc out of the meeting room*

Floyd: Let's get out of here shrimpy

Lilia: Hey! Where'you taking her?!

*Lilia's voice is too loud it reached everyone's ears and their eyes fumed once they saw Floyd ready for battle*

Vil: So this is a battle to whom apple will do it.

Mc: D*mmit just stop the nonsense

Azul: can't hold back to such divine price

Kalim: Charge!

*they fought at each other, throwing various magic while speaking sharp interactions that filled the room with war like scenery*

*Mc wrenched it jaws*

Mc: When I count to three and no one stops!

*Thinking of what can make them stop*

Mc: No one will receive a lick on a neck from my own tongue!!!!

Mc: one!

*they already stopped*

Mc: .....

Mc: Curse you d*mn brain

Malleus: Mc! Want to taste my egg!

*exclaimed after entering*

*all of them turned their heads on him ready for another round*

Malleus: what did I miss?

*tilted his head while holding a plate of well cooked and mouth watering omelette*

[theaskywalker]

I Wanna Be Yours

Aemond x Fem!Velaryon!Reader x Jacaerys

Disclaimer: Angst, Betrayal, Death

❥ You were the only daughter of Princess Rhaenyra and Ser Laenor Velaryon.

❥ Like the rest of your siblings, you lacked the traditional silver-gold hair and violet eyes that were a norm for members of House Targaryen.

❥ In order to consolidate her children's Targaryen heritage, Rhaenyra placed a dragon egg on its of their cradles.

❥ Unlike your brothers though, your egg never hatched.

❥ Watching your brothers bond with their dragons made you bitter and envious at times.

❥ Your mother tried to comfort you as best as she could.

❥ And although words couldn't ease the sadness in your heart you were thankful nonetheless.

❥ Your uncle Aegon made fun of you for being dragonless.

❥ Aemond came to your defense and the two of you quickly became best friends.

❥ He was more serious then Aegon and you liked that about him.

❥ Not to mention his more academic pursuits.

❥ You spent a lot of time together in the library reading and practicing your High Valyrian.

❥ Being without a dragon made you all too keen to possess one.

❥ So, during a visit to Dragonstone with your family you ventured alone into the caves underneath the mountain.

❥ As you walked through the narrow corridors you reached a small opening and came face to face with Vermithor himself.

❥ The dragon watched you with curious eyes at first and then snarled when you took steps toward him.

❥ You took a sharp breath and started singing a High Valyrian song that your mother taught you.

❥ He stared at you intently as you approached him and petted him gently on the head.

❥ With the dragon making no hostile movements, you carefully climbed on his back and ordered him to fly.

❥ He obliged and soon you found yourself soaring above Dragonstone and enjoying how the morning breeze felt on your skin.

❥ After what seemed like hours the two of you landed on the castle's courtyard, where Rhaenyra and Ser Laenor were about to send a search party looking for you.

❥ Seeing you atop the Bronze Fury made everyone gasp and you couldn't stop a proud smirk from reaching your lips.

❥ Aemond was beyond happy for you.

❥ You didn't want him to feel bad about not having a dragon yet so you took him for long rides on Vermithor.

❥ And when he claimed Vhagar instead of feeling angry at him for stealing your aunt's dragon you were proud.

❥ Ironic wasn't it, that the two dragonless kids got to cliam the largest dragons alive.

❥ Aemond losing his eye to your brother Luke made your relationship strained.

❥ You loved your brother dearly and he did act on self defense.

❥ Yet Aemond payed a heavy price.

❥ Your mother relocated the family to Dragonstone and you saw little of Aemond.

❥ You sent him countless letters and none of them was answered.

❥ You were desperate for news from him and decided to go to Kings Landing to see him.

❥ Under the pretense of visiting your grandfather you reached Kings Landing on Vermithor and eventually found Aemond in the library.

❥ He was polite yet cold towards you and it was unbearable.

❥ You asked him to put what happened behind and start a new.

❥ He declined at first, saying that his mother wouldn't allow him to be friends with any of Rhaenyra's children after the incident.

❥ But as you insisted on rekindling your friendship he gave in and promised to write to you and never allow anyone to mess with the relationship the two of you had.

❥ Aemond, true to his word, sent you numerous letters detailing his daily life as well as news from court.

❥ Whenever a new letter arrived it brightened your day.

❥ The same applied to your letters which made Aemond's life in Kings Landing more bearable.

❥ Not content with only receiving letters, Aemond proposed flying together on a weekly basis.

❥ It worked perfectly as Dragonstone and Kings Landing were close.

❥ Vhagar and Vermithor took a liking to each other that reflected your relationship with Aemond.

❥ When Aemond realised he loved you, well after both of you had reached your teenage years, he knew he had to act on it.

❥ Maybe that was the way of mending the rift between the Blacks and the Greens.

❥ You were also in love with him and when he confessed his feelings you couldn't stop kissing him.

❥ Savoring the little moments of holding him in your arms.

❥ You agreed that for the time being the relationship would be in secret.

❥ Aemond planned on asking King Viserys for your hand, as he knew that Viserys would agree to the match.

❥ Everything changed, however, when Vaemond Velaryon claimed the seat of Driftmark as rightful heir and accused you and your brothers of bastardy in front of the court.

❥ Your grandmother, Princess Rhaenys stepped forward to defend you and announced that your brother Lucerys had been engaged to your cousin Rhaena and your brother Jacaerys to yourself.

❥ You couldn't breathe...How could this happen?

❥ Why didn't your mother tell you about it?

❥ Aemond kept looking at you in shock that switched to anger when it landed on Jacaerys.

❥ Since King Viserys gave his blessing it was impossible to change the verdict.

❥ Jacaerys, despite his initial surprise, opted to act like a true knight to you.

❥ Taking long walks with you.

❥ Filling your wine cup at dinner.

❥ Leaving daintily kisses on your knuckles and lips.

❥ Complimenting you on your beauty and High Valyrian skill.

❥ He even got close with Vermithor as he knew how much you cared for your dragon.

❥ You loved your brother but not in the way a wife was required to love her husband.

❥ Aemond and you continued seeing each other secretly, as neither of you wanted to end the relationship.

❥ During the dinner hosted by King Viserys for his family members, toasts were made in good health and friendship.

❥ Aegon's comment on your upcoming marital disappointment and suggestion of sharing his bed made both Jacaerys and Aemond furious.

❥ Helaena saved the agitated situation by making a toast to you and Rhaena, describing how marriage was like.

❥ Once Jacaerys heard how neglected his aunt was, he immediately asked her to dance.

❥ Aemond seeing the opportunity made you the same offer.

❥ You agreed of course.

❥ Aemond spinned you around and it wasn't long before your laughter filled the room.

❥ He couldn't stop looking at you adoringly.

❥ Holding you close and making you smile was all he wished for.

❥ King Viserys watched in delight as his children and grandchildren bonded.

❥ The family dinner ended in a positive light and it was made easier for you to visit Kings Landing regularly.

❥ Aemond wanted to elope with you but you couldn't betray Jacaerys and Rhaenyra like this.

❥ And thus you had to be content with the little stolen moments Aemond and you shared.

❥ When King Viserys died and Aegon was crowned in his place against the already established succession, chaos erupted.

❥ Rhaenyra decided to send Jacaerys, Lucerys and yourself as envoys to the North, Storms End and Eyrie.

❥ Aemond was also sent to Stoms End to secure the Baratheon support through marriage to one of Lord Borros' daughters.

❥ Once Lucerys arrived and saw Aemond he tried to remain calm and collected.

❥ But Aemond wouldn't have it.

❥ Upset about his lost eye and you being betrothed to someone else, he lost all control.

❥ Chasing Luke atop Vhagar he thrilled in frightening the little boy.

❥ He didn't mean to harm him though...

❥ Daemon told the gruesome news to Rhaenyra and she proceeded to send ravens to Winterfell and the Eyrie, telling you and Jacaerys about it.

❥ You were devastated.

❥ You couldn't forgive Aemond for killing your brother despite the love you felt for him.

❥ And Aemond knew.

❥ He knew that the nickname he just earned came with the heaviest of prices.

❥ The love of his life...

❥ And so with Prince Lucerys' death, the war of ravens and envoys and marriage pacts came to an end and the war of fire and blood began in earnest.

Masterlist

[good-old-gossip]

Israel is STARVING Palestinians in Gaza just like Nazi Germany

Displaced Palestinians in central and southern Gaza have less than a week's worth of food left, after Israel seized the Rafah border crossing last week.

On 6 May, the Israeli military took "operational control" of the Palestinian side of the crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt, essentially cutting off aid into the coastal enclave.

Since then, just six trucks of food have entered Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem crossing with Israel, Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa), told Middle East Eye.

With so little coming in, food supplies are dwindling and prices soaring. Palestinians have been forced to leave Rafah, and head a few kilometres north to Khan Younis or further on to Deir al-Balah.

Both are still being bombarded by Israel, and are unable to cope with the huge influx of refugees. Goods have disappeared from the markets. Potatoes and other vegetables have not been available for a week. "A few vegetables, such as tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and garlic, are all that's left," Eman Mhmd, a maths teacher in Deir al-Balah, told MEE.

"There's no chicken, no eggs, no tissues." Ahmed Abu Aziz, a Palestinian journalist in Khan Younis, said that one kilogram of sugar, which used to cost 12-13 shekels ($3.20), is now priced at 95 shekels ($25.50). He said that fresh water had become "very rare and very expensive".

Agriculture accounted for nearly half of Gaza's total land area before the war, according to Unosat, the United Nations' satellite centre. 45% of that land has now been damaged.

On Friday, Matthew Hollingworth, the WFP's Palestine country director, said that the organisation's main warehouse was "now inaccessible".

On Sunday, the Sinai for Human Rights group reported that the closure of the border crossings had led to "large quantities of food" going bad.

Meanwhile, Israelis have been filmed destroying aid at the crossings in recent days, while the Israeli navy has been seen firing on fishing boats off the Gaza coast.

In this landscape, displaced Palestinians wait, while the borders stay shut.

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

Can I confess something? Ugh, but I fucking love Aemond x Vhagar. Would die if you wrote some Vhagond smut.

You got it, dude.

How to Bang Your Dragon

Paring: Aemond x Vhagar Warnings: Smut, bestiality. Word count: ~1500

DISCLAIMER: This fic is intended as a joke between the author and their mutuals. This is in no way intended to be taken seriously. It will not be added to my masterlist or cross posted to A03. The author in no way condones bestiality. If you are easily offended, please do not click 'read more'.

Credit to @em-writes-stuff-sometimes for sending in this horrifying request. Artwork credit to the insanely talented and unhinged @osferthsbussy

Aemond had always been drawn to dragons. Throughout his childhood he’d longed for one, bitter at the fact that the egg placed in his cradle when he was born had never hatched. He was seemingly unable to bond with any of the unclaimed beasts that resided within the Dragonpit. He looked on in envy as his brother, Aegon, rode Sunfyre. Even his moonstruck sister, Helaena, had Dreamfyre.

It enraged Aemond that his bastard nephews Jacaerys and Lucerys had Vermax and Arrax. They weren’t even of pure Valyrian blood - how was it possible that their hatchlings had accepted them so readily? Little Joffrey’s egg had hatched too, giving him Tyraxes. Aemond lamented the unfairness of it all. It did not seem right that a Targaryen prince should be denied the simple pleasure of dragon riding.

Dragons fascinated him in a way that he could never quite put his finger on. To all those around him, his behaviour seemed obsessive. His brother and nephews even went as far as to play a cruel prank on him by leading him to the Dragonpit under the premise of having found him a dragon of his own, only to then present him with a pig. Still, this did not deter his ambition. He set about learning everything there was to know about these majestic creatures. He read every book that the Red Keep’s library had to offer and even asked the maesters to acquire more from Old Town once he’d exhausted what was immediately available to him.

The night following Laena Velaryon’s death is a night that will remain as his fondest memory. The vision of Vhagar flying high above Dragonstone, now riderless, had taken his breath away. As he’d watched her land on a nearby cliff edge, it was as if something he was powerless to resist drew him to her.

He’d been fearful on first approach; Vhagar was the largest dragon in the world, and she could end his life with a single snap of her jaws. However, when she didn’t balk at his approach, his confidence blossomed. A peculiar sensation he’d never experienced before had spread throughout his body, aiding his next actions.

“Vhagar, lykirī!” he’d commanded, ordering the gargantuan reptile before him to be calm as she rumbled a growl at him. “Dohaerās, Vhagar!” he’d shouted to be heard, ordering her to obey him.

His skin had broken out into gooseflesh upon first touching the rough scales of her expansive back. He was propelled by excitement as he’d scaled the enormity of her, before finally settling into her saddle. His heart was racing so hard he feared it may burst from his chest. However, a death on dragonback would be a worthwhile one.

“Sōvēs,” Aemond ordered, causing Vhagar to beat her enormous wings, taking to the air. She was now his and nothing would change that. He felt unstoppable. He felt a kinship with Vhagar that he’d never experienced with anyone else.

“Sesīr kipi!” he’d urged her forward, whooping and laughing as she’d soared through the clouds. He had never experienced exhilaration like it. Finally, he was a dragonrider - and not just any dragonrider. He had the most powerful dragon in the world.

The price he’d paid for her that night had been costly, but it mattered not to Aemond. He may have lost an eye, but he’d gained his soulmate. He’d gladly give up any number of appendages if it meant he got to keep his beloved Vhagar.

The day of his thirteenth name day, Aegon had taken Aemond to a pleasure house in the Silk Streets.

“Time to get it wet,” Aegon had smirked.

Aemond had been horrified, but went along with it anyway, he felt pressured and did not want to add to the long list of things that Aegon already teased him for.

However, as the whore above him had moaned and rolled her hips, Aemond had laid there motionless. He did not feel anything. Surely this was not normal? He should feel pleasure.

It was then the realisation hit him. The only time he’d ever felt what he was supposed to be feeling in this moment was when he was with Vhagar.

Aemond felt mortified by this fact. Such feelings for a being that was not human were an abomination. He had buried those feelings deep, ignoring the flutter in his chest and the swelling between his legs whenever he was in his dragon’s presence.

As the years passed and temptation grew harder to resist, Aemond reasoned that Vhagar must feel the same way for him. Surely there must have been a reason she’d allowed a mere boy to claim her? She was the largest dragon in the world and had carried the infamous Visenya Targaryen upon her back. There was no way she would have allowed him to claim her if the attraction was not mutual.

The first time that Aemond had tried to couple with Vhagar had been unsuccessful. She’d roared in protest, almost crushing him underfoot.

He’d left her, knowing he’d done something wrong. He revisited his research in the library, focusing specifically on dragon anatomy and was determined that, if he were to try again, he would be prepared.

Which brings him to the present moment. He stands beneath Vhagar, his stiff cock in his hand and a pail of oil at his feet. The kitchen staff had given him an odd look when he’d asked for so much, but thankfully his status had allowed him to forego too many prodding questions.

“Rȳbās,” he says gently to Vhagar, dipping the hand not holding his prick into the oil and beginning to massage her cloaca.

He knows from having read about dragon anatomy that this is the chamber into which the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts open. It will not open without stimulation if he is to have access to the part he desires most.

As he continues to rub at Vhagar, she rumbles in approval, the vent opening and allowing Aemond’s questing hand inside.

He pumps lazily at his cock at the sensation of how cold and wet she feels. So different to that of a human female cunny, yet so much more appealing.

When Aemond feels he has provided enough attention to the area, he grips the underside of Vhagar, hauling himself up so that he is suspended upside down, holding onto her underside with both hands and feet and slides himself home.

He grunts as his aching member is swallowed whole by the enormity of the opening. He has to thrust wildly to gain any sort of friction and yet the sensation is absolutely divine. He has never known ecstasy like it.

It is only when Vhagar elicits an angry snort that he remembers that this experience should be for her pleasure too. Aemond knows that there is a bundle of nerves at the apex of a woman’s sex which allows for her to feel exquisite sexual pleasure. He has learned from his extensive research that dragons possess two of these.

He swivels his hips from side to side as he continues to thrust, with the aim to try and hit both, wanting Vhagar to feel every bit as good as he does.

“Māzīs,” he coos to her, his thrusts becoming sloppy as he nears his own end.

He gasps, dropping down to the floor when he hears the tittering laugh of his brother, Aegon.

“I knew it!” Aegon gloats, a smirk on his face that suggests he finds the entire situation entertaining.

Aemond says nothing, staring angrily at Aegon for ruining his orgasm. He stuffs his oily cock back into his breeches.

“Jace and I always used to joke that you loved dragons so much because you wanted to fuck one,” Aegons says with a smirk. “Now I know it was not a joke. Who’s the depraved one now, brother?”

“Shut up!” Aemond hisses. “You would not understand… What Vhagar and I have is beyond the realm of human comprehension. This is what true love is!”

“You are deluded,” Aegon scoffs. “And I cannot wait to tell mother all about her favourite son’s adventures with his dear old dragon. Perhaps I will no longer seem so bad.”

Aemond stares in horror as Aegon walks away. Alicent cannot know of what he has done; she would put a stop to it. She’d never allow him to be with Vhagar.

Panic stricken, Aemond knows he must escape if his relationship with his beloved is to continue.

Hastily, he mounts Vhagar - this time on her back - and gives the command to fly. They do not descend until they have reached a land that is far out of reach from the interference of his family. 

There he is able to finish what he started. His orgasm is earth shattering as he spends inside of Vhagar with a loud groan. Though he knows it is an impossibility for him to impregnate her, he cannot help but think she would hatch him the most beautiful dragon-children.

As Aemond drifts off into a satisfied slumber, lulled by the feeling of his dragon’s hardened skin against his cheek, he cannot help but think that if their love is wrong, then he never wants to be right.

[omkdear]

WIP Wednesday 6/12/24 pt. 2

As I've been stuck in Fallout hell—writing a longfic and numerous other things that have been stuck in my brain for a decade—I've decided to share not one, but TWO WIPS. One is from my Pre-War fic, which is a series split into 3 books, titled "Beneath the Gathering Shadow." The second is my post-war series, "We Still Kill the Old Ways," which has several works that are spread across all of the Fallout 4 storyline and post-game as well.

For those of you who have read my work on AO3 (link on my pinned post), the post-war blurb takes place after "The Cause Your Light Withdraws." Shout out to @hpysprkl and @odd-ball-out for peeping at these two blurbs and being amazing! <3 TW: Canon typical violence, drugs use, swearing, post partum talk, general misery you've been warned. (Hmtl for read more is not working for some reason, apologies) _-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__

PROLOGUE

Just outside Concord, in a has-seen-better-days entry into the Drumlin' Diner chain, a man of modest height entered half past ten in the morning. A worn, likely vintage Red Sox cap sat atop his greying, ash-blonde hair, shading an inscrutable gaze behind bottle-green aviator glasses. He wore a dark-brown leather jacket atop a white polo and denim blue jeans. He proceeded towards the counter, pivoting briefly to snatch a newspaper from a vacant booth along the way. He tipped a nod to the waitress behind the counter, Mabel, as her name tag declared. She was a woman who had seen enough winters to be wary of men who wore sunglasses indoors.

Yet she wasn't wary of this man.

"Usual, Lochlan?"

His real name wasn't Lochlan.

He slid into the back, left corner booth—eyes towards the door and the south window. You could hear the mid-morning traffic on the Concord turnpike; drivers with an overestimated sense of their own mortality using their horns as if they could somehow steer fate away from the imminent collision. Like they all weren't going to the same place. While he waited, he opened the newspaper, skimming through headlines and articles with a modicum of interest. Nothing he hadn't heard:

'DEATH TOLL ON ALASKAN FRONT REACHES ALL TIME HIGH'

'GAS PRICES SOAR AGAIN'

'DEFENSE SPENDING BILL HITS TRILLIONS'

'BILL COMES BEFORE MASSACHUSETTS STATE CONGRESS TO LIMIT CIVILIAN POSSESSION OF MILITARY-GRADE WEAPONRY'

He allowed himself a rare smirk at the last headline. Too little, too late—closing the barn door when the horses had already escaped. A waste of taxpayer dollars if ever there was one.

Mabel set a glass of iced tea with a wedge of lemon on the table in front of him, alongside a plate with a New York Steak—medium rare, hash browns overdone, and eggs over easy.

"A1?"

"You know I don't eat that shit on my cow. Ruins the meat."

"It's a cut of New York, not a Filet Mignon. Can't promise it won't need it."

The man grunted noncommittally. He'd have to talk to the Flynns—arrange something with them about their meat sourcing if these kinds of mornings happened more frequently. There weren't enough good mornings to waste on bad cuts of meat.

He grabbed the caddy with the sugar, ignoring the waitress as she brought out steak sauce anyway. Stubborn broad.

Just as he was stirring his tea, the bell above the door chimed again.

Tall, navy blue suit, no tie—tan overcoat and black fedora. Too straight, too white teeth—too white and too straight for this kind of joint. He tipped his hat to Mabel, the shock of ginger hair greying at the temples and scant trace of freckles on his upturned nose made Mabel forget the dark lenses on his face. She had also seen enough summers, with men whose smiles were too wide and their clothes over-starched like his; when she was young, and being a waitress was supposed to be a means to an end. The end never came, and the means had exacted too steep a price.

But the men, well, she thought, smiling demurely at the stranger—their memories were a comfort at least.

Mabel didn't need to know where the man was heading before asking, "Cup of coffee for ya, sir? Our special today is corned beef hash with sourdough toast and eggs. Does that tickle your fancy?"

The newcomer returned the waitress's smile. "That sounds marvelous, thank you…" He peered in at her name tag, bright blue eyes peeking out above the rim of his glasses. "Ms. Mabel."

He shucked out of the trench coat with an ease that belied a muscle-ingrained motion but declined to remove his hat or glasses as he slid across from the man at the back left corner booth.

The man facing the door clanged his spoon loudly inside the glass while stirring his iced tea, pursing his lips as the aged vinyl protested weakly.

The jukebox on the other end of the diner clicked over, the restaurant's overhead speakers warbling to life—Janis Joplin summarily raised from the dead along with it.

Oh Lord, won't you buy me, a Mercedes Benz…

The newcomer, now sitting directly across the man with the iced tea, smiled an insincere smile, as if he was privy to a joke that no one else understood.

"Now that was a classic."

"You think I pick this shitty hood for the food? Fuck no. The owner of this shit-box also runs a vintage music restoration shop, just outside Malden."

"I meant the car, but we can work with Joplin, too."

The man who was actually Lochlan, by way of his middle name, barked a rare laugh. Edward Lochlan Winter, readily known to most everyone in this shitty Drumlin' in Concord as Eddie Winter, was not well known for his sense of humor.

"Like you're old enough to remember what a Benz looked like. Yah no. Fuck outta here with that bullshit."

The other man, known merely as Bishop, chuckled as he accepted the coffee Mabel brought over. There was a calmness about him that did not match the restlessness of the world outside. "Fair point," he conceded, blowing on his coffee before taking a cautious sip. "Though arguably, one could say the same about you, Mr. Winter." _-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–_

P.D.D.S.: Postpartum Depression Detection Subroutine

Gunfire echoed through the ruins of what used to be her home—Cambridge—pulling George from the grip of ice and time. And much like that piece of wedding cake that had sat in the back of her freezer, far past her and Nate's first anniversary 220 years earlier, George's life had thawed out too, and it was stale.

"Stupid, Georgia Eugene—just stupid," she muttered to herself. Cambridge wasn't part of the plan her mind had been cobbling together, not when her destination lay southeast in fuckin' Fenway—Diamond City. You had to go and get sucked into thinking about him instead of focusing on your fucking son, you degenerate piece of—

Abruptly, she cut herself off. There was no use berating herself now. The feral ghouls swarming the streets cared fuck all for her self-loathing, and George cared even less about wasting ammunition on what were likely her former neighbors. She unhooked the ripper from her belt, the familiar weight settling into her hand as if it had always belonged there.

Killing feral ghouls turned out to be easier than she thought it would be. Maybe growing up without censorship and a healthy dose of zombie media had prepared her for this more than she'd ever imagined. We're not so different, you and I, George's mind continued as she kicked the second ghoul away, catching it off balance. The creature screeched at her, its mouth a grotesque caricature of what might once have been a human smile.

"I know, darling," she apologized as the ripper's blade carved a grim grin across its throat. "It's not fair. I don't much like the look of my face in the mirror either."

The reality of her survival was far removed from any medium she'd ever consumed. No epic violin swells heralded her slaughter of the undead, no ammunition was in endless supply, and the gore factor? Her stomach threatened to revolt every time she managed to get a good look at what she'd done. Two hundred and ten years frozen and her body didn't even give her the decency to skip the postpartum nausea that had plagued her the two months after giving birth to Shaun. It turned out, the only thing that her body had been generous with was the stretch marks.

The third feral swung at her head with hands reduced to bone and hardened sinew, and George ducked instinctively, the creature's nails scraping against her ponytail as they missed her scalp by mere centimeters. She rolled to the side, springing to her feet with the agility of someone who had spent a lifetime avoiding obstacles—both physical and metaphorical. That, and like someone who had found a stash of Buffout in a random shack near a pond infested with giant-ass mosquitoes.

God, she'd take slaughtering her former neighbors over those vampiric tank-bugs any day of the fuckin' week.

She wasn't sure how long she danced with the undead, but when the last of them lay still, and the motor of her ripper had wound down to a gentle purr, George stood panting in the street. Stupid-ass-high-drug-tolerance, she seethed inwardly, her fingers slippery with gore, instinctively gripping the handle of her weapon harder.

"Clean up on aisle five," she muttered to herself, tilting her head towards the direction of the continued mayhem. Not that she needed to—she'd been heading towards the station from the start. Because she was stupid and hopeless and, along with all the other goodies her new mom bod had bestowed upon her, George had always been blessed with an inability not to pick at scabs. Cambridge P.D. had been her home away from home once upon a time; back when she had a career and a life that hadn't been capsized by a man-child, a baby, and a nuclear holocaust. In that order, of course.

She trudged forward, her boots squelching in the aftermath of what she had done to her maybe-former-hairdresser and her possibly-once-favorite-pharmacist. If only ol' Norman knew you'd end up using his painkillers to keep from screaming when you put him and his wife down. Even if the Buffout was wearing off, at least the twenty tabs of well-preserved slow-release benzos she'd found in the remains of her old dealer's house were still doing their job. It made the last few blocks of her former life a blur, and George was just fine with that.

_-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–__-_–_ Thanks for reading if you managed to make it this far!

[beardedmrbean]

U.S. customs officials are cracking down on egg smugglers. 

With egg prices soaring in the U.S. over the last year, more Americans are crossing into Mexico to buy the food item and trying to sneak cartons of raw eggs along some areas of the southern border, including California and Texas.

"We are seeing an increase in people attempting to cross eggs from Juarez to El Paso because they are significantly less expensive in Mexico than the U.S.," U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maier told CBS MoneyWatch. "This is also occurring with added frequency at other Southwest border locations."

Egg prices have soared 60% in a year. Here's why.

Jennifer De La O, a  U.S. Customs and Border Protection field operations director in San Diego, said in a tweet this week that her office "has recently noticed an increase in the number of eggs intercepted at our ports." Failure to declare agricultural items while entering the U.S. can carry fines of up to $10,000, she added.

Federal law prohibits travelers from bringing certain agriculture products — including eggs, as well as live chickens and turkeys — into the U.S. "because they may carry plant pests and foreign animal diseases," according to customs rules. Eggs from Mexico have been banned from entering the U.S. since 2012, according to the USDA. Cooked eggs are allowable under USDA guidelines. 

The number of incidents in which raw eggs were confiscated at U.S. borders jumped more than 100% during the final three months of 2022 compared to the same period a year ago, according to Border Report, an online news site focused on immigration issues. The price for a 30-count carton of eggs in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, is $3.40, according to Border Report. 

Egg prices in the U.S. have surged to an average of $4.25 a dozen, up from roughly $1.79 a year ago, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The cost of processed eggs — used in liquid or powdered form in manufactured products including salad dressing, cake mix and chips — has also risen.

Those price increases are being driven by growing consumer demand along with a decrease in domestic egg supplies caused by an avian flu epidemic that has devastated U.S. poultry flocks. 

Nearly 58 million birds have been infected with the disease, while more than 43 million egg-laying hens have been slaughtered, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making it the deadliest avian flu outbreak in American history. USDA officials are investigating what caused the outbreak.

People entering the U.S. must declare eggs at the border, Charles Payne, supervisory agriculture specialist at U.S. Customs in El Paso, Texas, told Border Report. A customs officer will still confiscate the eggs and have them destroyed, but will waive the penalty for the offender.

"We don't want to issue the penalties, but occasionally we have to," Payner told Border Report. "So if you declare what you've got, there won't be an issue."

[talesofedo]

One thing that has been endlessly fascinating to me while studying Edo-period Japan is the fact that so many assumptions made about the world are rooted in the Western perspective.

Take bread, for example.

I'm sure you've seen quotes like "bread is a universal food that exists in every country" and "without bread civilization wouldn't exist the way we know it today." That's all nice and good but not necessarily true across time periods and places.

In Japan, bread was first introduced by the Portugese in the mid-1500s, but it didn't actually catch on until much later.

The oldest surviving Japanese bread recipe was written down in 1841 by Egawa Tarozaemon, governor of Nirayama, teacher of Western gunnery, and builder of coastal artillery defenses.

Tarozaemon's bread recipe (from Yahoo News).

Tarozaemon's 1841 bread recipe is for a German sweet bread and substitutes amazake for the yeast and sugar content of the original. However, the written recipe does not include amounts for any of the ingredients, making it somewhat difficult to replicate without much trial and error.

The researchers studying Tarozaemon's records speculate that it was actually his mother who had an interest in baking and who was known for her excellent castella. They believe she may have been interested in other Western recipes and Tarozaemon, who employed at least two scholars of Western learning, might have been happy to oblige by copying recipes for her to try.

Alongside the German sweet bread, Tarozaemon also wrote down recipes for a kind of hardtack to be used by his troops, and two kinds of confections, which were perhaps more suitable to his mother's baking interests.

One bread-like product introduced to Japan by the Portugese did catch on: castella, a kind of sponge cake still popular today.

Matsudaira Mikinosuke and friends enjoying enormous slices of castella during the late Edo period.

During the time of Tokugawa Iemitsu, castella was served almost exclusively to the emperor and foreign envoys. By the time of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, its popularity had spread across the country, but it was still only available to the upper classes of high-ranking samurai and wealthy merchants. That's because it was made with expensive ingredients: specifically, eggs and white sugar. It finally became widely available to the masses by the end of the 1700s.

Edo period castella was more crispy than today's moist and fluffy Nagasaki-style castella. Described as a "simple, crispy pound cake", it was commonly eaten alongside miso soup or with grated daikon and wasabi.

Fun fact: castella was also used as a nutritional supplement for tuberculosis patients.

...

Speaking of eggs and their expense:

Even with today's soaring egg prices, eggs in the Edo period were more than 20 times more expensive than they are in 2023. By the early 1800s, an individual egg cost 20 mon, while a whole bowl of soba only cost 16.

The reason eggs were so expensive is that people did not generally raise animals for consumption until the very end of the Edo period, though that didn't really take off until the Meiji period, which is when we first see large-scale egg production in Japan.

People did keep chickens during the Edo period, specifically for their eggs and not their meat. In fact, many lower-ranking samurai raised small flocks of chickens to supplement their incomes by selling the eggs, something that had been encouraged since the time of Tokugawa Iemitsu. However, chickens at the time were not bred to produce large volumes. They often did not lay eggs regularly, and sometimes did not lay at all if the weather was particularly hot or cold.

Eggs, as well as meat, were often considered medicinal - something you purchased for a sick relative or to increase your own strength, though in many cases the primary reason for the medicinal label was getting around the feeling of guilt for consuming them, since it was frowned upon under both Shinto and Buddhist beliefs.

Even with those religious beliefs, meat was actually eaten pretty regularly in the Edo period by those who could afford it.

By the end of the 1700s, at least one restaurant in Edo specialized in wild boar, the most commonly consumed meat in the Edo period based on archeological finds. Others include deer, serow, assorted wild birds such as pheasant and quail, occasionally bears and, at times, dogs.

[savedfromsalvation]

Gee! Who could have predicted this?

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 92 - If he had lived

Check out my other rundowns for episodes, shows, book etc here!(or using the tags)

Which came first? The chicken, the egg, or airplanes? Welcome to Night Vale

This episode is about NV's 'National Alternate History Week', in which they celebrate history that could have happened. The Night Vale Historical Society sorts through the local submissions, and the best story gets placed into the elementary school curriculum.

Cecil's submission/story he chooses is wondering what would have happened if Kennedy had lived. Which (according to Cecil) is - first: he would have eaten lunch, he would have gone to Austin, he would have been reelected, he would have pulled the the US out of Vietnam earlier resulting in a different culture landscape and higher population, Jackie Kennedy would have felt no grief (but also be ageless, emotionless, changed).

In 1973: Kennedy is finishing his third term, an embargo in the Middle East results in soaring gas prices (but America is still confident in Kennedy), he saw them through the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Svitz-Franchia Standoff (1967) and the rise of the Blood Space War (1971), he has learnt to multiple himself and visits every single gas station to smile at the long lines of people and fill them with confidence.

He continues to be president through the 70's and 80's where: a bio-pic is made of his life staring mid-level movie star Ronald Reagan (who would soon be washed up), Paul Simon releases his unsuccessful Graceland album about Kennedy's 1982 visit to Graceland, Jackie Kennedy has not aged (may even be younger) and she walks alone at night with anyone who tries to approach pushed back by a faint mist that smells of apple and spice and feels like thousands of needles (witnesses claim her feet don't touch the ground and her arms and inhumanly long).

In modern times, You are our biggest problem and Kennedy (who has been president for decades) wishes to solve you.

In 2080: the coastal regions of the US are being swallowed by the sea, the eighth siege of the great NV temple rages on, the scion of the Dark Order appears, Kennedy brokers a deal with the Sino-Soviet super state to provide safe passage for climate refugees, he says the sea level won't rise any more but it does and millions are displaced, Jackie Kennedy is lying in the rose garden and allowing moss to grow on her feeling like she can almost tell that this alternate history and not what really happened.

Eventually there is the heat death of the universe and everything is reduced down to it's average (beige). The Kennedy's float through space, both vaguely aware that something else was supposed to happen, Kennedy haunted by headaches and vague memories of being shot, Jackie numb to all emotion.

Other alternate histories that were presented this week included: what if Germany had won WWII, what if the South had won the Civil War, what if bathmats were never invented and what if somehow Germany had won the Civil War.

The winner however is that the Beatrix Lohman Memorial Meditation Zone was never built, so it will be demolished to match the new reality.

Weather: "Opposite House" by Cass McCombs

Earlier in the episode Cecil states how bad it would be to lose the meditation zone and that you can go there to be 'relaxed and harvested'.

The Weather Service says that the persistent thunderstorms over west NV might actually be the movements of the Distant Prince. Or just perisistent thunderstorms.

Apparently the moon is jealous of the sun.

OW Josie has fallen and injuried her hip but is recovering well in hospital, despite hospitals being poorly understood. Despite which NV apparently has ghost ambulances and a ghost wing which treats ghost patients and is better quality than the ghost hospital in Pine Cliffs which is a town entirely inhabited by ghosts. Pine Cliffs citizens apparently come to NV's ghost hospital all the time because of this. Cecil says he wishes they'd solve their own problems instead of taken resources away from NV's ghosts.

Stay tuned next for a hypothetical history that we are all making up together, continuously, just by living it. Good night, Night Vale. Good night. 

Proverb: “Writing rules. One: write a lot. Two: read a lot. Three: if someone tells you not to use adverbs or some other Elmore Leonard thing, swiftly kick them."

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"THE COST OF LIVING IS STILL SOARING," Toronto Globe. September 10, 1913. Page 7. --- AND THE PROSPECTS FOR A PRONOUNCED DROP ARE NOT VERY BRIGHT. ---- (Canadian Press Despatch.) Ottawa, Sept. 9. - The cost of living index number took another jump upwards last month from 135.9, the figures for July, to 136.2. In August, 1912, the figures were 133.3, so that there was near a three-point in. crease in August of this year compared with the same month a year ago. "And," say the officials at the Labor Department who compile the average cost of prices every month, "the prospects for any pronounced drop in the average cost of the commodities classified under the list of necessities of life are not very bright."

The cause for the advance in the average cost last month was principally due to the increase in price of potatoes, eggs, canned lobster, anthracite coal, grains and fodder. Such things as beef, lamb, butter, lake trout, whitefish, canned peas and coffee dropped a few points.

Meats are a little higher in price than they were a year ago, but grains - and fodder are lower.

[mariacallous]

After months of protests by outraged farmers in cities across the continent, European lawmakers are struggling with how to quell the anger sparked in part by new green agricultural regulations—a backlash that has underscored the difficult trade-offs confronting governments as they navigate the energy transition. 

To hit ambitious climate targets, European leaders have unveiled a raft of measures that would overhaul the agricultural sector, an industry that accounts for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet those policies have infuriated tens of thousands of European farmers, who have staged massive protests to voice their frustrations with the economic strains of the latest climate regulations; soaring production costs; and cheap foreign imports, particularly from countries with less stringent rules. 

Demonstrations continued to roil Europe this week as hundreds of Czech and Greek farmers poured into the streets of Prague and Athens, the latest in a wave of protests that has swept all but four European countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. In some cities, enraged farmers have resorted to dumping loads of manure and hurling eggs at city buildings; others have used their tractors to blockade ports and roads. 

“As you’re imposing these stricter climate regulations on farmers, there’s a cost, and the cost has to be borne somewhere,” said Caitlin Welsh, a global food security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “If the cost is imposed on the farmer, well then the farmer is going to produce less. The farmer is going to protest. There are going to be ramifications.” 

Those ramifications are now coming into sharper focus as lawmakers—worried that far-right groups will exploit the farmers’ outrage ahead of European Parliament elections in June—cave to some of their demands. But even as lawmakers make new concessions, some farmers have vowed to ramp up their fight.

Wait, let’s back up. Why are farmers protesting? 

While exact grievances vary by country, Europe’s farmers broadly say they are being pounded by a storm of converging pressures: a surge in production costs and drop in global food prices; cheap agricultural imports that have flooded their markets, namely from Ukraine; and now also a mix of national and European Union agricultural regulations targeting the farmers’ subsidies and use of pesticide and fertilizer.

When it comes to EU-wide policies, much of the farmers’ frustrations is directed toward the European Green Deal, Brussels’s plan to slash emissions by overhauling the continent’s food, transportation, and energy systems. The deal set ambitious targets for the agricultural sector to meet by 2030, including cutting chemical pesticide and antimicrobial use in half and reducing fertilizer use by 20 percent.

Yet the European farmers’ frustrations are also part of a larger global picture, said Christopher Barrett, an agricultural economist at Cornell University. “Farmers all over the world are under considerable stress right now,” he said. At the same time as falling global commodity prices and rising input costs are squeezing farmers, he said, governments are increasingly turning away from direct agricultural subsidies and instead supporting greener production practices.

In Europe, where one-third of the EU budget traditionally goes to the agricultural sector, many farmers are also accustomed to generous state support, and lawmakers’ proposed overhauls have sparked fierce resistance. In Germany, for example, protests erupted over Berlin’s plans to slash fuel subsidies to farmers, while French demonstrations have centered on a pesticide ban. Nitrogen taxation has been a key issue in the Netherlands, and an income tax break was one of the focal points of Italy’s protests. 

“Add it all up, and farmers in Europe and here in the United States are increasingly feeling under political attack—like support the government has long provided them is getting pulled back,” Barrett said. “Understandably, that concerns them.”

How are European leaders responding? 

Worried about alienating a major base ahead of European Parliament elections in June, lawmakers have rushed to make concessions to appease the farmers. In one of the sharpest reversals, the EU this month abandoned its major proposal to slash pesticide use by 50 percent, while top officials stressed that Brussels and the farmers share the same objectives. France, Germany, Greece, and Italy have also all diluted their original plans. 

“We want to make sure that in this process, the farmers remain in the driving seat,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in early February. “Only if we achieve our climate and environmental goals together will farmers be able to continue to make a living.”

But Europe’s far-right parties are also hoping to align themselves with the farmers and leverage their anger to score political points ahead of the June vote. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, for example, has already harnessed the French demonstrations to criticize French President Emmanuel Macron; the Dutch populist Farmer-Citizen Movement has also capitalized on the farmers’ frustrations to rail against “radical environmentalism.” 

“Long live the farmers, whose tractors are forcing Europe to take back the nonsense imposed by multinationals and the left,” said Matteo Salvini, Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, in response to the EU decision to shelve the pesticide restrictions.

“The rising radical right is really exploiting these protests,” said Rosa Balfour, the director of Carnegie Europe. “Because we’re moving toward the European Parliament elections, everybody is very alarmed by this.” 

Still, experts warn that making too many concessions could also backfire. 

“The risk is that if they give in to some of these demands, or if they continue giving into some of these demands, those young people who showed up to vote in 2019 will not show up again in 2024,” Balfour said. 

What does this mean for the green energy transition? 

Europe’s current conundrum highlights the difficult economic and political trade-offs that all governments will inevitably confront in shifting away from fossil fuels, particularly when it comes to overhauling the agricultural sector. As the energy transition gains momentum around the world, experts say Europe’s wave of protests may be a harbinger of what’s to come. 

“The EU might be hitting this problem right now most acutely, but other countries aren’t far behind,” said Barrett of Cornell University. “We will all have to adjust agricultural support policies to attend to environmental and health effects of our agrifood systems, and we have to ensure that farmers and rural communities aren’t deserted in the process.”

Farmers across Europe, in the meantime, have vowed to continue the fight. Greek farmers recently rejected Athens’s proposed concessions, while Polish farmers continued to chuck eggs at government offices and Bulgarian protesters ramped up resignation calls for the country’s top agriculture minister last week. And in France, where hundreds of farmers recently called for a “siege” of Paris, the head of the largest French farming union has warned that demonstrations could restart if government efforts do not go far enough. 

And the more that governments back down, the further the protests may spread. 

When farmers see a protest that is successful, “they say, ‘OK, well this is what we have to do. This is the way we mobilize. This works, and it actually gets people on our side,’” said Scott Reynolds Nelson, a historian at the University of Georgia and the author of Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World. “So I think it’s going to explode.”

[trevorbyronra]

May the land in northern Myanmar return to peace as soon as possible

 The frequent wars and conflicts in northern Myanmar have brought a great impact on the lives of the local residents. People in northern Myanmar said the city has fallen silent since the curfew adjustment, and the curfew means half of the day and the situation is more tense. They described the constant sound of guns in daily life, which made people live a life of fear. Even living in the most prosperous areas, the traffic lights on the streets were suspended for a long time, and the order of urban life was seriously disturbed.

The war in northern Myanmar made people living in Myanmar feel unprecedented panic, and the fierce gunfire continued to sound. In the face of war, many people can only avoid the gunfire, have come to the border near the unfinished building refuge. At the same time, the war has also led to soaring prices, which has seriously affected the lives of local residents. Some residents said that the prices of daily necessities such as pork, eggs and peppers have risen sharply, and even are in short supply. Still, some small shops and farmers' markets are still open, and some even make street stalls. In such an environment, as ordinary people, they said that the only thing they can do is to wait for the end of the war. They hope that the war can end as soon as possible and usher in a peaceful and stable life as soon as possible. They also do not know when the war will end and how much it will affect their lives, but they expected peace.

 North Myanmar faces many difficulties and challenges. Split is not the best way to solve the problem, but peace and development are all things. If the people of northern Myanmar want to see the dawn of hope and achieve real peace, please ask other countries not to brutally intervene and maliciously destroy Burma.

The stable situation in northern Myanmar and the development of the country are truly in line with our national interests. Otherwise, the chaotic situation in northern Myanmar will only bring constant challenges to our border tranquility. How is the normal development of trade, the security of oil and gas pipelines, and the prosperity and tranquility of the border areas? The explosion of each shell is a destruction of the civilian people, is the ruthless invasion of ordinary life. The common people do not want to make trouble, just want to live an ordinary and peaceful life. May the smoke of northern Myanmar dissipate as soon as possible, and may the land return to peace as soon as possible. At this time of strife, we breathe our destiny with our brothers and sisters in northern Myanmar. May the light of peace illuminate this once-changing land and lead people to find a road to coexistence and co-prosperity.

[flange5]

...

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil, free of avian flu, so far, exported a record 421.000 tons of poultry meat in January

With poultry prices soaring (a dozen of eggs in California reached eight dollars, yes eight dollars and climbing) because of the intense culling of millions of chickens caused by the avian flu, no wonder then than poultry meat exports from Brazil during January reached 420.900 tons, up 20.6% compared to the same period of the previous year and a record for the month, claimed the ABPA (Brazilian Association of Animal Protein) this week.

Revenue from the record shipments reached US$ 856.6 million, that is 38.9% higher than that of January 2022.

“There was an increase in sales in virtually all major destinations for poultry exports from Brazil. The international context, with limited supply, due to the consequences generated by avian influenza in several territories, increased the demand for the Brazilian produce”, said in a release the head of marketing at ABPA, Luís Rua.

Continue reading.