USA - Automation has rapidly expanded in businesses of all sizes to cope with rising wages and labor shortages. Robotics help firms streamline otherwise inefficient tasks and slash labor costs amid an inflationary environment. Orders for robotic machinery have jumped for automotive, agricultural, construction, electronics, food processing, and warehousing companies. The benefits of employing a robot over a human are now being realized for small and medium-sized companies. Jose Figueroa, who manages Polar Manufacturing, a small company that produces hinges, locks, and brackets in south Chicago, told Wired that he employed a robot on the production line that costs only $8 per hour versus a minimum wage of $15 per hour for humans. He said the robot has allowed workers to concentrate on other tasks while increasing output. Polar pays $8 an hour to use the robot, making it very affordable for small businesses. The manager expects 25 of these production line robots within five years.

USA - Many residents in the region were caught by surprise as late January is not the typical time of year for wildfires to spark. An evacuation order remains in place for portions of the mountainous Big Sur region of Monterey County, California, after a brush fire, dubbed the Colorado Fire, broke out late Friday, prompting hundreds of residents to evacuate and scorching at least 700 acres. Originally, it was estimated to have burned 1,500 acres, but the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) updated the acreage due to better mapping. As of Monday evening, the fire was 40% contained.

TAIWAN - Taiwan's air force scrambled its own jets and tracked the People's Liberation Army planes on its air defence radar systems, the defence ministry said. China has flown dozens of warplanes towards Taiwan in its largest display of power of the new year, continuing a pattern that caused the island to scramble its own jets in response. The formation of 39 jets on Sunday night included 24 J-16 fighter jets and 10 J-10 jets, among other support and electronic warfare aircraft, according to Taiwan's defence ministry. Taiwan's air force tracked the People's Liberation Army planes on its air defence radar systems, it added.

USA - Evidence of US Economic Slowdown Everywhere - To wit, the Nasdaq 100 just did something it hasn’t done since the aftermath of the internet bubble: fall more than 1% in every session of a week. It doesn’t count as a superlative because Monday was a holiday. But for investors caught up in the selloff, it felt like something shifted. A full week of big down days hasn’t happened since the dot-com bubble burst, first in April 2000 and then in September 2001. Back then, the Nasdaq went on to fall another 28% before the market bottomed roughly a year later. Jeff Bezos shed $20 billion from his fortune. Changpeng Zhao of Binance dropped $17.7 billion, while Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth fell $10.4 billion. It was a painful week for billionaires… Bitcoin’s decline from its peak has wiped out more than $600 billion in market value, and over $1 trillion has been lost from the aggregate crypto market.

UK - The Facts: A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request has revealed that 17,371 people in England and Wales died solely from COVID. The data represents numbers recorded from the beginning of 2020 up until the end of September 2021. These people had no other causes listed on their death certificates. Why are journalists not discussing what this could mean? The majority of people who have died with COVID have had multiple other causes listed on their death certificates. Why haven't we taken a more focused protection plan to protect the vulnerable?

GERMANY - It might seem like common sense to say that the West needs a) all the help it can get in taking on the Red Chinese menace and b) should focus on fighting Red China rather than stirring up unnecessary trouble with Putin’s Russia, especially since Russia would be a natural ally in the fight against China. That is, more or less what Navy chief Kay-Achim Schönbach said while speaking at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), an Indian defense institute. Unfortunately, Schönbach’s comments weren’t well-received in Berlin, which quickly asked for and accepted his resignation. Likely furious at both his words of praise for Christianity and his going against the globalist grain on the Ukraine issue, they wanted Schönbach gone ASAP.

GERMANY - German companies that side with Communist China over Lithuania are effectively destroying the European Union’s Single Market in favour of a “Sino-centric trade system,” a leading MP has told Breitbart News. In response to the ongoing diplomatic row over Lithuania’s decision to open a de-facto Taiwanese embassy in Vilnius, the Chinese Communist Party has not only placed a blockade on Lithuanian products but also products made throughout the European Union made with any Lithuanian components. Firms in Germany, whose largest trading partner is China, have attempted to ramp up pressure on the Baltic state to back down in its fight with Beijing in order to regain their lost profits from the Chinese market. On social media, Šakalienė noted the sordid Nazi-era history of some of the German companies who have sided with Beijing, including industrial manufacturing giant Siemens, whose CEO has said last month that the EU should not pressure China over forced labour because it may slow down the global green agenda. Other Nazi-era firms that have been accused of profiting off the backs of forced labour in China, include Volkswagen, Hugo Boss, and BMW.

MIDDLE EAST - Russian and Syrian military pilots have conducted a joint air patrol mission along the Golan Heights and the Euphrates River, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. "The mission’s route ran along the Golan Heights, the southern order, the Euphrates River and over northern Syria," the statement reads. "Russian pilots took off from the Hmeymim Air Base, while Syrians took off from the Seikal and Dumayr airfields outside Damascus," the ministry added. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the mission involved Russia’s Su-34 and Su-35 aircraft and the A-50 early warning and control aircraft, as well as Syria’s MiG-23 and MiG-29 planes. "During the patrol mission, Syrian pilots controlled airspace and provided fighter cover, while Russian crews practiced attacks on ground targets," the statement specified. The ministry said that pilots had practiced strikes on air targets and ground targets at a training range in central Syria. "The two countries’ pilots developed skills for cooperation in various situations. This kind of joint mission will now take place on a regular basis," the Russian Defense Ministry stressed.

USA - The new Ohio mega-site is to accommodate eight fabs, and construction for two of these should begin by the end of this year, with effective production capacity scheduled for 2025. Intel is investing $20 billion initially, but the construction of the other six facilities is expected to cost an additional $80 billion. Intel does not intend to depend on TSMC for more than a few years. In order to secure its competitive edge for the rest of the decade, Team Blue is now looking to build a mega-site spanning nearly 1,000 acres in Licking County, just outside of Columbus, Ohio. This area could eventually become Intel’s main production center, accommodating a total of eight chip factories valued at more than $100 billion.

USA - Parents who bought their children the Oculus Quest 2 for Christmas could be in for a surprise as there have been several instances of child grooming within one of the virtual reality headset's most popular chatroom services VRChat. VRChat is an online virtual world platform where users get their first taste of the metaverse and use full-body avatars to conceal their identity. There have been instances of child abuse, harassment, racism, and pornography on the popular chatroom service. One clip shared by the YouTuber "VSF Studios" shares several instances of a massive problem in VRChat: child exploitation and sexualization. The first example that "really shook" the YouTuber was seeing an underaged girl in a 12 year old's body dancing for a 40 year old Japanese man. He said it was "disgusting, to say the least." Maybe there's a dark side to the metaverse that needs to be discussed, and that is how easily it connects users to predators.

UK - Wokery beyond parody because university slaps a TRIGGER warning on George Orwell's 1984 as it contains 'explicit material' which some students may find 'offensive and upsetting'. As one of the greatest works in Britain’s literary canon, Nineteen Eighty-Four sounds a chilling warning about the dangers of censorship. Now staff at the University of Northampton have issued a trigger warning for George Orwell’s novel on the grounds that it contains ‘explicit material’ which some students may find ‘offensive and upsetting’. The advice, revealed following a Freedom of Information request by The Mail on Sunday, has infuriated critics, who say it runs contrary to the themes in the book. Published in 1949, Orwell’s dystopian story – set in a totalitarian state which persecutes individual thinking – gave the world phrases such as ‘Big Brother’, ‘Newspeak’ and ‘thought police’.

USA - A ‘woke’ US university has banned staff from using ordinary words used by most Americans because they might offend or upset some students. The University of Washington released an “inclusive language guide” last week that lists a number of so-called “problematic words” that they deem “racist,” “sexist,” “ageist,” or “homophobic.” According to the guide, words such as “grandfather,” “housekeeping,” “minority,” “ninja,” and “lame” are considered deeply offensive and must not be uttered by anybody at the University. According to the University, the word “lame” is harmful because it is “ableist.” “This word is offensive, even when it’s used in slang for uncool because it’s using a disability in a negative way to imply that the opposite, which would be not lame, to be superior,” the guide declares. The guide also warns that the word “minority” implies a ‘less than’ attitude toward others. Phrases with “man” such as “manpower,” “man hours,” or “man-in-the-middle” is considered “not inclusive” and “thus sexist.”

UNITED NATIONS - Don’t look now, but we live in a world of trouble. From armed conflicts to geo-political disputes, coronavirus pandemic flare-ups to looming climate catastrophes, problems lie everywhere – which is why UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says his globalist body can be trusted to rise to the challenges ahead. Guterres said in an interview with the Associated Press the appeal for peace and harmony he issued on his first day in the UN’s top job on January 1, 2017 and his priorities in his first term of trying to prevent conflicts and tackle global inequalities, the coronavirus crisis and a warming planet remain the same. In fact the veteran Portuguese Socialist politician and diplomat believes the world needs the UN now more than ever. “The secretary-general of the UN has no power,” Guterres conceded. “We can have influence. I can persuade. I can mediate, but I have no power.”

USA - As a result of his insane move to kill the Keystone XL pipeline, Biden is now importing a record amount of oil from Russia. We all knew this would happen. Really, why would Biden do this? Energynow.com reports: One year since President Joe Biden cancelled approval for the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, and the United States’ thirst for oil is as strong as ever and rising. US oil imports from Saudi Arabia and Russia have increased, and gasoline prices are higher than they have been in the last five years. As a result of Biden’s energy policies, gasoline in the US is nearly twice as much as a year ago. Did Biden do this for money or blackmail? It looks like he is the real ‘Putin Puppet.’ Democrats called President Trump this, but then again, they always project their sins on others.

USA - Texas abortion providers and advocates were dealt another setback on Thursday when the Supreme Court rejected their request for a federal judge to accelerate the legal challenge to the Lone Star State’s six-week abortion ban. Abortion advocates likewise decried the ruling on Thursday, charging that the women of Texas have been stripped of their constitutional rights. “Once again the Supreme Court has betrayed the people of Texas, who have been callously stripped of their constitutional right to abortion for more than four months now,” Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a press release. “By enabling the state’s obvious ploy to delay any resolution to this case, this Court is complicit in the widespread harm to Texans who remain unable to make meaningful decisions about their own bodies,” she continued.