The Beast System Rising

Apple Gets Onboard the Digital I.D. Bandwagon

Apple has launched a Digital ID feature that enables users to create and store a digital version of their passport in their Apple
Wallet. The feature is available at TSA checkpoints for domestic flights in over 250 U.S. airports. The user creates a Digital ID by scanning their photo page and chip of their physical U.S. passport and submitting a selfie and liveness check involving facial and head movements.

In the future the Digital ID is expected to include age and identity verification at businesses, in apps and online.

In compliance with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (Goal #12), several fast food chains are taking steps toward reducing their carbon footprint through various endeavors. LEON, a UK-based fast food brand, came out with a carbon-neutral burger and fries range in January 2021, making them the first to take such an initiative.

Other major fast-food chains are following suit. McDonald's Corporation has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire chain by 2050, which includes its operations in the United States. This target was formally announced in October 2021 as part of its participation in the United Nations Race to Zero campaign. McDonald’s has also installed solar panels at over 2,000 locations and uses an environmental scorecard to encourage suppliers to use green practices. Yum! Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, partners with organizations like the World Wildlife Fund to eliminate deforestation risks in its global supply chain. Taco Bell has switched to compostable containers, cutting packaging waste by 35%. Chipotle sources 60% of their supplies from farms within 50 miles of their locations, reducing carbon emissions. Wendy’s donates surplus food daily and uses smart monitoring systems to reduce overproduction by 40%.

Researchers believe that environmental labeling on menus can influence consumer behavior, with studies showing a 23% reduction in red meat orders when climate-impact warnings are listed, and a nearly 10% increase in choosing lower-impact options like chicken or fish. A research study by PLOS Climate suggested that restaurants consider making climate-friendly menu items their default options and indicating the greenhouse gas emission of each dish on carbon labels

Some chains are doing just that by introducing climate impact labels or "climate-healthy" menu choices to guide consumer decisions, such as Max Burgers, which includes CO2 labels on packaging to inform customers about the carbon emissions of their meals. Chipotle shows its customers through its app how their orders reduce carbon emissions, save water, avoid antibiotics, and support organic farming. Panera Bread has created a "Cool Food Meal" label for items with a lower carbon footprint.

The United States, under the Trump administration, has formally rejected and denounced the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), stating it will no longer reaffirm them as a matter of course. It looks like some corporations didn't get the memo.

Starting October 28, 2025 Amazon began layoffs of 14,000 (about 4%) of its corporate workforce in an attempt to scale back overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic. The company has stated it's not finished with restructuring, with plans to continue identifying areas for further cost cuts and efficiency measures in 2026. While the initial reduction targeted corporate roles, reports suggest the total number of job losses could reach up to 30,000.

In an attempt to reduce what he calls “excess bureaucracy,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy installed an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has generated some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes, he said earlier this year.

Jassy stated in June that the increased use of artificial intelligence tools that would automate repetitive and routine tasks would
likely lead to further job cuts.

According Sky Canaves, an eMarketer analyst. "Amazon has also been under pressure in the short-term to offset the long-term
investments in building out its AI infrastructure."

But not to worry, There’s always a universal income to rely on.

As of 2025, a collaboration of local governments, non-profit organizations, and research institutions in 18 states and the District of Columbia have conducted some form of basic income research study or pilot program.

California has several programs, including the Breathe program in Los Angeles County, that provides $1,000 monthly for three years to 1,000 low-income households, and the Long Beach Pledge, that offers $500 per month for 12 months to 200 low-income families with children.

The Inland SoCal United Way, in partnership with the California Department of Social Services, operates a pilot that provides $600
per month for 18 months to pregnant women and $750 per month to young adults exiting the foster care system. Another ongoing program, the Richmond Resilience Initiative in Virginia, offers $500 per month for two years to primary caregivers in an effort to reduce financial instability for working families.

Other states with active or recent pilot programs include Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, and Louisiana.

While advocates argue that UBI can reduce poverty, improve health outcomes, and simplify welfare by eliminating means tests and work requirements, some states, like Iowa and Arizona, have moved to ban such programs, and the Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked a Houston-area program in 2024.

Critics, on the other hand, have argued that a UBI program would be extremely expensive, would rob the truly needy of benefits by giving benefits to everyone, and would reduce the labor force and the income tax revenue gained from the labor force. Even the World Economic Forum doesn't think it's such a great idea.

According to the George W. Bush Institute, “UBI would also be an upheaval of the American relationship between citizen and state. American government was never meant to be a provider for all, and citizens never meant to rely on publicly-funded distributions. Under our Constitution, government is enlisted to protect our freedoms, not to provide for each and every citizen.”

In spite of opposition, interest in UBI continues to grow due to concerns about economic inequality, automation, and the limitations of existing social safety nets. Research from over 30 U.S. pilots indicates that most recipients spend the money on essentials like food (32%), retail, housing, and transportation.

Wall Street investment giants BlackRock and Blackstone are actively seeking the acquisition of major U.S. utility companies, to take advantage of the surging electricity demand from AI-powered data centers.

As of November 2025, BlackRock, reportedly the world’s largest asset manager, has secured approval to acquire Minnesota Power through its subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), turning the publicly traded Allete into a private company.

At the same time, Blackstone is seeking regulatory approval to purchase TXNM Energy in New Mexico and Texas, with the deal expected to close in the second half of 2026 if approved.

These moves have sparked significant concern and pushback among consumer advocates, regulators, and state officials over potential rate hikes, reduced service quality, and the long-term impact on grid endurance.

Utility rates across the United States have reportedly been steadily increasing in 2025, driven primarily by investments in aging grid infrastructure, transmission and distribution upgrades, and rising demand from sources like data centers and industrial growth. Electricity rates in households nationwide have risen in 67% of states between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025.

Residential electricity prices rose over 5% from July 2024 to July 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Since 2021, residential electricity costs have increased by almost 30%, while gas costs have risen by 40% since 2019, outpacing inflation. In some areas, delivery charges have doubled or even tripled due to extensive pipeline replacement and safety improvement programs, even as the cost of natural gas itself stays relatively low.

The use of clean energy, like solar power, is not a major cause of these rising rates, in spite of claims by utility companies. Experts point instead to grid upgrades, emergency preparedness investments, and infrastructure expansion as the primary causes.

Policymakers and regulators are beginning to take action, with some states urging utilities to explore lower-cost alternatives for infrastructure improvements and to find ways to manage peak demand periods that won't hike rates any further.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates now says that climate change is serious but will not lead to the end of humanity. He believes that the world should prioritize more pressing human welfare issues like eliminating poverty and disease, even if those efforts might result in a slight increase in global temperatures. SEE GATES NOTES. An article in Gizmodo by Ellyn LaPointe now laments that Gates is “Not a Friend to the Planet.”

This is a surprising reversal from 2021, when Gates warned that without urgent action, climate change would make life "essentially
unlivable at the Equator by the end of the century," and would cause massive population displacement and upheaval, especially among the world’s poorest.

Also in 2021, Gates even invested in Harvard University’s Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx) that aimed to trigger a global cooling effect by spraying non-toxic calcium carbonate into the atmosphere that would dim the sun.

To be fair, Gates seems to have been distancing from the most dire predictions about climate change over the years, shifting focus to alternative means of combatting climate change, or maybe its perceived effects, like the development of vaccines and alternative types of food.

On October 18, 2019, a pandemic simulation known as Event 201 was conducted to explore responses to a hypothetical global coronavirus pandemic. The exercise was initiated by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In October 2023, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $40 million investment to advance mRNA research and vaccine manufacturing technology in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa.

Bill Gates has also been a significant investor in BeyondMeat, a plant-based meat startup, since 2013, after he discovered a fondness for their plant-based chicken tacos. He has consistently supported the company as part of his larger effort to promote sustainable food alternatives.

Conservative podcaster and author Glenn Beck suspects that this recent change of heart could be the result of the proliferation of AI data centers and the vast amount of energy consumption that will be needed to operate them by the end of 2026.

Beck suggests that AI server farms, built by companies like Microsoft and Amazon, are likely to blame for rising electric bills and that there is a group of lawmakers in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey that are warning of potential strained grids and power outages. According to Beck, each one of these data centers that feed artificial intelligence, crypto and cloud computing, consumes as much power as 50 homes at all times.

Microsoft currently has live "AI clusters" in 98 locations around the world, a significant increase due to the addition of 39 new data centers. The company is building multiple Fairwater AI datacenters in the United States, with the main facility in Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin that will cover 315 acres and house three massive buildings.

Microsoft is also developing AI data centers in Norway and the UK, with partnerships to build the UK’s largest supercomputer. He is also planning to build an AI datacenter in Narvik, Norway.

Microsoft is looking to eventually expand its data centers to 40 countries and amalgamate them into a network that would democratize access to AI services.

But lawmakers are divided on the cause of rising energy costs. Some Republican lawmakers are blaming state policymakers.
Some Democrat lawmakers are blaming Republican lawmakers. Causes have been attributed to everything from outdated infrastructure to Trump’s tariffs, so it’s anyone’s guess. This might be a good time to invest in a good supply of firewood or a backup generator.

The archepelago Slvabard is situated at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean and is known as one of the most remote locations in the world. There Bill Gates is building what has been coined a "doomsday seed bank."

In addition to Gates's million dollar investment, other investors include the Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto Corporation, Syngenta Foundation and the Government of Norway, among others. The project is officially called the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The bank will reportedly have dual blast-proof doors with motion sensors, two airlocks, and one meter-thick walls of steel-reinforced concrete. It will house up to three million different varieties of seeds from the entire world, ‘so that crop diversity can be conserved for the future,’ according to the Norwegian government. Seeds will be specially wrapped to keep out moisture. The vault will have no full-time staff, but its remote location is expected to make any possible human activity easy to monitor.

This raises the question of what could possibly necessitate the hoarding of a seed supply of this magnitude?

Civil society organizations and small-scale farmers around the world argue that the project may be an attempt to consolidate control over global seed resources, especially through initiatives like DivSeek, that aims to map the genetic data of millions of plant accessions (a unique, identifiable sample of plant material collected from a single species at a specific location and time), and potentially enable corporate patenting of genetic material. These monopolies, they caution, not only pose seriousthreats to seed biodiversity but also to food sovereignty.

Meanwhile, according to Newsweek, rising debt, that some blame on low commodity prices due to the president's tariffs, low crop prices and labor force struggles, is creating a very tough year for American farmers in 2025.

And we plebeians are encouraged to eat bugs.

On November 2025 music artist Breaking Rust broke onto the scene and rocked the Country Music scene with his breakout song "Walk My Walk." The song soared to No. 1 on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart and made Breaking Rust the first fully artificial artist to top a major Billboard chart. If I was a country artists, I'd be worried.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

The first AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood made her debut appearance in a recent comedy sketch titled “AI Commissioner” and in mock trailers for various genres. The character is the brainchild of Xicoia, the AI division of the production company Particle6 Group, founded by Dutch actress-turned-producer Eline Van der Velden. She was introduced as a "hyperreal digital star" and now has an Instagram account with 66,000 followers, featuring modelling shots, selfies, and mock film scenes.

WATCH HERE

Here's a commercial that was recently released on YouTube.

WATCH HERE

"The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed." (Revelation 13:15)