Friday, January 17, 2025

Judge Napolitano, "INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson & Scott Ritter in for Ray McGovern"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 1/17/25
"INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson & 
Scott Ritter in for Ray McGovern"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Juzzie Smith, "Bluesberry Jam"

Juzzie Smith, "Bluesberry Jam"

Incredible one-man band!

"A Look to the Heavens"

“To some, the outline of the open cluster of stars M6 resembles a butterfly. M6, also known as NGC 6405, spans about 20 light-years and lies about 2,000 light years distant. M6 can best be seen in a dark sky with binoculars towards the constellation of Scorpius, covering about as much of the sky as the full moon.
Like other open clusters, M6 is composed predominantly of young blue stars, although the brightest star is nearly orange. M6 is estimated to be about 100 million years old. Determining the distance to clusters like M6 helps astronomers calibrate the distance scale of the universe.”

Chet Raymo, “Singing Beside Me In The Wilderness”

“Singing Beside Me In The Wilderness”
by Chet Raymo

“In one of those infuriating lapses that go with being a certain age, we could not remember the other evening the name of the poet who wrote "A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou..." After scraping the tip of my tongue for a few minutes, I turned to the computer (Google is my browser's home page) and by typing "jug thou" brought Omar Khayyam back into consciousness. (Another click and I could have had the entire Rubaiyat.) (Freely download the entire "Rubaiyat" at that link. - CP)

And so it is that the Googlized internet arrives just in time to compensate for our withering brain cells. Everything I ever remembered is there to be Googled, plus everything I never remembered. Ten billions pages. The searchable memory of the human race. With more yet to come.

My great-great-grandchildren will no doubt have tiny video cameras implanted in the middle of their foreheads, like Hindu beauty marks, recording everything that passes before their eyes 24-7, with a sound track too. All of which will be stored digitally, ready for instant playback, and searchable by date, time, GPS coordinates, or keywords- the whole of a life, not only available to the subjects themselves in their memory-lapsed dotage, but to future generations. "Here's great-great-grandpa on his ninety-first birthday, back in 2027. Look how he dribbles soup on his shirt. Ha, ha."

I think nature knew what it was doing when it allows our memory to fade with age. It is particularly notable that the more unpleasant memories go first, so that every summer past was golden with sunshine, and every child was a model of respectful propriety. And no one, not even grandpa himself, remembers the time he... “

"The Essence Of Life..."

"It was the essence of life to disbelieve in death for one's self, to act as if life would continue forever. And life had to act also as if little issues were big ones. To take a realistic attitude toward life and death meant that one lapsed into unreality. Into insanity. It was ironic that the only way to keep one's sanity was to ignore that one was in an insane world or to act as if the world were sane."
- Philip Jose Farmer

"A Long March...:

"The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instill faith in times of despair."
- Bertrand Russell
This always suggested the March of Mankind through the ages, and, 
incredibly, despite ourselves, we march on to our unknown destiny...
Vangelis, "Alpha"

The Poet: Charles Bukowski, "Darkness Falls"

"Darkness Falls"

"Darkness falls upon Humanity
and faces become terrible things
that wanted more than there was.

All our days are marked with
unexpected affronts - 
some disastrous, others less so,
but the process is
wearing and continuous.

Attrition rules.
Most give way,
leaving empty spaces
where people should be.
And now,
as we ready to self-destruct,
there is very little left to kill,
which makes the tragedy
less and more,
much, much more."

- Charles Bukowski

The Daily "Near You?"

Valley Center, Kansas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Our Planet..."

"We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds;
our planet is the mental institution of the universe.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"What Will You Do When You Can’t Buy Or Sell Anything On The Internet Without Your UN-Mandated Digital Identity Chip?"

"What Will You Do When You Can’t Buy Or Sell Anything
 On The Internet Without Your UN-Mandated Digital Identity Chip?"
 by Michael Snyder

"Imposing mandatory digital identification on every nation on the entire planet has become a primary goal for the global elite. It isn’t going to happen tomorrow, but eventually the plan is to get virtually everyone in the world into the system. If the global elite get their way, a time will come when you will not be able to buy or sell anything on the Internet without logging in with your UN-mandated digital identity chip. You won’t be able to go to school, get a job or open a bank account without your UN-mandated digital identity chip either. In essence, you will become a complete and utter outcast from society.

I have been astounded by what I have discovered. Leo Hohmann and a few others have been writing about this, but the general population has no idea what the global elite have planned. All the way back in September 2018, the United Nations established the “UN Legal Identity Agenda Task Force”

"Inspired by the Secretary-General’s determination to tackle the global problem of statelessness (affecting more than 10 million people worldwide), but also noting the wider (and larger) issue of lack of legal identity, the Secretary-General’s Executive Committee, in January 2018, mandated the Deputy Secretary-General to convene “UN entities to develop, in collaboration with the World Bank Group, a common approach to the broader issue of registration and legal identity…” To operationalize the decision of the Executive Committee, an inter-agency coordination mechanism - the UN Legal Identity Agenda Task Force (UNLIA TF) - was established from September 2018, where 13 UN agencies, under the chairmanship of UNDP, UNICEF and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, are working together to try to assist Member States achieve SDG target 16.9.

One of the responsibilities of this task force is to “oversee the implementation of the UN LIA at the regional and national level”. The following comes from the official UN website…To oversee the implementation of the UN LIA at the regional and national level;

• To develop and maintain normative work related to the UN LIA (with UNDESA leading as normative focal point);
• To convoke UN system-wide meetings to advance the implementation of the UN LIA;
• To brief the DSG and other senior UN principals as required (including the Strategic Results Group on SDG Implementation) on latest developments in the implementation of the UN LIA;
• To support the UNDP Administrator in his role as member of the WBG ID4D programme’s High-Level Advisory Council.

The United Nations Development Program is on the ground in 170 different countries and territories, and they have become one of the key UN agencies that is working to advance this agenda. On the UNDP website, they have an entire page that discusses what they intend to do. They argue that “embracing digitalization” will help to close the “global identity gap”…

"Legal identity serves as a fundamental gateway to accessing both public and private services. However, a staggering 850 million people worldwide lack the means to establish their identity. Embracing digitalization offers a pathway to bridging this global identity gap, with digital legal identity serving as a cornerstone of digital public infrastructure, fostering interoperability among diverse systems." Whenever they want to sell us on some horrible new thing that they want to do, they make it sound like it is something that is necessary to help the poor and needy.

The UNDP has listed five “compelling reasons” why digital identification must be imposed on the entire planet. The first reason they give is that digital identification will allow them to track all of us…"Digital legal identities offer a unique means of tracking population movements, facilitating swift access to essential information for each human being."

I’m sorry, but I don’t want the UN to ever track my movements. I am sure that you feel the same way. The second reason they give is that it will allow governments to register people more quickly during major disasters…

"Several countries are adopting digital IDs to register disaster impacts, aiding in the comprehensive understanding of these events. With support from UNDP, countries are establishing tracking systems to collect data from various agencies, including environment, health, public works, transport, agriculture, statistics, and others at national, provincial, and sub-national levels." So what would happen during a long-term global emergency such as a pandemic? Would everyone be required to register for “assistance” with their national governments?

The third reason they give is that digital identification is necessary for “identifying vulnerable populations and critical infrastructure”…"Digital IDs aid in identifying vulnerable populations and critical infrastructure, thereby bolstering resilience and guaranteeing a dependable energy supply during adverse events like extreme weather, seismic activity, wildfires, or power grid failures. Utility providers and emergency services can utilize this personal data during disasters to precisely locate individuals in need of special assistance, including those reliant on medical equipment powered by electricity or facing mobility challenges. Targeted support ensures that the most vulnerable members of the community receive prompt assistance and access to necessary energy resources." In other words, when things go wrong, digital identification will make it easier for governments to “help” us. We just have to give away all of our privacy first.

The fourth reason they give is that digital identification will help fight “climate change” because it will allow governments to “track energy consumption” and “inspire behavior change”…"Leveraging digital legal ID data to track energy consumption, inspire behavior change, and enhance sustainability measures can mitigate climate-related disasters." In other words, they want to monitor how much energy you are using. If you use too much, lowering your “social credit score” will “inspire” you to use less energy.

The fifth reason they give is that digital identification that is tied “directly to digital wallets” will allow authorities to encourage people to fight “climate change”…"By offering rewards or subsidies directly to digital wallets, individuals are encouraged to invest in renewable energy, leading to broader adoption and increased participation in sustainable energy initiatives."

Ultimately, linking your financial life to your digital identification is such an important part of their program. They will know what you buy, what you sell, and everything else that you are doing online. In fact, eventually they want to make it impossible to conduct any commerce on the Internet at all unless you have digital identification.

They argue that forcing everyone to reveal who they really are will make the Internet “safer” for everyone. But of course the potential for tyranny would be off the charts. Once you have the ability to track the behavior of everyone on the planet and you also have the ability to exclude people that are unwilling to submit to your demands from the system, you would be able to exercise a level of control over the globe that is unprecedented in the entire history of humanity."

"In The Last Few Years..."

"In the last few years, the very idea of telling the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth is dredged up only as a final resort when the
alternative options of deception, threat and bribery have all been exhausted."
- Michael Musto

"Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive"
- Sir Walter Scott, "Marmion"

"Here's Why The Stage Has Been Set For War With Iran"

"Here's Why The Stage Has Been Set For War With Iran"
by Chris Macintosh

"The stage is set for a major war with Iran. Let’s first go back to what’s happened and potential implications. Ten days after the attacks of 11 September 2001, former US Army General Wesley Clark revealed a controversial military strategy. In a conversation in the corridors of the Pentagon, Clark learned of a secret plan to "eliminate seven countries in five years." This 2007 revelation raised many questions about the real motivations of the "War on Terror" and the garbage narrative fed to the world via mainstream media. Clark reported that the plan was to invade Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and, finally, Iran. The surprisingly extensive list raised questions about US intentions and global strategy after the 9/11 attacks.

According to Clark, the decision to attack Iraq was made without clear justification, underlining officials’ inability to deal with the terrorist threat effectively. The conversation that took place between Clark and another senior Pentagon official revealed the uncertainty and confusion within the upper echelons of the military. "Are we going to war with Iraq? Why?," asked Clark. The answer was puzzling: "I don’t know. I guess they don’t know what else to do."

This admission highlighted the lack of a coherent strategy and a willingness to use military power to topple governments rather than directly confront the terrorist threat. Clark’s statement emphasized how the "War on Terror" had been executed ineffectively and for political reasons rather than a real need for national security. The list of target countries seemed aimed at consolidating US political and military influence in strategically important regions rather than eliminating concrete threats. Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, Clark’s words still resonate as a warning.

Remembering these events is crucial to understanding today’s geopolitical dynamics and the consequences of the decisions made then. The war in Iraq, which began in 2003, was only the first step in a series of military interventions conducted at the behest of Israel, which have had significant repercussions throughout the Middle East and beyond.

In any event, the West is nearly wetting themselves with glee saying that Syria is now "free." By free, of course, they have this guy Jolani Jolani, we are told, is the face of freedom. Who is he? Al-Jolani who fought against the US in Iraq before joining Islamic State and Al-Qaeda and later founding the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, earning a $10 million bounty on his head. As the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), he oversaw a regime of what the UN classified as "war crimes" in Idlib province.

But fortunately for Western media, they’re mostly talking to a bunch of ignorant peasants who won’t do even a cursory investigation into whether or not they’re being fed porkies or not, so here he is, a reformed, legitimate, moderate leader.

Since the 7 countries in 5 years project is entirely an Israeli-led initiative, it is no surprise to see Israel stampeding into the country bombing the isht out of much of it. The operation to divide Syria up will now commence. My guess is Erdy struck a deal and will get a chunk of the north, and Israel will move forward with the greater Israel project.
Just keep in mind that as we watch this taking place in front of our very eyes, any statements to the facts mentioned will be immediately met with the label of "anti semitism." It is the same strategy that has been used to silence truth. The labels of "conspiracy theorist," "anti vaxxer," "climate denier," etc. - all are specifically designed to shut down any debate on the topic at hand while ridiculing those pointing out the obvious. The "anti semitism" label is no different. Expect to see it wielded with greater tyranny over the coming years.

The US and therefore NATO will be brought to the fore in order to fight these wars on behalf of Israel. You didn’t think that Jeffrey Epstein’s hard work for Mossad wouldn’t be put to work, did you? Which brings me to…

Did Erdy Just Sign His Own Death Warrant? Erdy has been in power since March 2003. That’s a long time. He’s repeatedly made reference to his vision of restoring Turkey’s influence over former Ottoman territories. This has led to a rebellious (and often ambitious) foreign policy, however he is what I like to call politically promiscuous - he’ll screw anyone. Before we get into what’s just happened - namely Turkey providing military support for the Jihadists to overthrow Assad - let’s dial back the clock to 2016.

In a CIA-led coup attempt, Erdy found himself in a pickle. He was trapped in his resort in Marmaris, pleading on FaceTime with the citizenry after narrowly escaping assassination. It was reportedly Russian intelligence that saved his skin, notifying him of the incoming threat. Since that event, Russian-Turkish relations have been a lot more positive. So a couple things happened there. Erdogan had become vehemently anti-Israel, and the coup was a strong message from the West that opposition to Israel would not be tolerated. Secondly, he now owed his life to the Russkies.

The way he’s played it ever since has been with ever increasing trade between the Russians while spewing empty rhetoric about his resistance to Israel, but with no actions taken. For example, despite calling out the genocide in Gaza, he has continued the uninterrupted supply of oil to Israel. Furthermore, he’s continued to undermine the Assad government, which - aside from Iran - has been the most anti-Israel government in the region. This also goes against both Russian and Chinese interests, both of whom have been supporters of Assad. Like I said, politically promiscuous.

So as you can see, it’s complicated. But here’s the thing. When you travel around Turkey, you see that all the major developments are financed by… wait for it, Chinese banks. And much of the infrastructure development is in partnership with or exclusively Russian. Mmmm, tricky!

So why did Erdy collaborate with Israel to take out Assad now? I suspect he’ll walk away with a chunk of northern Syria in a deal already struck. I see Israel taking Western Syria and Turkey taking the Kurdish areas and what it can. Plus, the Americans saying, "Well, we’re here for all the oil, but we’ll give it to Israel." The issue is Erdy now has decisively pissed off the Russians for sure as well as the Chinese. And you know what else?

Well, the recent cozying up to Russia and China by the Saudis is likely getting a rethink. They’ll be correctly thinking, "Hmmm, they’re really trying to grab the whole Near East. Maybe we should be very careful about joining BRICS and threatening to move our assets out of the dollar because we could be next."

They’re familiar with what happened to the US puppet Saddam Hussein, who was originally installed by the CIA, only to then fall out of favour. They know what happened to him. He developed weapons of mass destruction so well concealed they’ve never to this day been found, and furthermore, 9/11… you know, Al Qaeda was linked to… oh, I dunno. He was a bad man, OK. The Saudis know that the stories told to the peasants in the West don’t even need to make sense and they will fall for it hook, line, and sinker.

This brings up a point I want to make regarding BRICS. It will shortly dawn on the Chinese in particular and the rest of BRICS that formalizing BRICS as an economic alliance will not be tolerated, and if they are to have a multi polar world, then they will be forced to form a military alliance, too. And that means WW3. And yes, I know we are already in it, but it will by necessity go overt. What else? As is always the case it is worth following the money. Here is the money…
So what we’re likely now to see is the Qatar-Turkey pipeline being pushed. I don’t think it’ll happen for the simple reason that it looks more likely that Syria becomes the next Afghanistan. In other words, a fustercluck. Getting any infrastructure built with dozens of factions of warring tribes will prove costly and ultimately won’t happen - at least not within the next five years or so. This in turn is great news for another country, halfway across the world…"

"How It Really Is"

 

Adventures With Danno, "Very Shocking Prices at Target, Grocery Options"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 1/17/25
"Very Shocking Prices at Target, Grocery Options"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "Never Fall For This Debt Trap!"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 1/17/25
"Never Fall For This Debt Trap!"

"Never fall for the medical debt trap! In this video, I’m sharing the dangers of medical credit cards and why financing procedures can lead to financial chaos. Whether it’s cosmetic surgery or basic medical needs, debt isn’t the answer - freedom is living debt-free! With credit card debt soaring past $1.17 trillion, let’s talk about smarter ways to manage your finances and avoid these costly mistakes. Plus, we dive into outrageous examples of overspending - $500 ice cream sundaes, $28 tacos, and more! I also cover the latest updates on the economy, inflation, IRS stimulus payments, and even California's fire insurance crisis. Stick around for my take on the nuttiest job opportunity - driving the Planters Peanut Nutmobile."
Comments here:

"Days Of Thunder: Is Civil War 2.0 Shaping Up In The U.S.?"

"Days Of Thunder: 
Is Civil War 2.0 Shaping Up In The U.S.?"
By Alex Krainer

Excerpt: "Last night I had the privilege of participating in a Zoom call with Steve Bannon, former investment banker and media executive, host of the "War Room" show and chief political strategist during the first seven months of Donald Trump's first term in office. Much of what Bannon presented wasn't surprising, but what seemed significant was that he confirmed that Trump and his team will go on the offensive from day one in office. "The days of thunder begin on Monday," he said, and the world will not be the same again. Bannon wasn't talking about Trump going on the offensive against the Chinese, Iranians or the Russians. Trump and his team are preparing to take on the "they.”

"They," in Bannon's words, are the people who control the world's most powerful empire and, elections or no elections, democracy or no democracy, they will not voluntarily relinquish their privileges and the control over their empire: there will be a fight. In a few recent podcasts, I discussed what this likely implies, simply on the basis of what the nature of this power struggle entails.

Namely, taking on the imperial cabal is a fight to the death. "They," are vicious, unscrupulous and extremely vindictive. If Trump and his team falter in this struggle, the cabal will not content themselves with merely defeating Trump politically. I believe they would not relent until they entirely destroyed him, his fortune, his collaborators and his family."
Full, most highly recommended article is here:

Jim Kunstler, "Joe Biden: An Assessment"

"Joe Biden: An Assessment"
by Jim Kunstler

"Power is the capacity to compel loyalty and obedience, under conditions of duress. Authority is the capacity to inspire loyalty and obedience, under conditions where free will obtains."
- Aimee Terese

"You’re aware, I’m sure, that a lot of people thought “Joe Biden” was being play-acted in the White House over his four years there by a series of look-alike actors. You saw those news items comparing “JB’s” earlobes to the old gaffer who showed up at the podium on a given day. Hmmmmmm... I was not persuaded by any of that. “Joe Biden” has simply been impersonating himself - play-acting the role of “president.” The mystery is how he got there.

You can expect very shortly, probably only a matter of weeks, to see a raft of news stories, soon-to-be big-money books, revealing the utter sustained chaos that churned behind the pathetic, half-animate figure pretending to be “chief executive” of the US government lo these dismal four years past. You will learn who was pulling his strings day-to-day since 1/20/21, probably a gang of 25-year-old, ambitious, Cluster-B staffers too disorganized to even amount to a cabal - but sufficiently united in their mission to destroy the country by any means necessary.

Whose idea was it, anyway, back in the spring of 2020, to retrieve this broken hack from the dumpster of discarded Democratic Party primary candidates and jam him into the role of nominee for president? You’d suspect Barack Obama, of course, since the former president had set-up a war-room across town from the White House during the Trump interregnum, and had openly bragged that he’d love nothing better than to someday kick back in a warm-up suit and phone-in governing orders to a stand-in dummy occupying the oval office.

Except Mr. Obama famously disdained his former veep. The few duties “Joe Biden” had in that role (under poor supervision apparently), he converted into a money-laundering and grift operation - most notoriously his adventures in pre-war Ukraine, where First Son Hunter played bag-man from his seat on the Burisma gas company board. That racket evolved quickly and neatly so that at just about every airport around the world that Air Force Two landed, Hunter and “Joe” were clocking-in fat bribes, supposedly for “influence.” That was the joke, of course, because “Joe Biden” had no influence with his President Obama, who regarded him as an idiot, a bumbling Inspector Clouseau, of whom he famously said, “Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*ck things up."

Yet, somehow, the old crook got maneuvered into “winning” the 2020 Super Tuesday multi-primary - abracadabra! Ballot magic! - while some little birdie flew around and persuaded Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Pete, Amy Klobuchar and the rest to drop out. Meanwhile, the Deep State blob had delivered the gift of Covid-19, whatever it was, a lab creation, a seasonal flu, or just a mass of PCR-test fake positives, and Mr. Trump was snookered into lockdowns by the same public health blobsters who engineered the “pandemic” crisis: Fauci, Birx, Francis Collins, Alex Azar, et al., with Bill Gates, Ralph Baric, and Klaus Schwab lurking somewhere in the background.

You can’t overstate the fervency of the Democratic Party in 2020 to eject Mr. Trump from office, considering the threat he represented to all of DC’s business-as-usual - especially after he escaped the perfidious impeachment trap engineered by legal assassins Mary McCord and Norm Eisen. Ergo, The USA slid haplessly into an ethos of grotesque institutional lying and election fraud because, you see, something else had evolved ominously backstage since 2016: the criminal activities of the FBI, CIA, DOJ, and Pentagon (major blob tentacles) in the drawn-out RussiaGate scam. Many people needed to shield themselves from potential prosecution.

“Joe Biden” hit the campaign trail like he was Rutherford B. Hayes, back in the day when candidates for president barely strayed beyond the front porch of their home. To say he hid in his basement was only a slight exaggeration. The few public events his handlers dragged him into attracted the public in embarrassing double-digits. He was already widely suspected of being in clinical dementia. Despite the blob’s best efforts, the content of Hunter’s laptop was already leaking onto the Interwebs, photos of Hunter naked with whores, guns, and drugs, deal memos between shadowy foreigners and Hunter’s Rosemont-Seneca money laundromat. But, of course, the news media buried all that and social media censored it.

And so, more election magic! The blob’s “Big Lie” trope - employed to this day even in the latest cabinet confirmation hearings - was itself the biggest lie, a complete inversion of the truth, which is that the 2020 election was a total and comprehensive fraud. It was an orgy of crime carried out across many states. Those of us who stayed up late the night of November 3-4, 2020, watched the numbers slip-and-slide from one column to the other right in our faces, saw the videos of fake ballots in Fulton County, GA, the shenanigans in Philadelphia, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Mark Zuckerberg had laid nearly half a billion dollars on swing states to switch-out election officials with Democratic Party activists and to fund ballot “harvesting” ops. Yes, you can state with certainty that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen for “Joe Biden.”

The four years of “Joe Biden’s” term-in-office that followed have induced the most severe disordering of the collective American mind in our history, lost in a fog of perfidious mendacity unmatched in scope by the Civil War, or any other national crisis. “Joe Biden’s” government went to war against the people of this land, at the same time it sold-out our vital national interests to the CCP, the WEF, the WHO, and other parties seeking our nation’s destruction. For years, we have been forced to swallow absurdities such as unsafe and ineffective vaccines, drag queens in the grade schools, borders wide-open to saboteurs (declared to be “secure”), and a stupid war against Russia that has destroyed the sad-sack nation of Ukraine.

“Joe Biden” has been a disaster and an embarrassment, easily the most damaging character to ever creep onto the US political scene. His one talent was for fakery. Even with sclerosis eating through his brain, he was able to go through the motions of faking it, reading his script off the teleprompter - though he was no longer up to casual questions in a news conference setting. The slime trail of crimes he leaves behind would be easy to follow by law enforcement officials actually interested in crime. He’s likely to pardon himself at the last moment, and pardon a long roster of federal officials who have committed crimes with and behind him. One way or another, they are going to be found out, even if many manage to evade prosecution. But at least we are going to learn a lot more about who was pulling “Joe’s” strings, and exactly what they did, and how - including the trick of making the news media hostage to their crimes.

So, adios, “Joe Biden,” you miserable, treasonous bastard. History will record you as the one president so far who was consciously a villain outright, in true self-knowledge of his own wickedness. You left your country a wreck in every dimension: in national security, national bankruptcy, national pride, and national confidence. Go back to Delaware and sit in the dim light of your room with the curtains drawn so you won’t have to hear about the gruesome discoveries to come of what you left behind. And when the day arrives for your funeral, be advised that it will not be much better than your campaign stop in Darby, PA, in June 2020, when you maundered pointlessly to a nearly empty room... before going out for ice cream with your secret service detail."

Thursday, January 16, 2025

"The System Has Failed You Again - $770 For Fire Victims, $700 Billion For Ukraine"

Jeremiah Babe, 1/16/25
"The System Has Failed You Again - 
$770 For Fire Victims, $700 Billion For Ukraine"
Comments here:

"A Comment"

"A Comment"
"I'm quite aware this blog's content has progressively turned into a virtual chamber of horrors - the ongoing total economic collapse and it's inevitable consequences, loss of civil liberties, the very real threat of nuclear wars, pandemics, poverty, climate change, rampant drug use, homelessness, and on and on - one disaster or horror after another - everything's going to Hell in a hand-basket and it's clearly displayed here. The world's a complex place, so the articles are sometimes lengthy of necessity. Not by choice - I'd much rather focus on other, better things, or be doing something else, but take a glance at the main-stream liars and propagandists, you won't see any of these things covered there, just more of the sensationalistic garbage and pure propaganda from all those cheaply bought low-life money whores. I've always believed you CAN handle the truth, given the chance to know it. Of course you can find truth, or the best version of it, elsewhere on many sites, if you know where to look, and I hope you're doing that.

I can only speak to what you'll find here. Please, don't come here expecting all sweetness and light, you'll be rudely disappointed. Anymore the blog article selection is really a threat-analysis and prioritization process, in hopes of keeping you informed about what's really happening behind the smoke screens and lies, and alerting you to imminent crises that may affect you directly. We've run out of time, hence the sense of urgency. These things are upon us, they're here now, and you have an absolute right to know and understand how and why it's all happening as it is. That knowing may help you prepare, help you deal more effectively with inevitable changes we can do nothing about, may even help you survive. But we will NOT go down without a fight! So, apologies for the sometimes grim article content, but that's real life, just how it really is, whether any of us like it or not. Stay informed, stay aware, and stay strong, always, and most of all thanks for stopping by!
- CP

Musical Interlude: 2002, "To Touch the Sky"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "To Touch the Sky"

Beautiful...

"A Look to the Heavens"

“While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula (M42). A potentially rewarding but difficult object to view personally with a small telescope, the below gorgeously detailed image was recently taken in infrared light by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. 
The dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500 light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is seen above primarily because it is backlit by the nearby massive star Sigma Orionis. The Horsehead Nebula will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years and will eventually be destroyed by the high energy starlight.”

"In Three Words..."

 

"Peak Focus for Complex Tasks, Study Music with Beta Isochronic Tones"

Full screen recommended.
"Peak Focus for Complex Tasks, 
Study Music with Beta Isochronic Tones"
by Jason Lewis - Mind Amend
"Experience intense focus when working on complicated tasks. Study music mix version of my 'Peak Focus For Complex Tasks' isochronic tones session. Listen to this when you need to maintain a high level focus to concentrate and study things like advanced mathematics, scientific formulas, financial analysis or any other complex mental activity." If you are new to this type of audio brainwave entrainment, find out how isochronic tones work and how they compare to binaural beats here:

"We Were There..."

"Someday stars will wind down or blow up. Someday death will cover us all like the water of a lake and perhaps nothing will ever come to the surface to show that we were ever there. But we WERE there, and during the time we lived, we were alive. That's the truth - what is, what was, what will be - not what could be, what should have been, what never can be."
- Orson Scott Card

"Now the voices and the sound of movement were gone, and the stream could be heard running quietly under its banks. The air was full of the scent of water and of flowers. She walked, quiet, while the house began to reverberate: a band had started up. She walked beside the river while the music thudded, feeling herself as a heavy, impervious, insensitive lump that, like a planet doomed always to be dark on one side, had vision in front only, a myopic searchlight blind except for the tiny three-dimensional path open immediately before her eyes in which the outline of a tree, a rose, emerged then submerged in dark. She thought, with the dove's voices of her solitude. Where? But where. How? Who? No, but where, where... Then silence and the birth of a repetition. Where? Here. Here? Here, where else, you fool, you poor fool, where else has it been, ever?"
- Doris Lessing

"Our Collective Fate..."

"We live in radical times surrounded by tasks that seem impossible. It has become our collective fate to be alive in a time of great tragedies, to live in a period of overwhelming disasters and to stand at the edge of sweeping changes. The river of life is flooding before us, and a tide of poisons affect the air we breathe and the waters we drink and even tarnish the dreams of those who are young and as yet innocent. The snake-bitten condition has already spread throughout the collective body.

However, it is in troubled times that it becomes most important to remember that the wonder of life places the medicine of the self near where the poison dwells. The gifts always lie near the wounds, the remedies are often made from poisonous substances, and love often appears where deep losses become acknowledged. Along the arc of healing the wounds and the poisons of life are created the exact opportunities for bringing out all the medicines and making things whole again."
- Michael Meade, "Fate And Destiny"

The Poet: J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Road”

“The Road”

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien

"Consider The Following..."

"Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.

Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness but they also lessen our experience of suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others' happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace- anxiety, doubt, disappointment- these things are definitely less. In our concern for others, we worry less about ourselves. When we worry less about ourselves an experience of our own suffering is less intense.

What does this tell us? Firstly, because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others' happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others' happiness. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their human rights and dignities. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human capacities"
- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

The Daily "Near You?"

Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Noli Timere: The Important Thing Is to Not Be Afraid”

"Noli Timere:
The Important Thing Is to Not Be Afraid”
by Ryan Holiday

"While Seamus Heaney, the world-famous Irish poet and Nobel Prize Winner, was being rushed to the operating room he sent a single text message to his wife with just two words: "Noli Timere." This Latin phrase when translated to English means Be not afraid. Heaney passed away not long after.

There was no virtue more important to the Stoics than courage, particularly in times of stress or crisis. In scary times, it’s easy to be scared. Events can escalate at any moment. There is uncertainty. You could lose your job. Then your house and your car. Something could even happen with your kids. Of course we’re going to feel something when things are shaky like that. How could we not?

Even the Stoics, who were supposedly masters of their emotions, admitted that we are going to have natural reactions to the things that are out of our control. You’re going to feel cold if someone dumps a bucket of water on you. Your heart is going to race if something jumps out from behind a corner. These are things the Stoics openly discussed.

They had a word for these immediate, pre-cognitive impressions of things: phantasiai. No amount of training or wisdom, Seneca said, can prevent us from having these reactions. What mattered to them, and what is urgently needed today in a world of unlimited breaking news about pandemics or collapsing stock markets or military conflicts, was what you did after that reaction. What mattered is what came next.

There is a wonderful quote from Faulkner about this very idea. “Be scared,” he wrote. “You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid.” A scare is a temporary rush of a feeling. Being afraid is an ongoing process. Fear is a state of being. The alertness that comes from being startled might even help you. It wakes you up. It puts your body in motion. It’s what saves prey from the tiger or the tiger from the hunter. But fear and worry and anxiety? Being afraid? That’s not fight or flight. That’s paralysis. That only makes things worse.

Especially right now. Especially in a world that requires solutions to the many problems we face. They’re certainly not going to solve themselves. And inaction (or the wrong action) may make them worse, it might put you in even more danger. An inability to learn, adapt, to embrace change will too.

There is a Hebrew prayer which dates back to the early 1800s: כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד והעיקר לא לפחד כלל. “The world is a narrow bridge, and the important thing is not to be afraid.” The wisdom of that expression has sustained the Jewish people through incredible adversity and terrible tragedies. It was even turned into a popular song that was broadcast to troops and citizens alike during the Yom Kippur War. It’s a reminder: Yes, things are dicey, and it’s easy to be scared if you look down instead of forward. Fear will not help.

What does help? TrainingCourage. Discipline. Commitment. Calm. But mainly, that courage thing – which the Stoics held up as the most essential virtue. One of my favorite explanations of this idea comes from the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. “It’s not like astronauts are braver than other people,” he says. “We’re just, you know, meticulously prepared…” Think about someone like John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, whose heart rate never went above a 100 beats per minute the entire mission. That’s what preparation does for you.

Astronauts face all sorts of difficult, high stakes situations in space – where the margin for error is tiny. In fact, on Chris’ first spacewalk his left eye went blind. Then his other eye teared up and went blind too. In complete darkness, he had to find his way back if he wanted to survive. He would later say that the key in such situations is to remind oneself that “there are six things that I could do right now, all of which will help make things better. And it’s worth remembering, too, there’s no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse also.” That’s the difference between scared and afraid. One prevents you from making things better, it may make them worse.

After the stock market crash in October 1929, America faced a horrendous economic crisis that lasted ten years. Banks failed. Investors were wiped out. Unemployment was some 20 percent. Herbert Hoover, who’d only been in office barely six months when the market collapsed, tried and failed repeatedly for the next 3.5 years to stem the tide. FDR, who succeeded him, would have never denied that things were dangerous and that this was scary. Of course it was. He was scared. How could he not be? Yet what he counseled the people in his now-legendary first inaugural address in 1933 was that fear was a choice, it was the real enemy to be fought. Because it would only make the situation worse. It would destroy the remaining banks. It would turn people against each other. It would prevent the implementation of cooperative solutions.

And today, whether the biggest problem you face is a pandemic or the similarly dire economic implications – or maybe it’s both those things plus a faltering marriage or a cancer diagnosis or a lawsuit – you have to know what the real plague to avoid is.

This life we’re living – this world we inhabit – is a scary place. If you peer over the side of a narrow bridge, you can lose the heart to continue. You freeze up. You sit down. You don’t make good decisions. You don’t see or think clearly.

The important thing is that we are not afraid. That we don’t overthink things. That we don’t get distracted with the worst-case scenario on top of the worst-case scenario on top of the collision of two other worst-case scenarios. Because that doesn’t help us with what’s right in front of us right now. It doesn’t help us put one foot in front of the other, whether it’s on a spacewalk or a tough business call. It doesn’t help us slow our heart rate down whether we’re re-entering the earth’s atmosphere or watching a plummeting stock portfolio. It doesn’t help us remember that we’ve trained for this, that there is a playbook for how to proceed.

Remember, Marcus Aurelius himself faced a deadly, dangerous pandemic. His people were panicked. His doctors were baffled. His staff and his advisors were conflicted. His economy plunged. The plague spanned fifteen years of his reign with a mortality rate of between 2-3%. Marcus would have been scared – how could he not have been? But he didn’t let that rattle him. He didn’t freeze. He didn’t relinquish his ability to lead. He got to work.

“Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole,” he wrote to himself, as it was happening. “Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, ‘Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?’ You’ll be embarrassed to answer.” The crisis could have crippled him. But instead he stood up. He not only endured it, but he was a hero. He saved lives. He prevented panic from turning the battle into a rout.

Which is what we must do today and always, whatever we’re facing. We can’t give into fear. We have to repeat to ourselves over and over again: It’s OK to be scared, just don’t be afraid. We repeat: The world is a narrow bridge and I will not be afraid.

We have to focus on the six things, as Chris Hadfield might say, that we can do to make it better. And we can’t forget that there are plenty of things we can do to make things worse. Foremost among them, giving into fear and making mistakes. Rather, we have to keep going. Now is the time for everyone to show courage, like the thousands of generations who have come before us. Because time marches in only one direction – forward.”

"Life Has No Victims..."

“Life has no victims. There are no victims in this life. No one has the right to point fingers at his/her past and blame it for what he/she is today. We do not have the right to point our finger at someone else and blame that person for how we treat others, today. Don’t hide in the corner, pointing fingers at your past. Don’t sit under the table, talking about someone who has hurt you. Instead, stand up and face your past! Face your fears! Face your pain! And stomach it all! You may have to do so kicking and screaming and throwing fits and crying – but by all means – face it! This life makes no room for cowards.”
- C. Joybell C.