"Remember: Your Mission Isn’t Done"

"Remember: Your Mission Isn’t Done"

by John Wilder

"One winter, while hunting elk up on Wilder Mountain, we had, well, an issue. We were about fifteen or twenty miles in from the nearest pavement, and headed home. It was overcast. It was lazily spitting snow, with a breeze that was slowly picking up. Looking to the west, where there should be a resplendent sunset, the sky was dark, heavy, and pendulous with brooding storm clouds that blotted out even a hint of the winter Sun.

That was when the problem hit. Pa Wilder, while driving over a “road” that was little more than a common path cut by four-wheel-drive vehicles over the course of decades of hunting and firewood gathering, drove over a small branch that had fallen in the road. Not a problem, right? Well, it was a problem. In this case, the branch had the stem of a broken off limb, sticking straight up. Pa drove the GMC Jimmy® right over that sharp shard of limb. In the span of a dozen or so feet, we had lost not one, but two tires. It penetrated the center of each tire, poking a hole the size of a half-dollar coin in each.

Amazingly, we had lost another tire already that day, already. We now had a four-wheel drive with five tires and three flats. In winter. As a blizzard approached and night was setting in. And all of this was in country where it could easily hit -40°F as night descended.

I bring this up to say that we had a mission. Our mission at that point in time was to get home. There were several challenges, and I’m pretty sure if most people were in the backcountry as a blizzard was descending that the last person they would choose would be a 12-year-old boy to be a guy on the team. Which is sad.

Children can have missions. Children can face danger. Children can do important things. We forget that because we’re in a society that doesn’t give children important things to do, mostly. Midshipmen in the Royal Navy were as young as 14. To be clear: Midshipmen in the Royal Navy were 14. A midshipman is an officer. If you were unaware, the Royal Navy wasn’t a social club, and often those boys fought in wars. As officers. So we forgot that boys can be given real, substantial responsibility. But there’s also the chance that we forget something else: that each of us is on a mission. And each of us has a role to play.

We currently are in a place where freedom is an increasingly precious and rare commodity. It’s not just in the United States – Trump may have said, “Make America Great Again” but down under they seem to be following the “Make Australia A Prison Again” plan. And Canada? I love our Canadabros that come by regularly (Canada is the second-largest readership here), but Canada seems to be determined to become the Soviet Above the 49th Parallel. 

It seems like in this day and age we all have a mission. Just like 12 isn’t too young, 80 isn’t too old. Frankly, we need all hands on deck. The size of the mission is the largest on the North American continent since 1774. I almost wrote that the idea was to preserve the Constitution and the Republic. Seriously, I’d love nothing more than to write that.

I’d love for that to happen. I’d love for us to come together. I’d settle for the laws to look like they did 90 years ago. Heck, even 70 years ago. That would be preferable to today. A reversion, sadly, is impossible. Whatever will come from tomorrow will not look like the past. It may be a shadow. The Holy Roman Emperors weren’t Roman. And the Holy Roman Empire wasn’t the Roman Empire. Or it may be something entirely different. I think it will be entirely different.

And that’s where you come in. Yes, you. You have a mission to create a new nation here. It won’t look like what we have today – it simply cannot, since we have created a situation that is at the far end of stability. I assure you, you play a part. The initial conditions of what happens are crucial to the final outcome. If George Washington had wanted to be King? If Thomas Jefferson had been a Martian Terminator Robot like the one that keeps triggering my motion detector lights at night even though the sheriff won’t believe me?

Things would be entirely different. And you are important. Your actions in the next decade are critical to the creation of what will come after. Do we want a nation that will be based on slavery, control, and that eternal boot stamping on a human face? I’d vote no. If you’re a regular here, I’m betting that’s your vote, too.

If so, let me shout as loudly as I can: You Are Not Done. This is Not Over. What is it that you can do to create a world where freedom beats slavery? What can you do to create a world where children can run free from the indoctrination of an all-powerful, all-regulating state?

There’s a lot. Our nation was, thankfully, built on the consent of the governed. Most things that local government provides, we want. To quote Python, Monty: "But apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"

To be clear: the Federal government does very little to make anything in the list above better, and often does a lot to make them worse. Except for the interstate highways. Those are actually pretty cool.

But I will tell you – you are the seed of the future of this country. You are the seed of the future of this continent. You are the seed of the future of this world. It doesn’t matter how old you are. The time is coming, and coming quickly where great injustices will be attempted. And you are the seed to make what comes after better for humanity. Would the world rather live in 1950’s America or 1930’s U.S.S.R.?

The choice is stark. Your mission is clear. How will you act to make your county, your state, your country one where free men can walk? It’s up to you.

Back to the mountain. For me, it was a game. That’s the advantage of being 12. Pa Wilder and my older brother (also named John due to a typographical error) and I wheeled the tires so we had two good ones in front. We locked in the hubs on the four-wheel drive.

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to drive up a mountain path in a car with only two tires in a snowstorm as it got darker every minute. It doesn’t work very well. The flat back wheels couldn’t push the Jimmy® up the hill. That’s where I came in. It was my job to take the winch cable, run up the hill, and loop the cable up the base of a tree. Pa would then use the combination of the winch and the two front tires to pull the Jimmy© up. Tree by tree, cable length by cable length, we worked pretty flawlessly as a team to get the Jimmy™ to the top of the hill. Thankfully, for the most part it was downhill from there. Although Pa was driving on the rims, we got it home.

Was there danger? Certainly, there always is. We had snow, so we had water. Ma would have called the Sheriff not too long after dusk, and even though the mountains were a labyrinth of roads, people had seen us. We also had matches, hatchets, wool blankets, gasoline, and a mountain’s worth of firewood to keep us warm. But we also had a mission. Each of us served our purpose, and we got home.

Pa was a bit raw about having to buy two new rims and three new tires for a day’s worth of not seeing any elk, though. For the record, I never saw a single elk when hunting with Pa. I’m telling you, that man knew how to hunt. Finding? Sometimes I think he just wanted a good drive in the woods and hike with his boys, teaching them about living. Teaching them about missions, and the part that they play, whether they know it or not.

In this life, we all have a mission, and we all play a part in it. I can assure you that your part is not done, because you’re above ground, breathing, and reading this. I hate to repeat something so trite, but in this case, it’s true: you are not done. This is not over. And the whole world depends...on you. It’s up to you. You will create the future.

So, go do it."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

"The Obedient..."

 

"What's He To Do Then?"

"You've seed how things goes in the world o' men. You've knowed men to be low-down and mean. You've seed ol' Death at his tricks... Ever' man wants life to be a fine thing, and a easy. 'Tis fine, boy, powerful fine, but 'tain't easy. Life knocks a man down and he gits up and it knocks him down agin. I've been uneasy all my life... I've wanted life to be easy for you. Easier'n 'twas for me. A man's heart aches, seein' his young uns face the world. Knowin' they got to get their guts tore out, the way his was tore. I wanted to spare you, long as I could. I wanted you to frolic with your yearlin'. I knowed the lonesomeness he eased for you. But ever' man's lonesome. What's he to do then? What's he to do when he gits knocked down? Why, take it for his share and go on.”

- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

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"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' 

I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"

- Sydney J. Harris

"Our Alaric Moment"

"Our Alaric Moment"

by The ZMan

"If you were living in the Western Roman Empire in the fourth century you probably knew that things were not going well. This assumes that you were prosperous enough to have time to think about these things. You could see that the infrastructure was failing and that the empire was struggling to maintain order. On the other hand, the decline had been happening for a long time so things may have seemed normal. Without some way to compare the present to the past, you only have instinct.

Today we have mountains of facts and figures to tell us how things are doing in the Global American Empire. There was a time not so long ago when these facts and figures made up the bulk of news coverage. Economists became court wizards, explaining the latest unemployment figures or trade numbers. They were also called upon to bless whatever polices were being debated in Congress. In the Obama years, economic data was the way we measured the glories of the empire.

That has all changed now. One reason is no one in their right mind takes anything the government says at face value. People had grown used to the way the media biased the numbers depending upon who was in office, but the mortgage crisis cratered the public’s confidence in the numbers themselves. If all of the court wizards explaining the numbers could not see the mortgage fiasco coming, then why should anyone believe them about unemployment or inflation?

Then you have the general lying that has become a feature of government. The lying about Covid not only disgraced the medical profession, but it finished off whatever trust people had in the official numbers. If the government lies about how many people are dying from Covid just to move more product for the drug makers, the government will lie about how many people are working or the inflation numbers. No one trusts the numbers because no one trusts the people issuing the numbers.

The point here is we cannot trust the numbers if the numbers have no relationship to anything we have experienced. When the end of the world has the same numbers as what most consider to be a golden era for the empire, those numbers cease to have any meaning to us. Throw in the fact that most people do not feel like they are richer than their ancestors and those inflated stock figures carry even less weight. We are left to rely on our instincts to judge things.

Of course, our sense of things, that gut feeling, is the result of a many small things that we experience every day. Three-quarters of Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction because they go to the grocery store every week. They see that despite the crowing about inflation coming down, food remains expensive. Granted, no one is starving in America yet due to a lack of affordable food, but it is that thing they see every day that gives people a sense of things.

Think about something simple like a pint of premium ice cream. A few years ago, a pint was sixteen ounces. “A pint is a pint the world around” was true from peak of the British empire until just a few years ago. Now a pint is fourteen ounces. The price for the new pint is not the same as the old pint. The price is more than the old pint. A few years ago, the old pint of ice cream was five dollars. That is about 31¢ per ounce. Today the new pint is over seven dollars or 51¢ per ounce.

That is a seventy percent change in the price. This is one example and probably not a representative one, given that butterfat prices drive dairy prices. Even so, this is something people see all over the marketplace. Shrinkflation is a word because it is a thing that exists. People notice that the containers are getting smaller, or they are getting less full in the case of things like snacks. Meanwhile, prices go up. This subtly tells people that something is going wrong.

This brings us back to where we started. There were those in the Roman Empire who sensed the true state of affairs. No doubt some of them lived and died expecting things to fall apart, only to stagger on long past their time. Then there were others who internalized this reality and just accepted that no matter how grim things might appear, the empire was a permanent feature of life. The people probably just tried to make the best of things, even as they noticed the decline.

All of that changed on August 24, 410 AD when Alaric led the Visigoths into the eternal city, sacking Rome and setting off the collapse of the Western empire. The empire staggered on for a bit longer, but it was over at that point. All of those bad signs people had sensed probably seemed obvious in retrospect. Even so, the sack of Rome by the Visigoths was a shock to the world. The signs seemed obvious, but people still thought that the imperial order was permanent.

This is most likely the fate of the American empire. There are lots of signs that things are going poorly for the empire. Getting whipped by a collection of bronze age goatherds in the graveyard of empires should have been a wakeup call, but the empire is now at war with Iran and picking fights with Russia and China. Meanwhile things deteriorate domestically, both economically and culturally. Yet, we stagger on, but somewhere out there is an Alaric moment just waiting to happen."

- https://thezman.com/

o

"The Decline and Fall of the American Empire"

"How It Really Is"

 

"There Is Going To Be An All-Out Fight For Control Of The Strait Of Hormuz, And The Implications Are Staggering"

by Michael Snyder

"There will be no negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz. There will only be fighting. The U.S. and Iran will now engage in an all-out war for control of the Strait of Hormuz, and the consequences will be felt by every man, woman and child on the entire planet. Traffic through the Strait will be paralyzed for the foreseeable future, and there will be a severe worldwide energy supply crunch as a result. Since neither side intends to surrender, the only way that the crisis ends is for one side to achieve military victory. The U.S. military cannot take out the Iranian missiles and drones that are threatening commercial traffic through the Strait from the air. If that was possible, it would have been done already. To fully eliminate the threat of Iranian missiles and drones, it would require either boots on the ground or nuclear war, and both of those options are unthinkable. So unless a negotiated solution somehow materializes out of thin air, we have got a giant mess on our hands that has no easy solution.

On Friday, President Trump gave the Iranians a 24 hour ultimatum. The Iranians were told that they must declare the Strait of Hormuz to be completely open and they must stop attacking commercial ships. In response, the Iranians rejected that ultimatum, they severely damaged a commercial vessel, and now they have declared the Strait of Hormuz to be closed… “Due to recent hostile actions by the US forces, passage through the Strait of Hormuz is currently unfeasible,” Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority declared in a social media post Monday.

“As soon as stability and calm are restored, all applications will be reviewed in accordance with the scheduled timeline, and the permitting process will resume,” the PGSA added, reminding vessels that in Iran’s view, “the sole means of obtaining a passage permit” to transit the strait is through its website. The PGSA was created by Iran during the war and Tehran insists that all commercial vessels wishing to transit the waterway seek permission via the agency and then use a northern route, close to Iran’s coast.

Once the Iranians rejected Trump’s ultimatum, it will inevitable that there would be military action, and over the weekend U.S. Central Command hit Iran really hard…US forces decimated Iran’s drone and missile sites in their latest efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz secure for transiting cargo ships. US Central Command announced late Sunday night that American troops completed a new wave of ‘offensive strikes,’ hitting dozens of targets ‘to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.’

‘The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade,’ Central Command said. ‘Iran does not control it.’ Iran responded by launching retaliatory strikes and insisting, ‘The Strait of Hormuz is our territory.’ We are being told that U.S. Central Command struck approximately 140 targets inside Iran.

Of course the Iranians were going to strike back, and it is being reported that they targeted U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Oman…US Central Command revealed US forces unleashed air-delivered munitions on dozens of Iranian air-defense systems, coastal radar systems, missile launch sites, and drone capabilities, bringing the weekend total to about 140 targets. This move aimed to degrade the IRGC’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Hormuz chokepoint, which it has done over the past week.

Iran responded with attacks on US-linked facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, and Oman, while also claiming it intercepted two vessels using what it called an “illegal route” through Hormuz. A large pillar of smoke was seen rising from the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain.

There is no turning back now, and Trump just escalated matters by reinstating the naval blockade on all Iranian ports… “We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform.

But that wasn’t all that Trump said. In an absolutely shocking post on his Truth Social Account, Trump also announced that everyone else will be charged a rate of 20 percent on all cargo shipped to pass through the Strait of Hormuz…

We have never seen anything even remotely close to this before. Trump told Fox News that the U.S. will get paid “a lot of money” for guarding the Strait… President Trump said Monday, speaking with Fox News, that the U.S. would not only take control of the Strait of Hormuz, but that other countries – which he did not name but he implied were the Persian Gulf energy producers – would pay the U.S. for securing it.

“We’ll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we’ll call it ‘the Guardian Angel of the Strait,’ and we should be reimbursed for that. When we do that, we’re going to be reimbursed, because the other nations are very wealthy; they’re on our side, and we can’t be expected to do that for nothing,” Mr. Trump said in the phone interview.

He claimed the U.S. had “guarded the strait for 50 years, more, and we never got paid for it,” saying other nations “made all the money … We guarded it for nothing, and now we’re going to guard it. We’re going to get paid for guarding it, a lot of money.” To guard commercial traffic going through the Strait, the U.S. will have to take out the underground missile cities where Iran is hiding their missiles and drones from our airstrikes. That would take boots on the ground, and supposedly that was an option that was not even being considered.

Until the threat of Iranian missiles and drones is eliminated, very little traffic will be getting through the Strait of Hormuz. On Sunday, just 14 commercial vessels passed through the Strait… Ship traffic has fallen steeply in the Strait of Hormuz over the last week, after Iranian attacks on commercial vessels sparked renewed fighting between Washington and Tehran. Fourteen ships transited Hormuz on Sunday, four of which were crude oil tankers, a decline of about 60% compared to the 37 vessels that crossed the same day last week, according to data from the trade intelligence firm Kpler.

Before the war, approximately 120 to 130 commercial vessels would pass through the Strait each day. The flow of oil, natural gas, fertilizer and other essential commodities will be seriously interrupted until this crisis is over. And that could be a while, because the fighting with Iran threatens to spark a major regional conflict.

In fact, it appears that Saudi Arabia just bombed Sanaa International Airport in Yemen… The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen accuse Saudi Arabia of carrying out airstrikes at Sanaa Airport in the capital. “In a blatant and unjust aggression, the criminal Saudi enemy carried out a number of airstrikes targeting Sanaa International Airport, thereby ending the period of de-escalation and bearing responsibility for the consequences of its aggression,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree says in a statement. “We affirm that this aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished,” he adds.

The Houthis have pledged to retaliate, and that could potentially include strikes on Saudi oil facilities…

The Houthis are also threatening to completely shut down the Bab al-Mandab Strait…

We could potentially be just hours away from all-out war between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. That would certainly begin another frightening new chapter in the crisis in the Middle East.

I kept warning my readers that there wasn’t going to be peace in the Middle East, and now that is becoming obvious to everyone. Meanwhile, the U.S. political establishment is dealing with the sudden death of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.

Apparently he was planning to seek medical attention shortly before he died…A person who spoke with Graham shortly afterward said the senator complained that he was feeling unwell. When the person urged him to seek medical attention immediately, Graham said he would do so Sunday morning after his scheduled appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Graham then joked: “I can’t die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out and do Israeli-Saudi normalization.” He passed away several hours later.

There is a lot of speculation that a foreign power may have been involved in Graham’s death. If that could be proven, it would change everything. For now, we are being told that his heart was the cause of his death…US Senator Lindsey Graham’s preliminary cause of death has been divulged following an investigation by the DC Medical Examiner. Per a statement issued by Graham’s office just before 5:00pm EST on Sunday, ‘Aortic Dissection due to Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease,’ was the cause of his ‘sudden’ passing.

‘The death certificate will be PENDING until all the toxicological and microscopic testing are finalized, and at that point the death certificate will be updated to reflect the cause of death and appropriately classify the manner of death,’ Graham’s spokesperson added in the statement.

We live at a time when absolutely crazy things are happening nearly every day. For a long time, most people in the western world were able to ignore global events because they weren’t being directly affected by them. But now we have reached a stage where everyone is going to be deeply affected by the stunning events that are occurring on the other side of the globe. The pace of change is about to go into overdrive, and so I would encourage you to hold on tight as we plunge into an abyss of uncertainty."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, 7/13/26

"US Control of Hormuz Strait Impossible!"

o

"We are so freakin' doomed!" - The Mogambo Guru

"Something Is Seriously Wrong With The U.S. Economy... Things Are Falling Apart"

Full screen recommended.

Across The States, 7/13/26

"Something Is Seriously Wrong With The U.S. Economy... 

Things Are Falling Apart"

"Is the U.S. economy stronger than the headlines suggest - or are millions of Americans facing a very different reality? In this video, we break down why rising prices, job market struggles, and shrinking financial security are leaving many families under pressure despite positive economic indicators. Here’s the thing... The story goes far beyond inflation. We explore why everyday essentials feel more expensive, why finding a job has become increasingly difficult, and how changing workplace trends are reshaping financial stability for millions. What most people don’t realize... Official economic data and personal experience don't always tell the same story. The reality is that affordability, housing costs, AI-driven hiring systems, consumer confidence, and job security are all connected in ways that impact daily life more than many realize. This report examines the key economic trends, explains the gap between statistics and reality, and explores what these changes could mean for households in the months ahead. Watch till the end and share your perspective in the comments."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Bill Bonner, "The Filter Stretches Like the Waistband"

"The Filter Stretches Like the Waistband"

by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland - "We have it on the very best authority that old men are not the same as young men. We have observed the melancholy fact in our own person. Where once we bounded up and down the stairs with the airy unconcern of a mountain goat, we now cling to the handrail. Whatever a man’s particular weakness in his early years, time makes it worse. The fellow with poor lungs at 20 can scarcely draw a breath at 80. He of the “bad knees” at 30 will be hobbling by 70, cursing the stairs he once ignored.

We offer no proof of this. It is mere observation, wholly unblessed by science. Yet a modest curve of belly at 30 ripens, with the seasons, into a magnificent paunch by 60. And the thinning thatch at 35 has decamped altogether by 55.

The same grim law governs the personality. The man idle in his youth is very nearly furniture in retirement. If he is a grouch at 25, he grows grouchier with every page of the calendar. And if he inclines by nature toward mythomania, vulgarity, or plain pig-headed stupidity - presidential timber, in other words - why, he is fairly certain to be insufferable by the time he draws his pension. Time, in short, distills our infirmities like oak-aged whiskey; then, the strong drink dissolves the inhibitions.

A friend of ours suffered a stroke in his 70s. He remained hale enough in body, but his family took to barring him from public view, for his internal censor had packed its bags and gone. In a restaurant he might inform the waitress, with perfect and disarming candor, “I love your tits.” It was an honest remark. The lady may even have been gratified by it. But it was definitely “inappropriate.”

We raise the matter because we find ourself brooding upon our beloved POTUS. Some say he is just ‘too old’ to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. But the man has always tended toward the louche; his own mother, we are told, prophesied that he would prove a “disaster” as a politician. He returned for his second term in January of 2026 older, perhaps a shade meaner, and girded with even less restraint than he flaunted in the first. He instantly rechristened the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali. He rattled the allies by threatening to annex Greenland, to bolt from NATO, and to file Canada away as the 51st star on the flag.

Jolly moments, these - mostly harmless, and very nearly charming, in the way they broadcast the President’s freewheeling, open-mic, icon-smashing joie de bully. But they whispered, too, that the worms in the Trump brain were on the turn; the internal censor had stopped working.

POTUS may imagine Gaza as a Las Vegas show town, for example. With uncounted bodies still beneath the rubble, it may be ‘inappropriate’ to say so. But, with the censor out of town, the brassy Manhattan developer went right ahead. The Mirror describes the video shared by the White House: "It’s complete with a “TRUMP GAZA” hotel, a 40ft tall statue of the man himself looking remarkably svelte, and - blink and you’ll miss them - a pair of bikini babes with long black beards…and it culminates with an image of Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu laying next to each other on sun loungers."

The press, predictably, has filed these eruptions under “unhinged.” But they are nothing of the sort. They are merely the naughty thoughts that go rattling through every skull on earth, which the rest of us have the ordinary good sense to strain out before they reach the open air.

Even Mr. Trump was once dimly aware of the editing apparatus, back when it still half-functioned. Concerning his rival Chris Christie: “Don’t call him a fat pig. You can’t do that.” That was August of 2023. By November of 2025 the filter had rotted clean through. Jake Tapper reports: After a woman reporter asked about President Trump’s name being raised in emails sent by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump snaps at her: “Quiet, piggy!” Another reporter put a simple question about releasing the Epstein files - “Why not just do it now?” To which the President replied: “It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions.”

But it is in his assault upon Iran - with ordnance and with adjectives alike - that the filter appears to have given way most spectacularly. Mother Jones reports that Trump threatened...

“Blasting Iran into oblivion” and “back to the Stone Ages!!!” He said he would blow up bridges and civilian power plants, which experts in military law said could constitute a war crime. And on Easter morning, he wrote on his social media account: “Open the F - in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.”

Trump signed the death warrant of Iran’s leader - but woe unto the Republic should some Iranian dare contemplate the reciprocal courtesy upon him. CNBC: "Trump threatens to ‘decimate’ Iran if it tries to kill him..." And then this dispatch, yesterday, from the Independent:

Trump threatens to ‘take over’ Iran if Tehran closes the Strait of Hormuz in profanity filled tirade."

A fortnight ago the President pronounced Iran’s rulers “nice people to deal with” and “very rational people.” But last week: “I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people.”

That may indeed be an honest sentiment. But it hardly seems the choicest thing to bellow in public when one is negotiating the end of a war one started oneself. The censor, alas, is off playing golf - and does not appear to be coming back."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "Spying and Tracking All of Us"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 7/13/26

"Spying and Tracking All of Us"

"Have you ever wondered how much your car really knows about you? In today's video, I break down the growing world of vehicle surveillance, dealership-installed GPS trackers, connected car technology, automatic license plate readers, and the personal data being collected every time you drive. We'll discuss a viral story involving a truck buyer who discovered a hidden tracking device after purchasing his vehicle, along with questions surrounding vehicle monitoring systems, driving data, and where that information may end up. We'll also look at privacy concerns involving connected services, data brokers, and why so many Americans are questioning who really owns the information generated by their vehicles. We'll also explore automatic license plate readers, free crime-mapping tools like SpotCrime, and the balance between public safety and personal privacy. As technology becomes more integrated into our daily lives, it's more important than ever to understand what information is being collected, who has access to it, and what choices consumers have. Let me know in the comments: How much privacy are you willing to give up for convenience and security?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Economic Market Snapshot 7/13/26"

"Economic Market Snapshot 7/13/26"

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

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"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 

You and I are not in the Big Club."

- George Carlin

o

Market Data Center, Live Updates:

- https://www.marketwatch.com/market-data 

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- https://www.asktraders.com/analysis/

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Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."

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- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

Job cuts and much more.

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

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Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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"The more I see of the monied classes,

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...

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And now... The End Game...

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"Alert! Russian Doomsday Planes Head to Iran, Hormuz Closed, Lindsay Grahams Death Conspiracy!"

Canadian Prepper, 7/12/26

"Alert! Russian Doomsday Planes Head to Iran, 

Hormuz Closed, Lindsay Grahams Death Conspiracy!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Can We Really Trust Our Feelings?"

"Can We Really Trust Our Feelings?"

by Todd Hayen

"Sure, as long as we are conscious of their true origins. And even if not, sometimes we can trust, other times no. Feelings are odd things. They can come out of nowhere, or they can be highly circumstantial - like the rush of extreme fear when a bear jumps aggressively from behind a tree. They can also be mysterious “gut feelings.”

Usually, we have some awareness of their unconscious underpinnings. We sense whether a feeling is a solid “gut” instinct, something “creepy,” or simply “good” - as in, “I just liked that guy; there was something about him that made me feel comfortable and trusting.”

But…and it’s a big “but,” we know we have to be careful. The guy or gal who sweeps us off our feet on a first date needs further scrutiny. We have all fallen into that pit, haven’t we? It is a deep, dark chasm, and usually very difficult to climb out of. Did you ever wonder why, back in the day, marriage engagements often lasted what seemed an eternity? There were many social and cultural underpinnings, but one major reason was simply to get past the “swept off your feet” syndrome - to make what was largely unconscious, conscious.

So, what’s the big deal? If our impressions of things and people rely too heavily on feelings - especially when we are not conscious of their origins - we can end up in serious trouble. Most of the time, it doesn’t really matter what our feelings are about other people. We see an actor we like or meet someone in the grocery store we immediately dislike. Actors don’t matter much in our daily lives; their entire craft is built on creating impressions based on unsubstantiated feelings.

Most strangers we encounter don’t matter much either. But people like our lawyer, our doctor, or our lover, do. With the exception of the latter, we usually have some objective basis for our assessments - what are their credentials? What is their reputation? Has the state licensed them? (As I clear my throat on that one.) We may still have a gut feeling, which remains important given their role in our lives, but we temper the emotional response with at least some objective evaluation.

We run into an odd situation with politicians. They are (or most people think they are) important, yet their persona and presentation are wholly geared toward generating a “feeling” with voters choosing among options. More often than not, they want that feeling to outweigh any objective facts. A lot of effort goes into this charade. Intellectually, many people may agree it’s a game, but most still fall for the ruse.

I see this often with celebrities, too. People worship movie stars or sports figures regardless of whether they are decent human beings. They reach worship status quickly. Sports stars at least have to have a exceptional physical skill. And oddly enough, most totally untalented actors seldom become celebrities. Hating these types (actors and athletes) is less common, but when someone is set up for hate for whatever reason, it flows effortlessly.

Guess who I am going to use as an example of this sort of hate? Donald J. Trump, of course. He is probably the most hated man in modern times next to Adolf Hitler (we could cite others like Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, or Saddam Hussein, but Trump is the most current). Was he set up for hate? Absolutely, although not entirely. He can be rather despicable at times, making it easy to dislike him. Add a little media salt to his own formula, and you have one of the juiciest targets for hate projection imaginable.

To start with, Trump does not have a conventionally likable personality. He comes across as arrogant, impulsive, boastful, and low on agreeableness and emotional stability - traits like rudeness, grandiosity, and a lack of empathy that many find off-putting. He is blunt, disruptive, and often vulgar in a way that violates traditional political norms. Not much there for broad appeal.

Yet some of these brazen attributes are exactly what his supporters adore. His maverick, no-nonsense approach - telling it like he sees it with little filter, rejecting political correctness, and fighting the establishment - resonates deeply. Supporters value his authenticity, pragmatism, and willingness to shake up the system rather than play the polished insider game. What critics call arrogance or bullying, fans see as strength, decisiveness, and refreshing honesty. Which set of attributes do you think make a better leader? Sadly, the ugly ones probably do.

What about the “real” good and bad things? Haters rarely focus on substantive presidential shortcomings. Instead, they attack his personality: he’s mean, ugly, makes fun of people, has weird hair, is fat, and has an ugly mouth.

They label him a misogynist, a racist, and a felon. Defenders note that many accusations stem from selective outrage, legal warfare perceived as political persecution, or misrepresentations of his record on issues like criminal justice reform (First Step Act), opportunity zones for minority communities, and strong support from diverse groups in elections.

Supporters argue his blunt style gets twisted into “-isms” while ignoring policy outcomes or context. Of course, as of this writing, Trump haters probably have more substantive reasons to hate him, but at the beginning of the hate campaign, not as much. The point I am making about “feelings” is not confined to the Trump phenomenon.

Many of the Trump haters adore figures like Biden, Harris, Obama, or (for Canadians) Carney. Why? For mostly the same superficial reasons - personality, looks, media framing - rather than deep substance. They were told to love these figures and hate Trump (and his team). Although personality and appearance play a role, the press drives most of it. Most people don’t look beyond that.

So, they treat politicians like movie stars or sports figures. Their gut tells them one thing, looks and personality another, and the press fills in the rest. Then they retreat into echo chambers where their bias is confirmed endlessly by social media, friends, family, the dog - and maybe a cat or two (cats are primarily liberal).

Feelings have their place. A strong gut instinct can protect us or guide us toward what feels right. But when it comes to high-stakes decisions - especially about leaders who shape laws, economies, and societies - we owe it to ourselves to dig deeper. Scrutinize records, policies, and results alongside the vibe. Conscious awareness of where our feelings come from turns raw emotion into informed judgment. Without that, we’re just another audience member swept up in the performance.

As I revisit this concept in our modern time, the divide feels even starker. The “feeling-based” politics hasn’t faded; if anything, it has intensified. Trump remains a lightning rod - loved or loathed largely on emotional and media-primed grounds rather than calm analysis (although that has changed a bit since the Iran conflict). The lesson holds: question the origins of your feelings, especially when the stakes are this high. Let’s all continue to stay sharp by balancing heart and head."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"US Food Supply Enters Crisis, Millions Aren't Ready"

Full screen recommended.

Snyder Reports, 7/12/26

"US Food Supply Enters Crisis,

 Millions Aren't Ready"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "RIP Warhawk Lindsey Graham; Los Angeles Vendors Selling Food On Sidewalks"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/12/26

"RIP Warhawk Lindsey Graham; 

Los Angeles Vendors Selling Food On Sidewalks"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Joel Bowman, "A Mountain of Debt"

"A Mountain of Debt"

by Joel Bowman

“An exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future...”

~ Thucydides, from his "History of the Peloponnesian War"

Buenos Aires, Argentina - "A time for peace, a time for war… a time of plenty, a time of few… a time for courage, a time for patience… What a time to be alive, dear reader! Standing on the brink of history, we are daily amazed as the world turns beneath our very feet.

In the newspapers we read reports of breathtaking technological marvels… alongside tales of war and waste. We see an age of unparalleled material abundance… on top of profound spiritual and philosophical emptiness. We learn of a future unfolding that is beyond our comprehension… even as we discover how little we know of our own past.

Take the recent story around the Herculaneum scrolls, for example, the only intact library to survive from the ancient Greco-Roman world. From The Smithsonian Magazine: "Scientists Have Deciphered the Surviving Fragments of a 2,000-Year-Old Philosophical Treatise Frozen in Time by Mount Vesuvius’ Eruption. The papyrus manuscript was part of a vast library preserved by volcanic ash. Now, the remaining passages - which examine ethics, knowledge and human nature - are accessible for the first time since 79 C.E.

Researchers working on the so-called Vesuvius Challenge used a combination of high-resolution scanning, sophisticated “virtual unwrapping” algorithms, and AI trained to detect tiny surface changes caused by ancient ink to access these texts, previously lost to time.

The library contains over 600 scrolls, potentially including missing works of stoic philosopher Chrysippus, lost dialogues by Aristotle, plus histories, plays and countless other treasures. It is not lost on us that the further we reach into the future – through technologies unimaginable barely a generation ago – the further we are able to gaze into the past. And yet, even as mankind labors meticulously to uncover lessons from ancient times… he is quick to forget those read to him just yesterday.

An Eruption of Debt: Witness the malignant creep of socialism in New York City, formerly the “capitalism capital” of the world. Notice the growing appetite for the State to “manage” whole industries – from grocery stores to A.I. to air conditioners and plenty besides – because, if nothing else, governments have proven themselves spectacularly competent at driving innovation, generating value and stewarding capital. (Ahem…)

Why, just take a look at the balance sheets of those very same nation states. Today, the ten most indebted nations on the planet account for 43% of the worlds entire GDP. Every single one of them – Japan, Greece, Italy, the USA, France, Canada Belgium, the UK, Spain and Portugal – carry debt-to-GDP ratios above 90%, the level economists used to consider the “danger zone.”

Click image for larger size.

One wonders, when future generations return to this corner of the universe, fresh and recharged from their interstellar vacations, what they will uncover from our primitive texts and primeval communications. Will they look at our collective store of knowledge with awe and wonder… or pity and shame? Have your say in the comments, below…"

- https://joelbowman.substack.com/

Musical Interlude: Mario Frangoulis and Justin Hayward, "Nights in White Satin"

Full screen recommended.

Mario Frangoulis and Justin Hayward, 

"Nights in White Satin"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Far beyond the local group of galaxies lies NGC 3621, some 22 million light-years away. Found in the multi-headed southern constellation Hydra, the winding spiral arms of this gorgeous island universe are loaded with luminous young star clusters and dark dust lanes. Still, for earthbound astronomers NGC 3621 is not just another pretty face-on spiral galaxy. Some of its brighter stars have been used as standard candles to establish important estimates of extragalactic distances and the scale of the Universe.

This beautiful image of NGC 3621 traces the loose spiral arms far from the galaxy's brighter central regions that span some 100,000 light-years. Spiky foreground stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy and even more distant background galaxies are scattered across the colorful skyscape.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090919.html

"The Earth"

"What can I tell her over breakfast when she says

her son suffers from madness, and because there

is no mental health, he has ended up in jail,

and she is relieved, because at least he might

be safe there or he might get to see the doctor.

We are eating egg-white omelets; we are counting

carbs. We are buttoning ourselves in our clean dresses

and high-heeled shoes in order to bring home the bacon,

doing what we need to do and “It is what it is.”

Her granddaughter and daughter are living with her

in the one bedroom. Nights, the daughter lounges by

the pool, looking at her phone, while she teaches the child

to plant seeds in a flower bed she feels bad she does not own.

She tells she cried in the car coming here; she did not know

me then. She thought we would be talking to each other

the whole time about what we are selling, what

the other might buy, but somehow we left that behind

over the toast with the tiny pots of strawberry jam.

Who can explain all this luxury, all this despair?

Or how we all hold our secret shames so close

and gloss our lips with “Cinnamon Fire” as if that were

some legitimate form of protection. Cinnamon Fire!

She just turned fifty. I tell her wait ten years - you

won’t know more, but you will get closer to forgiving,

because it is all happening on a wheel that spin

so fast. Why not stop to look at the pink flowers

you’ve planted with your granddaughter? Why not feel

your bare toes in the good wet earth? We play with the crusts

on our plates. The waitress takes the coffee away. We

are strangers again, each carrying our lonely fear

our children won’t find their way, wishing for them

some inner logic - sacred trust of earth and self, that exists

for each of us so far within, so far under the skin, we

can’t even begin to say what it is made of; it merely is,

poised between love and grief: the blue space we call wonder,

which is merely the dew on the grass, the shadow the sun

makes as it rolls over the vast skin of the Earth."

- Sheila Black

- https://poets.org/