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Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Musical Interlude: Spirit Tribe Awakening, "Raise Positive Vibration"

Full screen recommended.
Spirit Tribe Awakening, "Raise Positive Vibration"
"Peaceful, empowering and soothing music and nature to nurture your mind, body, and soul. Supporting and empowering you on your life journey. 528Hz positive energy healing music with 417Hz Solfeggio frequency. These frequencies have a specific healing effect on your subconscious mind." Be kind to yourself, savor this extraordinarily beautiful video. Headphones recommended, not required.

"A Look to the Heavens"

"From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle. A closer look at the Eagle Nebula, however, shows the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell of dust. Through this window, a brightly-lit workshop appears where a whole open cluster of stars is being formed. In this cavity tall pillars and round globules of dark dust and cold molecular gas remain where stars are still forming. Already visible are several young bright blue stars whose light and winds are burning away and pushing back the remaining filaments and walls of gas and dust.
The Eagle emission nebula, tagged M16, lies about 6500 light years away, spans about 20 light-years, and is visible with binoculars toward the constellation of the Serpent (Serpens). This picture involved over 12 hours of imaging and combines three specific emitted colors emitted by sulfur (colored as red), hydrogen (yellow), and oxygen (blue).”

"Ancient Solar Storm Discovered In Tree Rings Reveals 'Catastrophic' Event 14,000 Years Ago"

"Ancient Solar Storm Discovered In Tree Rings
Reveals 'Catastrophic' Event 14,000 Years Ago"
by Tyler Durden

"A new study, based on the analysis of growth rings in ancient trees, suggests that the most powerful solar storm on record slammed into Earth approximately 14,300 years ago. Should a storm of that intensity strike today, modern society would instantly collapse.

Researchers from the Collège de France, CEREGE, IMBE, Aix-Marseille University, and the University of Leeds published the new study in the Royal Society A journal. They measured radiocarbon levels in ancient trees preserved within the eroded banks of the Drouzet River near Gap, in the Southern French Alps, and found "tree trunks, which are subfossils – remains whose fossilization process is not complete – were sliced into tiny single tree-rings. Analysis of these individual rings identified an unprecedented spike in radiocarbon levels occurring precisely 14,300 years ago."

They said, "By comparing this radiocarbon spike with measurements of beryllium, a chemical element found in Greenland ice cores, the team proposes that the spike was caused by a massive solar storm that would have ejected huge volumes of energetic particles into Earth's atmosphere."

They said, "By comparing this radiocarbon spike with measurements of beryllium, a chemical element found in Greenland ice cores, the team proposes that the spike was caused by a massive solar storm that would have ejected huge volumes of energetic particles into Earth's atmosphere."

"Radiocarbon is constantly being produced in the upper atmosphere through a chain of reactions initiated by cosmic rays." Edouard Bard, lead author of the study, said in a statement. Bard said, "Recently, scientists have found that extreme solar events including solar flares and coronal mass ejections can also create short-term bursts of energetic particles which are preserved as huge spikes in radiocarbon production occurring over the course of just a single year." The researchers warned if "similar massive solar storms" slammed into Earth today, it would be "catastrophic for modern technological society, potentially wiping out telecommunications, satellite systems and electricity grids."

The study's co-author, Tim Heaton, a radiocarbon expert at the University of Leeds in England, explained, "Extreme solar storms could have huge impacts on Earth. Such super storms could permanently damage the transformers in our electricity grids, resulting in huge and widespread blackouts lasting months. They could also result in permanent damage to the satellites that we all rely on for navigation and telecommunication, leaving them unusable. They would also create severe radiation risks to astronauts."

Researchers said nine extreme solar storms - known as Miyake Events - have been identified over the last 15,000 years. The last known major solar storm fried telegraph machines in 1859 - has been called the "Carrington Event."

Solar Cycle 25 has been underway since April 2019 and might peak sometime in 2025. In December 2022, the total number of sunspots was at its highest in eight years, indicating solar activity has ramped up. Earlier this year, scientists observed twice as many sunspots -- red flags that solar maximum could be nearing.
Readers have been well-informed about what an 'X-class' flare could do to modern society: "The Next Big Geomagnetic Storm Poses An Astronomical Risk To Modern Man Digital Economy Disruption Possible As "Terminator Event" Suggests Strongest Sunspot Cycle On Record Imminent." Forget the climate change narrative pushed by corporate media. Focus on how to protect the grid from major solar storms...
The world needs to prepare for the next big solar storm. Remember, in 2016, former President Obama signed an executive order titled "Coordinating Efforts to Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events."

"Virtue And Justice"

"Virtue And Justice"
by TheZMan

"In the Western world, concepts like justice and virtue are thought about as objective things, as if they have been handed to us by God. You cannot have personal justice as it is a thing that exists independent of you. You can have personal virtue, but that just means you voluntarily abide by a set of objective rules. The modifier in that phrase is for emphasis rather than to shift the meaning of the word. To be a virtuous person is to live by a set of rules that apply to all individuals individually.

This is most obvious in the way we use the word justice. It is often treated like a god that must be made happy or bad things will happen. The internet is full of videos where an idiot is breaking the law in a flagrant and gratuitous way only to come to a bad end by his own hand. The popularity of these videos is due to the notion that this proves justice will always be served. Justice is like a ledger and in the end, both sides of the ledger must sum to zero or else.

Justice is the great balance between right and wrong. There are things that are right and things that are wrong. If you do something wrong, like break the law, then the needs of justice say you must be punished. It is not the cops or the prosecutor or the judge punishing you because they are upset by your actions. They are punishing you because justice demands it. They may even have sympathy for you, but justice is justice and criminals have to be punished.

Something similar exists with virtue. The virtuous person abides by the rules of society and maybe the tenets of his religion. Our sense of virtue in the West is a very republican one in that it is based on your relationship with the social systems, not how you serve your family, your community, or your people. The virtuous person adheres to the rules and defends the institutions without regard to personal consideration. It is why every politician claims to be a public servant.

Of course, the word “public” is entirely impersonal. The reason you never hear a politician say he serves his people is there is no sense of a people. There is the public, this abstract collection of individual economic units, who have nothing more than a transactional relationship with one another. In this way, the public servant is not serving real flesh and blood people, but an implementation of them. The public is the interface for whatever lies behind it.

This was not always the case in the West. Justice, for example, was a personal matter for pre-Christian people. If a guy in the next village killed one of your people, justice required you to kill him or one of his people. On the other hand, your people might decide that it is not in their interest to exact revenge this way. Instead, they decide to kill the cattle of the other village. Justice was both a personal and collective concept that was only loosely tied to universal concepts.

In Germanic societies, they had trial by combat. In a dispute between two people, justice would be determined by the two parties fighting it out. The idea was not that the gods would pick the winner in the name of justice, but that justice was a personal thing to be imposed on others. It was not the duty of the ruler to sort this out for the two parties in a dispute. His job and that of society was to set the conditions for the two sides to figure this out for themselves.

When it comes to virtue, the reverse was the case. The measure of you as a person was not against an objective set of rules for individuals, but wholly in the context of you as the member of a people. You see this in Homer where the heroes perform great deeds on behalf of their people. The Norse legends have similar tales. Virtue was all about your service to your people. It was simply impossible to be a virtuous man without contributing to the defense and prosperity of your people.

This is why exile loomed so large. Death was a terrible end because you were forever exiled from your people, so you could no longer serve them. Exile was the next worst for the same reason. It also brought the torment of living with the fact that you are denied the opportunity to serve your people. Virtue was defined by you fulfilling your potential in service to your people, so it was simply impossible to be virtuous outside the context of you as a member of a people.

There are still some flickers of this sense of virtue in the modern age. Men who volunteer for the army are thanked for their service. Military honors are often tied to selfless commitment to fellow soldiers under duress. We have parades for cops who get killed chasing criminals. Again, politicians call themselves public servants so they can pretend to be virtuous. All of this, however, is limited to a narrow space of life and measured against a universal standard of justice.

This contrast in the old views on virtue and justice with the modern views is obvious when you look at the current war between the Jews and Arabs. Hamas committed an attack against the Jews because their justice demanded it. The Jews are the enemy of their people and justice demands they strike at their enemies. The men who no doubt volunteered for the mission will be celebrated, because they accomplished a great feat in the war against the enemy of their people.

For their part, the Jews are following the same path. Twitter was full of Jewish commentators demanding vengeance. They were not demanding justice in the way in which modern Western people think of it. Look at how Washington reacted after the 9/11 attacks. The promise was to go after the people responsible. George Bush did not promise to carpet bomb Kabul. Jews around the world and the Jewish government promised to exact vengeance on the people of Gaza.

The contrasting views on virtue are also obvious on the Jewish side. Diaspora Jews conflate their sense of virtue, which is service to their people, with the Western sense of virtue and demand you give over everything to their fight with one of their ancient enemies in the Levant. A similar mindset drives the neocon demand that the West risk nuclear war in the Ukraine. Note that they speak of Russians as the enemy, not the Russian state or the current form of government.

That last bit is vital to grasping the differences. The sanctions regime was specifically aimed at the Russian people. The hope was that sanctions would collapse the economy and throw the population into starvation. We see the same thing happening with Gaza, as the IDF bombs residential areas. In both cases, the point is to harm the people, holding them responsible, not specifically their leaders. In both cases, it is assumed the leaders are acting in service to their people.

It is tempting to think that modern Western views on virtue and justice are superior to these older forms, but there is much to favor in what we see in the Levant. If the Palestinians adhered to Western views, they would no longer exist as a people, at least not in the Levant. Most would have fled to new lands and lost their identity. The Jewish people would have gone away a long time ago. Their old school views of virtue and justice have allowed them to exist in the most hostile places.

The test of these two outlooks is happening within the West. As non-European people flood into the West, bringing their Bronze Age mindset on virtue and justice, they are challenging Europeans and their universalist and individualist mindset. Will the former naturally give way to the latter or will the latter have to be imposed by force on the former and is this even possible within the framework of the latter? Will Europeans just have to return to their old ways to preserve themselves?"

"This Is Not A Trade Deal With China And You’ll Feel The Pain As Prices Skyrocket"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 5/13/25
"This Is Not A Trade Deal With China
 And You’ll Feel The Pain As Prices Skyrocket"

"Everybody is so happy right now. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged over 1,000 points today, television commentators are overflowing with positive sentiment, and even many of President Trump's fiercest opponents are celebrating. It warms my heart to witness such widespread happiness, and part of me hesitates to cast a shadow on this collective jubilation. But I cannot simply tell people what they wish to hear just to please them. I must speak truthfully about the recently established agreement with China, and the reality isn't all sunshine and rainbows. First and foremost, we haven't actually secured a "trade deal" with China. What we have is a 90 day "cooling off period" during which we might potentially negotiate a "trade deal" with China.

There is a substantial distinction between these two concepts. For 90 days, both parties will substantially reduce tariffs. Without question, this represents a positive development. If we had maintained a 145 percent tariff rate on the majority of Chinese products, we would have faced barren shelves and shortages throughout America. But a 50 percent tariff rate on Chinese imports is still really going to sting. The U.S. economy has been heading in the wrong direction for years, and this is certainly going to accelerate our problems. There's much celebration for now, but it won't be long before the reality of what we're facing becomes undeniable.
Comments here:

"Living In A Car: People Share The Harsh Reality Of Skid Row In The Desert, A City Of Shacks"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 5/13/25
"Living In A Car: People Share The Harsh Reality 
Of Skid Row In The Desert, A City Of Shacks"
Comments here:

The Daily "Near You?"

Washington, DC, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Gerald Celente, "Presstitutes: Media Whores Who Jerk The Public Off With Click Porn"

Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 5/13/25
"Presstitutes: Media Whores
 Who Jerk The Public Off With Click Porn"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present facts and truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for what’s next in these increasingly turbulent times."
Comments here:

"There Comes A Time..."

“Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

"Alert! Follow The Weapons! U.S. Record Arms Shipments For War w/Russia, Iran, China, Iran, Pakistan"

Canadian Prepper, 5/13/25
"Alert! Follow The Weapons! U.S. Record Arms 
Shipments For War w/Russia, Iran, China, Iran, Pakistan"
Comments here:

"War..."

"War does not determine who's right... only who's left."
- Bertrand Russell

"The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting
 each other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals."
- Edward Abbey

"An Endless Dream"

"Endless Dream", by Christopher Vacher
"An Endless Dream"
by Nicholas Creed

"I fall into a deep, endless dream, struggling to awaken. In this peaceful place, sanity is the norm and not the exception amongst the perception of contemporary affairs. Tyrants and sociopathic misleaders are imprisoned for life, or tried for crimes against humanity, facing capital punishment. My peers, coworkers, friends, and family members question things like they did when I was younger. I can remember when things were different. When ‘narrative’ was less coordinated, prior to the advent of social media and so-called smart phones. Mediums of non verbal communication were less mesmerising, if not at all prevalent.

In my dream state, my nearest and dearest return to being truly present. People make eye contact, they smile, their laughter is contagious and precious - not something to capture and post online for dopamine hits. Making memories is sacred. The power of media narrative no longer strangleholds the masses. Storytelling in person is revitalised as a cherished art form. People are open-minded to dialogue, discourse, and alternative world views, with an unwavering moral compass. They exhibit a clear perception of right and wrong, which they are able to act upon without hesitation. We mostly agree on what constitutes genocide or democide; political leaders are not given a pass for horrific misdeeds just because they also do perceived good deeds.

Conspiracy theories such as health coming from needles and pills are ridiculed, with those believing in and pushing them being sidelined as extremist fringe ideologues. Those pushing or praising such ‘treatments’ are dealt with swiftly by a justice system that is enacted and executed by the people, for the people.

In this endless dream, a critical mass of human beings can see through propaganda easily - they are not easily misled or lied to. Warmongers and war criminals are silenced, ostracised, or tried in court for war-crimes. Instances of people dying suddenly are considered highly abnormal; thus investigated immediately, with the root cause discovery made widely known…As opposed to being obfuscated in lies and spin within a constant shell blame-game that builds up a precarious house of cards.

In this peaceful slumberous reality, I am inundated with delightful news from friends old and new that they have healthy children, with newly expectant mothers, and no fertility complications whatsoever. Miscarriages are an ultra-rare phenomenon. Doctors care for the well being of their patients, prescribing natural remedies, nutrition, and exercise. Historical posterity documented the Rockefeller family being shunned for their unhinged, malicious practices following university grants and attempts made at capturing the medical system.

Society is predicated upon a sound monetary system, meaning that purchasing power is protected, not debased and devalued. Small to medium sized businesses, along with sole proprietorship is encouraged by all forms of voluntarism and self governance; as is self sufficiency. Government interventionism and meddling is minimalist - quickly rejected and overthrown by the people, should opportunistic bad actors attempt to undermine the system. People choose public servants to serve them, because they do not wish to be ruled over.

Alas, if only this dream were true.

In my waking nightmare, a majority of people believe absurdities, therefore they are willfully blind to atrocities committed. They seek to poison themselves and their families in as many ways as they can possibly afford to with financial resources and available time constraints. They tell me which group is the disfavoured other of the week, as often as possible, if they can corner me to listen, whilst probing my approval or disproval, which usually results in their suspicion and subsequent distancing.

They have relationships with screens, not with people. I watch them accelerating their own demise, whilst they rush towards authoritarianism and collectivist ideologies. I hear about their fertility woes. Their repeatedly failed IVF treatments. Their strange illnesses and diagnoses. They are always baffled. Bafflement turns to anger if their medicalised religion is hinted at as being the source of their body horrors.

I understand now, that they too are in an endless dream. A waking dream state. In their endless dream, their government is benevolent, the pedestaled politicians care for the best outcomes of their citizenry. Doctors and nurses try their best to help patients, but there is collateral damage, because there are so many dangerous diseases. Vaccines are seen as life saving miraculous feats of modern day medicine. War is accepted as a necessary evil, because some groups are worse than other groups, as indicated by talking heads on tell-lie-vision.

In their dreamy haze, they admittedly know that bankers profit from wars, but also insist the banking system is integral to the rebuilding efforts after the carnage dies down. Incrementally impoverishing their own standards of living as we hurtle towards the realisation of agenda 2030 is a necessary sacrifice for the greater good. The mainstream media outlets are all vetted for truth, accuracy, and non-bias or capture, because that is how it has always been. If there was any real-time genocide or democide happening, then it would be on the news, obviously. A coordinated, systemic, globally concerted effort amongst nation state leadership to depopulate the planet is simultaneously a wild conspiracy theory, yet also makes perfect sense to them, because they are continually told via media messaging that overpopulation is our greatest threat.

From endless dreams to waking nightmares and everything in between, perhaps we will all meet somewhere in the middle. Someday. Nearby. Just around the corner. Wait and see."

"How It Really Is"

 

"Scott Ritter and Mohammad Marandi: Bone-Chilling Geopolitical Lessons from Russia and Yemen"

Dialogue Works, 5/13/25
"Scott Ritter and Mohammad Marandi:
 Bone-Chilling Geopolitical Lessons from Russia and Yemen"
Comments here:

"No Treason: Spooner and the Constitution of No Authority"

"No Treason: 
Spooner and the Constitution of No Authority"
by Joel Bowman

“A man's natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime; whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, or by millions calling themselves a government.”
~ Lysander Spooner, "No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority" (1870)

Syros, Greece - "Long time readers are familiar with our beat here at Notes. But what about the opposite… what about unfree markets… unfree minds… and unfree people? To those inquiring minds who wonder why we only post sunny, cheerful photos and videos of our worldly meanderings, and who question why we only showcase the bright side of Argentina, we have a special treat for you today. Behold, Correo Argentino... and the wretched aesthetic terrorism that is government architecture, where no structure is too grotesque and where form is routinely sacrificed on the altar of dysfunction.
An Affront to Beauty: Correo Argentino, for the blissfully uninitiated, is Argentina’s answer to the question: But is the USPS really as bad as mail delivery gets? Lest you thought it was impossible, Argentina’s version is even uglier and costlier than it’s northern cousin... and more prone to induce visions of “going postal” in those who suffer the misfortune of having to spend more than five minutes of their life inside the bowels of its brutalist structures.

As it so happens, your editor plunged headlong into just such a purgatory right before we left Argentina a few weeks back. That is, we braved the post-apocalyptic scenes, replete with hideous, bomb-shelter design and manned by undead desk clerks, to inquire after a birthday gift that had been mailed by well-intentioned family abroad.

After being abandoned on the wrong side of the proverbial tracks by our taxi driver, we proceeded past the spiked iron fence to a rickety plastic desk, marooned in the middle of an empty parking lot, marked “turnos.” There, a grim gatekeeper demanded to see our identification. “Do you have an appointment,” he barked (in Spanish) between dragonesque draws on his hand-rolled cigarette. The stale smoke mixed with the smell of rotting trash and carbolic acid wafting over from the nearby factories as the sun baked the putrid effluvium into our every reluctant breath.

Naturally, we came prepared with all the relevant paperwork, documents, customs tax receipts, screenshots, QR verification codes and various miscellaneous filings... except, of course, for the right one. A full remark being beyond the clerk’s capacity and/or motivation, he issued forth a contemptuous grunt and pointed a long, tobacco-stained finger towards the line marked “sin turnos,” considerably more serpentine than the other.

The Illusion of Choice: Were it not for the promised delight on our daughter’s face at receiving her grandparent’s gift (and the relief of grandparents abroad upon learning their package had arrived safely), we might have turned heel and absconded for the safety of a café (or bar) in the nearby Recoleta barrio, where private mansions line the cobblestoned streets and lush, belle epoch-style restaurants compete for every centavo of our lunch money.

Full disclosure: In the end, we settled for... both. An hour earning an appetite in line at Correo Argentino (where we were eventually informed the package had “been approved” by the customs authority and would be delivered sometime “in the future”) was followed by a leisurely afternoon enjoying an al fresco luncheon at the wonderful Floreria Atlantico.

The contrast between the market economy on the one side, a throwback to bygone days of plenty here in Argentina... and the scourge of state monopoly on the other, a repugnant reality of the more recent past... could hardly be clearer. And yet, despite the conspicuous differences, stark enough that even an economics PhD might notice them, the case for free markets over central planning still remains the unread, “alternative” theory.

Why should this be the case? Given the choice, who in his right mind would opt for a coercive state monopoly over a voluntary market cornucopia? The TSA over Duty Free? Violence over voluntarism? The IRS over... well, keeping your own money? The answer, of course, is nobody. But that’s the thing about the state... there is no choice, as the tale of Lysander Spooner vs. the USPS illustrates.

Private vs Public: One-hundred and fifty years have passed since American individualist anarchist, staunch neo-abolitionist and proud owner of one of history’s coolest beards, Lysander Spooner, thought to question why the mail was so poorly run. Put simply: It’s the government, stupid!

As now, postal rates were notoriously high during the 1840s, a direct result, inferred Spooner, of the USPS’s monopoly status. Why charge less when there is no competition? Nobody’s going to undercut you…at any price. Similarly, why bother to offer better service? Nobody’s going to siphon off your customers. You’re the only game in town!

In response to the predictably outrageous rates and abysmal service, Spooner set about opening his American Letter Mail Company. He argued that the constitution (which he elsewhere referred to as the Constitution of No Authority, owing to its lack of implicit consent on the part of the governed), granted the state powers to establish mail…but not to exclude others from entering the marketplace too.

“The power given to Congress, is simply ‘to establish post-offices and post roads’ of their own, not to forbid similar establishments by the States or people,” wrote Spooner in his 1844 pamphlet, "The Unconstitutionality of the Laws of Congress," prohibiting Private Mails.

Pressing on the issue of unnatural, coercive monopolies, Spooner continued…"“The idea that the business of carrying letters is, in its nature, a unit, or monopoly, is derived from the practice of arbitrary governments, who have either made the business a monopoly in the hands of the government, or granted it as a monopoly to individuals. There is nothing in the nature of the business itself, any more than in the business of transporting passengers and merchandise, that should make it a monopoly, either in the hands of the government or of individuals.” Spooner’s pamphlet was published the same year his American Letter Mail Company went into business. The company had offices in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, among other cities.

The Statist Quo: Of course, Spooner’s analysis of the market for mail wasn’t restricted solely to ethical grounds. He saw what all astute entrepreneurs see when they decide to go into business…an opportunity to profit, in this case born by the dismal service and high prices commanded by the USPS, then as now. The market - defined as the voluntary individuals acting within it - was crying out for a competitive alternative to the USPS. And Spooner gave it to them, good and hard. His mail company significantly reduced the price of stamps, undercutting the government’s 12-cent standard, and even offered free local delivery on some routes. Hooray for faster, cheaper mail, right?

Needless to say, governments aren’t typically fond of competition. It’s bad for “business,” they say, without the slightest hint of irony. That’s why it maintains and enforces a self-granted monopoly on things like counterfeiting and levying taxes and putting people in cages. (Don’t believe us? Try inking your own dollars... or kidnapping your neighbor because he didn’t hand you a portion of his annual income.)

The case of Spooner vs. the USPS was no different and, after enduring years of fines and state-sponsored assaults on his enterprise, Spooner was finally forced out of business in 1851. But the story of Lysander Spooner and his American Letter Mail Company is not entirely a sad one. Through challenging the “statist-quo,” Spooner’s company proved what many at the time already knew: that the government is no match for private enterprise when it came to offering competitive prices for goods and services through its spontaneous ability to read and respond to the real world demands of the market.

(Interestingly enough, the USPS actually ended up offering a 3-cent stamp in direct response to the challenge from the American Letter Mail Company. Naturally, it was subsidized through government involvement... and was soon retracted after Spooner’s enterprise was out of the way.)

Something of a man before his time, embodying the true and individualist American spirit, Lysander Spooner dared question unnatural authority, rather than simply accepting the limits it forever seeks to impose on us. So the next time someone trots out that weary old trope, “Yes, but who would provide the [insert state-sponsored public disservice here] if not the government?” you can simply answer them, “Individuals would, my good sir…individuals, just like Lysander Spooner."

Freely download "No Treason", by Lysander Spooner, here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "You're Not Paying, Here's The Proof!"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 5/13/25
"You're Not Paying, Here's The Proof!"

"Banks know you’re not paying your bills, and the proof is staggering! In today’s video, I’m breaking down the jaw-dropping stats that show how much major banks are bracing for unpaid debts - over $34.87 billion set aside for bad loans! From skyrocketing credit card delinquencies to the struggles in real estate, especially with vacation homes, the financial world is shifting fast. Plus, I’m sharing insights on how wealthy investors are capitalizing on this turmoil by scooping up assets like music catalogs and more. We also touch on the surprising changes at Dollar General, Walmart’s plans for checkout systems, and even what’s happening with Elon Musk’s Cybertrucks. On top of all that, watch out for scams involving stolen checks and the insane theft strategies hitting mailboxes across the country. There’s so much to unpack in this video, and it’s a must-watch as we head into tougher economic times."
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "This Is The Con-Job Of The Century, And We Are Out Of Time"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/13/25
"This Is The Con-Job Of The Century,
 And We Are Out Of Time"
Comments here:

Bill Bonner, "Tariff Deal Mania"

"Tariff Deal Mania"
by Bill Bonner

"I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because 
what we were doing with China was just unbelievable"
- Donald J. Trump

From the ranch at Gualfin, Salta Province - "What fun! Declare a National Emergency. Start a trade war. Then, put on tariffs at impossibly high levels. Stocks naturally sell off... along with bitcoin and oil. Then, let people know that you didn’t really mean it. A ‘pause!’ If it were true that the foreigners had been ripping us off...why let them continue to rip us off for another three months?

It’s a spectacle on the level of Wrestle Mania, emotionally, though lacking its intellectual depth. Sub farce. No subtlety. No ambiguity. No plot development. There are good guys - USA...USA...USA - and there are bad guys (everybody else) who have been taking advantage of us for decades. And then, when it becomes obvious that carpet bombing our trading partners and allies is less than optimum policy...the ‘war’ is called off...the outrageous tariffs are lifted...and guess what? Stocks, oil, and bitcoin bounce on cue.

A Big Win! Reuters: "S&P 500 jumps to over two-month high after US-China tariff truce. The S&P 500 hit its highest since early March on Monday as a crucial U.S.-China agreement to slash tariffs put investors worldwide at ease after weeks of uncertainty around the future of global trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.51% to an over one-month peak, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 3.34% to its highest in more than two months. The S&P 500 advanced 2.53%, surpassing its 200-day moving average for the first time since late March."

Alan Beattie at Trade Secrets summarizes the state of play so far: "Trump’s deals with China and the UK have one thing in common, which is - and please sit down if you’re prone to fainting - they’re not binding and they leave a huge amount of negotiation down the line. I know, right? In fact, it’s not 100 percent clear what they mean now, especially the China deal."

But the Straits Times thinks it knows: "Mr Xi Jinping’s decision to stand his ground against US President Donald Trump could hardly have gone any better for the Chinese leader. After two days of high-stakes talks in Switzerland, trade negotiators from the world’s biggest economies announced on May 12 a massive de-escalation in tariffs. In a carefully coordinated joint statement, the US slashed duties on Chinese products to 30 per cent from 145 per cent for a 90-day period, while Beijing dropped its levy on most goods to 10 per cent.

The dramatic reduction exceeded expectations in China, and sent the dollar and stocks soaring – providing some much-needed market relief for Mr Trump, who is facing pressure as inflation looks set to speed up at home. Chinese equities also surged."

In other words, according to the Art-of-the-Deal guy’s deal, the average American will pay three times as much in tariff taxes as the average Chinese. Big win? Reciprocal?

Just as with other forms of central planning, centralized trade policies are a scam. There is no evidence (NONE!) that bureaucrats in Washington can do a better job of making trade deals than independent buyers and sellers with skin in the game. But who cares? We’re into politics now, not economics. And while the price of stocks rose yesterday, the real value of America's capital continues to decline. In 2018, it took 22 ounces of gold to buy the 30 Dow stocks...now you only need 13.

Thus, it all hangs together - at least in our philosophy. Politics is win-lose. Economics is win-win. The greater the payoff from politics – that is, from lobbying, bribing, and brown-nosing politicians – the lower the payoff (and stock market values) of output-producing enterprises. Or, to put it another way…when the Primary Political Trend is up - towards more policies, legislation, and brute force – the Primary Trend in markets is down.

And maybe Mr. Trump is right; our children don’t need any more dolls. Prosperity isn’t everything. And maybe poverty and absurdity won’t be so bad. So, buckle up! And take this opportunity to sell the S&P. Stay tuned."
o

Monday, May 12, 2025

"Trump Forced To Back Off, There Is No Trade Deal, We're Just Buying Time"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/12/25
"Trump Forced To Back Off, 
There Is No Trade Deal, We're Just Buying Time"
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Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind VI, "Spirit"

Full screen recommended.
Liquid Mind VI, "Spirit"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The constellation of Orion is much more than three stars in a row. It is a direction in space that is rich with impressive nebulas. To better appreciate this well-known swath of sky, an extremely long exposure was taken over many clear nights in 2013 and 2014. After 212 hours of camera time and an additional year of processing, the featured 1400-exposure collage spanning over 40 times the angular diameter of the Moon emerged.
Of the many interesting details that have become visible, one that particularly draws the eye is Barnard’s Loop, the bright red circular filament arcing down from the middle. The Rosette Nebula is not the giant red nebula near the top of the image- that is a larger but lesser known nebula known as Lambda Orionis. The Rosette Nebula is visible, though: it is the red and white nebula on the upper left. The bright orange star just above the frame center is Betelgeuse, while the bright blue star on the lower right is Rigel. Other famous nebulas visible include the Witch Head Nebula, the Flame Nebula, the Fox Fur Nebula, and, if you know just where to look, the comparatively small Horsehead Nebula. About those famous three stars that cross the belt of Orion the Hunter- in this busy frame they can be hard to locate, but a discerning eye will find them just below and to the right of the image.”

"Hang In There..."

“Using time, pressure and patience, the universe gradually changes caterpillars into butterflies, sand into pearls, and coal into diamonds. You’re being worked on too, so hang in there. Just because something isn’t apparent right now, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. It’s not until the end do you realize, sometimes your biggest blessings were disguised by pain and suffering. They were not placed there to break you, but to make you.”
- “The Angel Affect”

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.”
- Richard Bach

"Humanity Today..."

"Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. The mind seeks but cannot find the precise place and hour. We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology. We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and to the rest of life."
- Edward O. Wilson

“One of the penalties of being a human being is other human beings.”
- Christopher Morley, “Hide and Seek”

"How To See Things As They Are"

"How To See Things As They Are"
by David Cain

"I’m in the back room of a coffee shop right now, switching between writing and another mental exercise: pretending I’m not here. I don’t mean I’m wearing a disguise, or hiding behind a potted plant. I’m doing a perspective-shifting practice that I’d recommend to anyone: now and then, wherever you are, look at the scene in front of you as though it’s happening without you.

From any seat, or standing spot, anywhere - in an office, a breakfast diner, a public square, a waiting room - see your surroundings just as they’d be if you weren’t here to see them. Focus on the look and feel of the setting. The way the light lays across things. Take it in like a shot from a movie. Notice the movement and speech of people or animals, the soundscape and overall ambiance. It’s just a little corner of the world where things are unfolding, and you’re not here. Maybe nobody is.

When you do this, you might notice a certain lightness or simplicity arising. Things are more poignant. Everything seems less complicated, because it’s just stuff happening, not stuff happening to you.

I used to call this practice “dying on purpose” but that sounds a bit dramatic. Maybe “looking at the world as though you don’t exist” is better, but a good way to understand how to do that is to simply watch what’s happening here as though you’ve died, or maybe never existed at all.

Right now, in this back room, there’s a long communal table, with three students working in front of a spread of laptops and textbooks. There’s music playing - a band that sounds like the Cranberries. Framed by the doorway to the front of the shop is short-haired, golden dog (this place allows animals) waiting for its owner to order. No humans are visible but there’s a lot of easygoing chatter. The far wall is all window, with potted plants on hanging shelves silhouetted against the mid-day brightness outside. Someone comes to pet the dog. There’s a warm, neighborly feeling in the room. Now the not-Cranberries song is over, and a Beach House song comes on.

This vignette, seen in a certain way - as though it is happening, but not happening to me - can be just what it is, without any entanglement with my own interests. None of my reflexive moral judgments are present. The angle of the sun doesn’t remind me of everything I still have to get done today. Seeing twenty-year-old students doesn’t make me wish I was younger. Because I’m not here. It’s just life unfolding, and on its own it’s beautiful.

We have a habit of looking at what surrounds us through a self-referential lens. We don’t just see a thing, we see the way that thing fits, or doesn’t fit, into our lives. Seeing a luxury car might elicit judgment, or envy, or brand loyalty. Seeing someone enjoying what seems to be a day off might remind you that you do not have the day off.

It’s not that we all think we’re the center of the universe. But our lives do tend to feel something like The Biggest, Most Pressing Thing Ever to Happen, when it’s really only a short thread running through a vast, endless fabric of happenings that is life on Earth.

Even a short glimpse of something as it is- of any scene free from entanglement with our stories -comes with relief. What you witness in this way still has meaning, but it’s intrinsic meaning, like beauty, or some nameless quality. The meaning isn’t “What this means for me and my ongoing story.”

Those short glimpses are always available, by looking at what’s before you as though it’s happening without you. Every scene has its own signature, its own identity to express, which can only come through when it’s not mixed up with yours.

It’s not hard to achieve this perspective, for a few seconds anyway. Just see it as it would be if you weren’t there. This parking lot. This row of houses. This quiet kitchen. It looks exactly the same, but it feels different to see it this way.

When you look at a bug climbing a railing - at least for a moment, it’s nothing but a bug climbing a railing.

When you sit down with your coffee - just for a moment, the coffee shop is happening just as it does on days you’re not there, or as it might after you die.

When you look in the closet - just for a moment, it’s only clothing, hanging there quietly, as it does when nobody’s standing there choosing how they’re going to look today."

"Streets of Kensington Ave, Philadelphia"

Full screen recommended, if you can stomach it.
Kensington StreetView, May 12, 2025

"Streets of Kensington Ave, Philadelphia"
"Problems with drugs and crime on Kensington Ave, Philadelphia's most dangerous street. In Philadelphia as a whole, violent crime and drug abuse are major issues. The city has a higher rate of violent crime than the national average and other similarly sized metropolitan areas. The drug overdose rate in Philadelphia is also concerning. Between 2013 and 2015, the number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50%, with more than twice as many deaths from overdoses as homicides. Kensington's high crime rate and drug abuse contribute significantly to Philadelphia's problems.

Because of the high number of drugs in the neighborhood, Kensington has the third-highest drug crime rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia, at 3.57. The opioid epidemic has played a significant role in this problem, as it has in much of the rest of the country. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed in the United States over the last two decades, and Philadelphia is no exception. In addition to having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% of Philadelphia's overdose deaths involved opioids, and Kensington is a significant contributor to this figure. This Philadelphia neighborhood is said to have the largest open-air heroin market on the East Coast, with many neighbors migrating to the area for heroin and other opioids. With such a high concentration of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have focused on the neighborhood in an attempt to address Philadelphia's problem."
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o
Full screen recommended, if you can stand it.
"Opiod Addiction (Xylazine/Fentanyl) 
Is Killing Every 11 Minutes In America"
Filmed in Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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The Daily "Near You?"

Orland Park, Illinois, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"What Foolish Forgetfulness..."

“You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, so all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last. You have all the fears of mortals and all the desires of immortals… What foolish forgetfulness of mortality to defer wise resolutions to the fiftieth or sixtieth year, and to intend to begin life at a point to which few have attained.”
- Denis Diderot

"The Great Enemy..."

"In a society in which nearly everybody is dominated by somebody else's mind or by a disembodied mind, it becomes increasingly difficult to learn the truth about the activities of governments and corporations, about the quality or value of products, or about the health of one's own place and economy.

In such a society, also, our private economies will depend less and less upon the private ownership of real, usable property, and more and more upon property that is institutional and abstract, beyond individual control, such as money, insurance policies, certificates of deposit, stocks, and shares. And as our private economies become more abstract, the mutual, free helps and pleasures of family and community life will be supplanted by a kind of displaced or placeless citizenship and by commerce with impersonal and self-interested suppliers...

Thus, although we are not slaves in name, and cannot be carried to market and sold as somebody else's legal chattels, we are free only within narrow limits. For all our talk about liberation and personal autonomy, there are few choices that we are free to make. What would be the point, for example, if a majority of our people decided to be self-employed?

The great enemy of freedom is the alignment of political power with wealth. This alignment destroys the commonwealth - that is, the natural wealth of localities and the local economies of household, neighborhood, and community - and so destroys democracy, of which the commonwealth is the foundation and practical means."
 - Wendell Berry, 
"The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays"

"Tell Yourself..."

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”
- Louise Erdrich

"Huxley vs. Orwell"

"Huxley vs. Orwell"
by Neil Postman

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one...

Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism... 

Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. 
Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance...

Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy...

As Huxley remarked in 'Brave New World Revisited', the civil libertarians and the rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In '1984,' Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In 'Brave New World,' they are controlled by inflicting pleasure...In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

Huxley was quite obviously correct...