Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Thanks for stopping by!
So, we rise from the rubble...
StatCounter
Friday, May 22, 2026
"At A Time Like This..."
"At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. "
- Frederick Douglass
"There Are Times..."
“If the sun is shining, stand in it - yes, yes, yes. Happy times are great, but happy times pass - they have to- because time passes. The pursuit of happiness is more elusive; it is life-long, and it is not goal-centered. What you are pursuing is meaning - a meaningful life… There are times when it will go so wrong that you will be barely alive, and times when you realize that being barely alive, on your own terms, is better than living a bloated half-life on someone else’s terms.”
- Jeanette Winterson
"Native American Elder Shares How to Make Your Last Years the Best of Your Life"
Full screen recommended.
"Native American Elder Shares How to
Make Your Last Years the Best of Your Life"
Comments here:
Paulo Coelho, "Killing Our Dreams"
"Killing Our Dreams"
by Paulo Coelho
"The first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is the lack of time. The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the Good Fight.
The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don’t want to see life as a grand adventure, we begin to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life. We look beyond the walls of our day-to-day existence, and we hear the sound of lances breaking, we smell the dust and the sweat, and we see the great defeats and the fire in the eyes of the warriors. But we never see the delight, the immense delight in the hearts of those who are engaged in the battle. For them, neither victory nor defeat is important; what’s important is only that they are fighting the Good Fight.
And, finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being mature; we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. We are surprised when people our age say that they still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams – we have refused to fight the Good Fight.
When we renounce our dreams and find peace, we go through a short period of tranquility. But the dead dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being. We become cruel to those around us, and then we begin to direct this cruelty against ourselves. That’s when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid in combat – disappointment and defeat – come upon us because of our cowardice. And one day, the dead, spoiled dreams make it difficult to breathe, and we actually seek death. It’s death that frees us from our certainties, from our work, and from that terrible peace of our Sunday afternoons."
The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don’t want to see life as a grand adventure, we begin to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life. We look beyond the walls of our day-to-day existence, and we hear the sound of lances breaking, we smell the dust and the sweat, and we see the great defeats and the fire in the eyes of the warriors. But we never see the delight, the immense delight in the hearts of those who are engaged in the battle. For them, neither victory nor defeat is important; what’s important is only that they are fighting the Good Fight.
And, finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being mature; we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. We are surprised when people our age say that they still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams – we have refused to fight the Good Fight.
When we renounce our dreams and find peace, we go through a short period of tranquility. But the dead dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being. We become cruel to those around us, and then we begin to direct this cruelty against ourselves. That’s when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid in combat – disappointment and defeat – come upon us because of our cowardice. And one day, the dead, spoiled dreams make it difficult to breathe, and we actually seek death. It’s death that frees us from our certainties, from our work, and from that terrible peace of our Sunday afternoons."
"Life Is Hard For A Reason. A Good Reason. Plus Hot Chicks"
"Life Is Hard For A Reason.
A Good Reason. Plus Hot Chicks"
by John Wilder
"I bought the book "Dune" by Frank Herbert when I was a kid. I still recall buying it as it was on one of the monthly trips we took to the book store when we ventured off of Mount Wilder. Ma Wilder was horribly indulgent when it came to books or other healthy creative outlets, like model kits. Books had an unlimited budget around the house, and she never particularly cared which books, as long as I was reading them. As such, at two or three novels a week from age 10 to 16, I read a lot. I still do.
"Dune "was one of those. I read it before I started driving. I remember reading it in the time after finishing mowing Grandma Wilder’s lawn and before I was picked on a beautiful summer day decades ago. One thing that struck me is the description in the book of the planet Salusa Secundus. As a kid I mentally pronounced it “Salsa” Secundus, and, well, it is a pretty spicy planet.
In Herbert’s description, Salusa Secundus was a hell world, horrible weather, murderous beasts, extreme temperatures, awful terrain. It was also the Emperor’s prison where he tossed away the worst criminals of his interstellar empire. The mortality rate among new prisoners is higher than sixty percent. Yet, here was where the Emperor got his fanatical and tough warriors, the feared Hardeharhar. Oops, different book. I mean the Sardaukar®. Why there? Well, if you could survive there, you could survive on any planet that a man could live on. And if you could make it though the gauntlet of prisoners trying to kill you, congratulations, you survived the initiation process.
The idea isn’t a new one. The Spartans had a similar story, as retold by Plutarch, who, despite his name, was not Mickey Mouse’s™ dog: "Another boy, when some of his companions had stolen a young fox and delivered it to him, hid it under his gown; and though the angry little beast bit through his side to his very guts, he endured it quietly, that he might not be discovered. When the searchers were gone [his friends] chid him roundly, saying, ‘It had been better to produce the fox, than thus to conceal him by losing your own life.’ ‘No, no!’ said he, smiling, ‘it is better to die than to be detected in a base attempt at theft.’
Our teacher told us this story when I was in second grade. Yes. They told it in a somewhat different variation, but they were telling it to seven-year-olds. No trigger warning. No safe space. Just a story about a kid who was so tough that he’d let a fox eat his intestines rather than show weakness. I think I have an idea where Herbert took his inspiration for the Hardeharhar from.
This is a story that resonates, and the deeper it resonates the truer it is. We don’t become strong by being bathed in rose water and sleeping on satin sheets and eating our fill of lemon-cream PEZ© every day, and sailors don’t become captains on calm seas.
We don’t become emotionally strong by never facing hardship. We don’t become physically strong by sitting on a couch. We don’t live lives of purpose without getting bruised. Any thing of purpose and worth that one might do will be opposed. Period. Either the odds are against it, the gods are against it, or other people are against it. Sometimes all three.
These are the good fights, if founded in the True, Beautiful and Good. These are the things that are worth the time and effort and pain. These are the things that my scar tissue prepared me for. A life that is based on something that Epictetus said: "Don’t you understand that amounts to saying that I would so prepare myself to endure, and then let anything happen that will happen?"
That’s a strong statement. And in a life filled with challenges, it’s hard to understand sometimes why we faced the challenges we did, why we have the scars and bruises that we do. I think it’s because if they didn’t break us and they made us better prepared. Yeah, even Nietzsche was right a time or two, if you include his magnificent mustache.
What then, does this leave us with? We have today. We have this moment. We have the amazing gift that we can do anything we wish to right now. We can make vows to change the world, we can dedicate (or rededicate) ourselves to fighting for what we know is True, Beautiful, and Good. And that’s why we’re here. We’re not here for comfort. We’re not here for leisure. We’re not here for quiet. A quiet universe is a dead universe. A universe without conflict is a dead universe. A universe without purpose is a dead universe.
We do not live in a dead universe. We’re breathing, fighting, aberrations, statistical flukes and inconvenient, stubborn fools fighting against entropy and common sense. We see the world and keep going, because, deep down, we have our choices, our reasoned choices that allow us to get up to fight another day. Or give up. Me? I choose to keep going, come what may. Besides, now I’m hungry and am looking for chips and salsa. Extra spicy. I think I’m ready."
"How It Really Will Be, Sooner Than You Think"
The Good Ship "World Economy" faces the total global
economic, financial, and social and societal collapse wave...
Full screen recommended.
"The Giant Wave - The Perfect Storm"
o
And elsewhere, everywhere...
Full screen recommended.
"Poseidon, Capsize"
What then?
“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”
- Scott Russell Sanders
Folks, I fear the time for such reverence has come.
God help us, God help us all...
o
"What's Really About to Hit This Summer – And Nobody Sees It Coming"
Full screen recommended.
Across The States, 5/22/26
"What's Really About to Hit This Summer –
And Nobody Sees It Coming"
"This summer’s economy could hit harder than most people expect. Gas prices, grocery bills, electricity costs, travel expenses - everything seems to be climbing at the same time, and millions of families are already feeling the pressure. Here’s the reality: this isn’t only about inflation anymore. Global supply chains, fuel disruptions, power grid stress, and rising food costs are starting to connect in ways most people never notice until it affects their daily life. What matters now is how these systems collide during peak summer demand. In this video, we break down the timeline behind rising energy prices, food shortages, expensive travel, and the hidden economic risks that could impact households through the rest of 2026. Most people don’t realize how quickly small disruptions can spread through the economy once the pressure builds everywhere at once. Watch till the end and tell us which part surprised you the most."
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "Smart Shopping Is The New Survival"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 5/22/26
"Smart Shopping Is The New Survival"
"Americans are changing the way they shop, eat, and spend money as inflation, rising grocery prices, and economic uncertainty continue to hit hard. In this video, Dan from i Allegedly breaks down how savvy shoppers are adapting by meal planning, using discount stores like Aldi and Walmart, comparing prices, and avoiding overpriced restaurants and grocery chains. From Sam’s Club discounts to smarter grocery budgeting, this video explains why saving money is no longer optional in today’s economy. Dan also covers the growing financial pressure facing everyday consumers, including credit card debt, expensive fast food, layoffs at Meta, concerns about supply shortages, and why people are cutting back on non-essential spending. If you’re interested in personal finance, financial education, inflation news, grocery savings, economic updates, budgeting tips, and smart shopping strategies, this video will help you prepare for what’s coming next and show you practical ways to save money right now."
Comments here:
"Why 'Normal' Is the Most Dangerous Phase Before Collapse"
Full screen recommended.
Historian Catalogue, 5/22/26
"Why 'Normal' Is the Most
Dangerous Phase Before Collapse"
"What if the most dangerous moment before a collapse is not when things fall apart - but when everything feels completely fine? This video breaks down the psychology behind why civilizations, economies, and ordinary people all fail to see collapse coming. From the fall of Rome to the 2008 financial crisis to Venezuela, the pattern is always the same: right before the breaking point, daily life feels totally normal. We cover four phases that quietly work together to keep you asleep:
o The Illusion of Routine: why open stores and normal traffic are not proof that systems are healthy.
o The Silent Drain: how value is extracted at scale while people are kept distracted.
o The Death of Survival Instinct: what modern comfort costs us in ways we cannot see.
o Learning to Be Poor with a Smile: how gradual price increases train us to accept less.
This is not a doom video. This is a wake-up call. If you want to understand why history keeps repeating itself, and what it actually looks like from inside a collapse before it happens, this is the video to watch."
Comments here:
"You Have No Idea How Many Americans Have Already Tapped Out"
Full screen recommended.
Finance Economist, 5/22/26
"You Have No Idea How Many
Americans Have Already Tapped Out"
"6 million Americans have stopped looking for work. Half the workforce has mentally quit. 1 in 3 men are out of the labor force entirely the lowest in peacetime history. 88 million didn’t vote. Church membership fell below 50% for the first time in 80 years. 36% are skipping the doctor. 44% of families are growing their own food. And 90% of the country says it’s in a mental health crisis. Americans aren’t just struggling. They’re tapping out. From work. From voting. From community. From healthcare. From hope."
Comments here:
"Americans Are Sacrificing Everything - Just to Afford Rising Gas Prices!"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 5/22/26
"Americans Are Sacrificing Everything -
Just to Afford Rising Gas Prices!"
Comments here:
Adventures With Danno, "Shocking Prices At Aldi"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 5/22/26
"Shocking Prices At Aldi"
Comments here:
Thursday, May 21, 2026
"Pakistan Gives Nuclear Weapons to Iran - Islamic Bomb Shared, India Mobilizes 1 Million Troops"
"Pakistan Gives Nuclear Weapons to Iran -
Islamic Bomb Shared, India Mobilizes 1 Million Troops"
Col. Douglas Macgregor, 5/21/26
"At 4:31 this morning, Pakistan transferred assembled nuclear weapons to Iran. Not technology. Not design information. Assembled weapons that work. And India just mobilized one million soldiers toward the Pakistani border. The Islamic bomb - the concept A.Q. Khan described as belonging to the entire Muslim world - has been shared. Iran went from nuclear threshold to nuclear armed overnight. Without a test. Without a development program. Without years of warning for the nonproliferation regime to respond. And the Indian mobilization that followed has created three simultaneous nuclear flashpoints whose combined management exceeds the bandwidth of the global crisis system.
Tonight we break down exactly what Pakistan transferred, why India is mobilizing, and what a nuclear-armed Iran does differently. We go inside the transfer - assembled weapons vs technology, Pakistani strategic calculation, Shahab-3 delivery compatibility. We explain Indian nuclear doctrine and why one million soldiers are moving toward Pakistan rather than Iran. We assess what nuclear weapons possession changes in Iranian strategic behavior - the deterrence asymmetry removal that forty years of pressure could never achieve. We walk through every nonproliferation mechanism and explain why each one is specifically inadequate for assembled weapon transfer whose completion precedes detection. And we assess the four simultaneous nuclear crises whose combined management exceeds American strategic bandwidth. This is not mainstream commentary. This is the analysis that takes the most consequential nuclear proliferation event in history as seriously as its permanence demands. 6 weapons. 1 transfer. 3 flashpoints. The nuclear order just changed permanently."
Comments here:
"The Perfect Storm: Iran War, AI Job Loss And Rigged Markets"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 5/21/26
"The Perfect Storm:
Iran War, AI Job Loss And Rigged Markets"
"We break down the escalating Iran War tensions and how they are triggering geopolitical instability, economic disruption, and shifting power dynamics. From so-called “rigged” financial markets to the accelerating rise of AI replacing human jobs, we explore the deeper forces shaping our uncertain future. 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:
"People Are Crying In Grocery Stores Across America"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 5/21/26
"People Are Crying In Grocery Stores Across America"
"Americans are pulling out their phones inside the grocery store and filming what they see. Thirteen dollars for one watermelon at Walmart. Thirty six dollars for a box of Lindt chocolates. Twenty three dollars for a tin of instant coffee. Fifty five dollars for two steaks. Ten ninety nine for a dozen eggs. Thirty three dollars for toilet paper. Fifty dollars for the ingredients to make one salad at home. Five hundred and fifty dollars for one Costco run. Eighty seven dollars the second you walk through the door before you have picked up anything. The cashier at Walmart looked at the total and asked the customer if it was correct. He scans prices for eight hours a day and even he could not believe what the register said. A mother spent eighteen hundred dollars on groceries in one month. The same amount as her mortgage payment. A father did the math out loud in the middle of his kitchen.
Going to the grocery store now costs the same as eating out every single night. The advice everyone grew up with, cook at home and save money, stopped being true around 2021. Nobody announced it. Nobody apologized for it. The cheapest path to feeding a family was deleted while everyone was looking the other way. In this video, 13 ordinary working people across America, Australia, and Europe show you the receipts. The shelves. The totals. The face of the cashier. The hand shaking at the card reader. The dark humor people reach for when the numbers stop making sense. The pattern is global. The same corporations operate in every country in this video. The same shareholders sit on the same boards. Record profits announced every quarter while families ration eggs and skip meals so the kids can eat. And the forecast says another fifty percent climb is still coming by the end of the year.
A government official was asked on camera how much he factored in the financial situation of the American people when making decisions. His exact words. Not even a little bit. I do not think about Americans' financial situations. Believe him. This is not a budget problem. This is not a discipline problem. This is not your fault. The receipts in this video are the real economy. The one working Americans are living in right now. The one the news anchors will not show you. Drop your weekly grocery total in the comments. Tag the person in your life who still believes the headlines. Share this with someone who needs to see what is actually happening. Stay angry. Stay loud. Stay awake."
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "Your Electric Bill Is About to Explode"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 5/21/26
"Your Electric Bill Is About to Explode"
"Artificial intelligence and massive data centers are changing America faster than most people realize. In this video, I break down how AI data centers are driving up electricity costs, straining local power grids, consuming enormous amounts of water, and impacting neighborhoods across the country. Communities are seeing higher utility bills, increased noise pollution, environmental concerns, and growing questions about privacy and surveillance - all while tech companies continue expanding at record speed. We also discuss rising energy prices, smart car data collection, AI replacing workers, privacy concerns, and why everyday Americans are paying more for essentials while corporations profit from the AI boom. If you care about personal finance, inflation, rising utility costs, economic news, business trends, financial education, or protecting your privacy, this is a must-watch discussion about the real-world consequences of artificial intelligence and data centers."
Comments here:
Adventures With Danno, "Memorial Day Sales At Kroger"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 5/21/26
"Memorial Day Sales At Kroger"
Comments here:
"Oh How It Really Is!"
Full screen recommended.
Delta Blues Brother,
"Common Sense Is a Dying Breed"
"Everybody has an opinion now. Doesn’t mean everybody has something to say. “Common Sense Is a Dying Breed” is a dark Delta blues track about modern noise, borrowed knowledge, and the strange confidence of people who’ve never had to learn things the hard way. This isn’t about age. It’s about thinking. Resonator guitar, sarcastic harmonica, and a worn voice observing a world where everyone talks - and very few listen. If this sounds familiar… you’re probably paying attention."
o
Full screen recommended.
Grandpa Got The Blues,
"Too Many Words, Too Little Meaning"
"'Too Many Words, Too Little Meaning' is a reflective blues track about a world full of noise but empty of truth. With a calm, seasoned perspective, it captures the frustration of endless talking, hollow opinions, and conversations that go nowhere - while choosing silence, simplicity, and inner peace over the chaos. A gentle acoustic guitar carries the melody like an old man’s slow walk at sunset. The harmonica sighs soft and low, like memories drifting through warm southern air. The rhythm moves slow and steady - the kind of blues made for porch swings, fading sunlight, and hands that still find each other after all these years. Because sometimes the real blues isn’t about heartbreak… it’s about a love that stayed. Grandpa’s been around long enough to know: the best love story isn’t the loudest one - it’s the one that keeps going. Growing old ain’t so bad… if you ain’t doing it alone."
"A Look to the Heavens"
"The dream was to capture both the waterfall and the Milky Way together. Difficulties included finding a good camera location, artificially illuminating the waterfall and the surrounding valley effectively, capturing the entire scene with numerous foreground and background shots, worrying that fireflies would be too distracting, keeping the camera dry, and avoiding stepping on a poisonous snake. Behold the result -- captured after midnight in mid-July and digitally stitched into a wide-angle panorama.
Click image for larger size.
The waterfall is the picturesque Zhulian waterfall in the Luoxiao Mountains in eastern Hunan Province, China. The central band of our Milky Way Galaxy crosses the sky and shows numerous dark dust filaments and colorful nebulas. Bright stars dot the sky - all residing in the nearby Milky Way - including the Summer Triangle with bright Vega visible above the Milky Way's arch. After capturing all 78 component exposures for you to enjoy, the photographer and friends enjoyed the view themselves for the rest of the night."
Chet Raymo, "Trying To Be Good”
"Trying To Be Good”
by Chet Raymo
“A few lines from Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese”:
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.”
“I’ve quoted these lines before, if not here, then elsewhere. When I first read them back in the late 80s, they resonated with what I felt at the time. I had spent part of my earliest adulthood walking on my knees, both literally and metaphorically, seeking to tame what I took to be the animal within. Saint Augustine was whispering in my ear, and Bernanos’ gloomy country priest walked at my side. I was ready to follow Thomas Merton into the desert; indeed, I once took myself briefly to the monastery at Gethsemane, Kentucky, where Merton was in residence. That was a journey of more than a hundred miles, and I was busy repenting, although of what I don’t know.
As I read those lines from Mary Oliver in middle age, I had long been cultivating the “soft animal” within, immersing myself in the is-ness of things, the flesh and blood, the gorgeously sensual. No more walking on my knees, repenting. I walked proudly upright, with my sketchbook and my watercolors, my binoculars and my magnifier, sniffing the world like an animal on the prowl. I was letting my body learn to “love what it loves.” Those were the years I wrote “The Soul of the Night” and “Honey From Stone”- the most intensely creative years of my life. The world offered itself to my imagination, if I may borrow another line from “Wild Geese.”
And now, another half-lifetime has passed. The soft animal dozes, the body seeks repose. And I think of the first line quoted above: “You do not have to be good.” What could the poet have possibly meant by that? Of course one has to be good. In a cell at Gethsemane or on the bridge over Queset Brook, one has to be good. And so one tries, one tries. The soft animal of the body that nature has contrived for us is not fine-tuned for goodness.”
- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
○
“Wild Geese”
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
- Mary Oliver
“The Meaning Of Good And Evil In Perilous Times”
“The Meaning Of Good And Evil In Perilous Times”
by Brandon Smith
"Perhaps the most destructive idea ever planted in the minds of the general public is the notion that nothing in this world is permanent – that all things can and must be constantly changed to suit our whims. The concept of impermanence fuels what I call “blank slate propaganda.” The usefulness of the blank slate as a weapon for social control should be explained before we examine the nature of good and evil, because these days it infects everything.
The push for never ending social “evolution” has been called many things over the decades. In the early 1900s in Europe it was called “futurism;” an art and philosophical movement that helped spawn the rise of communism and fascism in politics.The argument that all old ideas and longstanding traditions should be abandoned to make way for new ideas, new technologies, news systems etc., assumes that the supposedly new ways of doing things are superior to the old ways of doing things. Things are rarely this simple, and in most cases the new methods so proudly championed by movements for social change are usually recycled and repackaged old ideas that are notorious for failure.
The blank slate theory is designed to confuse people with self-doubt and to misrepresent the constructs of nature as constructs of society. It most effectively disrupts people’s relationship to their own moral compass by suggesting that moral compass should be completely ignored as artificial. The argument by blank slate proponents is that all boundaries are created by society instead of by inborn conscience, and that these boundaries often hold us back from achieving our goals, bettering ourselves as a species and generally getting what we want out of life.
But the things we want are not always the things we need, and this is something that movement’s for social change often refuse to grasp. If we are all blank slates and if morality and the human soul are myths, why not do whatever the hell we want, whenever we want and live life as if it is one big Roman orgy of feasting, self-medicating and overall addiction to sensation?
The problem with the blank slate concept is that while it purports that all restrictions in the human psyche are taught to us rather than being inborn and that they can be abandoned any time we want, we still can’t seem to avoid the consequences of breaking those restrictions. People lose their sanity, societies crumble and nations fall to ruin over time the more we cast aside our principles in the name of social evolution or short term gain. It is unavoidable.
The only people who seem to benefit from the spread of the blank slate are the people already in political and economic power. For if they can convince the masses to ignore their conscience, they can then convince us to accept almost any other conditions.
To act in a manner consistent with inherent conscience, or to ignore conscience and act destructively, is a choice. It is the core pillar of free will. The choice to act destructively does not erase the reality of inherent conscience; in fact, people often have to be fooled into believing that a destructive and immoral action is a “good thing” before they are convinced to carry it out. Inherent conscience must be bypassed through trickery.
The problem with choosing to stick by one’s principles is that it is easy during times of relative stability, but increasingly difficult during times of struggle. In perilous days, the temptation to use destructive tactics to maintain an expectation of comfort or to merely survive can be high. It is no coincidence that power elites, the same people that tend to promote blank slate propaganda, also tend to deliberately engineer social crisis and chaos. But perhaps this needs a deeper explanation. We must define something most of us already understand intuitively. We must define “evil.”
Like inherent conscience and moral boundaries, blank slate theorists and social change advocates attempt to muddy the waters of what constitutes evil. Some will say there is no such thing — that evil is whatever we deem it to be in any given era depending on our biases. Others will claim that tradition, permanence and anything in society that remains static is evil. The only “good” for them is constant change.
But evil is not as illusory and changing as these people suggest. In fact, most men and women recoil automatically from certain specific behaviors regardless of how they were raised, what environment they come from, what culture they were born into or what era they lived. The people who don’t recoil at these behaviors are the people we have to watch out for because they are missing something integral to the heart and mind that makes the rest of us human.
In psychological terms, the characteristics of high level narcissists and sociopaths match most closely with our historic concept of evil. And, in my view, most great evils done in history are in fact done by people with multiple narcissistic traits. As far as global elitists are concerned, they represent a rather insidious threat, because they are narcissistic sociopaths that have organized into a predatory gang, so all the traits consistent with the behavior of your average serial killer are now magnified a thousandfold by their access to unlimited resources.
How do we identify these people? Well, this is a difficult prospect at times because narcissistic sociopaths commonly hide in plain sight. Some people live with them for years before realizing exactly what they are. They also like to insert themselves into nonprofit organizations that claim to do good for the community as a cover for their more insidious motives.
Some traits and behaviors that are common are a lack of normal emotional response to traumatic events or joyous events, or they will mimic the responses of others to blend in but they come off as “forced” or “fake.” They have no concept of empathy; it does not exist for them.
They seek out centers of power and are drawn to positions of authority. They always seem to be demanding the efforts of others while rarely offering their own help. They make terrible leaders, always attempting to lead from a place of safety while letting their conscripts take the risks. Leading by example is a foreign concept to them.
They will lie repetitively about their accomplishments and their accolades. They will misrepresent their professional achievements in order to gain people’s trust. Ask them to prove through actions that they can do all the things they claim they can do, and they will try to avoid the test or respond indignantly and angrily.
They will gaslight their ideological enemies or people they are trying to control. They will accuse others of being “narcissists” or “sociopaths” or fascists or any moniker that will push the buttons of their target. Whatever evils they are guilty of, they will try to flip and lay at the feet of their enemies.
They always seem to have “minions” to do their dirty work for them and attack those that oppose them. People that have dealt with narcissistic sociopaths in their personal lives sometimes refer to these minions as “flying monkeys,” referencing the flying monkeys enslaved by the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz. Flying monkeys are essentially useful idiots that the narcissist employs through fraud and sometimes through pay. Whenever the narcissist is under threat of being exposed, they unleash their flying monkeys onto the streets or onto the internet to undermine truth tellers.
They do not believe in moral or personal boundaries which is why they are always trying convince people that such boundaries are a myth. They will cross moral lines, always testing the fences for weaknesses; trying to wear others down until they give up and stop fighting back.
They desperately want to come out of the shadows and into the light of day. They want to be adored as the monsters they are, rather than the fake philanthropists they portray themselves as. In order to do this, every narcissistic sociopath makes it their duty to erase the idea of conscience, whether they are part of the globalist cabal or just another ghoul down the street. Their natural inclination is to corrupt whatever they touch, and if they cannot corrupt a thing, they will attempt to destroy that thing.
Most of all, narcissistic sociopaths want everyone around them to believe that we are just like them. That “deep down” all of us are unprincipled and morally bankrupt and all it takes is a crisis or calamity, just a little chaos to bring out the devil in everyone.
But if this were really the case, then humanity would have died out long ago through endless self-destruction; something keeps bringing us back from the brink in our personal lives and in society as a whole. Conscience keeps defeating evil by refusing to grant evil people the utopia of blank slate chaos they want so badly. And this is what give me confidence that no matter how terrible our days might become there is something on our side that goes beyond the physical world.
Every crisis is a test, a test of each person and a test of our culture. Can we act with reason and courage and principle even in the worst of times, or will we be lured to make our struggle easier through malicious means? Will we do right by those around us, or will we happily trample over them in the name of “survival? In the end, the worst men bring the best men to the surface. This is the only “good” they will ever do.”
"Doubt..."
“Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the handmaiden of truth. Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery. A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief. Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false. Let no one fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is a testing of belief. The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing, for truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger, more secure. He that would silence doubt is filled with fear; the house of his spirit is built on shifting sands. But he that fears no doubt, and knows its use, is founded on a rock. He shall walk in the light of growing knowledge; the work of his hands shall endure. Therefore let us not fear doubt, but let us rejoice in its help. It is to the wise as a staff to the blind; doubt is the handmaiden of truth.”
- Robert T. Weston
"A Religious Reason the Saudis Are Blocking a New Attack on Iran"
"A Religious Reason the Saudis
Are Blocking a New Attack on Iran"
by Larry C. Johnson
"The HAJJ. The Hajj is the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is one of the Five Pillars of Islam — the core religious obligations that define Muslim practice. Every Muslim who is physically and financially able is required to perform the Hajj at least once in their lifetime. This obligation is drawn directly from the Quran and the example of the Prophet Muhammad. The pilgrimage takes place during the Islamic lunar month of Dhul Hijjah - specifically on the 8th through 13th days - meaning it falls on different dates each year in the Gregorian calendar. This year, it is May 24… Sunday next.
Hajj is the largest annual human gathering on earth. In a normal year, roughly 2–3 million pilgrims from approximately 180 countries converge on Mecca and its surrounding sites over a period of five days. Saudi Arabia issues Hajj visas and imposes quotas on each country to manage the crowds. While in Saudi Arabia, the Muslim pilgrims will engage in a number of observances that will end on 31 May. The sequence of key events unfolds as follows:
May 24–25 (8 Dhul Hijjah): The Day of Tarwiyah begins. Pilgrims travel from Mecca to the tent city of Mina to prepare for the days ahead.May 26 (9 Dhul Hijjah): The Day of Arafah. Pilgrims gather on the plains of Mount Arafat to pray and repent—the most crucial and central ritual of the Hajj.
May 27 (10 Dhul Hijjah): Eid al-Adha. Pilgrims travel to Muzdalifah to collect pebbles for the symbolic stoning of the devil in Mina, followed by animal sacrifice and the shaving or trimming of hair.
May 28–29: The remaining days of Tashreeq, during which pilgrims continue the stoning rituals and perform Tawaf al-Ifadah at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
Saudi leaders know that if they allow the US to conduct new attacks on Iran from Saudi bases, or if US air assets located at Prince Saud Air Base (PSAB) are used to refuel US attack jets, then Iran would likely retaliate and hit Saudi targets. This runs the risk of knocking out power and disrupting air traffic, which means Muslim pilgrims would not be able to arrive in Saudi Arabia or depart. A new US attack on a Muslim nations during this sacred period would further damage the already tattered reputation of the United States.
It is possible that Trump might decide to go ahead with a new round of airstrikes on Iran, but instead of using Saudi airspace the refueling operations would be shifted to Iraqi airspace. On the diplomatic front, Washington continues demanding extensive uranium transfers, severe limitations on Iran’s remaining nuclear infrastructure, and regional de-escalation in exchange for phased sanctions relief and limited asset access. Tehran’s position remains equally uncompromising: end the multi-front regional wars, lift sanctions in meaningful form, unfreeze sovereign assets, recognize the geopolitical realities surrounding Iranian influence and strategic geography - particularly around Hormuz.
The crucial point here is that Tehran no longer views its nuclear leverage merely as a technical bargaining chip. It now sees it as part of a much wider civilizational and strategic survival framework. Iran has absolutely no intention of surrendering sensitive nuclear material into Western custody structures. If any external custodial arrangement emerges, the preference strongly tilts toward Russia and possibly broader Eurasian mechanisms rather than anything controlled by Washington or Europe.
Here is the bottomline: The negotiations between Iran and the US, with Pakistan mediating, are likely to fail and the US will, along with Israel, will renew the attack on Iran, but without the support of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait."
Grandpa Got The Blues, "You Can't Repair Foolish"
Full screen recommended.
Grandpa Got The Blues, "You Can't Repair Foolish"
"A witty, no-nonsense blues track about the hard truth that some people just won’t listen - no matter how clear the advice. With dry humor and seasoned wisdom, it tells the story of letting go, stepping back, and finding peace in not trying to fix what was never willing to change. A gentle acoustic guitar carries the melody like an old man’s slow walk at sunset. The harmonica sighs soft and low, like memories drifting through warm southern air. The rhythm moves slow and steady - the kind of blues made for porch swings, fading sunlight, and hands that still find each other after all these years. Because sometimes the real blues isn’t about heartbreak…it’s about a love that stayed. Grandpa’s been around long enough to know: the best love story isn’t the loudest one - it’s the one that keeps going. Growing old ain’t so bad… if you ain’t doing it alone."
"We Are 6 Months From Global Food Shortages Because Farmers Are Facing A Quadruple Whammy Crisis"
by Michael Snyder
"We have never faced anything quite like this. Diesel fuel and fertilizer have become far more expensive as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, and extreme weather is playing havoc with crops all over the planet. Here in the United States, we just experienced the driest first three months of a year in recorded history. No, that isn’t an exaggeration. Now a “Super El Niño” is coming, and that means that drought conditions are going to get even worse in many areas of the world. The “Super El Niño” of 1877-1878 resulted in widespread droughts that killed more than 50 million people, and now we are being warned that the upcoming “Super El Niño” could be even worse. Our farmers have never faced a “perfect storm” of this magnitude, and global food production is going to be way down in the months ahead.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization is publicly warning that a severe global food crisis could strike about 6 months from now if something really dramatic does not happen…The closure of the Strait of Hormuz could trigger a severe global food price crisis within six to 12 months unless governments act quickly, the Food and Agriculture Organization warned Wednesday. Decisions now by farmers and governments on fertilizer use, imports, financing and crop choices will determine whether food prices spike later this year or in early 2027, the agency said.
I don’t know what national governments around the world are supposed to do. They can’t create fertilizer out of thin air. Thanks to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, millions of farmers all over the northern hemisphere didn’t get the fertilizer that they needed for the spring planting season.
UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo is telling us that as a result “many places in the world will have problems of food shortage” once harvest season arrives…Food shortages are expected to hit many parts of the world from September or October following a fertilizer production plunge, the U.N. Development Program’s head said on Monday. “In September, (or) October, many places in the world will have problems of food shortage,” as agricultural production is expected to be much lower following the fertilizer production slump resulting from high oil prices amid Middle East conflicts, UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo said in an interview in Tokyo.
Even if fertilizer is available, many farmers simply cannot afford it. In fact, one recent survey discovered that 70 percent of U.S. farmers could not afford to buy all of the fertilizer that they needed for the spring planting season because it has become so expensive.
Meanwhile, diesel has become painfully expensive as well. Virtually all farm equipment runs on diesel, and as I write this article the average price of a gallon of diesel in the U.S. is sitting at about five and a half dollars. But in California, the average price of a gallon of diesel has reached nearly seven and a half dollars…According to AAA, the average price for diesel fuel in California is about $7.43 per gallon, which is $2.36 higher compared to last year. In Fresno, prices are slightly higher. “In Fresno, you’re paying about $6.06 for a gallon of regular gasoline, but you’re paying $7.48 for a gallon of diesel,” Johnson said. You may not care about what is happening in California, but you should because California produces more fruit and more vegetables than any other state by a very wide margin.
Drought is another major problem that U.S. farmers are dealing with. In West Texas, the cracks in the ground caused by endless drought are big enough to swallow an entire human hand…"Scott Irlbeck crouched in a field of stunted wheat plants in a parched stretch of West Texas and slipped his hand into a crack wide enough to swallow it. Last autumn, Irlbeck planted a crop that barely grew because rain never came. He now hopes his insurance adjuster will declare it a total loss so he will not need to spend money on pricey fuel to harvest it next month."
Coming into this year, the southwestern portion of the nation was experiencing the worst multi-year drought in at least 1,200 years. And then the first three months of this year were the driest first three months of a year for the entire country ever recorded. As a result, it is being projected that the winter wheat harvest will be a disaster…"Crop estimates underscore just how bad the situation is. Growers will see their smallest wheat crop in terms of production since 1972, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture; 1.56 billion bushels this year, down 21% from 2025. That’s especially harmful to Kansas, one of the top overall producers of wheat in the U.S."
This year, only 22 million acres of winter wheat will be harvested, and the abandonment rate is above 32 percent…"Only 32.4 million acres (13.1 million hectares) of wheat were planted this year to begin with, and harvested acreage hit just 22 million, marking abandonment, which is when farmers stop tending to a crop before harvesting, at slightly above 32% of this year’s wheat crop, according to USDA estimates."
Just think about those numbers for a moment. Our farmers simply gave up on nearly a third of this year’s winter wheat crop. Wow.
Looking ahead, we are being told that the number of acres of wheat that U.S. farmers are planting in the spring will be the fewest “since record keeping began in 1919”…U.S. growers were poised to plant the fewest acres of wheat since record keeping began in 1919, as high costs for fertilizer, seeds, and equipment have made it difficult to turn a profit. In 1919, there were 104 million people living in the United States. Today, there are more than 340 million people living in the United States. It doesn’t take a math genius to figure out that we are headed for trouble.
And now a “Super El Niño” is looming…A “Super El Niño” may be on its way and could impact weather in the United States and worldwide for the next several months. El Niño is described by the National Weather Service (NWS) as “a state where the water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean near the equator become abnormally warm.” These warmer waters trigger significant weather pattern changes across the globe.
One expert is warning that there is approximately a 50 percent chance that this “Super El Niño” will be the most powerful ever recorded… “I would suggest there is roughly a 50 per cent chance of the event becoming the strongest in the historical record right now,” Paul Roundy, a professor of atmospheric science at the University at Albany, in the US, told BBC Science Focus. “A few weeks ago, I was suggesting maybe 20 per cent.”
In a previous article, I discussed the fact that the “Super El Niño” of 1877-1878 caused widespread global famines that resulted in the deaths of 50 million people. So how many will die during the “Super El Niño” that will begin later this year?
According to the UN, the number of people around the world there were experiencing acute hunger was already at an all-time record high even before the war with Iran started. Now global hunger is spiking, and when people get really hungry they get really desperate. For example, just check out what is going on in Afghanistan…
Khwaja Ahmad barely gets out a few words before he starts sobbing. “We are starving. My older children died, so I need to work to feed my family. But I’m old, so no one wants to give me work,” he says. When a local bakery near the square opens up, the owner distributes stale bread among the crowd. Within seconds, the loaves have been pulled apart, half a dozen men clutching onto precious pieces. This should break your heart.
One extremely hungry man in Afghanistan says that he is willing to sell his own daughters just so that he will have enough money to buy food…Abdul Rashid Azimi takes us into his home and brings out two of his children – seven-year-old twins Roqia and Rohila. He holds them close, eager to explain why he’s making unbearable choices. “I’m willing to sell my daughters,” he weeps. “I’m poor, in debt and helpless. I come home from work with parched lips, hungry, thirsty, distressed and confused. My children come to me saying ‘Baba, give us some bread’. But what can I give? Where is the work?”
This is what is already happening. Six months from now, the level of desperation around the world will be so much worse. We need the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened as soon as possible, but that simply is not going to happen. The Iranians are never going to give President Trump what he wants, and they are preparing for the next phase of the war…
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf claimed Wednesday that the U.S. is looking to “start a new war,” a report said. “The enemy’s movements, both overt and clandestine, show that despite economic and political pressure, it has not abandoned its military objectives and is seeking to start a new war,” Ghalibaf said in a statement shared by Iranian media, according to The Times of Israel. “Close monitoring of the situation in the United States reinforces the possibility that they still hope for the surrender of the Iranian nation,” he reportedly added.
The next chapter of this war is not going to look like the last chapter. The IRGC is openly telling us that they are ready to attack “in places you cannot even imagine”…Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned on Wednesday that any new attack on the country would provoke them to spread the war beyond the Middle East, raising the stakes of diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
In a statement reported by Iranian state media, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful military force that answers directly to the country’s supreme leader, said that if “aggression against Iran is repeated,” it would deliver blows “in places you cannot even imagine.” The Iranians know that they cannot win the war by fighting symmetrically. So they are going to use asymmetric tools to get the job done. And some of those asymmetric tools will not be conventional. When fighting erupts again, I expect things to get really crazy. What this means is that the Strait of Hormuz is going to remain closed for a long time, and that is really bad news for farmers all over the globe."
"Fourth Turning Meets Mass Formation Psychosis"
"Fourth Turning Meets Mass Formation Psychosis, Part 1"
By Jim Quinn
Excerpt: “Four things need to exist or need to be in place if you want a large-scale mass phenomenon to emerge. The first thing is that there needs to be a lot of socially isolated people, people who experience a lack of social bonds. The second one is that there needs to be a lot of people who experience a lack of sense-making in life. And the third and the fourth conditions are that there needs to be a lot of free-floating anxiety and a lot of free-floating psychological discontent. So: meaning, anxiety, and discontent that is not connected to a specific representation. So, it needs to be in the mind without the people being able to connect it to something. If you have these four things - lack of social bonds, lack of sense-making, free-floating anxiety, and free-floating psychological discontent -then society is highly at risk for the emergence of mass phenomenon.”
- Mattias Desmet, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism"
“Try to unlearn the obsessive fear of death (and the anxious quest for death avoidance) that pervades linear thinking in nearly every modern society. The ancients knew that, without periodic decay and death, nature cannot complete its full round of biological and social change. Without plant death, weeds would strangle the forest. Without human death, memories would never die, and unbroken habits and customs would strangle civilization. Social institutions require no less. Just as floods replenish soil and fires rejuvenate forests, a Fourth Turning clears out society’s exhausted elements and creates an opportunity.
- Strauss & Howe, "The Fourth Turning"
I recently finished reading Mattias Desmet’s fascinating and illuminating book "The Psychology of Totalitarianism", where he examines the mass formation psychosis which swept over the world during the time frame of early 2020 until present day. He explores some of the root causes of this psychological phenomena, comparing it to previous episodes in history, and delving into whether it occurred naturally or was purposely generated in order to implement a Great Reset agenda.
This type of spectacle has happened throughout human history, even documented by Charles Mackay in his 1841 book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." It is clear to me aspects of mass formation psychosis played a part in the previous two Fourth Turnings, as both sides in the U.S. Civil War displayed characteristics of those being hypnotized by a narrative, and the German people falling under the spell of Hitler and his rhetorical skills."
View full, highly recommended, article here:
o
Formation Psychosis", Part 2 (Excerpt)
By Jim Quinn
Excerpt: "In Part 1 of this article, I laid out the mass formation psychosis theory postulated by Mattias Desmet in his book "The Psychology of Totalitarianism" and how totalitarian minded politicians and bureaucrats manipulated the masses by creating the covid crisis. Now I will focus on how this will impact the Fourth Turning we are currently trying to survive.
Decades of social indoctrination and degraded ability to think critically has left most people hopelessly unable to resist the vitriolic opinions of those under the spell of coronavirus mass formation. Even though they didn’t necessarily believe the covid narrative, especially when it became clear only the very old (especially when tyrant governors inserted infected patients into nursing homes) and the very obese actually died with covid, these people still went along. Even the CDC admitted only 6% of deaths were attributable to covid alone.
Based upon research like the Milgram Experiment, we know average people will obey authority without question, even when they know their actions are causing pain. The conformity research done by Solomon Asch explains why a huge percentage of the global population just conformed to what appeared to be a majority opinion. Asch’s experiment had 8 test subjects, but 7 of them worked for Asch. They asked them which line was the same length as Exhibit 1. The 7 Asch employees answered C. Only 25% of the case subjects consistently answered A. They were cowed into giving a patently absurd answer due to peer pressure and lack of faith in their own judgement.
When you have 30% of the population as true believers of the covidian religion, with their savior Fauci, prophets Walensky, Birx, Gottlieb, Biden, the pope, a slew of Big Pharma paid priests for hire, Hollywood elites, low IQ athletes, and a highly compensated mass media campaign of fear and loathing, the 40% in the middle really had no chance to not be pulled into the vortex of pandemia. From the outset they were inundated with data like Neal Ferguson’s Imperial College model of death. Putting up a scary chart, even though it was based on absurd assumptions, is considered fact by the lazy, non-thinking masses.
Shutting down the world was based on this worthless fraudulent model. Add some fake videos of dead people piling up in the streets in China, with media talking heads declaring hospitals being overrun (even though nurses had time to do coordinated dance routines on Tik Tok), and graphics on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox showing cases rising (based on a faulty PCR test set too high), and Fauci knowingly lying about the effectiveness of masks and the ineffectiveness of ivermectin and hydroxychloquine, and you’ve got panic."
Full, highly recommended article is here:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)