Liquid Mind, "Zero Degrees Zero"
So, we rise from the rubble...
StatCounter
Sunday, February 15, 2026
"The Most Beautiful Earth Scenes, Captured in 4K HDR (60FPS)"
Full screen recommended.
"The Most Beautiful Earth Scenes,
Captured in 4K HDR (60FPS)"
"Experience the breathtaking beauty of our planet - captured in stunning 4K HDR at 60FPS, sourced from ultra-high-definition 8K and 12K cinematography. This cinematic journey takes you through Earth’s most awe-inspiring landscapes, showcasing oceans, mountains, forests, deserts, and skies - all mastered in Dolby Vision and HDR10+ for extraordinary color, depth, and realism. Filmed with smooth 60FPS and vivid 120FPS elements, every scene brings fluid, lifelike motion combined with vivid HDR highlights. Accompanied by ambient music and natural sounds, this video offers the perfect immersive experience for relaxation, HDR TV demos, or simply enjoying the planet’s finest visuals in ultra clarity."
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
“The beautiful Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. About 5,000 light-years away, the colorful study in cosmic contrasts shares this well-composed, nearly 1 degree wide field with open star cluster Messier 21 (top right).
Trisected by dust lanes the Trifid itself is about 40 light-years across and a mere 300,000 years old. That makes it one of the youngest star forming regions in our sky, with newborn and embryonic stars embedded in its natal dust and gas clouds. Estimates of the distance to open star cluster M21 are similar to M20's, but though they share this gorgeous telescopic skyscape there is no apparent connection between the two. In fact, M21's stars are much older, about 8 million years old.”
The Poet: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses"
Procol Harum, "A Salty Dog"
"Ulysses"
"There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me -
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads - you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"The Sometimes Hidden Beauty of ‘This Too Shall Pass'"
"The Sometimes Hidden Beauty
of ‘This Too Shall Pass'"
By Richard Haddad
"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence to be ever on view and which would be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, 'And this, too, shall pass away.'" “This too shall pass.” This proverb has no doubt been repeated millions of times in many different languages since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The sentiment may be difficult to accept amidst so many hardships from lost jobs, lost businesses and lost lives.
This adage grew from the roots of a Persian fable and became known in the Western world primarily through a 19th-century retelling by the English poet Edward FitzGerald, who crafted the fable “Solomon’s Seal” in 1852 illustrating how the adage had the power to make a sad man happy but, conversely, a happy man sad. The fable was reportedly also employed in a speech by Abraham Lincoln before he became the sixteenth President of the United States.
But the version I want to share today that I think is most beautiful and powerful was written in 1867 by American newspaper editor and abolitionist Theodore Tilton. He reworked the fable into a poem called “The King’s Ring.” Here again, the retooled adage wields a double-edged sword. It can help us endure the passage of difficult times, or keep our perspective and humility during good times. Here is the Tilton poem:
"The King’s Ring"
"Once in Persia reigned a King,
Who upon his signet-ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before his eyes,
Gave him counsel, at a glance,
Fit for every change or chance;
Solemn words, and these are they:
“Even this shall pass away.”
Trains of camels through the sand
Brought him gems from Samarcand;
Fleets of galleys through the seas
Brought him pearls to rival these.
But he counted little gain
Treasures of the mine or main.
“What is wealth?” the King would say;
“Even this shall pass away.”
In the revels of his court,
At the zenith of the sport,
When the palms of all his guests
Burned with clapping at his jests,
He, amid his figs and wine,
Cried, “O loving friends of mine!
Pleasures come, but do not stay:
Even this shall pass away.”
Lady fairest ever seen
Was the bride he crowned the queen.
Pillowed on his marriage-bed,
Whispering to his soul, he said,
“Though no bridegroom never pressed
Dearer bosom to his breast,
Mortal flesh must come to clay:
Even this shall pass away.”
Fighting on a furious field,
Once a javelin pierced his shield.
Soldiers with a loud lament
Bore him bleeding to his tent.
Groaning from his tortured side,
“Pain is hard to bear,” he cried,
“But with patience day by day,
Even this shall pass away.”
Towering in the public square
Twenty cubits in the air,
Rose his statue carved in stone.
Then the King, disguised, unknown,
Gazing at his sculptured name,
Asked himself, “And what is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay:
Even this shall pass away.”
Struck with palsy, sere and old,
Waiting at the Gates of Gold,
Spake he with his dying breath,
“Life is done, but what is Death?”
Then, in answer to the King,
Fell a sunbeam on his ring,
Showing by a heavenly ray -
“Even this shall pass away.”
I believe enduring well is an essential part of the test we must pass while on this Earth together. I am still taking this test. We all are. I also believe we must have a certain amount of faith and hope as we do all in our power to make things right in this world while also accepting that we don’t have the power to control all outcomes. I’ve been learning these truths and striving to apply them more in my own life. In the past I have sometimes hearkened to gloomy voices in the world. Many a time I entertained unnecessary doubt and worry. But I am learning that worry works against faith and hope. My mother once shared this other saying with me that I have tried to apply in my older years - “Worry is interest paid on money never borrowed.”
"May we all strive to endure, live and love well, for this too shall pass."
"Too Often..."
"The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt."
- Leo Buscaglia
"Left and Right: Twin Halves of the National Lobotomy"
"Left and Right:
Twin Halves of the National Lobotomy"
by Fred Reed
"Consider two children, white, boys, growing up in contented middle-class families in the same suburb of Washington, DC, equally bright, popular, successful with girls, and so on. One becomes a growling conservative, the other a chirping liberal. (I think of them as woofers and tweeters.) Why the difference in outcome? A likely explanation, or so it seems to me, is that political orientation is innate or, as we would say today, a result of genetic predisposition.
Biological determination of behavioral traits is a matter of common observation. Differences of intelligence in individuals, races and breeds of animal are well known as are degrees of of aggressiveness, sociability, and protectiveness. Why political leaning should not be equally a matter of genetics, making us robots rather than the thinkers we believe ourselves to be, is not clear.
Note that liberal and conservative traits cluster together rather than assorting randomly, suggesting some underlying linkage. For example, we rarely see an ardent capitalist who favors racial integration, or a passionate liberal who will consider the possibility of racial differences in intelligence. There seem to be underlying patterns that determine the aggregate constellation of traits.
Today this luminous and inerrant column will propose the following insight, patent applied for. At their purest, conservatives are heartless and liberals, goofy. I hope this will unite Left and Right in a lynch mob thirsting for my blood. Comity at any price, I say. I will leave a false address. Anyway, some observations. It may not be fair to say that conservatives want to bomb the world into rubble and liberals, to breast feed it. So i won’t say it. But I may think it when no one is looking.
Liberals are more at ease with the new and different, whether racial, ethnic, or linguistic. Conservatives look back nostalgically to a former world of purity and honor, usually one that never existed. They tend to be intensely loyal to their group, racial or cultural, circling the wagons and looking out warily at a world suspected of being hostile. Liberals go dizzily dancing into the future, propelled by heartwarming ideas apparently conceived by a three year old girl with a new doll.
Also reinforcing the biological provenance of political behavior we believe to be the result of reason is that women are less aggressive than men, and that as men age and their androgens drop, they often become less combative. However, though women are less inclined than men to engage in bar fights, they are not without feral tendencies. One is reminded of Menken’s dictum, “A misogynist is a man who hates women as much as they hate each other.”
Women are more nurturing than men, perhaps accounting for an indefinable but noticeable feminine flavor of the Democrats compared to Republicans. Certainly a divide exists between underlying motives of Left and Right, with liberals being nicer people and conservatives, more practical. That is, conservatives are better at doing things that should not be done in the first place, whereas liberals are better at not doing things that should be done.
A conservatives worst nightmare, that wakes him in the early hours with night horrors and the sweating gollywobbles, is the thought of paying for anything for somebody else. This is heartless. By contrast, liberals want to pay for everything for everybody else with money that doesn’t exist. This is goofy.
To see this, note that China finds its brightest young with rigorous testing and then pays for their education on the grounds that it is good for the country. In America, liberals block testing so as to collect morons and conservatives refuse to pay for education as being too expensive. Actually this makes sense since the students have been chosen for being ineducable. This also is good for China.
Liberals think all races and ethnicities should live together in warmth and fuzziness, while conservatives say they would rather have a moist skin disease and anyway it just doesn’t happen.
Liberals want free medical care for everyone. Conservatives object that it would cost too much. This amounts to saying, “Let them die if they can’t pay,” which is heartless but, from the conservative point of view, practical. and anyway they prefer aircraft carriers.
Liberals favor immigrants, saying that these new people just want a better life, all four or so potential billion of them. Conservatives don’t care what kind of life they have, as long as they do it somewhere else.
Conservatives think that medical students should be tested for intelligence. Liberals want to admit retards of color because it makes them feel all inclusive and deserving. They seem unable to understand that a “doctor” who does not know which end of the body the head is attached to will kill people. This is goofy.
Conservatives believe that outcomes stem from deliberate choices. that is, the black crack whore with a 70 IQ and five birth-defective children decided to use crack and to sell sex to pay for it, and so deserves the life she has. The white upper-class woman decided to have a high IQ and to go to Yale and become married before gravid, and so also deserves the life she has. It’s just a question of choices.
Liberals believe that character, and thus behavior, are shaped by environment and thus are not the responsibility of the person exhibiting the behavior. No one is responsible for anything. The only exceptions are whites, who are malign and hate God, or would if he existed. That is, liberals believe that intelligence, which doesn’t exist, is equally distributed across the nonexistent races but that free will is greater among some races, that don’t exist, than others. This is giving me a headache.
Again, at their purest, conservatives are heartless and liberals, goofy. For example, racial conservatives cannot bring themselves to say that African chattel slavery was wrong, despite its gruesome record, which is heartless. However, it was not irrational. Slavery was a recognized way of making money. By contrast, the liberal drive to eliminate literacy tests for college and elite schools, to favor minorities, is goofy. It makes no sense, and would result in…well, today’s America.
Conservatives tend to regard the homeless as human detritus, suffering the consequences of their own moral failures and fecklessness. They deserve no sympathy and should be subject to unspecified measures to get them out of sight. This is heartless. Liberals want to put the homeless in hotels at public expense or build housing for them, which is kindhearted but tends to produce more homeless. i myself might well become homeless, at least for a really good hotel.
Liberals want to pay blacks reparations for slavery. This, requiring people who didn’t do it to pay people to whom it wasn’t done, is goofy. Conservatives want nothing to do with blacks, at all, ever, and don’t care what happens to them. While perhaps not precisely heartless, it leans that way.
The liberal belief that you can be guilty of things you didn’t do is exquisitely goofy. However it gets confusing. For example, I didn’t kill Abraham Lincoln and am therefore guilty of it, and therefore owe reparations to, well, somebody. Perhaps eight billion other people also didn’t kill him, making this an inverse mass murder of frightening proportions.
Liberals always want to do nice things for blacks without actually coming into contact with them and apparently not noticing that the money is accomplishing nothing. This is goofy but characteristic.
In fairness, it should be noted that liberals and conservatives can work together toward a common goal. For example, in a shared rush to wreck the United States, liberals engage in domestic destruction by lunatic social policy, while conservatives keep the country in disastrous and crippling wars. Similarly,democrats fight to keep the borders open while Republicans work to maximize hostility between races. It is a serviceable modus vivendi. See? There is hope.
Goofiness, sometimes called the “squirrel factor,” appears in a great deal of liberal thinking, if that is quite the word. For example, as mentioned above, conservatives want to find the brightest children with tests and put them into schools at their levels while crushing them with student loans. Liberals literally - I am not being cute - want to ban testing and select students by race to be all heartwarming. This is goofiness at its finest. It also plays to the resentment of underperformers against the more able, who don’t exist. Here again we see the superior niceness of liberals. They don’t want any group to feel left out or unequal. Thus they try to eliminate differences by fiat. It doesn’t work, but what counts is the spirit of the thing.
It invites parody: There are no septuagenarians with thick glasses and lousy jump shots in the NBA. disparate impact. I want reparations. A full–up Corvette, with tangerine metal-flake lacquer, would be acceptable. On the other hand, the IGMFY philosophy (“I got mine, screw you”) outlook common among conservatives and codified as capitalism, has its own downstream effects. These can involve bloodthirsty mobs, guillotines, burning at the stake, and suchlike. We aren’t quite there. Yet. There is a bottle of Wild Turkey in the kitchen. I am going to consort with it."
"The World..."
“The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever;
but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter;
and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns.”
- George Santayana
"If You Want To See..."
.jpg)
"If you want to see how far we have not come from the cave and the woods, from the lonely and dangerous days of the prairie or the plain, witness the reaction of a modern suburban family, nearly ready for bed, when the doorbell rings or the door is rattled. They will stop where they stand, or sit bolt upright in their beds, as if a streak of pure lightning has passed through the house. Eyes wide, voices fearful, they will whisper to each other, "There's someone at the door," in a way that might make you believe they have always feared and anticipated this moment - that they have spent their lives being stalked."
- Alice McDermott
"I’m 94... I Won’t Be Here Tomorrow. My Last Message"
Before You Lose It All, 2/15/26
"I’m 94... I Won’t Be Here Tomorrow.
My Last Message"
"I am 94 years old. The doctor told me I won't be here tomorrow. For decades, I chased money, status, and the approval of others. I lived in the "Waiting Room" of life, always waiting for a better future. But tonight, as the clock ticks down my final hours, I realize I was wrong about everything. Before I go, I want to empty my backpack. I am sharing the 4 brutal truths about life, love, and regret that you only understand when you are standing at death's door. Please, don't make the same mistakes I did. Listen to this before it's too late."
Comments here:
"15 Biggest Retailers Closing Down Stores Across America - Millions Stopped Shopping"
Full screen recommended.
Across The States, 2/15/26
"15 Biggest Retailers Closing Down Stores
Across America - Millions Stopped Shopping"
"Store closures across the US retail sector are accelerating in 2026 - and this retail collapse breakdown shows why so many familiar stores are quietly disappearing. Here’s the thing… this wave of store closures isn’t just about people shopping online. In this video, I explain how rising rents, tighter credit, higher shipping costs, and shrinking profit margins are forcing even well-known retailers to pull back fast in both malls and neighborhood shopping centers.
What most people miss is how theft headlines and inflation only tell part of the story. The reality is that changing buying habits, loyalty program cuts, and private-equity ownership are quietly draining cash from brands long before the public ever hears about trouble. I also show how smaller towns and suburban centers are losing stores first - long before big cities feel it. The future of US retail is being reshaped right now, and the impact on jobs, empty storefronts, and local tax revenue is bigger than most people realize."
Comments here:
"This Is Why You Can’t Afford Life Anymore in America"
Full screen recommended.
A Homestead Journey, 2/15/26
"This Is Why You Can’t Afford Life Anymore in America"
"Why does life in America suddenly feel unaffordable for so many people? In this video, we explore the hidden reasons behind the disappearing middle class and the growing cost of living crisis in 2026. From rising grocery bills to unaffordable housing, more Americans are living paycheck to paycheck - and no one seems to be talking about it. Is this just inflation in America… or something much bigger? Could it be the sign of an economic decline in 2026, or even a full-on middle class collapse?
If you’ve ever asked yourself why everything is so expensive, or wondered about the real cost of living today, this video breaks down the truth about the economy in a way that hits home. The signs of an American economy collapse are becoming harder to ignore. This is inflation explained - but not the way the media wants you to see it. Is the middle class dying? You decide."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
A Homestead Journey, 2/15/26
"Americans Can’t Afford Their Electric Bills &
Are Getting Angry"
"Electric bills are going up across America, and families are feeling the pressure as energy costs rise, inflation sticks around, and the cost of living crisis keeps tightening its grip. More Americans are opening their power bills in disbelief, wondering how something as basic as keeping the lights on has become this expensive. In this video, we’re talking about why electricity prices are skyrocketing, what’s really driving these utility rate hikes, and why frustration is boiling over. This isn’t just about one high bill. It’s about the bigger pattern: rising food prices, housing costs, shrinking paychecks, and a middle class that feels like it’s being squeezed from every direction. The energy crisis in America is becoming a tipping point for many households. If you’ve noticed your power bill climbing and your budget getting tighter, you’re not imagining it."
Comments here:
"Millions Are Celebrating Bigger Refunds… Economists Are Warning This"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 2/15/26
"Millions Are Celebrating Bigger Refunds…
Economists Are Warning This"
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "They Want You To Snitch, Get Paid 30% To Turn in Your Neighbors"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 2/15/26
"They Want You To Snitch,
Get Paid 30% To Turn in Your Neighbors"
"The federal government has launched a whistleblower website that could pay citizens 10 - 30% of recovered fraud funds. From fake daycare centers to missing homeless funds and multi-million dollar scams, officials are now encouraging everyday Americans to report fraud, waste, and abuse. Is this accountability… or something much bigger? Dan breaks down what this means, how it works, and why this could change everything. Meanwhile, store closures are accelerating, layoffs are rising, cruise lines are shutting down, housing contracts are being canceled, and even fast-food chains are struggling. From Wendy’s closures to IKEA downsizing and real estate “ghosting,” the economic warning signs are everywhere. Are we entering a whistleblower economy while businesses quietly collapse? Let’s talk about it."
Comments here:
"This Is Armageddon Energy. For Them"; "The Epstein Egregore" (Excerpts)
A Comment, And A Warning: In 16 years, on 2 blogs, posting 100,019 posts, I have never encountered material that frightened, no, terrified me, like this. This will horrify you and forever change how you view the world... - CP
"This Is Armageddon Energy. For Them"
by Elizabeth Nickson
Excerpt: "I didn’t recover from last week’s piece on the Epstein files until this morning, Thursday, and I had to climb a mountain to do it. I was spell stopped, heavy and fogged up. I had to virtually crawl up that mountain on my knees, resting often, when I used to be able to dance up there in the falling snow with my fierce ravening attack dog by my side.
Yes, it’s just that bad. And Congresswoman Lauren Boebert described the worst of it on Wednesday, after viewing the still embargoed files. They eat us. They are cannibals. That’s their most secret sin, beyond the rape, torture and murder of the innocent. “Pizza” is not just the rape of children, it means eating children. “Jerky” is the dried flesh of babies.
Why did Epstein order 330 gallons of sulphuric acid shipped to his island, prior to his arrest? Because sulphuric acid dissolves bones.
Pam Bondi, who endures being shouted at all day long by both sides, states the truth of the matter. If we knew all, the system would fall.
I am, in theory, trained to endure it. After two weeks of interviewing torture victims at the beginning of my career, I went to bed for three weeks, so sick, a persistent fever, tempest tossed and miserable beyond words. One learns, via being blooded, to build a ring fence so you can look at the dark with dispassion. And then take revenge by writing about it. Doing something. Anything.
We are all being asked to look at it and then do something. If the creaky old legacy media is ignoring it, I tell you who isn’t – people in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s are looking at the world we are leaving them and they aren’t afraid. They are sharpening their metaphorical knives."
Full, horrifying, article is here:
o
"The Epstein Egregore"
by Mark E. Jeftovic
Excerpt: "The Politics Of Institutionalized Predation: "I become stronger as you become weaker, I absorb strength as yours flows into me. I become capable of this because I do not experience your pain, I don’t care about your loss, and I feel no regret about using, abusing, and devouring you.” - Page 63, "An Age For Lucifer"
"Consider the following: “This book explores a strange new spirituality about to enter into competition with other established religions. My purpose here is to convince you that its emergence is probable, if not inevitable. I begin this exploration with an unproven assumption based on Darwinian evolutionary principles: a new predator will appear on our planet, an evolutionary prototype designed to prey on humans. Another assumption then follows: this predator will evolve gradually and incrementally from humanity, just as we apparently evolved from lower forms to prey on them. A further assumption suggests that these predators have already appeared as evolutionary prototypes, as new humans with advanced methods of survival and new forms of spiritual expression and religious organization designed to support and advance their predation.“
- Robert C Tucker, "An Age For Lucifer:
Predatory Spirituality & The Quest for Godhood"
"The book in question was Robert C Tucker’s “An Age For Lucifer: Predatory Spirituality and the Quest For Godhood“. I first wrote about it in a Bombthrower piece: The WEF Isn’t a Cabal, It’s A Cult, and I can’t remember how I came into possession of it in the first place. I remember owning it for years and never reading it, because frankly, it scared me.
At first I thought it was some kind of manual for psychopathy – how to rise above your self-limiting human emotions to attain power and fame (even Godhood?) through the energetic predation of those around you. But once I found out that its author wasn’t some High Priest of the Left Hand Path, but rather, a former counsellor and director of COMA, the Council On Mind Abuse, based in Canada – it started to take on a different light.
COMA worked with “adult survivors and child victims of ritual abuse“, and Tucker spent much of his adult life interviewing Satanists and Luciferians (yes, there is a distinction, as Tucker would elucidate in this book)."
Full, horrifying, complete article is here:
Saturday, February 14, 2026
"If Americans Can’t Afford Wendy’s $6 Meal… We Have A Bigger Problem"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 2/14/26
"If Americans Can’t Afford Wendy’s $6 Meal…
We Have A Bigger Problem"
Comments here:
Jeremiah Babe, "Prepare For Major Disruptions"
Jeremiah Babe, 2/14/26
"Prepare For Major Disruptions,
Be Ready To Adapt To Changes; 40,000 Foreclosures In January"
Comments here:
"You’re Not Imagining It - Everything Really Is Worse"
Full screen recommended.
Michael Bordenaro, 2/14/26
"You’re Not Imagining It - Everything Really Is Worse"
Comments here:
"8000 Major Stores Closing For Good As Retailer Apocalypse Goes From Bad To Worse"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 2/14/26
"8000 Major Stores Closing For Good As
Retailer Apocalypse Goes From Bad To Worse"
"The retail crisis that many people dismissed as overblown has now wiped out over 8,000 stores across the United States, and we're only getting started. In this video, we take a closer look at what's really happening in the retail industry in 2026, why so many beloved brands are disappearing, and what it all means for everyday shoppers and workers who are caught in the middle of it all.
Over the past few years, we've watched major retailers file for bankruptcy one after another. Some of them tried to recover. Some of them promised they'd bounce back. But the truth is, many of those brands are now closing their doors for good. Forever 21, Big Lots, Amazon Fresh locations, Francesca's, and even luxury names like Saks Fifth Avenue are either gone or hanging on by a thread. What used to feel like isolated incidents now looks like a full blown collapse that's only picking up speed.
One of the biggest stories this year has been Target. A brand that was once considered the gold standard of affordable, aspirational shopping has fallen behind in ways that are hard to ignore. Messy stores, unhappy employees, layoffs, and a shopping experience that just doesn't feel the same anymore. Target isn't alone in this, but it's become one of the clearest examples of how even the biggest names in retail can lose their way when they stop putting the customer first.
And that's really the core of the problem. The in store shopping experience has deteriorated across the board. Employees are being stretched thin, shelves are understocked, and customer service has become almost nonexistent in many places. Workers are being pressured to sell more to customers who simply don't have the money to spend. It's a frustrating cycle that's pushing more and more people toward online shopping, and it's one of the main reasons why malls across the country are emptying out.
Speaking of malls, the decline of American malls is something we also explore in this video. With anchor stores closing and foot traffic dropping, many malls have become shadows of what they once were. The brands that are thriving right now are the ones offering something different, whether that's the treasure hunt experience of thrift stores and resale platforms or the excitement of brands like Pop Mart. The old model of rows and rows of the same mass produced products just isn't cutting it anymore.
On top of all that, product quality has taken a nosedive. Consumers are paying more than ever and getting less in return. And thanks to social media, people are talking about it openly. They're sharing their experiences, comparing prices, and calling out brands that are cutting corners. That kind of transparency is something the retail industry has never had to deal with before, and it's changing the game completely.
This video is a deep dive into all of these issues and more. If you've noticed changes at your favorite stores or have thoughts about where retail is headed, drop a comment below. We'd love to hear your perspective."
Comments here:
"US Is One Military Decision Away From A Regional War"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 2/14/26
"US Is One Military Decision Away From A Regional War"
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
"It’s always nice to get a new view of an old friend. This stunning Hubble Space Telescope image of nearby spiral galaxy M66 is just that. A spiral galaxy with a small central bar, M66 is a member of the Leo Galaxy Triplet, a group of three galaxies about 30 million light years from us. The Leo Triplet is a popular target for relatively small telescopes, in part because M66 and its galactic companions M65 and NGC 3628 all appear separated by about the angular width of a full moon.
The featured image of M66 was taken by Hubble to help investigate the connection between star formation and molecular gas clouds. Clearly visible are bright blue stars, pink ionized hydrogen clouds - sprinkled all along the outer spiral arms, and dark dust lanes in which more star formation could be hiding."
"One Needs To Learn..."
"One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire – then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference."
- Robert Fulghum
"There’s a New Kind of Stress to Living in America"
Full screen recommended.
A Homestead Journey, 2/14/26
"There’s a New Kind of Stress to Living in America"
"There’s a new kind of stress to living in America with the cost of living crisis, inflation in America, rising food prices, middle class decline, economic uncertainty, and financial stress in 2026 are creating a new kind of pressure that Americans feel every single day. Something has shifted. Even people who are working full-time, budgeting carefully, and trying to stay ahead are feeling overwhelmed in ways that didn’t exist just a few years ago. In this video, we talk about the deeper reality behind America’s changing mood. From inflation and housing costs to burnout, debt, layoffs, and the disappearing middle class, many Americans sense that the system is strained. The economy looks stable on the surface, yet families are cutting back, skipping restaurants, delaying major purchases, and preparing quietly.
Why does daily life feel heavier? Why are so many Americans exhausted, anxious, and pulling back? We break down what’s happening beneath the headlines, how the cost of living crisis is reshaping behavior, and why more people are turning toward preparedness, self-sufficiency, frugal living, and financial resilience. If you’ve felt this new kind of stress living in America, you’re not alone. Let’s talk about it."
Comments here:
“Nine Meals from Anarchy”
“Nine Meals from Anarchy”
by Jeff Thomas
“In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Since then, his observation has been echoed by people as disparate as Robert Heinlein and Leon Trotsky. The key here is that, unlike all other commodities, food is the one essential that cannot be postponed. If there were a shortage of, say, shoes, we could make do for months or even years. A shortage of gasoline would be worse, but we could survive it, through mass transport, or even walking, if necessary.
But food is different. If there were an interruption in the supply of food, fear would set in immediately. And, if the resumption of the food supply were uncertain, the fear would become pronounced. After only nine missed meals, it’s not unlikely that we’d panic and be prepared to commit a crime to acquire food. If we were to see our neighbor with a loaf of bread, and we owned a gun, we might well say, “I’m sorry, you’re a good neighbor and we’ve been friends for years, but my children haven’t eaten today – I have to have that bread – even if I have to shoot you.”
So, let’s have a closer look at the actual food distribution industry, compare it to the present direction of the economy and see whether there might be reason for concern.
The food industry typically operates on very small margins – often below 2%. Traditionally wholesalers and retailers have relied on a two-week turnaround of supply and anywhere up to a 30-day payment plan. But an increasing tightening of the economic system for the last eight years has resulted in a turnaround time of just three days for both supply and payment for many in the industry. This is a system that’s already under sever pressure, and has no further wiggle room should it take significant further hits.
If there were a month where significant inflation took place (say, 3%), all profits would be lost for the month, for both suppliers and retailers, but goods could still be replaced and sold for a higher price next month. But, if there were three or more consecutive months of inflation, the industry would be unable to bridge the gap, even if better conditions were expected to develop in future months. A failure to pay in full for several months would mean smaller orders by those who could not pay. That would mean fewer goods on the shelves. The longer the inflationary trend continued, the more quickly prices would rise to hopefully offset the inflation. And ever-fewer items on the shelves.
From Germany in 1922, to Argentina in 2000, to Venezuela in 2016, this has been the pattern, whenever inflation has become systemic, rather than sporadic. Each month, some stores close, beginning with those that are the most poorly-capitalized. In good economic times, this would mean more business for those stores that were still solvent, but, in an inflationary situation, they would be in no position to take on more unprofitable business. The result is that the volume of food on offer at retailers would decrease at a pace with the severity of the inflation.
However, the demand for food would not decrease by a single loaf of bread. Store closings would be felt most immediately in inner cities, when one closing would send customers to the next neighborhood, seeking food. The real danger would come when that store had also closed and both neighborhoods descended on a third store in yet another neighborhood. That’s when one loaf of bread for every three potential purchasers would become worth killing over. Virtually no one would long tolerate seeing his children go without food because others had “invaded” his local supermarket.
In addition to retailers, the entire industry would be impacted and, as retailers disappeared, so would suppliers, and so on, up the food chain. This would not occur in an orderly fashion, or in one specific area. The problem would be a national one. Closures would be all over the map, seemingly at random, affecting all areas. Food riots would take place, first in the inner cities, then spread to other communities. Buyers, fearful of shortages, would clean out the shelves.
Importantly, it’s the very unpredictability of food delivery that increases fear, creating panic and violence. And, again, none of the above is speculation; it’s an historical pattern – a reaction based upon human nature whenever systemic inflation occurs.
Then… unfortunately… the cavalry arrives. At that point it would be very likely that the central government would step in and issue controls to the food industry that served political needs, rather than business needs, greatly exacerbating the problem. Suppliers would be ordered to deliver to those neighborhoods where the riots were the worst, even if those retailers were unable to pay. This would increase the number of closings of suppliers. Along the way, truckers would begin to refuse to enter troubled neighborhoods and the military might well be brought in to force deliveries to take place.
So what would it take for the above to occur? Well, historically, it has always begun with excessive debt. We know that the debt level is now the highest it has ever been in world history. In addition, the stock and bond markets are in bubbles of historic proportions. They are most certainly popping.
With a crash in the markets, deflation always follows, as people try to unload assets to cover for their losses. The Federal Reserve (and other central banks) has stated that it will unquestionably print as much money as it takes to counter deflation. Unfortunately, inflation has a far greater effect on the price of commodities than assets. Therefore, the prices of commodities will rise dramatically, further squeezing the purchasing power of the consumer, thereby decreasing the likelihood that he will buy assets, even if they’re bargain-priced. Therefore, asset-holders will drop their prices repeatedly, as they become more desperate. The Fed then prints more to counter the deeper deflation and we enter a period when deflation and inflation are increasing concurrently.
Historically, when this point has been reached, no government has ever done the right thing. They have, instead, done the very opposite – keep printing. Food still exists, but retailers shut down because they cannot pay for goods. Suppliers shut down because they’re not receiving payments from retailers. Producers cut production because sales are plummeting.
In every country that has passed through such a period, the government has eventually gotten out of the way, and the free market has prevailed, re-energizing the industry and creating a return to normal. The question is not whether civilization will come to an end. (It will not.) The question is the liveability of a society that is experiencing a food crisis, as even the best of people are likely to panic and become a potential threat to anyone who is known to store a case of soup in his cellar.
Fear of starvation is fundamentally different from other fears of shortages. Even good people panic. In such times, it’s advantageous to be living in a rural setting, as far from the centre of panic as possible. It’s also advantageous to store food in advance that will last for several months, if necessary. However, even these measures are no guarantee, as, today, modern highways and efficient cars make it easy for anyone to travel quickly to where the goods are. The ideal is to be prepared to sit out the crisis in a country that will be less likely to be impacted by dramatic inflation – where the likelihood of a food crisis is low and basic safety is more assured.”
"Grocery Bills Have Tripled - Americans Are Going Bankrupt Buying Food"
Full screen recommended.
Across The States, 2/14/26
"Grocery Bills Have Tripled -
Americans Are Going Bankrupt Buying Food"
"Grocery prices in America are out of control - and this food inflation breakdown explains why your grocery bill feels impossible right now. Here’s the thing… food inflation isn’t just about higher prices on the shelf. In this video, I show how grocery stores are quietly changing package sizes, cutting quality, and shifting costs onto shoppers while the cost of living crisis keeps getting worse for everyday families. What most people miss is how rising grocery prices connect to the labor market, trucking shortages, interest rates, and corporate pricing strategies - not just supply problems. You’ll see how these behind-the-scenes moves are pushing more households toward credit cards, buy-now-pay-later apps, and even food banks just to stay afloat. The reality is that paychecks can’t keep up with basic food costs anymore. We also look at how rural areas and smaller cities are being hit harder than big metro regions - a side of the grocery crisis most reports ignore."
Comments here:
"The Web Gallery of Art"
"The Web Gallery of Art"
"The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Realism periods (1100-1850), currently containing over 52,867 reproductions. It was started in 1996 as a topical site of the Renaissance art, originated in the Italian city-states of the 14th century and spread to other countries in the 15th and 16th centuries. Intending to present Renaissance art as comprehensively as possible, the scope of the collection was later extended to show its Medieval roots as well as its evolution to Baroque and Rococo via Mannerism. More recently the periods of Neoclassicism and Romanticism were also included.
The collection has some of the characteristics of a virtual museum. The experience of the visitors is enhanced by guided tours helping to understand the artistic and historical relationship between different works and artists, by period music of choice in the background and a free postcard service. At the same time the collection serves the visitors' need for a site where various information on art, artists and history can be found together with corresponding pictorial illustrations. Although not a conventional one, the collection is a searchable database supplemented by a glossary containing articles on art terms, relevant historical events, personages, cities, museums and churches.
The Web Gallery of Art is intended to be a free resource of art history primarily for students and teachers. It is a private initiative not related to any museums or art institutions, and not supported financially by any state or corporate sponsors. However, we do our utmost, using authentic literature and advice from professionals, to ensure the quality and authenticity of the content.
We are convinced that such a collection of digital reproductions, containing a balanced mixture of interlinked visual and textual information, can serve multiple purposes. On one hand it can simply be a source of artistic enjoyment; a convenient alternative to visiting a distant museum, or an incentive to do just that. On the other hand, it can serve as a tool for public education both in schools and at home."
For those so inclined, this is a treasure trove of material. Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)