Dan, I Allegedly, "Bills Up. Money Gone."

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 5/24/26

"Bills Up. Money Gone."

"People across America are feeling the pressure as inflation, rising gas prices, expensive groceries, and shrinking paychecks continue to crush household budgets. In this video, Dan from i Allegedly breaks down why so many hardworking people feel like they can’t get ahead anymore. From Memorial Day price hikes and discount store closures to skyrocketing restaurant costs and the collapse in consumer confidence, this video explains the real financial struggles families are facing right now. Dan also covers rising debt, student loan disasters, layoffs, car affordability, and why millions of Americans are cutting back just to survive. If you feel like your paycheck disappears the moment it hits your account, you are not alone. This video dives into the economic reality many people are experiencing but few are openly talking about. Watch until the end and share your thoughts about inflation, the economy, and how you’re coping with rising costs in 2026."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Russia Is Abnormally Hot, Streets And Beach Walk In Moscow"

Full screen recommended.

Window To Moscow, 5/23/36

"Russia Is Abnormally Hot, 

Streets And Beach Walk In Moscow"

"Experience Moscow during an unusually hot summer as we walk through busy streets, city vibes, and beach areas in stunning 4K HDR. This walking tour captures the atmosphere of Russia during a heatwave - crowded embankments, summer fashion, relaxing beach scenes, and everyday life in Moscow. If you enjoy immersive city walks, urban ambience, travel videos, and realistic street atmosphere, this video is for you. Friends, welcome to my YouTube channel Window to Moscow! Enjoy watching!"

Comments here;

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"That's Where It All Begins..."

"That's where it all begins. That's where we all get screwed big time as we grow up. They tell us to think, but they don't really mean it. They only want us to think within the boundaries they define. The moment you start thinking for yourself - really thinking - so many things stop making any sense. And if you keep thinking, the whole world just falls apart. Nothing makes sense anymore. All rules, traditions, expectations - they all start looking so fake, so made up. You want to just get rid of all this stuff and make things right. But the moment you say it, they tell you to shut up and be respectful. And eventually you understand that nobody wants you to really think for yourself.

- Ray N. Kuili

Free Download: Erich Maria Remarque, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Ask her if it was worth it...

o

“You still think it's beautiful to die for your country. The first bombardment

taught us better. When it comes to dying for country, it's better not to die at all.”
- "Paul Baumer", "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930)

Freely download “All Quiet on the Western Front”, 

by Erich Maria Remarque, here:

- http://explainallquietonthewesternfront.weebly.com/

o

And these chickenshit Neocon chickenhawk 

politicians are determined to get us all killed...

"Never Think..."

“When one with honeyed words but evil mind

Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” 

- Euripides

"9/11 False Flag Terror OP: Overwhelming Hard Proof Of An Inside Job Pulled Off By US Intel Community and Armed Forces, MOSSAD & MI6"

"9/11 False Flag Terror OP: Overwhelming Hard Proof Of An Inside

 Job Pulled Off By US Intel Community and Armed Forces, MOSSAD & MI6"

by Laurent Guyenot

Excerpt: "SOTN Editor’s Note: In light of the the 9/11 false flag terrorist attacks perpetrated by the U.S. Intelligence Community & U.S Armed Forces, C.I.A & MOSSAD, among other major organs within the US government as well as foreign state actors, the following exposé is being posted - AGAIN.

This highly authoritative breakdown of what was actually a complex international conspiratorial criminal plot of the highest order proves, unequivocally, that 9/11 was an “inside job”. Should any investigator doubt this obvious conclusion, the following links provide even more indisputable evidence of the quite amateur “inside job”. In other words, the perps really didn’t care if anyone found out who pulled it off or how they really did it. They just didn’t care, so controlled would the massive cover-up be, so they thought. N.B. What follows is the gold standard regarding irrefutable proof confirming that 9/11 was a patently inside job.

Technical impossibilities: Thanks to courageous investigators, many anomalies in the official explanation of the events of 9/11 were posted on the Internet in the following months, providing evidence that this was a false flag operation, and that Osama bin Laden was innocent, as he repeatedly declared in the Afghan and Pakistani press and on Al Jazeera. The proofs of this appalling fraud have been accumulating ever since, and are now accessible to anyone willing to spend a few hours of research on the Web. (Although, while preparing this article, I noticed that Google is now making access to that research more difficult than it was five years ago, artificially prioritizing anti-conspiracy sites.)

For example, members of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth have demonstrated that it was impossible for plane crashes and jet fuel fires to trigger the collapse of the Twin Towers. Even Donald Trump understood this. In fact, speaking of “collapse” is perhaps misleading: the towers literally exploded, pulverizing concrete and projecting pieces of steel beams weighing several hundred tons hundreds of meters laterally at high speeds. The pyroclastic dust that immediately flooded through the streets, not unlike the dust from a volcano, indicates a high temperature mixture of hot gasses and relatively dense solid particles, an impossible phenomenon in a simple collapse. It is also impossible that WTC7, another skyscraper (47 stories), which had not been hit by a plane, collapsed into its own footprint at near free-fall speed, unless by “controlled demolition.”

Testimonies of firefighters recorded shortly after the events describe sequences of explosions just before the “collapse”, well below the plane impact. The presence of molten metal in the wreckage up to three weeks after the attack is inexplicable except by the presence of incompletely burned explosives. Firefighter Philip Ruvolo testified before Étienne Sauret’s camera for his film Collateral Damages (2011): “You’d get down below and you’d see molten steel - molten steel running down the channelways, like you were in a foundry - like lava.”

Aviation professionals have also reported impossibilities in the behavior of the planes. The charted speeds of the two aircraft hitting the Twin Towers, 443 mph and 542 mph, exclude these aircraft being Boeing 767s, because these speeds are virtually impossible near ground level. In the unlikely event such speeds could be attained without the aircraft falling apart, flying them accurately into the towers was mission impossible, especially by the amateur pilots blamed for the hijacking. Hosni Mubarak, a former pilot, said he could never do it. (He is not the only head of state to have voiced his doubts: Chavez and Ahmadinejad are among them.) Recall that neither of the black boxes of the jetliners was ever found, an incomprehensible situation. And of course, there are the obvious anomalies of Shanksville and Pentagon crash sites: no plane or credible plane debris can be seen on any of the numerous photos easily available.

Inside Job or Mossad Job? Among the growing number of Americans who disbelieve the official version of the 9/11 attacks, two basic theories are in competition: I called them “inside job” and “Mossad job”. The first one is the dominant thesis within the so-called 9/11 Truth movement, and blames the American government, or a faction within the American Deep State. The second one claims that the masterminds were members of a powerful Israeli network deeply infiltrated in all spheres of power within the US, including media, government, military and secret services.

This “Mossad job” thesis has been gaining ground since Alan Sabrosky, a professor at the U.S. Army War College and the U.S. Military Academy, published in July 2012 an article entitled “Demystifying 9/11: Israel and the Tactics of Mistake”, where he voiced his conviction that September 11th was “a classic Mossad-orchestrated operation.”

We can notice from the outset that incriminating Israelis or Arabs are both “outside job” theories (in fact, they are mirror images of each other, which is understandable in light of what Gilad Atzmon explains about Jewish “projected guilt”). Before even looking at the evidence, “outside job” sounds more credible that “inside job”. There is something monstrous in the idea that a government can deceive and terrorize its own citizens by killing thousands of them, just for starting a series of wars that are not even in the nation’s interest. By comparison, a foreign power attacking the U.S. under the false flag of a third power almost seems like fair play. Indeed suspicion of Israel’s role should be natural to anyone aware of the reputation of the Mossad as: “Wildcard. Ruthless and cunning. Has capability to target U.S. forces and make it look like a Palestinian/Arab act,” in the words of a report of the U.S. Army School for Advanced Military Studies quoted by the Washington Times, September 10th, 2001 - the day before the attacks.

This is an important point, because it raises the question of how and why the 9/11 Truth movement has been led to endorse massively the outrageous “inside job” thesis without even considering the more likely thesis of an attack by a foreign power acting under an Islamic false flag - and what foreign power but Israel would do that?

Of course, the two dissenting theses do not necessarily exclude each other; at least, no one incriminating Israel denies that corrupted elements from the American administration or deep state were involved. The “passionate attachment” between Israel and the U.S. has been going on for decades, and 9/11 is one of its monstrous offsprings."

View,objectively and without preconceptions, complete article here:

- https://stateofthenation.co/

o

And here's the truth! Read it if you dare...

- https://how911wasdone.blogspot.com/

"Israel: The Bane of America’s Existence"

"Israel: The Bane of America’s Existence"

by State Of The Nation

SOTN Editor’s Note: "You have to admit: the overt Zio-Nazi terrorists and warmongers such as Bibi “The Butcher” Netanyahu” who populate the highest echelons of the Zionist state of Israel are very good at what they do: mass murder via naked genocides, steal homes and land at will, lie and deceive about anything and everything all the time, carry out the most egregious false flag terror attacks worldwide, start wars anywhere and everywhere when it serves their world takeover scheme, stealthily advance their devastating and deadly Greater Israel project in broad daylight, etc. - Israel Is a Rogue State Full of Criminals

What’s the crucial point? The American people have paid for all of that mass death and destruction both directly and indirectly since the very founding of the apartheid state of Israel in 1947. Not only that, but the successive U.S. administrations since provided full support  -  financial and economic, material and military, political and moral to that utterly rogue criminal entity and international crime syndicate set up as a nation-state over the same time frame.

In other words all of the wars that the United States has illicitly waged since World War II ( and including WW2) were fought for Israel…or for the great benefit of that blatantly apartheid country. Which means that most of the nearly $40 Trillion U.S. National Debt was incurred in service and support of Israel (the Military Industrial Complex is a completely Zionist-owned and operated supranational corporate entity run out of the American Zionist headquarters of Chicago). See: - Stratfor Chief Reveals Zio-Anglo-American Plot For World Domination

Now what’s the critical point? How did the American body politic allow their precious blood and massive treasury to be used for such a heinous and disgraceful Zionist enterprise? The entire world community of nations now knows that their is great truth to the Iranian statement:

"The United States is the “Great Satan”

and Israel is the “Little Satan”.

- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder and first

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran

No wonder why Israel coerced Trump to wage an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran - the mullahs in Tehran were brave enough to tell the unvarnished truth as no other nation on Earth. Now read on.

"Is Israel an Existential Threat To America?"

by Patrick J. McShay

“Thomas Massie is MAGA, Trump Makes Other Countries, Raytheon,

Boeing, Dead School Girls, and Censorship Great Again.”

- Ann Coulter- Author, former MAGA

“It’s not an antisemitic conspiracy theory when a foreign lobby *(AIPAC)

openly brags that they bought two congressional seats with candidates

who will be loyal to Israel.”

- Marjorie Taylor Greene

“Right now, my approval is at 99% in Israel. I could run for prime

minister! So maybe after I do this, I’ll go to Israel, run for prime minister.”

- President Donald J. Trump

"I believe we are in a very perilous period, a calm before the storm in Iran. The word is that the Pentagon warned Trump off from continuing the attacks on Iran this week. Russia and China are said to have replenished Iran’s supply of missiles that will allow it to shoot down our jets.

The Iranians have rejected most of Trump’s demands, which are an Israeli wish list. The Iranians are demanding that the attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon stop; they want to control the Strait of Hormuz, they want reparation for damage done in the US attacks, and they want the US out of the Middle East.

This, of course, will be unacceptable to the Israelis, who are clearly calling the shots, and will no doubt be outraged over this proposal. Israel has said emphatically that it will not let this window with Iran close and will not be assuaged with any deal that includes anything in this latest proposal. These absurd statements by Trump that he is giving them a few more days or possibly into next week are just more stall tactics. More time to do what?

An Israeli false flag attack in Europe or America, blamed on Iran, like the false flag attack on 9/11, could be used to rally the American people behind continuing the war against Iran. This is not hyperbole.

This week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to declare war on the entire world and destroy everything if an arrest warrant is issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide and crimes against humanity. He declared himself and Netanyahu’s government above the law and says war crime accusations do not apply to them, saying, “In the face of a declaration of war, we will respond with war. I promise all of you, this is only the beginning.” See that here: 

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y3s4XJUSw0

A not-so-veiled threat to the US and its other allies that they will use the “Samson Option” to attack us with nuclear weapons if they are threatened with arrest for war crimes. The Israelis are not our friends; they hate us!

I wrote recently about Former, and likely future, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who made a not-so-veiled threat, and I believe a false flag warning to America, when he recently said: “The U.S. could face another 9/11-style terrorist attack unless Americans understand why they must fight wars Israel demands”. He said, “Terrorists could even nuke the United States of America without Israel being an ally. I was in Manhattan when it happened. I saw those buildings on fire. That’s what happens when you say the Middle East isn’t our problem.”

These threats should have Americans questioning just who is the existential threat to world peace, if not Israel? It is certainly not Iran. Bibi Netanyahu recently claimed that Israel is a world power. Only the American military and a Zionist president and government behind them make them a great power.

Trump has loaded his administration with Israel-First Jews and Zionists from top to bottom in what feels more like an Israeli coup than an alliance. Congressman Thomas Massie, who won his last election with 71% of the vote, was primaried last night after a year of constant attacks from Trump, by a Zionist Trump-endorsed candidate who received a reported $30 million from, among others, Jewish Billionaires Paul Singer and Miriam Adelson, a dual Israeli citizen who Trump says is her primary loyalty.

Sam Parker reported that “Massie increased his turnout by 19% over 2024. Gallrein increased the opposition turnout by 357%! Today’s turnout DOUBLED 2024’s in the highest overall vote total in Kentucky history.” Was this really driven by “get out the vote”? Massie, the incumbent, won big in 2024 with 39,929 votes. In this election, he increased that to 47,539 votes and lost.

Massie, an ‘America First’ candidate and not a Zionist, refused to vote for Trump’s wars of choice for Israel (which Trump now admits), nor would he obey Trump’s command to every Republican to vote against the release of the Epstein files. Trump is protecting these perpetrators because most of the names in the files are wealthy and prominent Jews, including his newly minted Fed Chairman, Kevin Warsh, who, to Trump’s chagrin, may be forced to raise interest rates due to the instability caused by Trump’s war.

Last month, Tucker Carlson said that there are Israeli occupation forces officers (IOF) working in offices at the Pentagon, which just failed its 8th audit in a row. They have somehow lost nearly 5 trillion dollars, so Trump has asked for a trillion and a half dollars for next year. The day before the attacks on 9/11/2001, Donald Rumsfeld announced that $2 trillion was missing at the Pentagon. One must wonder what our deficit would be if trillions hadn’t been stolen.

Americans have a right to know who is calling the shots in this Iranian war, and it doesn’t appear to be Trump or ‘Rapture Pete.’The Israelis also have offices at the CIA headquarters. Shouldn’t Americans find that odd? See this: 

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7MKeA6K2yU&t=64s

This week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a 15-city nationwide antisemitism “Awareness & Action Tour” to increase reporting of antisemitism, strengthen collaboration between local and federal law enforcement and Jewish communities, and foster broad interfaith opposition to antisemitism among Jews, Baptists, Catholics, and Muslims.

I hate to sound insensitive, but this is absurd! There is far more anti-Christian sentiment in the American government and across the country than anti-Semitism. If new censorship and hate laws currently being pushed in the Senate are passed, much of the Bible will be illegal to read in public. I believe that Trump’s Zionist MAGA coalition is part of Israel’s fifth column that is currently trying to destroy America from within & replace our Constitution with the Noahide laws, which forbid Christianity.

Trump and Netanyahu continue to equate criticism of Israeli genocide, Apartheid, and the ongoing slaughter of innocents in the Middle East who are dying for Israeli expansion, with hatred of Jews, which is ludicrous. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “Israel is the only country I know of that has some sort of incredible control over nearly every single one of my colleagues.”

Jewish Senator Jackie Rosen, another politician financed by Miriam Adelson, along with Zionist RINO James Lankford, recently introduced sweeping new anti-Semitism laws, which will criminalize criticism of Israel, killing free speech in America. The IHRA Anti-Semitism Bill that will:

– Allow $1 BILLION for Jewish Communities

– Censor Speech critical of Israel

– Censor Students and teachers critical of Israel

– Censor Online Speech critical of Israel

The Bill would require the Department of Education to hire an Anti-Semitism Coordinator to lay out new regulations to combat anti-Semitism on College campuses. This is just a humiliation ritual at this point.

So just to get this straight, laws are being pushed to ban criticism of a foreign government, accused by the UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC) of genocide and crimes against humanity. The UN just accused Israel of having committed an Extermination in Gaza. New reports confirm months of Israeli torture, abuse, and sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners. They rape, sodomize, and torture prisoners to death. See this:

- https://www.globalresearch.ca/israelis-okay-rape-palestinian-prisoners/5864238

The only reason Israel has as much support as it does is that Americans have been brainwashed to support it from birth, and the media has censored Israeli atrocities for decades. They are now desperate to censor the internet and social media platforms that don’t censor those reports.

‘According to Zionist Christians, after the “church” is pulled into heaven during the Rapture, the final battle would involve Jesus destroying heretical armies with the power of His spoken word.’ Rapture Pete’ believes Trump is the tip of the spear to lead us into Armageddon, and the Jews believe Trump will build the third temple and hold him up as the ‘New Cyrus’; Americans will look back at him as worse than Joe Biden, his greatest fear."

- https://stateofthenation.info/?p=65095

o

-https://how911wasdone.blogspot.com/

"Iran Unleashes 1,000 Missiles on Tel Aviv, Haifa & Jerusalem - Israel Changed Forever in 28 Minutes"

Index AG, 5/23/26

"Iran Unleashes 1,000 Missiles on Tel Aviv, Haifa & Jerusalem - 

Israel Changed Forever in 28 Minutes"

"This is the definitive breakdown of the most significant military event in modern history: the launch of 1,000 coordinated missiles toward the heart of Israel. In the next 28 minutes, the world as we know it could cease to exist. From the moment the “Launch Confirmed” signal hit military command centers across three continents, the clock began ticking on a sequence of events that places the global order under a nuclear shadow. 

This isn’t just a localized conflict; it is a meticulously engineered strategic campaign designed to saturate the most advanced air defense network on the planet and trigger a civilizational shift that no military alliance can prevent. In this deep-dive geopolitical analysis, we examine the brutal mathematics of a 1,000-missile salvo. We break down the 360-degree strike architecture - originating from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and the Eastern Mediterranean - and explain why the integrated layers of the Iron Dome, Arrow 3, and David’s Sling face a terminal saturation point. When 400 warheads are projected to penetrate the defensive grid, the result isn’t a military strike; it is the systematic erasure of the financial, industrial, and spiritual foundations of a nation. 

Why Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem? We explore the Iranian strategic planning that identified these specific urban corridors to maximize economic collapse and psychological shock. Tel Aviv represents 60% of the national GDP; Haifa acts as the industrial and logistical anchor; and Jerusalem stands as the spiritual epicenter for billions. By targeting these cities simultaneously - and utilizing thermobaric “bunker-buster” warheads against civilian shelters - the attackers are aiming for a total structural failure of the Israeli state. The stakes have never been higher for Washington. As American naval assets in the Eastern Mediterranean engage the incoming threat, the world watches the most consequential unit of time since 1945.

We analyze the three terrifying scenarios currently on the table in the Oval Office:

1. Immediate conventional retaliation against the Iranian mainland under a nuclear shadow.

2. The gridlock of international diplomatic intervention. 

3. The crossing of the nuclear threshold in response to the civilizational targeting of Jerusalem. 

The missiles are in the air. The sensors are tracking. The decisions being made in the next  minutes will define the remainder of the 21st century for 8 billion human beings. This video provides the insider-level military and financial context you need to understand the unfolding crisis. What should the global response be? Should the U.S. retaliate conventionally at the risk of a nuclear shadow war? Should we wait for international institutions that move slower than the missiles? Or has the target of Jerusalem changed the rules of engagement forever? Stay informed on the shifts in global power - Subscribe for deep-tier geopolitical analysis and hit the Like button to help this critical information reach others.

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Millions Just Gave Up On This Economy – Why It's Getting Worse"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 5/23/26

"Millions Just Gave Up On This Economy – 

Why It's Getting Worse"

"Your paycheck doesn't go as far as it did two years ago, and you're not imagining it. Millions of Americans are documenting the collapse in real time - filming their grocery receipts, recording their reactions at the gas pump, and sharing the brutal math of trying to survive on wages that haven't kept pace with the cost of living. This is what it looks like when inflation stops being a statistic and starts determining whether you can afford to eat. The system isn't broken - it's working exactly as designed, and you're paying the price."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Iran Destroys US & Israel in Next Attack, All Out War Ends It All"

Full screen recommended.

Danny Haiphong, 5/23/26

Mohammad Marandi:

"Iran Destroys US & Israel in Next Attack, 

All Out War Ends It All"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com

o

Judge Napolitano, 5/23/26

"Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: Failed Coup In Iran – 

The Threat Of Nuclear War Is Rising"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Douglas Macgregor, 5/18/26

"Out Of Control: Netanyahu Panics

As Lebanon's Fighters Breach Israeli Base!"

"A dramatic escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border has triggered global attention after reports of a major breach targeting an Israeli military position in southern Lebanon. This video breaks down the alleged attack, the reported losses, the growing fears inside Tel Aviv, and why analysts believe this could mark a dangerous turning point in the regional conflict. We examine the role of drones, rockets, cross-border operations, emergency Israeli cabinet meetings, and the wider geopolitical implications involving Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, and the United States. Could this incident reshape the balance of power in the Middle East? Could Netanyahu’s strategy now face its biggest test yet? Watch until the end for the full breakdown, battlefield analysis, political fallout, and what may happen next in the Israel-Lebanon conflict."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "The Dreaming Tree"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "The Dreaming Tree"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster? Even if you have, you probably have never seen it as large and clear as this. Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the bright stars of the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. With a long exposure from a dark location, though, the dust cloud surrounding the Pleiades star cluster becomes very evident.

The featured exposure covers a sky area several times the size of the full moon. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades lies about 400 light years away toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus). A common legend with a modern twist is that one of the brighter stars faded since the cluster was named, leaving only six of the sister stars visible to the unaided eye. The actual number of Pleiades stars visible, however, may be more or less than seven, depending on the darkness of the surrounding sky and the clarity of the observer's eyesight."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/

Chet Raymo, “The Ring of Truth”

“The Ring of Truth”

by Chet Raymo

“In Salley Vickers’ novel, “Where Three Roads Meet,” the shade of Tiresias, the blind seer of the Oedipus myth, visits Sigmund Freud in London during the psychoanalyst’s final terrible illness. In a series of conversations, Tiresias retells the story of Oedipus - he who was fated to kill his father and sleep with his mother – a story at the heart of Freud’s own theory of the human psyche. At one point in the conversations, as Tiresias and Freud discuss the extent to which our lives are fated, the question of immortality arises. Freud says of Oedipus that “he made his story into an immortal one, so far as any story is.” And Tiresias replies, “But, Dr. Freud, stories are all we humans have to make us immortal.”

Oedipus lives on, whether he lived or not in actuality. Sophocles lives in our consciousness as vigorously as ever he did in life. They live because their stories touch something resonant and unchanging in human nature. Vickers suggests that what makes the Oedipal story immortal is not any necessary tendency of humans to act out the Oedipal myth, a la Freud, but rather Oedipus’s rage to know the truth - or become conscious of a truth he has known all along and suppressed – even though the truth will be his undoing. 

The poet Muriel Rukesyser got it exactly right when she said: “The universe is made of stories, not atoms.” Even atoms are stories we tell about the world, having first paid close attention to how the world works. The plays of Sophocles and the other Greek dramatists live on not because their authors were immortal, but because nature endures and their stories tell us something that rings true about enduring nature. And, like Oedipus, we have a rage to know, even if knowledge will unseat some of our more comfortable illusions.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"Hope..."

“Hope is always about the future. And it isn’t always good news. Sometimes, hope can imprison us with belief or expectation that something will happen in the future to change our lives. Similarly hopelessness isn’t always about despair. Hopelessness can bring us right into this very moment and answer all of life’s most difficult questions. Who am I? Where am I? What does this mean? And what now?”

- Daniel Gottlieb

Kahlil Gibran, “The Seven Selves”

“The Seven Selves”

by Kahlil Gibran

“In the silent hour of the night, as I lay half asleep, my seven selves sat together and thus conversed in whispers:

First Self: "Here, in this madman, I have dwelt all these years, with naught to do but renew his pain by day and recreate his sorrow by night. I can bear my fate no longer, and now I must rebel."

Second Self: "Yours is a better lot than mine, brother, for it is given me to be this madman’s joyous self. I laugh his laughter and sing his happy hours, and with thrice winged feet I dance his brighter thoughts. It is I that would rebel against my weary existence."

Third Self: "And what of me, the love-ridden self, the flaming brand of wild passion and fantastic desires? It is I the love-sick self who would rebel against this madman."

Fourth Self: "I, amongst you all, am the most miserable, for naught was given me but the odious hatred and destructive loathing. It is I, the tempest-like self, the one born in the black caves of Hell, who would protest against serving this madman."

Fifth Self: "Nay, it is I, the thinking self, the fanciful self, the self of hunger and thirst, the one doomed to wander without rest in search of unknown things and things not yet created; it is I, not you, who would rebel."

Sixth Self: "And I, the working self, the pitiful laborer, who, with patient hands, and longing eyes, fashion the days into images and give the formless elements new and eternal forms – it is I, the solitary one, who would rebel against this restless madman."

Seventh Self: "How strange that you all would rebel against this man, because each and every one of you has a preordained fate to fulfill. Ah! could I but be like one of you, a self with a determined lot! But I have none, I am the do-nothing self, the one who sits in the dumb, empty nowhere and no-when, when you are busy re-creating life. Is it you or I, neighbors, who should rebel?"

When the seventh self thus spake the other six selves looked with pity upon him but said nothing more; and as the night grew deeper one after the other went to sleep enfolded with a new and happy submission. But the seventh self remained watching and gazing at nothingness, which is behind all things.”

- http://4umi.com/gibran/madman/9

"The Science of Why We Repeat Mistakes"

"The Science of Why We Repeat Mistakes"

by The Hutch Report

"History has shown us that we have made many, many mistakes as a society. It has also demonstrated that we tend to repeat previous mistakes made, despite our better judgement. “But why do so many people make the same errors over and over again?” This was the question asked in an article published in The Atlantic.

Procedural memory or Process memory is a part of your long-term memory. It is responsible for knowing how to do things. It is considered a subset of, what is sometimes referred to as, your subconscious memory. Memory is basically nothing more than the record left by a learning process. Thus, memory depends on learning. But learning also depends on memory. The knowledge stored in your memory provides the framework to which you link new knowledge by association.

When we do something repetitively it gets recorded into our neural pathways. The brain is not able to tell whether or not we are forming a good habit or a bad habit. Our neural pathways are therefore created for both positive and negative behaviors, depending on where you place your focus. Our brains see a repeated action, whatever it may be, and creates a pattern. It automates that action appropriately for the next time. This allows us to save energy.

A study by Johns Hopkins, published in the 'Journal of Current Biology', showed that a subject’s attention towards a previously reward-associated stimuli was positively correlated with the release of dopamine. “Dopamine released within the caudate and putamen is known to underlie habit learning and the expression of habitual behaviors.” This means that there is evidence that our brains are wired to pay attention to things that were once rewarding, even if they aren’t anymore.

We tend to fall victim to a number of human biases that dominate the direction of our thinking. The Ego Effect, or Egocentric Bias can lead us to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Example, someone who is highly skilled in a certain expertise may struggle to imagine the perspective of others who are more unfamiliar with it.

In 1987 we experienced Black Monday in the US as the stock market fell precipitously. As Investopedia recounts, “There were some warning signs of excesses that were similar to excesses at previous inflection points. Economic growth had slowed while inflation was rearing its head. The strong dollar was putting pressure on U.S. exports. The stock market and economy were diverging for the first time in the bull market, and, as a result, valuations climbed to excessive levels, with the overall market’s price-earnings ratio climbing above 20. Future estimates for earnings were trending lower, but stocks were unaffected.”

During the savings and loan crisis, the US experienced the failure of 1,043 out of the 3,234 S&L banks from 1986 to 1995. It is believed that the failure began with inflation that started in the 1960s, which led to Paul Volker, U.S. Central Bank Chairman at the time, to raise interest rates. Mortgage rates eventually topped out at 18.45%. This helped bring on a recession which saw the beginning of the S&L crisis. Deregulation of the industry, combined with regulatory tolerance, and fraud worsened the crisis.

During the 1990s, we experienced a Finnish, Swedish and British banking crisis. In 1997, we experienced the Asian financial crisis. 1998 saw the Russian financial crisis, followed by the Ecuador and Argentinian financial crises in 1998-1999.

In 2008, we experienced a financial crisis that ravaged the economy and engulfed the country and the world. The government and the Central Bank intervened with a number of bailout programs, which saved the banks, stabilized the financial system and corporate America. Not surprisingly, the combination of regulatory tolerance and fraud allowed the banks freedom to do as they wished, and worsened the crisis…..once again.

Having the Central Banks and Governments backstop every poor practice perpetrated by financial institutions has, time and time again, created a situation of “moral hazard.” This essentially means that if you are confident somebody will bail you out, you will have a tendency to risk as much as you possible can.

In addition, financial institutions are looking for that dopamine hit. As we previously described from the Johns Hopkins study, our brains are wired to pay attention to things that were once rewarding to us. It is then understandable how greedy bankers will keep trying to identify those high risk, high payoff investments despite the risk and dangers.

Government, Central Banks and Regulatory authorities tend to fall prey to the Ego Effect bias. They believe that they are smarter than everyone else, and have a hard time to understand how the general population would not see things the way they do. It is all under their control!

So, we can see how not only have we not learned from our past mistakes, we continue to make them. Looking at the present economic situation, the level of asset prices and the bravado of the current Central Bankers, you can expect another crisis to arise, which will most likely be more severe than the last. Why? Simply because they have shown us that they are not capable of learning from past mistakes.

Does this mean that humans are not capable of learning from their mistakes? No, we certainly are. It just takes effort and a large amount of humility. It may not seem that way at the moment, but in an increasingly complex and uncertain world which we live, people and organizations that embrace failure and create a strong culture around learning from their mistakes will ultimately thrive. Hopefully we’ll learn from our mistakes following the next once-in-a-lifetime crisis!"

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Thomasville, Georgia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

“7 Things Fear Has Stolen From You”

“7 Things Fear Has Stolen From You”

by Marc Chernoff

“There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.”

- Ben Johnson

“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid; courage means you don’t let fear stop you. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Don’t ever hesitate to give yourself a chance to be everything you are capable of being. Although fear can feel overwhelming, and defeats more people than any other force in the world, it’s not as powerful as it seems. Fear is only as deep as your mind allows. You are still in control. The key is to acknowledge your fear and directly address it. You must step right up and confront it face to face. This tactic robs fear of its power, instead of fear robbing YOU of…

1. Your true path and purpose. Fear of being different… Don’t be fooled by what others say, especially when they try to tell you what is right for you. Listen and then draw your own conclusions. What is your intuition telling you? There is not a clear path that everyone should follow. Your greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding in life at all the wrong things. Choose a path that fits YOU. Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it. Challenge yourself to ask with each and every step, and each focus point that consumes your energy: “Does this thing I’m doing right now truly serve me and those I care about in the next few minutes, few months, and few years?” Whatever you settle on, just make sure you don’t gain the whole world by losing your soul and purpose in the process.

2. Self-respect. Fear of not being good enough… Don’t be too hard on yourself. There are plenty of people willing to do that for you. Do your best and surrender the rest. Tell yourself, “I am doing the best I can with what I have in this moment. That is all I can ever expect of anyone, including me.” Love yourself and be proud of everything you do, even your mistakes, because your mistakes mean you’re trying. If you feel like others are not treating you with love and respect, check your price tag. Perhaps you subconsciously marked yourself down. Because it’s YOU who tells others what you’re worth by showing them what you are willing to accept for your time and attention. So get off the clearance rack. If you don’t value and respect yourself, wholeheartedly, no one else will either.

3. Your ability to make concrete decisions. Fear of commitment… You cannot live your life at the mercy of chance. You cannot stumble along with a map marked only with the places you fear, or the places you know you don’t want to revisit. You cannot remain trapped, endlessly, in a state where you are unable to ask for directions, even though you’re terribly lost, because you don’t know your destination. You have to commit to goals that speak to you. You have to stand up, look at yourself in the mirror, and say, “It isn’t good enough for me to know only what I DON’T want in life. I need to decide what I DO want.”

4. Priceless opportunities and life experiences. Fear of change and discomfort… As Thich Nhat Hanh so perfectly said, “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” In many cases you stay stuck in your old routines for no other reason than that they are familiar to you. In other words, you’re afraid of change and the unknown. You continually put your dreams and goals off until tomorrow, and you pass on great opportunities simply because they have the potential to lead you out of your comfort zone.

You start using excuses to justify your lack of backbone: “Someday when I have more money,” or “when I’m older,” or the over-abused “I’ll get to it as soon as I have more time.” This is a vicious cycle that leads to a deeply unsatisfying life – a way of thinking that eventually sends you to your grave with immense regret. Regret that you didn’t follow your heart. Regret that you always put everyone else’s needs before your own. Regret that you didn’t do what you could have done when you had the chance.

5. General happiness and peace of mind. Fear of facing inner truths… If you keep looking for happiness outside yourself, you will never find it. Happiness is found from within. What you seek is not somewhere else at some other time; what you seek is here and now, within you. The more you look for it outside yourself, the more it hides from you. Relax, remember the source of your deepest desires, and allow yourself to know their fulfillment. A choice, not circumstances, determines happiness. Each morning when you open your eyes, say to yourself: “I, not external people or events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. It’s up to me. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow hasn’t come yet. I only have today and I’m going to be happy in it.”

6. Your willingness to love, truly and purely. Fear of not being loved in return… Although it is nice when gestures of love are returned, true love is one-way traffic. It’s a pure flow of giving and expecting nothing in return. Anything else is a contract. Notice how whenever you allow love to flow you are always clear, calm and strong. It is only when the thought arises, “What have they given me in return?” that there is confusion and resentment. Ego transacts, love transforms. Life is too short for all these meticulous contracts and transactions.

Look out for yourself by focusing your love in a direction that feels right to you, but once you decide to love, remain clear, remain bright, and remain strong. Love without expectation. Don’t let fear get in your way. When the love you give is true, the people worthy of your love will gradually reveal themselves over time.

7. The right company. Fear of being alone… Sadly, no matter how much love you give, some relationships simply aren’t meant to be. You can try your hardest, you can do everything and say everything, but sometimes people just aren’t worth stressing over anymore, and they aren’t worth worrying about. It’s important to know when to distance yourself from someone who only hurts you and brings you down. When you give your love to someone, truly and purely without expectation, and it’s never good enough for them, there’s a good chance you’re giving your love to the wrong person.

The bottom line is that long-term relationships should help you, not hurt you. Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and like-minded. And remember, good relationships are a sacred bond – a circle of trust. Both parties must be 100% on board. If and when the time comes to let a relationship go, don’t be hostile. Simply thank the relationships that don’t work out for you, because they just made room for the ones that will.

Next steps… Your biggest fears are completely dependent on you for their survival. Every new day is another chance to change your life, and it’s way too short to let fear interfere. Today, focus your conscious mind on things you desire, not things you fear. Doing so can bring your dreams to life.

Your turn… What has fear stolen from you? What has it stopped you from doing, being, or achieving? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts with the community.”

- http://www.marcandangel.com/

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“Overcoming Fear And Anxiety”

by Tony Robbins

"Things We Don't Want to Do: Outside the Comfort Zone"

"Things We Don't Want to Do:

Outside the Comfort Zone"

by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"Doing things we don't want to do, or that scare us, creates flow in our lives and allows us to grow. Most of us have had the experience of tackling some dreaded task only to come out the other side feeling invigorated, filled with a new sense of confidence and strength. The funny thing is, most of the time when we do them, we come out on the other side changed and often wondering what we were so worried about or why it took us so long. We may even begin to look for other tasks we've been avoiding so that we can feel that same heady mix of excitement and completion.

Whether we avoid something because it scares us or bores us, or because we think it will force a change we're not ready for, putting it off only creates obstacles for us. On the other hand, facing the task at hand, no matter how onerous, creates flow in our lives and allows us to grow. The relief is palpable when we stand on the other side knowing that we did something even though it was hard or we didn't want to do it. On the other hand, when we cling to our comfort zone, never addressing the things we don't want to face, we cut ourselves off from flow and growth.

We all have at least one thing in our life that never seems to get done. Bringing that task to the top of the list and promising ourselves that we will do it as soon as possible is an act that could liberate a tremendous amount of energy in our lives. Whatever it is, we can allow ourselves to be fueled by the promise of the feelings of exhilaration and confidence that will be the natural result of doing it.”

- http://discuss.dailyom.com

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Of course, some have different perspectives...

Very Strong Language Alert!

"In life you have to do a lot of things you don't ****ing want to do.

Many times, that's what the **** life is, one vile ****ing task after another.”

- “Al Swearengen”,

Ian McShane's character in “Deadwood”

'Children Of Hope..."

"Children of Hope, to life we fondly cling,

Though woe on woe bitter hour may bring;

the spirit shrinks, and Nature dreads to brave,

The doubt, the gloom, the stillness of the grave.

But what is death? – a wing from earth to fee –

a bridge o’er time into eternity."

- Michelle, in “The Fear of Death Considered”

The Poet: Charles Bukowski, "The Genius Of The Crowd"

Full screen recommended.

"The Genius Of The Crowd"

"There is enough treachery, hatred, violence, absurdity in the average

human being to supply any given army on any given day.

And the best at murder are those who preach against it,

and the best at hate are those who preach love,

and the best at war finally are those who preach peace.

Those who preach God, need God.

Those who preach peace do not have peace.

Those who preach peace do not have love.

Beware the preachers.

Beware the knowers.

Beware those who are always reading books.

Beware those who either detest poverty

or are proud of it.

Beware those quick to praise

for they need praise in return.

Beware those who are quick to censor

they are afraid of what they do not know.

Beware those who seek constant crowds for

they are nothing alone.

Beware the average man, the average woman,

beware their love, their love is average,

seeks average.

But there is genius in their hatred.

There is enough genius in their hatred to kill you,

to kill anybody.

Not wanting solitude

Not understanding solitude

they will attempt to destroy anything

that differs from their own.

Not being able to create art

they will not understand art.

They will consider their failure as creators

only as a failure of the world.

Not being able to love fully

they will believe your love incomplete,

and then they will hate you

and their hatred will be perfect.

Like a shining diamond,

like a knife,

like a mountain,

like a tiger,

like hemlock,

their finest art"

- Charles Bukowski