Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 9/14/24
"Most of You Will Die When SHTF. Real Talk"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Jeremiah Babe, "Trying To Escape Los Angeles, Lots Of Shady Characters, It's A Big Cesspool"
Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 9/14/24
"Trying To Escape Los Angeles,
Lots Of Shady Characters, It's A Big Cesspool"
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Slide your telescope just east of the Lagoon Nebula to find this alluring field of view in the rich starfields of the constellation Sagittarius toward the central Milky Way. Of course the Lagoon nebula is also known as M8, the eighth object listed in Charles Messier's famous catalog of bright nebulae and star clusters.
Click image for larger size.
Close on the sky but slightly fainter than M8, this complex of nebulae was left out of Messier's list though. It contains obscuring dust, striking red emission and blue reflection nebulae of star-forming region NGC 6559 at right. Like M8, NGC 6559 is located about 5,000 light-years away along the edge of a large molecular cloud. At that distance, this telescopic frame nearly 3 full moons wide would span about 130 light-years."
"It's Extraordinary..."
“It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.”
– Joseph Conrad, “Lord Jim”
The Poet: Mary Oliver, "There Is Time Left"
"There Is Time Left"
"Well, there is time left –
fields everywhere invite you into them.
And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away
from wherever you are, to look for your soul?
Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!
To put one's foot into the door of the grass, which is
the mystery, which is death as well as life,
and not be afraid!
To set one's foot in the door of death,
and be overcome with amazement!”
~ Mary Oliver
"Here's A Question..."
“Here’s a question every angry man and woman needs to consider: How long are you going to allow people you don’t even like – people who are no longer in your life, maybe even people who aren’t even alive anymore – to control your life? How long?”
- Andy Stanley
“That goes for old wounds, too, you know. I really wish we’d had the chance to talk before this,” he says, cracking the window so the smoke can escape. “There’s a Longfellow quote I have stuck on my bulletin board at the church office – ‘There is no grief like the grief that does not speak’ – and it’s true. I’ve found that keeping pain inside doesn’t give it a chance to heal, but bringing it out into the light, holding it right there in your hands and trusting that you’re strong enough to make it through, not hating the pain, not loving it, just seeing it for what it really is can change how you go on from there. Time alone doesn’t heal emotional wounds, and you don’t want to live the rest of your life bottled up with anger and guilt and bitterness. That’s how people self-destruct.”
- Laura Wiess
"We Must Begin..."
"We are fast moving into something, we are fast flung into something like asteroids cast into space by the death of a planet, we the people of earth are cast into space like burning asteroids and if we wish not to disintegrate into nothingness we must begin to now hold onto only the things that matter while letting go of all that doesn't. For when all of our dust and ice deteriorates into the cosmos we will be left only with ourselves and nothing else. So if you want to be there in the end, today is the day to start holding onto your children, holding onto your loved ones; onto those who share your soul. Harbor and anchor into your heart justice, truth, courage, bravery, belief, a firm vision, a steadfast and sound mind. Be the person of meaningful and valuable thoughts. Don't look to the left, don't look to the right; we simply don't have the time. Never be afraid of fear."
- C. JoyBell C.
"You Are Not Alone"
"You Are Not Alone"
by Chris MacIntosh
"Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone." - Kurt Vonnegut
"To all my friends out there who know what’s really going on…To all my conspiracy theorist friends…Yes, sometimes it’s a curse and not always a blessing to be awake. Awakening is the most liberating, alienating, excruciating, empowering, lonely, confusing, freeing, frightening, expansive journey. If you find yourself struggling as you try to process all this insanity, you are not alone. No one talks about the darkness that accompanies awakening, or the GRIEF.
Not only grieving the life and illusions you once had but the realization that almost everything you thought you once knew, is a LIE. The beliefs you’ve held, people you’ve trusted, principles you were taught - ALL LIES. Shattering illusions is RARELY an enjoyable experience. There is a considerable amount of discomfort that comes with growth and the grieving process doesn’t stop there.
With these newfound realizations, you then find yourself grieving all over again. Grieving the loss of many relationships with people who just don’t “get it”. Feeling alone; being ridiculed and shamed, not only by the masses but for many of you, your very own family and friends too. Feeling like you no longer have much in common with the people you are surrounded by.
Struggling with carrying on bullsh*t, shallow conversations that lack substance with those who are still fast asleep. Even feeling disconnected from your entire support system because they can’t see what you see. Some even grieve the loss of their ignorance- because “ignorance is bliss” and reality is harsh. Awakening can be a lonely road and you will often find yourself journeying alone.
There is no way to sugarcoat it - awakening to the realities of this world is brutal. It will have you running through the entire gamut of human emotions. You have to master the art of diving down the darkest of rabbit holes only to come out and still function in daily life, and that’s a skill people don’t talk about enough. Some of you are struggling with feeling disconnected from family and friends, it’s as though they exist in another world.
Please know you are not alone, and not only are you not alone, you have an entire tribe standing with you. We may be separated by miles, but we are DEEPLY connected; in purpose and in spirit."
o
"When people tell you who they are, Maya Angelou famously advised, believe them. Just as important, however, when people try to tell you who you are, don’t believe them. You are the only custodian of your own integrity, and the assumptions made by those that misunderstand who you are and what you stand for reveal a great deal about them and absolutely nothing about you." - Maria Popova
"A Lot Of People..."
"When science discovers the center of the universe
a lot of people will be disappointed to find they are not."
- Bernard Baily
"The Truth..."
"When we're headed toward an outcome that's too horrible to face, that's when we go looking for a second opinion. And sometimes, the answer we get just confirms our worst fears. But sometimes, it can shed new light on the problem, make you see it in a whole new way. After all the opinions have been heard and every point of view has been considered, you finally find what you're after - the truth. But the truth isn't where it ends, that's just where you begin again with a whole new set of questions."
- "Grays Anatomy"
'If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.'
- Oscar Wilde
"Middle East Geopolitics 9/14/24: War, And Rumors Of War"
Dialogue Works, 9/14/24
"Scott Ritter, Israel’s Downfall:
The Shocking Truth No One Wants to Admit!"
Comments here:
o
Cyrus Janssen, 9/14/24
"US Army Colonel Explains How Israel
Lost the War (But Not How You Think)"
"US Army Colonel Daniel Davis joins the show to discuss how Israel has lost it's war in Gaza and how Netanyahu can never succeed by trying to kill his way to success. The hostages are not free, the Israeli people are protesting against Netanyahu and the entire international community is outraged against Israel and the United States for this war. If you want to understand the truth about Israel and Palestine this video is for you."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 9/14/24
"Erdogan Ready To Attack Israel? Aysenur's Body
Arrives In Turkey, Autopsy Exposes IDF's 'Lie'?"
"Turkish officials on Friday held a brief ceremony at Istanbul International Airport where the body of a Turkish-American activist killed by alleged Israeli gunfire arrived ahead of her funeral and burial in a town on the Aegean coast. Meanwhile, details from an autopsy report revealed several facts about the incident."
Comments here:
o
"Health Ministry In Hamas-run Gaza
Says War Death Toll At 41,182"
By AFP - Agence France Presse
"The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 41,182 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, including 17,000 CHILDREN, now in its 12th month, and at least 10,000 unrecovered bodies buried under the bombed out rubble. The toll includes 64 deaths in the previous 48 hours, according to the ministry, which said 95,280 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7."
o
"Gaza Toll Could Exceed 186,000, Lancet Study Says"
The study finds factors like diseases will lead to many more
indirect deaths in the long run even if the war stops now."
o
And YOU, Americans, paid for it all, every bullet, every tank, every weapon these psychopathically degenerate monsters possess! That blood's on YOUR hands too...
Hang your heads in eternal shame and disgrace!
Stipendium peccati mors est, Israel, soon...
Dan, I Allegedly, "Don't Expect Deals This Year - Brace for a Shock!"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 9/14/24
"Don't Expect Deals This Year - Brace for a Shock!"
"Holiday Shopping WARNING: Brace for a Shock! This year is set to be a game-changer, and not in the way you'd hope. As I, Dan, dive into the latest insights, it's clear that this holiday season will be unlike any we've seen since 2018. With consumers out of money and credit cards maxed out, expect less variety and supply. The once-bustling Black Friday deals? They might just be a thing of the past!"
Comments here:
"I Can See It All Very Clearly..."
"There are a multitude of fuses affixed to dozens of powder-kegs and little kids with matches are on the loose. I don’t know which of the fuses will be lit and which powder-keg will blow, but someone is bound to do something stupid, and then all hell will break loose. It could happen at any time. One military miscue. One assassination. One violent act that stirs the world. And the dominoes will topple, setting off fireworks not seen on this planet since 1939 – 1945. I can see it all very clearly."
- Jim Quinn
"Scott Ritter: Catastrophic NATO Losses in Ukraine – A Thousand Soldiers Wiped Out!"
Full screen recommended.
WarZone Echo, 9/13/24
"Scott Ritter: Catastrophic NATO Losses in Ukraine –
A Thousand Soldiers Wiped Out!"
In this gripping analysis, Scott Ritter, a former military inspector, sheds light on the devastating consequences of Russia’s missile strike in Poltava. Over 1,000 NATO personnel have been reported dead, with survivors recounting horrific scenes of destruction and chaos. Ritter delves into the implications of this unprecedented attack, which has left NATO reeling and exposed the vulnerability of foreign forces operating in Ukraine. As casualties continue to rise, Ritter’s predictions about NATO’s overreach in Ukraine are coming true in the most tragic of ways."
Comments here:
Friday, September 13, 2024
"NATO 'Surrenders' After Putin's War Threat, U.S. And UK Block Ukraine From Hitting Russian Territory"
Full screen recommended.
Times of India, 9/13/24
"NATO 'Surrenders' After Putin's War Threat,
U.S. And UK Block Ukraine From Hitting Russian Territory"
Comments here:
"Alert! 'The Decision Has Been Made', NATO Will Go To War With Russia; 'Putin Will Be Assassinated'"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 9/13/24
"Alert! 'The Decision Has Been Made',
NATO Will Go To War With Russia; 'Putin Will Be Assassinated'"
Comments here:
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..."
Psalm 23:4
“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”
- Scott Russell Sanders
Judge Napolitano, "INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern - Weekly Wrap"
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 9/13/24
"INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern - Weekly Wrap"
Comments here:
Jeremiah Babe, "Holy Sh*t, Santa Monica California Is A Dangerous Wasteland"
Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 9/13/24
"Holy Sh*t, Santa Monica California
Is A Dangerous Wasteland"
Comments here:
"The Gates Of Vienna" (Excerpt)
Click image for larger size.
"The Gates Of Vienna" (Excerpt)
by Dan Denning
Laramie, Wyoming - Excerpt: "The painting above is Polish King Jan Sobieski outside the gates of Vienna on September 12th, 1683. Sobieski and his three thousand winged hussars broke the lines of the Ottoman Turks in a victory which European historians consider the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire (Vienna was as far as the Turks ever got into Europe). The battle began the day before, on September 11th, and there’s some speculation that Al Qaeda picked 9/11 for its attack on the World Trade Center because of this historical setback for the Ottomans (one it hoped to avenge and reverse by attacking iconic symbols of American power).
What the picture above doesn’t show you is how many people pushed and jostled me while I was trying to take it. Hardly anyone stopped to look because hardly anyone knows what it commemorates. I only knew it was there because my faculty advisor in college was Professor Francis Zapatka, a Jesuit-trained literature Professor with Polish roots who told the story more than once.
It’s hard to miss though. The painting is actually the largest painting on canvas in the entire Vatican Museum. I’d seen it once before, in college, when I spent a semester studying in Rome. I came back in the spring of 2018 for a vacation, where I had more time (and money) to enjoy everything Rome has to offer lovers of history, art, and architecture.
Even for the Eternal City, a lot has changed since the mid 1990s in Rome. Like all the beautiful places in the world, the Vatican Museum is crowded these days. Most people rush by the Sobieski painting on their way to the Raphael Rooms with no idea that an important turn in the historical tide of history is depicted right in front of them, larger than life. But I stopped to take a picture to remind myself that there are some periods in history - even particular days - where everything changes.
PS The Latin inscription at the top of the Sobieski painting is ‘Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.’ It’s from Psalm 115:1, ‘Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory.’ This was later adopted as the motto of the Knights Templar.
PPS If you like maps (because they can give you a different perspective on things) check out https://brilliantmaps.com. I found one this week that gave me a good laugh. And after reading this week’s research note, you may need a laugh. This is not an electoral map. It’s legal to do a particular thing in the blue states while in the red states, it’s not legal to do that particular thing. What is that particular thing? Owning a tank? Distilling your own moonshine? Marrying your cousin? The answer below…
(Legal status of raccoon ownership is in blue…by my math…there are 18 States where raccoon ownership is legal. Those 18 States have 206 total votes in the Electoral College. If California and Washington State were to legalize raccoon ownership…a coalition of 22 states with 272 electoral votes could win the Presidency under a legal raccoon ownership, single-issue platform)."
Full, most highly recommended financial article is here:
Musical Interlude: Alan Parsons Project, "Old and Wise"; Moody Blues, "The Day We Meet Again"
Full screen recommended.
Alan Parsons Project, "Old and Wise"
o
Full screen recommended.
Moody Blues, "The Day We Meet Again""A Look to the Heavens"
“What powers are being wielded in the Wizard Nebula? Gravitation strong enough to form stars, and stellar winds and radiations powerful enough to create and dissolve towers of gas. Located only 8,000 light years away, the Wizard nebula, pictured above, surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer.
Click image for larger size.
The active star forming region spans 100 about light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus) Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/
Chet Raymo, “Telling Stories”
“Telling Stories”
by Chet Raymo
by Chet Raymo
"When the pulse of the first day carried it to the rim of night, First Woman said to First Man, "The people need to know the laws. To help them we must write the laws for all to see"...And so she began, slowly, first one and then the next, placing her jewels across the dome of night, carefully designing her pattern so all could read it. But Coyote grew bored watching First Woman carefully arranging the stars in the sky: Impatiently he gathered two corners of First Woman's blanket, and before she could stop him he flung the remaining stars out into the night, spilling them in wild disarray, shattering First Woman's careful patterns."
This episode from the Navajo creation story of is from "How the Stars Fell Into the Sky", a children's book by Jerrie Oughton. It is a lovely story, full of ancient wisdom. For centuries, Navajo children heard the story at an elder's knee. The story was taken literally, or at least accepted with a willing suspension of disbelief. I heard a similar creation story in my youth - of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Serpent. I accepted the story with a willing suspension of disbelief.
All cultures, everywhere on Earth, have stories, passed down in scriptures, traditions or tribal myths, that answer the questions: Where did the world come from? What is our place in it? What is the source of order and disorder? What will be the fate of the world? Of ourselves? No people can live without a community story. The problem comes when the community story becomes so disconnected from empirical experience that it no longer commands a suspension of disbelief. For many of us in the West, that is the case with the creation stories that have undergirded Western civilization.
Today, a New Story exists for those who choose to accept it. It is the product of thousands of years of human curiosity, observation, experimentation, and creativity. It is an evolving story, not yet finished. Perhaps it will never be finished. It is a story that begins with an explosion from a seed of infinite energy. The seed expands and cools. Particles form, then atoms of hydrogen and helium. Stars and galaxies coalesce from swirling gas. Stars burn and explode, forging heavy elements - carbon, nitrogen, oxygen - and hurling them into space. New stars are born, with planets made of heavy elements.
On one planet near a typical star in a typical galaxy life appears in the form of microscopic self-replicating, carbon-based ensembles of atoms. Life evolves, over billions of years, resulting in ever more complex organisms. Continents move. Seas rise and fall. The atmosphere changes. Millions of species of life appear and become extinct. Others adapt, survive, and spill out progeny. At last, consciousness appears. One of the millions of species on the planet looks into the night sky and wonders what it means. Feels the spark of love, tenderness, responsibility. Makes up stories - of First Woman and Coyote, of Adam, Eve and the Serpent - eventually making up the New Story. The New Story places us squarely in a cosmic unfolding of space and time, and teaches our biological affinity to all humanity. We are inextricably related to all of life, to the planet itself, and even to the lives of stars.
This episode from the Navajo creation story of is from "How the Stars Fell Into the Sky", a children's book by Jerrie Oughton. It is a lovely story, full of ancient wisdom. For centuries, Navajo children heard the story at an elder's knee. The story was taken literally, or at least accepted with a willing suspension of disbelief. I heard a similar creation story in my youth - of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Serpent. I accepted the story with a willing suspension of disbelief.
All cultures, everywhere on Earth, have stories, passed down in scriptures, traditions or tribal myths, that answer the questions: Where did the world come from? What is our place in it? What is the source of order and disorder? What will be the fate of the world? Of ourselves? No people can live without a community story. The problem comes when the community story becomes so disconnected from empirical experience that it no longer commands a suspension of disbelief. For many of us in the West, that is the case with the creation stories that have undergirded Western civilization.
Today, a New Story exists for those who choose to accept it. It is the product of thousands of years of human curiosity, observation, experimentation, and creativity. It is an evolving story, not yet finished. Perhaps it will never be finished. It is a story that begins with an explosion from a seed of infinite energy. The seed expands and cools. Particles form, then atoms of hydrogen and helium. Stars and galaxies coalesce from swirling gas. Stars burn and explode, forging heavy elements - carbon, nitrogen, oxygen - and hurling them into space. New stars are born, with planets made of heavy elements.
On one planet near a typical star in a typical galaxy life appears in the form of microscopic self-replicating, carbon-based ensembles of atoms. Life evolves, over billions of years, resulting in ever more complex organisms. Continents move. Seas rise and fall. The atmosphere changes. Millions of species of life appear and become extinct. Others adapt, survive, and spill out progeny. At last, consciousness appears. One of the millions of species on the planet looks into the night sky and wonders what it means. Feels the spark of love, tenderness, responsibility. Makes up stories - of First Woman and Coyote, of Adam, Eve and the Serpent - eventually making up the New Story. The New Story places us squarely in a cosmic unfolding of space and time, and teaches our biological affinity to all humanity. We are inextricably related to all of life, to the planet itself, and even to the lives of stars.
It has been the task of many of us gathered here on this cyber porch to help wed the New Story to the spiritual quest, to create what Thomas Berry calls an "integral story." In his introduction to Kathleen Deignan's collection of Thomas Merton's nature writing, Berry writes: "Today, in the opening years of the twenty-first century, we find ourselves in a critical moment when the religious traditions need to awaken again to the natural world as the primary manifestation of the divine to human intelligence. The very nature and purpose of the human is to experience this intimate presence that comes to us through natural phenomena. Such is the purpose of having eyes and ears and feeling sensitivity, and all our other senses. We have no inner spiritual development without outer experience. Immediately, when we see or experience any natural phenomenon, when we see a flower, a butterfly, a tree, when we feel the evening breeze flow over us or wade in a stream of clear water, our natural response is immediate, intuitive, transforming, ecstatic. Everywhere we find ourselves invaded by the world of the sacred."
Berry reminds us that we will neither love nor save what we do not experience as sacred. The older creation stories locate the source of the sacred outside of the creation. The New Story, the scientific story of creation, provides unique opportunities to experience the creation itself as holy and good.
We should treasure the ancient stories for the wisdom and values they teach us. We can praise the creation in whatever poetic languages and rituals our traditional cultures have taught us. But only the New Story has the global authority to help us navigate the future. Of all the stories, it is certainly the truest. It is the only story whose feet have been held to the fire of exacting empirical experience.”
- http://www.sciencemusings.com/
"Don't Wonder..."
"Don't wonder why people go crazy. Wonder why they don't.
In the face of what we can lose in a day, in an instant,
wonder what the hell it is that makes us hold it together."
In the face of what we can lose in a day, in an instant,
wonder what the hell it is that makes us hold it together."
- "Grey's Anatomy"
"Compassion and Enabling"
"Compassion and Enabling"
by admin
"Sometimes there is a very blurry line between feeling and expressing compassion, and enabling someone. Showing compassion is giving someone space and understanding so they can work through their predicament whilst remaining at a healthy emotional distance. This healthy emotional distance can be hard to judge in close knit relationships such as marriage and families. For should one fall over the edge of compassion and into the field of pity, neither party will benefit. Pity serves no one in relation to creating the desired changes within relationships of any kind.
Somewhere in between the blurry lines of compassion and pity lies the process labeled as enabling. Enabling is an overdose of compassion. When compassion distorts into pity, the individual is assisted in continuing with behavioral traits that clearly do not serve either party with regards to emotional, mental and psychical health.
People become enabled to continue their damaging behavioral traits via beloved others wearing the mask of compassion. The beloved other becomes drawn into the vacuum of the sufferer’s reality. Unknowingly, they begin to slip into pity, whilst believing that they are still expressing compassion. Once a person becomes drawn into the illusion of the other person’s reality they begin to make excuses for themselves as a means of justifying the abuse they are committing. They are enabling the sufferer, therefore abusing the sufferer, whilst they wear the mask of compassion. For anyone who is assisting the abuser, via allowing the abuser to continue on their discourse without obstruction, using (false) compassion (pity) as a reason, is ultimately abusing and damaging the abuser even more. And they are also damaging themselves.
Now this sounds all good and fine in theory from the clear perspective of the unattached observer, but what of the person in the eye of the tornado. What of the mother whose daughter is severely addicted to drugs? And what of the husband who must cope with the severe depression of his wife?
Compassion and pity become extremely difficult to distinguish in such circumstances. One’s own belief systems become strained and one starts to question the integrity of their own reality. Little by little people begin to compromise themselves in order to compensate for the others distorted behavioral traits. This is pity and pity is abuse. These self compromises come from one’s own false belief that they alone are responsible for ensuring that the abuser is healed. They take the false responsibility on board based on ethics and morals they have adopted from society or other people, meanwhile their intuition, (their inner truth) screams at them telling them that this does not feel right.
When one indulges another’s reality long enough via pity, one cannot help become exposed to deteriorating emotional and psychological states. This is the clearest sign that you have been enabling someone. If you are showing someone genuine compassion then your psychological and emotion health will not be affected.
When you find yourself constantly dwelling over another’s situation as well as altering your psychological and emotional states to compensate for another’s predicament, then you are enabling someone. This for most people is too harsh a reality to admit, especially when the person is very close to you. Usually one’s entire belief system is based on giving love and helping another, yet when love and compassion distort into pity and enabling, we are simply forgetting to love ourselves first, and in doing so, we hurt the other instead.
On the surface this may sound selfish, yet the underlying truth is that we cannot help another, unless we love ourselves correctly first. Another harsh reality is that you are responsible for no one but yourself. Compassion allows someone the opportunity to realize this even in the mist of immense suffering. Pity enables another to disperse responsibility away from themselves and onto another, which helps and heals no one.
There are no definitive guidelines to judge whether you are expressing compassion or enabling someone. But perhaps the question you could ask yourself is; if I continue to live with my present emotional and mental states, will this affect my overall health in the future? If you can honestly answer ‘no’, then you are expressing compassion. If you can’t honestly say ‘no’, then perhaps you need to step back a touch and love yourself more, and then you will have a clearer perspective in regards to the other, and what the other really requires."
o
"Compassion is not at all weak. It is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world. Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal. To develop this mind state of compassion... is to learn to live, as the Buddha put it, with sympathy for all living beings, without exception."
- Sharon Salzberg
The Poet: A. J. Constance, "All of Us Here On This Spinning Blue World"
"All of Us Here On This Spinning Blue World"
"Let's not plan too much
or expect
or promise
or say how much
or how little
or outline how things must be
or how they must not be.
All of us here on this beautiful
spinning blue world,
let's just love each other
from one millisecond to the next
as much as we can."
- A. J. Constance
Full screen recommended.
Moody Blues, "Blue World"
Dan, I Allegedly, "We're Just Giving Them Away!"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, PM 9/13/24
"We're Just Giving Them Away!"
"The EV market is facing a cliff-drop in sales, and dealerships are getting creative with insane deals like leasing a Nissan Leaf for just $20 a month! Unbelievable, right? We'll explore the impact of the inflation reduction act, the struggles with EV infrastructure, and the crazy cost of car payments today."
Comments here:
"Wars And Rumors Of War: The Middle East"
Danny Haiphong, 9/13/24
"Prof. Mohammad Marandi: Iran And Hezbollah's
Revenge Crushes Israel, IDF On The Brink"
"Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran and advisor to Iran's nuclear negotiations team (https://x.com/s_m_marandi) joins to discuss Iran and Hezbollah's ongoing retaliation to Israel and how its leading to the destruction of the genoc*dal entity. This stream will provide a full update on West Asia amid the intensification of a long war of revenge for 11+ months of Israel's horrors."
Comments here:
o
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 9/12/24
"Prof. John Mearsheimer: Bibi’s Catastrophic Blunders"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Times Of India, 9/13/24
"Hamas Boss Sinwar's Chilling Warning To Israel
In Rare Address To Muslim Leaders"
"Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar roars during a rare address to Muslim leaders. The new political chief of Hamas vows to wipe off Israelis and establishing a sovereign independent state with Al-Quds as its capital. Recalling Ismail Haniyeh, Sinwar said his martyrdom will only increase our resilience and strength in confronting the Nazi Zionist occupation until it is expelled."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
The Free Press Journal, 9/13/24
"Houthis Arrive in Syria:
New Threat to Israel Sparks Regional Crisis"
"Israeli media reports that 50 Yemen Houthi militants have arrived in southern Syria. They entered Syria from Iraq through strategic Abu Kamal border crossing. Abu Kamal crossing is controlled by the Iran-led Resistance Axis. The Houthis are reportedly opening a new front against Israel. This development introduces new dimension to ongoing regional conflicts."
Comments here:
Stipendium peccati mors est, Israel.
Inshallah! So be it...
Jim Kunstler, "What You Don't Know Might Surprise You"
"What You Don't Know Might Surprise You"
by Jim Kunstler
“One debate doesn’t change the issues Americans are facing every day.”
- James Rickards
"By now, you’ve probably heard enough debate about The Debate, so I’ll spotlight only a few points everybody else left out. You might know this, but Hollywood plays a larger role in the Kamala campaign than just stuffing the endorsements of celebs such as George Clooney, Taylor Swift, and John Legend into the corporate media tank. In fact, much bigger playas, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, are producing and directing things backstage at Kamala Central, so what gets in the Kamala news plays as a Spielberg movie like "The Color Purple." Just so you know...
Ms. Harris had the advantage Tuesday night of being able to speak in declarative sentences, while her opponent, Mr. Trump, is given, shall we say, to a more choppy, telegraphic speech delivery. It lent Ms. Harris the appearance of being intelligent. The catch was, everything she said was disingenuous or an outright lie.
One whopper - more significant than you might realize - was her stating that she was in the US Capitol building when the J-6 riot happened. You’d think she’d want to be on-hand there, seeing as a joint session of Congress was about to certify her as the first female veep in US history - a chance to be joyful and shine! But, in fact, at 11:15a.m. on 1/6/21 - hours before protesters breached the Capitol — Kamala Harris was spirited away a few blocks to 430 South Capitol Street, the headquarters building of the Democratic National Committee, where a pipe bomb (or facsimile of one) had been planted hours before by some DC law enforcement person (Capitol police? FBI? DC Metro Police? A paid “contractor” to the preceding outfits?). The exact identity of the culprit has never been released by the FBI, though they have all the perp’s cell phone data and closed circuit TV footage.
The plan, you see, was to disrupt the election certification process underway at mid-day in the House chamber by creating a furor over the discovery of the pipe bomb planted to assassinate veep-elect Kamala Harris - a joint blob/Democratic Party operation. The pipe bomb ruse, it turned out, was never needed because the FBI-instigated riot at the Capitol created a big disruption just in time to send the politicians scurrying for safety and cancel scrutiny of various state’s electors’ reports.
After that scare, the Senators and Congressmen did, in fact, drop the certification challenge and returned to hurriedly finish the certification process later that night of 1/6/21. The pipe bomb story barely made the news, and the scant news about it was expeditiously memory-holed thereafter. After nearly four years, as averred to above, the FBI has come up with. . . nothing. It is important that you understand just how nefarious your federal agencies are, and how corrupt the news is.
Now, as for the Harris-Trump debate, otherwise, and given the rigged features of the exercise, it’s obvious that Mr. Trump muffed several major scoring opportunities. When Ms. Harris dredged up the notorious hoax about “very fine people on both sides” in Charlottesville, Mr. Trump could have addressed the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis and asked them why they did not “fact-check” the utterance, which had been thoroughly debunked by the Left-wing site Snopes.com, advertising itself as “the definitive Internet reference source for researching urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.” Nor did they fact check the likewise debunked “suckers and losers” hoax about US soldiers supposedly uttered by Mr. Trump at the Normandy D-Day cemetery. Actually, Muir and Davis “fact-checked” Mr. Trump over thirty times and Ms. Harris hardly at all.
In any case, Mr. Trump blew many other chances to pin Ms. Harris with her own lies and hypocrisies - like, failing to state plainly that in nearly four years she never actually visited the Mexican border (whatever her designated title was: “Border Czar,” “Root Causes Detective”)... failing to clarify that the president has been removed from the abortion debate altogether and has no role in telling women what to do with their own bodies under current law...that Ms. Harris’s voteless selection as nominee was a paradigmatic affront to “our democracy” that even her own fellow party members ought to recognize...that the War in Ukraine was actually started in early 2014 by Barack Obama, Victoria Nuland, and the CIA, not by Mr. Putin...and omitting to state that all - every last one - of the 2020 election lawsuits across the nation were dismissed on procedural grounds and not on the merits of their arguments, which were never heard in court. That’s just a short list. It is also rumored that Ms. Harris got the debate questions beforehand, since her husband, Hollywood lawyer Doug Emhoff, is a close friend of Dana Walden, Co-chair of the Disney Corporation board of directors (Disney owns ABC-News.)
Anyway, that much-awaited event is over now and we are into the homestretch of this election. Kamala Harris has still shown no disposition to meet the press, to answer any questions impromptu and unscripted. The voting public seems to be losing patience with that. Her poll numbers are sinking, despite her admirable ability to speak in declarative sentences and lead joyful laugh-fests.
What remains for our sore-beset country beyond that vortex of nefarious blobbery and balloting lawfare is the interesting development that our government is now pressing to commence World War Three before the election can happen. “Joe Biden,” of course, is lately as absent from the public consciousness as Rutherford B. Hayes, but whoever acts in the president’s name these days just gave permission for Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with long-range missiles. So far, the UK and the Netherlands have officially jumped in on that decision.
Note that the Ukrainians have no ability to actually do the targeting of said missile themselves, which involves satellite technology, meaning whatever missiles happen to get fired into Russia will be done by NATO personnel. Mr. Putin has made it clear that such action will have consequences. We might infer that means Russia will strike back at some NATO targets. I must imagine his primary target will be NATO headquarters in Brussels. Other targets would probably follow, perhaps even in the USA. Prepare to duck-and-cover, or possibly to put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye."
"As Americans..."
''As Americans, we must ask ourselves: Are we really so different? Must we stereotype those who disagree with us? Do we truly believe that ALL red-state residents are ignorant racist fascist knuckle-dragging NASCAR-obsessed cousin-marrying roadkill-eating tobacco juice-dribbling gun-fondling religious fanatic rednecks; or that ALL blue-state residents are godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving left-wing communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts?''
- Dave Barry
"Two Wolves and a Lamb"
"Two Wolves and a Lamb"
by Brian Maher
"Professional obligations required us to view Tuesday night’s presidential debate. The experience jackhammered home our central contention: Politics is disguised violence. There you had the two combatants, Harris and Trump, Trump and Harris. Perhaps one half of the nation is for the one. The second half is for the other. One will win and the other will lose. Thus roughly one-half of the population must suffer for the following four years - if not more.
As we have argued before: Assume your election. 50.1% of voters yank a lever for X. 49.9% pull one for Y. Thus X claims the laurel. He proceeds instantly against the desires, wishes and interests of the vanquished 49.9%. Each day they live this hapless bunch must cringe, wither and chafe beneath X’s atrocities… helpless as worms on fishermen’s hooks.
A Binary Choice: Let us consider the case at bar. If Ms. Harris gets in, half the nation must endure an additional four years of unfettered immigration, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, sexual deviancy boosting, “green” energy drumming, election disintegrity, et cetera.
We would cite additional debt heaped on by extravagant Democratic spending. Yet the nation’s debt galloped by bounds under Mr. Trump’s reign. Prior even to the pandemic, the fellow liked to spend money. We do not believe the shade of Cal Coolidge will seize control of Don Trump next time.
And if Mr. Trump gets in? The other half of the nation - the half for Ms. Harris - must endure four years of dictatorship, threats to democracy, retribution, isolationism, trade war, racism, disinformation, Russophilia and every other species of calamity. That is, victory by either will leave half the nation very far from gruntled.
The Old Politics Are Gone: We recall the days when politics centered within a fairly limited range. Should the highest marginal tax rate settle at 36% - or 39%? Should this regulation go upon the statute books or come off the statute books? Should we spend x on “defense,” x+1 or x-1?
Yet in these our days, political combats assume a more… fundamental coloring. Red-state America and blue-state America are at each other’s throats. And neither intends to let go the chokehold. At essence - as we have argued before - it is because politics disunites, divides, disrupts, discombobulates. It is a twin of war itself. For politics disunites, divides, disrupts and discombobulates as war itself. Democratic politics offer no exception. It in fact constitutes the very proof of the rule.
The Beauty of Federalism: And as we have likewise argued before: The higher the office… the greater the menace. We argued, for example, that the mayor of Why, Arizona, may impose his torments upon his outvoted victims - as may the mayor of Whynot, North Carolina. Yet these victims are free to jump the fence. The bordering hamlet might run to saner and more tolerable settings as the outvoted sees them. And so the oppressed can flee, refugees from oppression.
The same asylum-seeking applies to individual states. Has a California or an Oregon or an Illinois gone lunatic? For many they have. But a Texas or a Tennessee or a Utah holds out its beacon. These local competitions form a severe brake on the natural rascalities of politics, especially in the American system. These local competitions, in fact, form the crowning glory of the American device of government.
But to escape a president? A fellow must jump the Rio Grande to the south, the 49th parallel to the north or swim oceans east or west to get away. If he chooses to linger on, he must rot down four years until he takes another go at the vote booth. And if the scalawag wins reelection? Our poor wretch must endure another four years under occupation - for a total of eight. We have previously contrasted the political system with the market system. Today we do it again…
Voting in the Marketplace: We have argued that free markets - authentically free markets - lack entirely the violent combats central to politics. And that they are scenes of peace, tolerance… and justice. Consider, for example, a Coca-Cola. This beverage holds itself out before the American people. It is Candidate X in a theoretical market election. “Vote for me,” yells this candidate. I’m the “real thing.” Behind the other podium stands a Pepsi-Cola - Candidate Y. “No. Vote for me,” counters this fellow. Drink me “for the love of it.”
The fickle and capricious voter proceeds to choose. Out comes his wallet, containing his vote for one or the other. Yet does his individual vote injure, usurp or ruffle the opposing voter? Does he club the other voter over the head to enforce his wishes… as he does in politics? He does not.
Satisfied Voters: A voter for either Coca-Cola or Pepsi-Cola is a satisfied voter. Crucially, neither denies the other his soft drink of choice. Multiply this one example countless times and in countless directions. What emerges is a picture of majestic electoral peace and serenity. McDonald’s vs. Burger King, Honda vs. Ford, Nike vs. Adidas, Walmart vs. Target… it is all one.
Chain a red-state American to a blue-state American. Compel them to vote between any product on the free and open market. The blue-state voter may razz the red-stater’s ghastly and barbarian tastes. The red-state voter may in turn razz the blue-stater’s effete and supercilious tastes. But neither attempts to dragoon or bayonet the other. Each concedes the other’s freedom to vote his own way, as he might, according to his liver and lights. Thus peace prevails between them.
Yet when the political voter steps into the vote booth on Election Day - conversely - he conducts a sort of warfare. He wants to boss the opposing voter in a way the opposing voter does not wish to be bossed. He in essence places a gun against the fellow’s ribs. And when he pulls the lever? He pulls the trigger.
Two Wolves and a Lamb: We must therefore conclude the free market’s voting system is vastly superior to political voting. A vote in the marketplace is a “win, win” deal, as our co-founder Bill Bonner styles it. Both purchaser and producer benefit from the transaction. What is politics then but a colossal “win, lose” deal? Do we propose an alternative to the political arrangement? No - not earnestly. We merely diagnose a disorder. We do not prescribe a fix.
You say the system under which we wallow is the best on offer in this fallen world of sin. There is very little alternative. We must simply make the best of it. You may very well be correct. You are very likely correct. Yet as old Ben Franklin never said: “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.” What if you are the lamb?"
Gregory Mannarino, "Situation Critical: You Think It's Bad Now? Well, You Haven't Seen Anything Yet!"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/13/24
"Situation Critical: You Think It's Bad Now?
Well, You Haven't Seen Anything Yet!"
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o
Thursday, September 12, 2024
"Alert! Putin Warns NATO Is About To Declare War; US Preps Farmland For Nuclear Event"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 9/12/24
"Alert! Putin Warns NATO Is About To Declare War;
US Preps Farmland For Nuclear Event"
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God help us...
"NATO, You Are Declaring War On Russia! We Will Respond!" Putin Warns West"
Full screen recommended.
Redacted, 9/12/24
"NATO, You Are Declaring War On Russia!
We Will Respond!" Putin Warns West"
"Over the past 24 hours we've seen that the deep state puppets running the White House have finalized plans to expand the war against Russia. According to Politico the US and UK are getting ready for a massive escalation in the war against Russia."
Comments here:
"Putin Threatens War As Western Allies
Near Deal On Missile Strikes In Russia"
o
Full screen recommended.
Times Of India, 9/12/24
"Russia Openly Threatens To Wipe Out UK
With Hypersonic Missiles; Putin Aide's Chilling Threat"
"Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now Deputy Chair of the Security Council, has dismissed UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy's promise of 100 years of support for Ukraine as a lie. Medvedev mocked Lammy's remarks and threatened the UK, claiming the island of Britain might sink in the coming years."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 9/11/24
"EMERGENCY ALERT! Russia's Global Nuclear
Exercise As NATO Prepares To Strike Moscow Before Election!"
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