Jeremiah Babe, 6/14/25
"WW3 Has Begun; America Is Breaking
Apart As The Financial System Rots"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
StatCounter
Saturday, June 14, 2025
"Iranian Missiles Obliterate Israeli Nuclear Facility - Massive Explosions Rock Tel Aviv!'
Full screen recommended.
OpenmindedThinker Show, 6/15/25
"Iranian Missiles Obliterate Israeli Nuclear Facility -
Massive Explosions Rock Tel Aviv!'
Comments here:
ol
Danny Haiphong, 6/14/25
"Mohammad Marandi:
Iran’s Response Just Devastated Israel, US in Trouble"
"Prof. Mohammad Marandi joins the show to react to Iran's intense retaliation to Israel, including the extent of the strikes and just how it will impact Israel, the US, and the world at large. Prof. Marandi asserts that while Israel struck first, Iran's retaliation has devastating consequences that are not yet understood by Israel or its US backers."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Mahmood OD, 6/14/25
"Haifa Oil And Chemical Refineries Explode;
2,000 Missiles; F-135 Shot Down"
Comments here:
Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind VII, "Reflection"
Full screen recommended for reflection, contemplation.
Liquid Mind VII, "Reflection"
"A Look to the Heavens"
"To some, it looks like a giant chicken running across the sky. To others, it looks like a gaseous nebula where star formation takes place. Cataloged as IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula spans about 100 light years and lies about 6,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Centaur (Centaurus).
The featured image, shown in scientifically assigned colors, was captured recently in a 12-hour exposure. The star cluster Collinder 249 is visible embedded in the nebula's glowing gas. Although difficult to discern here, several dark molecular clouds with distinct shapes can be found inside the nebula."
"On Your Own Terms..."
“If the sun is shining, stand in it – yes, yes, yes. Happy times are great, but happy times pass – they have to – because time passes. The pursuit of happiness is more elusive; it is life-long, and it is not goal-centered. What you are pursuing is meaning – a meaningful life… There are times when it will go so wrong that you will be barely alive, and times when you realize that being barely alive, on your own terms, is better than living a bloated half-life on someone else’s terms.”
- Jeanette Winterson
o
Full screen recommended.
"The Psychology of Conformity"
by Academy of Ideas
"This video, building on the ideas of Ernest Becker, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Emerson, examines why we are so susceptible to conformity and looks at why nonconformity, or the cultivation of one’s uniqueness, is such an important ingredient in a life well-lived."
The Poet: J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Road”
“The Road”
“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.”
- J.R.R. Tolkien
"Waiting..."
“Life passes like a flash of lightning, whose blaze barely lasts long enough to see. While the earth and sky stand still forever, how swiftly changing time flies across man’s face. O you who sit over your full cup and do not drink, tell me – for whom are you still waiting?”
- Hermann Hesse
"I Hope I End Up..."
“I don’t want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride. All you do is get to breathe and copulate and finally die. I don’t want to go with the smooth skin and the calm brow. I hope I end up a blithering idiot cursing the sun - hallucinating, screaming, giving obscene and inane lectures on street corners and public parks. People will walk by and say, “Look at that drooling idiot. What a basket case.” I will turn and say to them, “It is you who are the basket case! For every moment you hated your job, cursed your wife and sold yourself to a dream that you didn’t even conceive. For the times your soul screamed yes and you said no. For all of that. For your self-torture, I see the glowing eyes of the sun! The air talks to me! I am at all times!” And maybe, the passersby will drop a coin into my cup.”
- Henry Rollins
"Alert! U.S. Northcom On High Alert; Nuclear Action Messages; Cyberattack; Iran War About To Explode"
Prepper News, 6/14/25
"Alert! U.S. Northcom On High Alert; Nuclear Action Messages;
Cyberattack; Iran War About To Explode"
Comments here:
"When I Am Old"
"When I Am Old"
Author Unknown
"When I am old… I will wear soft gray sweatshirts… and a bandana over my silver hair… and I will spend my social security checks on my dogs. I will sit in my house on my well-worn chair and listen to my dogs breathing. I will sneak out in the middle of a warm summer night and take my dogs for a run, if my old bones will allow… When people come to call, I will smile and nod as I show them my dogs… and talk of them and about them…the ones so beloved of the past and the ones so beloved of today…
I will still work hard cleaning after them, mopping and feeding them and whispering their names in a soft loving way. I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat, like a jewel, and I will be an embarrassment to all… especially my family… who have not yet found the peace in being free to have dogs as your best friends… These friends who always wait, at any hour, for your footfall… and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep, to greet you as if you are a God, with warm eyes full of adoring love and hope that you will always stay,
I’ll hug their big strong necks… I’ll kiss their dear sweet heads… and whisper in their very special company… I look in the mirror… and see I am getting old… this is the kind of person I am… and have always been. Loving dogs is easy, they are part of me. Please accept me for who I am. My dogs appreciate my presence in their lives… they love my presence in their lives… When I am old this will be important to me… you will understand when you are old, if you have dogs to love too."
"Old?" One of us is 14 1/2, the other's 73...
Not so sure about "wise" though, hahaha
Full screen recommended.
Alan Parsons Project, "Old And Wise"
“Standing Up When It’s Too Late”
“Standing Up When It’s Too Late”
By JR Nyquist
“This article is a comparison between America and another great empire faced with rot in high office and a decline of the state – Rome. The writer, JR Nyquist, artfully points out it’s not the big events that sink an empire but many seemingly little ones. You could call what is happening to the U.S. “death by a thousand cuts.” Except in this story, people are not really aware how deep the cuts are and exactly who is doing the cutting. I loved this piece, and I hope you do as well.” – Greg Hunter
○
“There is a letter by Marcus Tullius Cicero, dated 18 December 50 B.C. This letter was written to his friend Atticus on the eve of the Roman Civil War. He wrote as follows: “The political situation alarms me deeply, and so far I have found scarcely anybody who is not for giving Caesar what he demands rather than fighting it out.” To explain the situation in brief, G. Julius Caesar had demanded the right to circumvent the Roman constitution, to break laws with impunity, to extend his command over a large army by using that army to threaten the Senate of Rome. “And why should we start standing up to him now?” asked Cicero. The next day he wrote to Atticus: “We should have stood up to him [Caesar] when he was weak, and that would have been easy. Now we have to deal with eleven legions…” Though he hated the idea of civil war, the only course, said Cicero, was to follow “the honest men or whoever may be called such, even if they plunge.”
And who were these “honest men”? “I don’t know of any,” wrote Cicero in the same letter. “There are honest individuals, but there are no honest groups.” Then he asked rhetorically if the Senate was honest, or the tax farmers, or the capitalists. None were frightened of living under an autocracy, he lamented. The capitalists, especially, “never have objected to that, so long as they were left in peace.” But civil war occurred nonetheless, because people are not free to be dishonest forever. They must admit to certain responsibilities, and oppose the advance of evil. The previous inclination to look away, to do nothing, to shrug off responsibility, proves in the end to be no more than a delaying tactic. They attempted to put off calamity, Cicero suggested, and made it all the more calamitous. That is all.
Why did the Roman Senate suddenly stand up to Caesar? What triggered their resistance? As with all free people, they began with policies of procrastination and appeasement. They hoped that the problem (i.e., Caesar) would go away. In the end, however, they discovered their mistake. Everyone still hoped for peace, though none believed it was possible. Everyone wanted to avoid war, but nobody saw a way out. Pompey stood before the Senate and gave voice to what everyone thought. “If we give Caesar the consulship, it will mean the subversion of the constitution.” In other words, it would mean the end of Rome, the end of the republic, the destruction of their country.
In a fitting preface to John Dickinson’s “Death of a Republic,” George L. Haskins wrote, “that the history of Rome is the history of the world, that, as all roads lead to Rome, so all history ends or begins with Rome.” Why do free people fall into complacency? Why are threats ignored until the eleventh hour?
“Surely,” wrote Cicero at the end of Caesar’s dictatorship, “our present sufferings are all too well deserved. For had we not allowed outrages to go unpunished on all sides, it would never have been possible for a single individual to seize tyrannical power.” Caesar’s cause was not right, but evil, Cicero explained. “Mere confiscations of the property of individual citizens were far from enough to satisfy him. Whole provinces and countries succumbed to his onslaught, in one comprehensive universal catastrophe…” As for the city of Rome, Cicero lamented, “nothing is left - only the lifeless walls of houses. And even they look afraid that some further terrifying attack may be imminent. The real Rome is gone forever.”
Republics are slow to defend themselves against enemies that advance, like Caesar, under camouflage. But make no mistake, republics always defend. Groups and categories of men may not be honest or brave, but when they are finally confronted with the truth – as individuals – they see no other course. They stand up and fight. We should not be surprised, therefore, that Caesar was struck down in the Senate and killed by thrusting daggers.
It is all too true, of course. “We should have stood up to him when he was weak,” Cicero lamented. The problem with republican government is its tardiness; or rather, tardiness in the face of danger. As Machiavelli wrote, “The institutions normally used by republics are slow in functioning. No assembly or magistrate can do everything alone. In many cases, they have to consult with one another, and to reconcile their diverse views takes time. Where there is a question of remedying a situation that will not brook delay, such a procedure is dangerous.”
Machiavelli concluded, therefore, “that republics in imminent danger, having no recourse to dictatorship, will always be ruined when some grave misfortune befalls them.” This is the weakness of republican government. Here is the ground on which it dies. An obvious threat, like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor is not the greatest danger. It is the subtle, camouflaged threat, that creeps up from behind. It is this camouflage that gives reluctant men a way out. “We need not fight. We need not make a fuss. There is nothing to fear.”
When this is the prevailing view, people who understand a given threat may ask: “What is to be done?” As long as we are isolated individuals, there is nothing to do. The individual may be honest with himself, but groups are not honest. What prevails overall is an optimistic dismissal. “The threat isn’t real.” This is how Hitler got so far. This is how Communism took over so many countries, and continues today under camouflage. There is nothing the individual can do that will sway the crowd. And as we are a republic, our political system operates according to the psychology of a crowd. The majority are caught up in the fads and media trends of the moment. Cynical and empty publicity characterizes much of our public discourse. But one day the country will awaken. Then, and only then, Americans will stop going along as if nothing serious hangs over them. Will it be too late? Perhaps it will be too late to save the republic. But it will not be too late to save the country.”
"Live All You Can..."
"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much
matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life.
If you haven't had that, what have you had?"
- Henry James
"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.
You want to live but do you know how to live?
You are scared of dying but tell me,
is the kind of life you lead really any different to being dead?"
- Seneca
"Lady In Red Coffee Hour"
"Lady In Red Coffee Hour"
Now and then, very rarely, you stumble upon something simply extraordinary,
something that's just so astonishingly beautiful and well done it's unbelievable.
This is one of those times...
Savor the magic...scroll through the many musical images with sound on.
No sign in required.
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"Russia Unfiltered: Wild Nightlife on Moscow’s Streets"
Meanwhile, in a sane, civilized society...
Full screen recommended.
Window To Moscow, 6/14/25
"Russia Unfiltered: Wild Nightlife on Moscow’s Streets"
A walk along the streets after midnight.
No clubs, no staging - just real street life.
Comments here:
o
Nightlife somewhere else...
Full screen recommended.
Cash Jordan, 6/14/25
"Protesters Torch Police Cars As NYC Collapses"
"Nationwide immigration raids and deportations have activists so riled up, they are taking their anger out on law enforcement officers in sanctuary cities who arent even allowed to assist ICE. Protesters say this is all President Trump's fault, but how can that be true when they're going after their own police officers just for wearing a badge?"
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "Layoffs, Inflation, and Warnings You Can't Ignore!"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 6/14/25
"Layoffs, Inflation, and Warnings You Can't Ignore!"
"No job is safe in 2025, and today, I’m breaking down the massive layoff crisis hitting every industry. From MTZ’s shocking closure to global layoffs in banking, airlines, and gaming, the numbers are staggering. Whether you’re a professional, contractor, or laborer, this crisis affects everyone. It’s time to plan for the unexpected, protect your finances, and stay informed. I’m sharing tips on navigating these turbulent times, from spotting government auction deals to understanding shifts in housing and auto markets.
Inflation, corporate downsizing, and skyrocketing costs are reshaping our world. We’ll also touch on surprising stories, like shrimp recalls, controversial landlord policies, and even the crazy things people do when evicted. Plus, why In-N-Out stands out as the best fast food employer and how Las Vegas heat is wreaking havoc on tires."
Comments here:
"Every Normal Man..."
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands,
hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
- H. L. Mencken
○
“Platitudes are safe, because they're easy to wink at, but truth is something else again.”
“A man who has blown all his options can't afford the luxury of changing his ways. He has to capitalize on whatever he has left, and he can't afford to admit - no matter how often he's reminded of it - that every day of his life takes him farther and farther down a blind alley. Very few toads in this world are Prince Charmings in disguise. Most are simply toads... and they are going to stay that way. Toads don't make laws or change any basic structures, but one or two rooty insights can work powerful changes in the way they get through life. A toad who believes he got a raw deal before he even knew who was dealing will usually be sympathetic to the mean, vindictive ignorance that colors the Hell's Angels' view of humanity. There is not much mental distance between a feeling of having been screwed and the ethic of total retaliation, or at least the random revenge that comes with outraging the public decency.”
“A man has to BE something; he has to matter.”
- Hunter S. Thompson
"Shocking Genetic Science Reveals Ashkenazi Jews Suffer High Rates of Mental Illness Due To Inbreeding"
"Shocking Genetic Science Reveals Ashkenazi Jews
Suffer High Rates of Mental Illness Due To Inbreeding"
by Mike Adams
"We are facing a dire situation for humanity. Today, I reveal some of the elements that have led us to that, including shocking scientific evidence that studied the inbreeding common among Ashkenazi Jews (the dominant population worldwide) and found that centuries of inbreeding has produced widespread mental illness and schizophrenia. This is relevant because Netanyahu thinks God talks to him and tells him to mass murder people in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. He thinks he's hearing voices from God. It's actually a genetic mental illness caused by inbreeding.
- Genetic studies on Ashkenazi Jews reveal mental disorders.
- Generations of inbreeding have produced mental illness defects.
- High levels of schizophrenia among "God's chosen people."
- Netanyahu thinks God is talking to him and telling him to commit genocide.
- Quotes from Jewish Rabbis calling for mass death of non-Jews.
- The U.S. has provided nuclear weapons to mentally ill sociopathic inbreds.
- Jewish inbreeding has also removed "mirror neurons" responsible for empathy and compassion.
- High risk of nuclear war that kills billions, due to Israel's insane genocide."
Fully explained in video here:
Many references online.
Now it all makes sense...
Full screen recommended.
"Investigating War Crimes In Gaza"
And you, America, pay for every goddamned bit of it...
"The Whole Planet Is Being Kept Hostage By A Death Cult"
"The Whole Planet Is Being
Kept Hostage By A Death Cult"
by Pepe Escobar
Let’s cut to the chase. The devastating attack on Iran by the psychopathological genocidal “chosen” ethno-supremacist set up in Tel Aviv – a de facto declaration of war – was coordinated in detail with the President of the United States, Circus Ringmaster Donald Trump. This infantilism-afflicted Narcissus Drowned in the Pool of his Own Image gave away the game, himself, in a rambling post. Selected highlights: “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal”. No “deal”; actually his unilateral demands. After all, he torpedoed the original deal, the JCPOA, because it was not his “deal”. “I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told.” The decision to strike had already been made.
“Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but (…) they are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!” Gloating comes with the territory. “The next already planned attacks being even more brutal.” Total alignment with the trademark Israeli “decapitation” strategy. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire”. It was Persian Empire – but after all this is a man who doesn’t read, or study. Notice the Art of Diplomacy: Take my deal, or drop dead.
This – incandescent – decade was launched by an assassination, of Gen. Soleimani in Baghdad, as I emphasized in my 2021 book Raging Twenties. He was on a diplomatic mission. The green light personally came from then President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The mid-Raging Twenties is now hurled to the brink of a devastating war in West Asia, with global repercussions, by the serial assassination of the IRGC leadership, in Tehran, by the psycho-genocidal Zionist entity. After an elaborate kabuki of deception, the green light to Tel Aviv – go ahead and do it – also came from the President of the United States, Trump 2.0 (who claimed he was “aware’’ of the attacks).
A pre-emptive war against the BRICS: The psycho-pathological genocidal masterplan is to force Tehran to capitulate – without even putting up a fight. The preamble kabuki was masterfully executed. The indirect nuclear negotiations in Oman were taken seriously in Tehran, lulling the Iranian leadership, civilian and military, to sleep. They fell into the trap and were caught, literally, in their sleep.
Ayatollah Khamenei – who himself is in physical danger, as Israel is applying the same decapitation model it unleashed on Hezbollah – has a very tough decision to make: capitulation or total war. It will be total war – and with the U.S. as a direct participant.
The Iranian leadership – actually more the Pezeshkian presidency, crammed with proponents of an “accommodation” with the West – was induced into a false sense of security, forgetting that serial killers don’t do diplomacy.
So the price to pay now, for Iran, will be even more unbearable. Tehran will respond – assuming capabilities are still in place. In this case its oil industry runs the risk of being destroyed. It’s an open question whether two other top BRICS members alongside Iran – Russia and China -, for different reasons, will allow that to happen. And were we about to enter this particular dangerous territory, Iran can play the ultimate card: shut down the Strait of Hormuz and collapse the global economy.
The attack on Iran, fully endorsed by the Empire of Chaos, is above all a pre-emptive attack on the BRICS energy core. It’s part and parcel of the imperial war against BRICS, especially Russia-China. Moscow and Beijing must be drawing the necessary conclusions in real time.
Iran, China and Russia are linked by interlocked strategic partnerships. Last month, I was in Iran tracking the progress of the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), which links Russia, Iran and India. This is only one among a series of key strategic infrastructure projects that will solidify even more Eurasian economic connectivity. A devastating war in West Asia, and a collapsing Iran, will represent a killer blow to increased Eurasia integration.
That’s exactly what suits the Empire’s designs. So it’s no wonder Washington is all in. This is now the Circus Ringmaster War. A devastating response; a nuclear weapon; or capitulation
Tehran’s message is, “We did not start the war, but Iran will determine how it ends.” The burning question is whether they still retain a significant deterrent – and offensive – capacity. The genocidals are hitting ballistic missile storage systems at will in Iran’s northwest and even civilian Mehrabad airport in Tehran. Air defenses are nowhere to be seen. It’s immensely painful to watch.
IDF spin – nothing verified so far – claims that some missile silos and mobile complexes were destroyed even before they were placed on combat alert. Yet the fact is that the overwhelming majority of Iran’s vast arsenal of ballistic missiles is stored in deep, deep underground silos and tunnels, capable of withstanding massive air strikes and overloaded air defenses.
For the moment, Tehran is eerily silent. That makes sense, because they need, in record time, to re-establish a unified chain of command which was smashed by the attacks; make sure that missile launchers can be deployed and not be neutralized by Israeli air supremacy; reorganize the True Promise 3 operation, which was ready to go, as some of us learned in Tehran last month, but now adapted to the new situation (losses included); and plan how to deliver painful blows to Israel’s economic infrastructure.
There is no evidence that the attacks destroyed Iran’s nuclear infrastructure – which is buried deep underground. As it stands, the leadership in Tehran is learning the hard way that diplomacy – committees, letters to the UN, statements to the IAEA, ministerial meetings – all that is eviscerated when it comes to the law of the jungle. Iranians were naïve enough to let the IAEA visit their strategic sites, when proverbial spies collected all the info they needed to facilitate Israeli strikes. The DPRK would have never fall into such a trap.
The elimination of a top figure such as Ali Shamkhani, Khamenei’s key advisor, Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, with decades of influence across the IRGC and intelligence apparatus, is a serious blow.
Systematically erasing Iran’s military and diplomatic leadership in a matter of hours fits the rationale of smashing Khamenei’s close circle. That has started long ago with the Trump-ordered killing of Soleimani and certainly includes the mysterious death of former President Raisi and FM Abdollahian in that dodgy helicopter “accident”. It’s all about creating the conditions for regime change.
On a rare auspicious note, the IRGC let it be known, before the attacks, that they have been developing a secret technology to intensify the impact of its missiles on Israel. We are all riders on the storm now. Once again, there’s no way out: either a devastating blow to the psycho genocidals, or Iran assembles a nuclear weapon in no time. The third option is capitulation, emasculation, and regime change.
Meanwhile, the whole planet is hostage to a lethal threat. Andrea Zhok is professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Milan, and apart from his brilliant analyses, he wrote the preface of the Italian edition of my book "Raging Twenties," published last year.
Prof. Zhok has succinctly pointed out how no political construction in modern history has amassed a toxic combination of messianic ethnic supremacism; supreme disregard for human life (everyone else, not “chosen”, is “amalek” anyway); supreme disregard for international law; and unlimited access to lethal firepower. So what is to be done with such a voracious, out of control death cult?"
Adventures With Danno, "Shocking Prices At Walmart"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 6/14/25
"Shocking Prices At Walmart"
Comments here:
Friday, June 13, 2025
"Nuclear Emergency In Iran, Nuclear Bomb Test Possible; Russian General's Warning"
Prepper News, 6/13/25
"Nuclear Emergency In Iran, Nuclear Bomb Test Possible;
Russian General's Warning"
Comments here:
Canadian Prepper, "The War Has Begun: Its Time to Get Serious"
Canadian Prepper, 6/13/25
"The War Has Begun: Its Time to Get Serious"
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
“These three bright nebulae are often featured in telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the central Milky Way. In fact, 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier cataloged two of them; M8, the large nebula left of center, and colorful M20 on the right. The third, NGC 6559, is above M8, separated from the larger nebula by a dark dust lane. All three are stellar nurseries about five thousand light-years or so distant.
The expansive M8, over a hundred light-years across, is also known as the Lagoon Nebula. M20's popular moniker is the Trifid. Glowing hydrogen gas creates the dominant red color of the emission nebulae, with contrasting blue hues, most striking in the Trifid, due to dust reflected starlight. The colorful skyscape recorded with telescope and digital camera also includes one of Messier's open star clusters, M21, just above the Trifid.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
•
"When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged
in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams,
to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where
he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars."
- Walt Whitman
The Poet: Edward Hirsch, "I Was Never Able To Pray"
"I Was Never Able To Pray"
"Wheel me down to the shore
where the lighthouse was abandoned
and the moon tolls in the rafters.
Let me hear the wind paging through the trees,
and see the stars flaring out, one by one,
like the forgotten faces of the dead.
I was never able to pray,
but let me inscribe my name
in the book of waves,
and then stare into the dome
of a sky that never ends,
and see my voice sail into the night."
- Edward Hirsch
Kahlil Gibran, "The Garden Of The Prophet"
“Oftentimes we call Life bitter names, but only when we ourselves are bitter and dark. And we deem her empty and unprofitable, but only when the soul goes wandering in desolate places, and the heart is drunken with over-mindfulness of self.
Life is deep and high and distant; and though only your vast vision can reach even her feet, yet she is near; and though only the breath of your breath reaches her heart, the shadow of your shadow crosses her face, and the echo of your faintest cry becomes a spring and an autumn in her breast.
And Life is veiled and hidden, even as your greater self is hidden and veiled. Yet when Life speaks, all the winds become words; and when she speaks again, the smiles upon your lips and the tears in your eyes turn also into words. When she sings, the deaf hear and are held; and when she comes walking, the sightless behold her and are amazed and follow her in wonder and astonishment.”
Freely read online “The Garden of The Prophet” here:
"Hobson's Choice"
"Hobson's Choice"
by Jeff Thomas
"Thomas Hobson owned a large stable of horses in Cambridge, England in the early seventeenth century. As he had some forty horses in his stable, prospective customers assumed that they’d maximise their possibility of choice there, if they needed a mount.However, each potential customer was told by Hobson that he could rent the horse in the stall closest to the door, or rent none at all. This approach allowed Hobson the ability to assure that none of his horses would ever be overused. But, in the bargain, it gave him control over his clientele.
Henry Ford used Hobson’s choice very effectively. He created his inspired "car for the multitude" in 1908. His market share increased enormously. Then, in 1913, he discovered that that black paint dried more quickly than any other color. Black cars could be produced more quickly and were therefore more profitable. So, beginning in 1914, he eliminated all color choices for his popular Model T cars. From then on, he said, "Any customer can have a car in any color as long as it is black." Like Mr. Hobson, he gained control over his customers by minimizing their choices.
It’s important to recognize here that neither Messrs. Hobson nor Ford had the ability to implement such restrictions when they first started their businesses. It was only after they had secured a significant market share through a free market, that they were in a position to make that market less free. In this, we see an important aspect of the concept of government. The United States began as a Republic, but downgraded quickly into a democracy, then downgraded further, over time, into a quasi-collectivist democracy and is now moving quickly into a fully-collectivist state.
But, this is not a new idea, nor a new effort. Some 2400 years ago, Greece came up with the idea of a republic – a state in which the freedom of choice of the individual was paramount. Laws were minimal and, as long as he followed those basic laws, he was free to do as he pleased.
Ancient Rome was the same. After a state of prosperity due to increasing production, a republic was formed, but it was soon downgraded into a democracy, then later became an empire, then collectivism set in.
The pattern is the same. Productivity leads to prosperity, which leads to a rise in individual rights. The nation then peaks in terms of personal freedom. Then, the decline begins, as democracy slowly replaces individual rights. Democracy sounds good, as it’s presented as "the will of the majority." But, in fact, it’s the thin end of the wedge.
Thomas Jefferson said, "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." In every country, democracy appears to be benign, but it opens the door to collectivism. But, how is this possible? Why, after over a century of the consistent and blatant failure of collectivist states, is it still possible for a waitress from New York City to hold up a photo of Karl Marx and get elected by a substantial margin over a liberal incumbent?
Well, the answer lies in Hobson’s choice. In primitive times, a king called the shots. No choice existed. But, democracy introduced the illusion of choice. Since that time, it has been possible to remove more rights and to impose greater taxation than ever before if the population believes that their deteriorated condition is the result of personal choice. And the greatest refinement of this process is to always proffer two (and only two) "viable" choices. All other possible choices are beyond any real consideration.
In his career as a power broker (referred to in polite circles as a "diplomat"), Henry Kissinger became a master at always offering two choices and two choices only. Whether it was to either destroy the Soviet Union or face Armageddon, or invade Southeast Asia or see the end of democracy in the world, Mr. Kissinger acknowledged later in his books that Hobson’s choice was one of the most formidable tools in his toolbox in succeeding in his goals.
It has often been said that "Hobson’s choice is essentially no choice at all." Well, in reality that’s true, but technically-speaking, Hobson’s choice is always an "either/or" choice. "Take the horse in the stall next to the door or be without transportation. (Hobson never suggested a third choice, which might be to go to another stable.)
As to Mr. Ford, he essentially said, "Accept a black Model T or be without transport." (He never suggested a third choice, which might be to buy another make of car.) And, of course, Mr. Kissinger never offered any third choice, either. He never said, "We might additionally consider true diplomacy, in which all countries have their own sovereignty and arrive at their own decisions."
And so, in the US today, as in Europe, Canada and many other countries that at one time made up the Free World, we’re presented with a series of Hobson’s choices. "Vote for Trump, who offers the empty promise to drain the swamp." (The implied alternative is the unchecked growth of the liberal Deep State.) "Vote for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who offers the empty promise of full collectivism." (The implied alternative is the unchecked growth of the conservative Deep State.)
And this is how an otherwise, relatively intelligent, relatively educated people come to be subjugated. It’s easy to hate a king who you feel oppresses you, but most people are unable to fathom the Jesuit logic of Hobson’s choice. So, is that it? Life is doomed to end in collectivist totalitarianism? Well, no. It’s just one of many phases that nations pass through.
Let’s look back at Henry Ford again. During the mid-1920’s, his son Edsel convinced him that Americans had tired of his practical, but grim little car. Other auto producers were offering cars with new improvements over the Ford, in addition to a variety of colors. Their market share was increasing, as they offered more freedom of choice. In 1926, Henry begrudgingly acquiesced and began offering colors again. The following year, he admitted that the Model T had become outmoded through freedom of choice and the Model T’s last model year was 1927.
Just as collectivism has failed wherever it’s been introduced, in every one of these countries, it was (initially) welcomed with open arms by the hoi polloi, as they bought into the tempting Hobson’s choice. Predictably, collapse was inevitable, as collectivism only works for the rulers. Then the country has to begin the cycle all over again, beginning, as always, with productivity. But the process is always the same. The welcome of collectivism is always the first step and the nation then progresses downhill for generations.
Historically, very few people recognize when their nation is at the turning point. Nor do they recognize the universal effectiveness of Hobson’s choice. The con is that there is not a multitude of choices; there are only two and one of them is clearly unlivable. So, we’re not forcing you to do anything in particular, we’re just funneling your brain so that you fail to understand that you have choices other than the one we’re leading you into. The answer is to question everything. Envision other choices. Choose your own destiny."
"Only Human..."
And, of course, the universal and inevitable excuse…
“A person who is going to commit an inhuman act invariably
excuses himself to himself by saying, “I’m only human, after all.”
- Sydney J. Harris
I've always wondered...
Everyone says “I'm only human…” compared to what?
"It Is Our Fate..."
"Well, it is our fate to live in a time of crisis. To live in a time when all forms and values are being challenged. In other and more easy times, it was not, perhaps, necessary for the individual to confront himself with a clear question: What is it that you really believe? What is it that you really cherish? What is it for which you might, actually, in a showdown, be willing to die? I say, with all the reticence which such large, pathetic words evoke, that one cannot exist today as a person – one cannot exist in full consciousness – without having to have a showdown with one’s self, without having to define what it is that one lives by, without being clear in one’s mind what matters and what does not matter.”
- Dorothy Thompson
"Moment Iranian Missiles Hit Israel's Tel Aviv, Terrifying Blast"
Full screen recommended.
Oneindia News, 6/13/25
"Moment Iranian Missiles Hit Israel's Tel Aviv, Terrifying Blast"
Comments here:
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Stipendium peccati mors est, Israel, and here it comes...
Robert Palmer, "You're Gonna Get What's Coming"
"Huge Iranian Response: Hundreds Of Missiles Destroy Bases And Buildings All Over Israel"
Mahmood OD, 6/13/25
"Huge Iranian Response: Hundreds Of Missiles
Destroy Bases And Buildings All Over Israel"
Comments here:
Judge Napolitano, "INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson & McGovern: Weekly Wrap 13-June"
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 6/13/25
"INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson & McGovern:
Weekly Wrap 13-June"
Comments here:
"Mohammad Marandi: Iran to Hit Back Hard for Israel’s Attack, US Must Get Out Now"
Danny Haiphong, 6/13/25
"Mohammad Marandi: Iran to Hit Back Hard
for Israel’s Attack, US Must Get Out Now"
"Israel struck the first blow in a major escalation against Iran which threatens regional stability and full-scale war. Professor Mohammad Marandi joined the program to discuss Iran's response and why this war ignited by Trump & Israel will lead to a devastating response from Iran. This video details all you need to know about what's to come in this geopolitical development sending shockwaves across the world."
Comments here:
"Netanyahu Flees Tel Aviv Like a Coward as Iran Unleashes Massive Retaliation!"
Full screen recommended.
OpenmindedThinker Show, 6/13/25
"Netanyahu Flees Tel Aviv Like a Coward
as Iran Unleashes Massive Retaliation!"
Comments here:
"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: gk thomas, “Wretched of the Earth”
“Wretched of the Earth”
“Poor kids,
wretched of the earth,
why should we feed you?
Why shouldn't we empty our sea of
bullets into your swollen bellies or
poison you with toxic chemicals
or depleted uranium?
Why should we care,
we who are living well?
Where is it written in stone
that you deserve better?
Or that we are not animals
subject to the law of nature:
kill or be killed?
You suspect us of being cruel,
but we are kind.
Our god tells us so.
It is yours that lies.
So you cry at night,
shivering in the cold
or sell yourselves
for a slice of bread.
What is that to those of
us who are living well?”
“Poor kids,
wretched of the earth,
why should we feed you?
Why shouldn't we empty our sea of
bullets into your swollen bellies or
poison you with toxic chemicals
or depleted uranium?
Why should we care,
we who are living well?
Where is it written in stone
that you deserve better?
Or that we are not animals
subject to the law of nature:
kill or be killed?
You suspect us of being cruel,
but we are kind.
Our god tells us so.
It is yours that lies.
So you cry at night,
shivering in the cold
or sell yourselves
for a slice of bread.
What is that to those of
us who are living well?”
- gk thomas
In remembrance of the 19,000 Palestinian children slaughtered in Gaza by the psychopathically degenerate inbred Israeli monsters. And here's the proof:
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