Friday, June 7, 2024

Jim Kunstler, "Time to Jettison the Animals"

"Time to Jettison the Animals"
by Jim Kunstler

“The old left had intellectual commitments that were false in interesting and theoretically stimulating ways. The new left demands adherence to lurid absurdities so preposterous that merely entertaining them induces nauseating neurological disorders.”
 -  Xenocosmography on “X”

"The most astounding part of America’s “Joe Biden” three-plus-years thrill ride is that the Party of Chaos and Hoaxes was able to pretend until just a few days ago that this political phantasm could run for re-election. Now, regime insiders are forced to confess that they can’t hide it anymore. They spilled the beans as “unnamed sources” this week in a huge Wall Street Journal article. The president is going necrotic in full view of the whole world. His mind is gone. He looks ridiculous when he shuffles in front of the cameras. He utters obvious absurdities and lies. His wife has to lead him around like a dog on a leash. Everyone can see it. He’s got to go. ASAP.

The embarrassing ineptitude has been on view since the 2020 campaign, yet his handlers managed to flimflam half the country ever since, thanks to a news media captured by intel blob gaslighters and to half the country’s susceptibility to mass formation psychosis - fear driven thought disorder - that gave cover to treasonous actors seeking to save their asses even if they had to wreck the USA doing it. Who were these actors? The Clintons and the coterie around them, steeped in financial crime and sex trafficking; the Obama coterie of anti-white racists and bungling Marxists; the batshit-crazy Woke race-and-gender hustlers working to derange the merit-based social order (and get paid for doing it); the congressional grifters living off Pharma and Pentagon loot; the agency top bureaucrats who became a corrupt praetorian guard for all the above players, now desperate to evade accountability.

Everything they’ve done since 2020 has been in the service of covering up their crimes, and each hoax has just compounded the damage done to our country. The Covid-19 prank was pulled to enable mail-in ballot fraud so as to assure a permanent government-by-blob, of which the Democratic Party is now a mere tentacle. We don’t know yet whether the mRNA vaccine module of the prank was a deliberate effort to kill a lot of people or a grievous blunder by greedy drug-makers, or some wicked combo - with assistance from the WEF or China.

They can’t afford to lose their grip on the levers of power 2024 election - lose control of the Justice Department, the FBI, and the so-called “national security” apparatus, especially. The open border is just an effort to illegally import and enlist a vast wad of potential new voters to ensure an election victory. More than twenty states have “motor-voter laws” that automatically register anybody with a driver’s license. And these enrollees don’t even have to cast their ballot. Their names can just be “harvested” systematically, attached to voting documents, and bundled to be submitted for them. Millions have entered the country illegally since 2021 at “Joe Biden’s” direct invitation. There’s nothing hidden about this - but all you see is the learned helplessness of actual US citizens unable to stop it.

And yet, even that prank may not work to keep the Party of Chaos and Hoaxes in power. Designated candidate “Joe Biden” is obviously so far gone that even actual citizen voters under the mass formation spell can’t be counted on anymore. His poll numbers look abysmal. He’s scheduled to debate his opponent, the outlaw Donald Trump, on June 27. If his handlers allow that to actually happen, it will be like the unmasking scene in The Phantom of the Opera: brain-ringing horror, from sea to shining sea! Of course, an insult to the zeitgeist that severe will force the party leaders into some ‘splainin’, and I personally doubt they will be able to ‘splain their way out of it. Did all of you Democrats not notice?

The putative replacements for him - Newsom, Hillary, Pritzker, Whitmer, Harris - are political creatures at least as loathsome to voters as “JB” has become. And the obvious pitfall for Michelle O is that her husband looks like a wannabe American Caesar seeking a fourth term. What else have they got? Nothin’. Some utterly unknown governor they can primp up in a few months? Fugeddabowdit. They’ll have to run one of the loathsomes, take the “L,” and hope for the best, perhaps make a get out of jail “deal” with dealmaker supreme Mr. Trump.

Or, they could attempt another mighty prank: kill him. You can imagine they’ll try it, having exhausted all other gambits. If they succeed, and it doesn’t provoke an instant civil war, Mr. Trump’s faction has a pretty deep “bench” of capable figures who can step in and run against the Party of Chaos, Hoaxes, and now Murder. If the assassins botch the job, I wouldn’t want to be them on that dreadful day.

The bottom-line for now: “Joe Biden” is about to wave bye-bye. They’ve already put the question to him. He’s resisting. The one coherent thought in his failing mind is that he has pardon power as long as he is president. It’s not so much Hunter and that silly-ass gun case in Wilmington, which he’ll surely wriggle out of. It’s more about the brothers Jim and Frank and all the spouses and offspring who received wire transfers of Chinese money, Ukraine money, Russian money, Kazak money, Romanian money...

If necessary, the party and its blob masters could bite the bullet and run the 25th Amendment on the old fraud, git’er done fast, down-and-dirty, virtually overnight any night now. More likely, they’ll “leak” some document from the blob vaults that incontrovertibly incriminates the president on one of the already well-trodden bribery angles. That is, they’ll pretend to discover that not only is “Joe Biden” hopelessly senile, but, turns out, he’s been crooked all along! What a shock! We never suspected ‘til now! Such a seemingly well-intentioned, kindly, patriotic old man! Stand by. It’s going to be a helluva month."
The full name of Kunstler's website is SO accurate!

"Israel Has Lost - And This Proves It"

Owen Jones, 6/6/24
"Israel Has Lost - And This Proves It"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
The Young Turks, 6/6/24
"Israel Bombs U.N. School, Children Among Dozens Killed"
"Reports say Israel used a U.S.-made munition to strike a U.N. school in Gaza. 
Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks."
o
Full screen recommended.
CNN-News18, 6/6/24
"Israeli Gaza U.N. School Strike, Children Among Dozens Killed"
Reports say Israel used a U.S.-made munition to strike a U.N. school in Gaza.
Comments here:

After the Israeli Occupation Force is obliterated and 30,000 missiles have fallen on Tel Aviv let the Nuremberg style genocide war crimes trials begin, with the same penalty for these psychopathically degenerate monsters as the Nazis received...
Hell is not hot enough, and eternity is not long enough...
Inshallah! So be it...

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Greg Hunter, "CV19 Vax is Death by Government"

"CV19 Vax is Death by Government"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Dr. Sherri Tenpenny was one of the first doctors to sound the alarm on the massive deaths and disabilities that would come from the CV19 “vaccine.” She was right, but that did not stop the Ohio Medical Board from suspending her license. Dr. Tenpenny recently had her medical license restored, and she did not have to make a single retraction about warnings she gave about the CV19 bioweapon vax. Now, Dr. Tenpenny is sounding the alarm again and telling people NOT to take the new experimental “Bird Flu” vax. Dr. Tenpenny says to expect more deaths and injuries from this medical malpractice, too.
 
 Dr. Tenpenny explains, “This is democide. Democide is death by government. I hope people remember that and will not be fooled by the next round of scare tactics that they are starting to ramp up about the Bird Flu. They tried this with the Marburg virus. They tried it with Ebola. They tried it with Monkey Pox. Now, they are trying it with Bird Flu. Back in 2005, I actually wrote a book called ‘Foul Bird Flu: It’s Not What You Think.’ I am going to be updating it and re-releasing it in a couple of weeks. It was an historical book, and I was writing it in real time back in 2005. What they are doing now is the same thing except the difference is they are coming after our food supply. They are going to be culling millions of chickens. If one cow on an entire ranch tests positive for H5N1, they are talking about killing off the entire ranch. Instead of isolating that particular cow and seeing if they can get sick, no, they are just going to kill them all. So, they are in the process of decimating our food supply. I think this is a really important fact for people to know about and get prepared.”

Dr. Tenpenny goes on to point out, “They can release it under an EUA (Emergency Use Authorization), and I believe the FDA has found a loophole in the law to where they can release anything coming in the future as an Emergency Use Authorization. So, they are not liable. You can’t sue them. They don’t have to put up a package insert. There were three rules that they violated when they released the Covid shot, and they are just out to get us all vaccinated. They just want to get every single person with as much foreign matter into our bodies as they possibly can.”

There are about 700 million CV19 vax injections that have been given in the US alone. Dr. Tenpenny says these injections cause a variety of problems such as sudden death, dramatically reduced immune system, heart problems, blood clots, autoimmune disease and unusually fast spreading cancers called “Turbo Cancer.” Dr. Tenpenny says, “Even it you have had just one Covid shot, you have increased you risk of sudden death and developing cancer. The more shots you have, the more your risk is. Turbo Cancer’ is a brand-new terminology in medicine. I have been a doctor for a long time, and that is a brand-new word they developed after the Covid shots. These people may have been in complete remission, and their cancers came back in a highly aggressive way, or they got new cancers that from the time they were diagnosed until the time they died were months, weeks or sometime even days. So, they didn’t even have time to start getting current known cancer treatments.” In closing, Dr. Tenpenny advises NOT to get the Bird Flu shot and no more CV19 boosters. There is much more in the 59-minute interview."

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, one of the first medical doctors to tell everyone NOT to take CV19 bioweapon injection. Dr. Tenpenny is now warning NOT to take the Bird Flu vax.

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Russian Nuke Sub In Cuba! Germany Mass Nuclear War Prep"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 6/6/24
"Alert! Russian Nuke Sub In Cuba! Germany Mass 
Nuclear War Prep, Bunkers, Stockpiling, Conscription"
Comments here:

Free Download: Isaac Asimov, "The Wellsprings Of Life"

"Isaac Asimov On Upgrading Our 
Realities And The Risk Of Ignorance"
By Postanly Weekly

Excerpt: "When you think about the meaning of life, you probably don’t think about Isaac Asimov. But this famous scientist had a lot to say about life and its meaning. In a book proposal for "The Meaning of Life" edited by Hugh S. Moorhead, 1989, Asimov said, “If all of life were suddenly to disappear from earth and anywhere else it may exist, or if none had ever formed in the first place, I think the Universe would continue to exist without perceptible change. However, it is always possible for an individual to invest his own life with meaning that he can find significant. He can so order his life that he may find as much beauty and wisdom in it as he can, and spread as much of that to others as possible.”

Asimov’s views were shaped by his experiences growing up in Soviet Russia, which was a time of famine, terror, and extreme anti-religious sentiment. Perhaps best known as a science fiction author, Isaac Asimov was also an essayist, biographer, and professor of biochemistry. With more than 400 million copies of his books in circulation, he is one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century. In addition to writing about why we must make love, not war, and how nothing will end war but education, Asimov wrote about life’s meaning in several different essays.

Asimov is best known for his "Robot" Series and "The Foundation Trilogy." These works helped to shape the way we see artificial intelligence today, with many of them continuing to be influential even 30 years after they were published.

Collective wisdom is not the whole truth: Isaac Asimov thought, “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” He couldn’t be more right. Science, the study of how things work, has made incredible progress over the last few centuries. The rate at which new discoveries are being made today is staggering.

There’s no question that science is a powerful tool for understanding the world around us. However, as science gathers knowledge at an ever-increasing rate, it’s becoming clear that society is not keeping pace. It takes time for society to absorb scientific knowledge and incorporate it into its collective wisdom. We are slow to upgrade our assumptions and perceptions. We hardly change our subjective beliefs about life and living.

When you think about it, there is no reason for things to be the way they are. Science gathers knowledge at an ever-increasing rate, yet we seem to be no closer to solving major world problems than we were 50 years ago. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why this is the case: humanity’s collective wisdom has not kept pace with scientific discoveries. This seems like a problem that should be easy to solve. After all, if knowledge were to become more widely distributed, society would grow wiser.

One way to overcome Asimov’s concern is by challenging our assumptions and thinking critically about what we know and don’t know. Through this process, we can develop a deeper understanding of how things work and make more informed decisions about our future."
Full article is here:

Freely download "The Wellsprings Of Life", by Isaac Asimov, here:

Musical Interlude: The Moody Blues, "Your Wildest Dreams"

Full screen recommended.
The Moody Blues, "Your Wildest Dreams"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy NGC 5643? A swirling disk of stars and gas, NGC 5643's appearance is dominated by blue spiral arms and brown dust, as shown in the featured image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The core of this active galaxy glows brightly in radio waves and X-rays where twin jets have been found.
An unusual central glow makes NGC 5643 one of the closest examples of the Seyfert class of galaxies, where vast amounts of glowing gas are thought to be falling into a central massive black hole. NGC 5643, is a relatively close 55 million light years away, spans about 100 thousand light years across, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Wolf (Lupus)."

"We Were Made For These Times"

by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.

Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails.

We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. Didn’t you say you were a believer? Didn’t you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn’t you ask for grace? Don’t you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.

What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these – to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.

Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours. They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall: When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.”

The Poet: William Stafford, "The Gift"

"The Gift"

"Time wants to show you a different country. It's the one
that your life conceals, the one waiting outside
when curtains are drawn, the one Grandmother hinted at
in her crochet design, the one almost found
over at the edge of the music, after the sermon.

It's the way life is, and you have it, a few years given.
You get killed now and then, violated
in various ways. (And sometimes it's turn about.)
You get tired of that. Long-suffering, you wait
and pray, and maybe good things come - maybe
the hurt slackens and you hardly feel it any more.
You have a breath without pain. It is called happiness.

It's a balance, the taking and passing along,
the composting of where you've been and how people
and weather treated you. It's a country where
you already are, bringing where you have been.
Time offers this gift in its millions of ways,
turning the world, moving the air, calling,
every morning, "Here, take it, it's yours."

- William Stafford 

"Moscow Metro: The World's Most Beautiful Underground System!"

Full screen recommended.
Englishman In Russia
"Moscow Metro: 
The World's Most Beautiful Underground System!"
Comments here:

Absolutely incredible...

Adventures with Danno, "Food Recalls Everywhere, This Is Unreal!"

Adventures with Danno, PM 6/6/24
"Food Recalls Everywhere, This Is Unreal!"
Comments here:

The Daily "Near You?"

Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Jeremiah Babe, "Buyers Can No Longer Afford Overpriced Trucks And Cars, Car Market Crash"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 6/6/24
"Buyers Can No Longer Afford Overpriced 
Trucks And Cars, Car Market Crash"
Comments here:

"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, “Awakening"

"A New Type Of Dementia Plagues America"

"A New Type Of Dementia Plagues America"
by John Mac Ghlionn

"In the United States, it's estimated that at least 7 million people over the age of 65 have dementia. If current trends continue, by the end of the decade, more than 9 million Americans are expected to suffer from this loss of cognitive functioning - that's equivalent to the population of New York City.

Memory impairment isn't just affecting the elderly. By 2050, the number of U.S. adults over the age of 40 living with dementia is expected to more than double, from 5.2 million to 10.5 million. To compound matters, there’s a new type of dementia plaguing Americans, one that’s affecting people much younger than 40. It’s called digital dementia, and millions of unsuspecting, young Americans are at risk.

major health epidemic, digital dementia occurs when one part of the brain is overstimulated and another part of the brain is understimulated. When we mindlessly use digital devices, the frontal lobe, which is responsible for higher-level executive functions, gets little, if any, use. Meanwhile, the occipital lobe, the visual processor located at the back of the brain, gets bombarded with sensory input. Slouched over and spaced out, people, both young and old, are abusing their brains, day in and day out. Preteens and teens are particularly at risk for two reasons:An American 8 to 12-year-old spends an average of 4.7 hours a day scrolling their lives away. That’s around 70 days in a given year. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), the brain region responsible for planning and decision-making, doesn’t fully develop until the age of 25.

Digital dementia impedes both short-term and long-term memory. Moreover, as research shows, excessive screen time during brain development increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, in adulthood. Not surprisingly, excessive screen time is intimately associated with digital addiction. This, in turn, fuels digital dementia, which results in the shrinking of the brain’s gray matter. White matter facilitates communication between gray matter areas. But without gray matter, which plays a critical role in emotions, memories, and movements, there’s really nothing to communicate. White matter helps the traffic get from A to B. Grey matter, on the other hand, is the traffic.

It gets worse. As Gurwinder Bhogal, an excellent British-Indian writer, recently noted, not only is “gray matter shrinkage in smartphone-addicted individuals” a growing problem, the Western average IQ is declining - rapidly, he added.

This has been the case for decades. The decline of brain power has been particularly notable in America. Lead exposure, and, more recently, the effects of draconian lockdowns, have had deleterious effects on Americans’ IQs. As technology continues to rise, IQ continues to decline. Is there an association? The answer appears to be yes.

What we're witnessing is the Flynn effect in reverse. Named after James R. Flynn, the renowned intelligence researcher who passed away in 2020, the Flynn effect refers to a steady upward shift in IQ test scores across generations. In recent times, however, that steady upward shift has transformed into a spiraling nosedive. This isn't surprising. In fact, as our lives become more intertwined with technology, and as we outsource more of our thinking and doing to search engines and ChatGPT-like systems, we should expect this nosedive to increase in velocity.

As Mr. Bhogal noted, common sense suggests that the decline in IQ is “at least partly the result of technology making the attainment of satisfaction increasingly effortless, so that we spend ever more of our time in a passive, vegetative state.” “If you don’t use it," he added, “you lose it.” Indeed. By "it," of course, he means your brain. But brain function isn't the only thing being lost.

The rise of digital dementia, digital addiction, and lower IQ scores is a reflection of a much broader problem. The United States isn’t just struggling with demographic decline; it’s also wrestling with the unholy trinity of spiritual, psychological, and intellectual decline. The country is becoming fatter, sicker, older, and dumber. The movie "Idiocracy" wasn’t a parody; it was a prophecy.

As intelligence levels continue to plummet and test scores continue to fall in the likes of math and reading, the United States risks becoming a society of brainless, aimless individuals, a nation consisting of millions of obese zombies. Contrary to popular belief, societal collapse doesn’t occur overnight; it occurs in increments, a death by a thousand cuts. The biggest threat to the United States isn't necessarily external; it's posed by the numerous digital devices in our hands and homes. Technology has consumed both our minds and our souls; are we going to get either of them back?"
o
o
"We're so freakin' doomed!"
- The Mogambo Guru

"How It Really Is"

Good luck!


"One Of Two Things..."

“When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take a step into
the darkness of unknown, we must believe one of two things will happen.
There will be something solid to stand on, or we will be taught how to fly.”
- Patrick Overton

Gregory Mannarino, "'Cascading Crisis: The Set Up Is Clear"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 6/6/24
"'Cascading Crisis': The Set Up Is Clear,
 And The Time For You To Take Action Is Now!"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "Nightmare on Main Street - Economic Horror"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 6/6/24
"Nightmare on Main Street - Economic Horror"
We are seeing major lending institutions that are backed by the government now offer second mortgages. This will put people in debt forever. Brace yourself for an eye-opening deep dive into "Nightmare on Main Street: The Collapse No One Saw Coming." Our economy is teetering on the brink, and we're unraveling the horrors lurking beneath the surface. From the shocking rise in government-backed mortgages to impending home foreclosures, this economic downturn is shaping up to be a true nightmare.
Comments here:

Bill Bonner, "Restaurant Apocalypse"

"Restaurant Apocalypse"
The huge cash infusion of the Covid years has mostly played itself out. 
The stimulus did not produce higher output or greater wealth. 
It just increased prices - particularly real estate prices.
by Bill Bonner

Dublin, Ireland - "First a happy note from Fox: "Many elections are marked by reports of dead people voting, but a dead person being elected is far less common. Yet that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday when Rep. Donald Payne Jr. won a primary in New Jersey’s 10th congressional district. The beloved congressman and member of the Congressional Black Caucus suffered a fatal heart attack on April 24th, according to the NY Post. The filing deadline for primary campaigns in  New Jersey was in March. Congressman Payne Jr. was the only candidate to register."

We wish the candidate well in the general election. He would certainly get our vote. He would be the least corruptible member of Congress - by far. The most reliable and steadfast, too... unwilling to go along with the latest scams and boondoggles. Alas, he would be in a very small minority. Most members of Congress are still above ground... and a threat to us all.

But now, back to our regularly scheduled programming: Why can’t we win a war... even with a 30-to-1 advantage (measured in GDP)? If we’re so rich, why can’t we pay our own way... rather than passing the bill for current programs onto future generations? Why does it seem to average citizens that things are getting worse... while politicians insist that we are better off than ever?

On this last point... Business Insider: "A survey conducted by financial services firm Primerica found that 67% of middle-class respondents said their income was falling behind the cost of living over the first quarter. Among those people, 74% said they were pulling back on discretionary purchases, such as eating out. More broadly, it has been widely reported that millennials will be the first generation in American history to earn less than their parents."

What gives? Donald Trump claimed that he presided over the “greatest economy ever.” Now, Joe Biden claims the same thing for himself. Why then did they need to borrow so much money? In 2016, the US had $20 trillion in debt. Together, over the next eight years, they added $15 trillion - more than any dynamic duo in the history of the country.

But even with these record deficits behind us... and estimated deficits of $1.5-$2 trillion per year going forward, US GDP growth rates are slumpy and consumer price increases make it hard for people to keep up. As a result, Americans are forced to give up one of their simple pleasures - eating out.

In this month’s edition of his marvelous Gloom, Boom and Doom Report, our old friend Mark Faber takes a look at the status of the chain restaurant business. In a word: bad. The huge cash infusion of the Covid years has mostly played itself out. The stimulus did not produce higher output or greater wealth. It just increased prices - particularly real estate prices.

Shelter is the biggest single item in most family budgets. So, this leaves families a little short of cash. The ‘casual dining’ sector seems to be feeling the pain most sharply. Labor and food bills have increased dramatically for the restaurants, especially in California, where fast-food workers get a minimum wage of $20 per hour. Restaurants have been forced to raise prices. Prices at McDonalds, for example, have more than doubled since 2014.

Faber reports that about two in five restaurants didn’t make a profit last year. Red Lobster is said to be considering bankruptcy. TGIF is in ‘distress.’ Appleby’s is closing restaurants. Boston Market is going bankrupt. Cracker Barrel reports “weaker than expected traffic.” He continues, listing a few notable bankruptcies:

"The New York–area Sticky Fingers Joint (in part due to “unprecedented” chicken and potato price increases), Tijuana Flats (a casual Mexican restaurant chain located in Florida), and Rubio’s Coastal Grill (a chain of 150 restaurants throughout Arizona, Nevada, and California). According to Bloomberg: Prices are rising more slowly at the supermarket, meaning families can still stretch a paycheck further buying staples rather than ordering prepared foods..."

Across the board, you have higher labor and food input costs and hesitant consumers,” said Mark Levin, a co-founder of advisory firm Asterisk Capital. “Some people will trade down from mid-priced to lower-priced restaurants, but a lot of lower-priced customers will just stay at home."

A ‘Restaurant Apocalypse’ is said to be sweeping across America, according to Michael Snyder. Why? Because “consumers simply have a lot less discretionary income now.” Less discretionary income? What happened to that $15 trillion of new credit that the feds pumped into the market? Distributed evenly, that should have put another $150,000 per family into consumer pockets. Where is it?

Tomorrow, we return to French economist Emmanuel Todd and his idea that much of US wealth is ‘fictitious.’ Whether it is the prices of stocks or bonds…or property…or the wealth of Wall Street or Main Street’s US GDP - much of it is a fantasy. More to come... "

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! New Bird Flu w/100% Kill Rate, Mysterious Origin; Lebanon War Begins; Putin Checkmates US"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 6/5/24
"Alert! New Bird Flu w/100% Kill Rate, Mysterious Origin; 
Lebanon War Begins; Putin Checkmates US"
Comments here:

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Musical Interlude: Leonard Cohen, "Everybody Knows"

Leonard Cohen,"Everybody Knows"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The constellation of Orion holds much more than three stars in a row. A deep exposure shows everything from dark nebula to star clusters, all embedded in an extended patch of gaseous wisps in the greater Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The brightest three stars on the far left are indeed the famous three stars that make up the belt of Orion. Just below Alnitak, the lowest of the three belt stars, is the Flame Nebula, glowing with excited hydrogen gas and immersed in filaments of dark brown dust.
Below the frame center and just to the right of Alnitak lies the Horsehead Nebula, a dark indentation of dense dust that has perhaps the most recognized nebular shapes on the sky. On the upper right lies M42, the Orion Nebula, an energetic caldron of tumultuous gas, visible to the unaided eye, that is giving birth to a new open cluster of stars. Immediately to the left of M42 is a prominent bluish reflection nebula sometimes called the Running Man that houses many bright blue stars. The above image, a digitally stitched composite taken over several nights, covers an area with objects that are roughly 1,500 light years away and spans about 75 light years.”
"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in
heaven where the love of our lost ones pours
through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy."
~ Eskimo saying

Chet Raymo, “To Sleep, Perchance To Dream”

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream”
by Chet Raymo

“What is more gentle than a wind in summer?
What is more soothing than a pretty hummer
That stays one moment in an open flower,
And buzzes cheerily from bower to bower?
What is more tranquil than a musk-rose blowing
In a green island, far from all men's knowing?
More healthful than the leafiness of dales?
More secret than a nest of nightingales?”

What indeed? The poet Keats answers his own questions: Sleep. Soft closer of our eyes. I've reached an age when I find myself occasionally nodding off in the middle of the day, an open book flopped on my chest. Also, more lying awake in the dark hours of the night, re-running the tapes of the day. And, in the fragile moments of nighttime unconsciousness, dreaming dreams that reach all the way back to my childhood.

I've read the books about sleep and dreaming. There has been lots of research, but not much consensus about why we sleep or dream. Sleep seems to be pretty universal among animals. Who knows whether animals dream. Do we sleep to restore the soma? To knit the raveled sleeve of care? Process memories? Find safety from predators? After 50 years of work, the sleep researcher William Dement opined: "As far as I know, the only reason we need to sleep that is really, really solid is because we get sleepy."

The Latin poet Martial supposed that sleep "makes darkness brief," a worry-free way to get through the scary hours of the night when wolves howl at the mouth of the cave (and goblins stir under the bed). That hardly explains my dropping off after lunch into a dreamless stupor that I neither desire nor welcome.
“Low murmurer of tender lullabies!
Light hoverer around our happy pillows!
Wreather of poppy buds, and weeping willows!”

Not quite! There are the nightmares too. The tossing and turning. The hoo-has. But enough of this idle speculation. I'm getting sleepy...”

Jeremiah Babe, "America Is The Real Mad Max"

Jeremiah Babe, 6/5/24
"America Is The Real Mad Max; 
Regional Banks Cut Off Lending; Economic Slowdown Is Accelerating"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."
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Gerald Celente, "Judge Napolitano: Evilness Masked Behind Political Covers"

Gerald Celente, 6/5/24
"Judge Napolitano:
 Evilness Masked Behind Political Covers"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present facts and truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for what’s next in these increasingly turbulent times."
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o
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 6/5/24
"Larry Johnson: Russia Is Flashing Red, 
the West Better Pay Attention"
Unlike many Western politicians, Russian diplomats say what they mean. They are not ones to make idle, empty threats. Joe Biden and the NATO lackeys better pay attention to recent statements by two of Russia's leading diplomats. "I have zero hope in Biden and America both. Very embarrassed and ashamed to be an American veteran. This is NOT the America I served. What the hell happened?!"
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"Retailers Report Massive Price Cuts As They Can't Sell Their Products"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 6/5/24
"Retailers Report Massive Price Cuts 
As They Can't Sell Their Products"

"The same retailers that have helped to push consumer prices up by 20% over the past four years are getting desperate as shoppers aggressively tighten their spending to cope with stubborn inflation. Some of the biggest retail chains in America are on a price-cutting spree to gain back their customers now that sales are declining faster than expected and financial results have started to disappoint. They are finally feeling the consequences of the substantial price hikes they have passed on to consumers since 2020. That's why some companies are reporting discounts of up to 30% to lure people back into their stores.

Big name-retailers like Target, Walmart, Aldi, Best Buy, Home Depot, and more, are introducing a shift in sales strategy to prevent facing even bigger financial losses over the coming quarters, according to multiple reports. Executives are saying that American consumers have become too “price-conscious” and “choosy” after years of persistent price increases.

At this point, not only those at the bottom of the economic ladder are curbing their spending. Chad Lusk, consumer and retail group managing director for consultancy firm Alvarez & Marshal, noted that upper-income households are also changing their consumption patterns due to lower affordability. “The 'budget conscious consumer' is no longer just low- or middle-income earners," he told CNN. "By far the starkest decrease in intent to spend is coming from the higher-income groups, and those that were previously the most immune to an economic downturn are now tightening their belts."

The rapid change in consumer behavior is prompting swift action by retailers, who cannot afford to lose any more customers. Last week, Target executive vice president and chief food, essentials, and beauty officer, Rick Gomez revealed that more than 1,500 items faced price cuts in the past month alone, including staples like frozen chicken breast, cheese, butter, and baby supplies, like diapers and cleansing wipes."
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The Daily "Near You?"

Wichita Falls, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Bill Bonner, "A Night at the Opera"

"A Night at the Opera"
The 12th Duke of Devonshire owns the castle at nearby Lismore -
 where we went on Saturday night. It was the Blackwater 
Opera Festival, the highlight of the social season in the area.
by Bill Bonner

Dublin, Ireland - "In our first visit, almost 30 years ago, Dublin was still a grim city on the Liffey. And it took three hours to drive... on little, winding roads... to get down to our office in Waterford. Eating out was not an easy matter back then; there were few good restaurants. And bars were still of the “old Ireland” vintage.

In one, we recall standing on a bed of sawdust and talking to an Irishman, both of us holding big tankards of Guinness. In the course of the conversation, our companion got drunker and drunker. And then, he fell down... not once, but three times. Remarkably - and perhaps as proof of his Old Ireland pedigree - he didn’t spill a drop of his beer.

But that charm has all been swept away by wealth and progress. Today, a modern highway system spreads out from Dublin. In just an hour and a half, you can zip along to Waterford. And the old pubs? Some are still there. Many have been turned into Italian... or Thai... or French restaurants. Even the Irish themselves have changed. “We think of ourselves as European,” explains a neighbor.

Like Europe, Ireland has become risk averse and law abiding. No more drinking at the pub until late at night. Now, dads share childcare... and put on helmets before riding a bicycle. Still, we ran into a little of the Old Ireland at home in Youghal over the weekend.

The Old Ireland: Colm is a man in his 40s. The weather was cool and breezy, but he was dressed only in jeans and a T-shirt, shod in a heavy pair of rubber boots. He came over with two chainsaws and offered to cut down some trees in exchange for the firewood. He had a youngish face, a bit like Michael J. Fox... with straight dark hair, gray on the edges, that bristled out like a toilet brush. After a few words of introduction, Colm lit a cigarette and bent to put gasoline in his chainsaws. Your editor stepped back. But Colm knew what he was doing. After cutting for a while, he came over to talk.

“I was down on the river yesterday,” he said, the cigarette still between his teeth. “When I’m not milking cows or cutting trees, I like to fish. I use the weir right down there.” Colm pointed down to a salmon weir on the river. It is a simple thing... a stockade made of ash sticks driven into the mud. The salmon, swimming upriver, get trapped in it. “I thought you weren’t allowed to fish in the river. The Duke of Devonshire has the fishing rights... hasn’t he had them since the 17th century... something like that?”

The 12th Duke of Devonshire owns the castle at nearby Lismore - where we went on Saturday night. It was the Blackwater Opera Festival, the highlight of the social season in the area. You dress up. You explore the extensive gardens, a glass of champagne in hand. Then you sit for a meal under a big tent and say hello to your friends.

Finally, a bell clangs to tell you it’s time for the opera to begin. Julius Caesar, by Handel, was on stage. And it was dreadful. Painfully boring. The arias were unbelievably repetitive. The music was uninspired, even dull. And the characters dressed and acted in ways that made little sense. Caesar was played by a woman. What message were they trying to convey? It wasn’t clear. Tolomeo, Cleopatra’s scheming brother (who had Pompey killed and sent the head as a gift to Caesar) was portrayed as a foolish, fat, gay man with a taste for gaudy outfits. Only Cleopatra was plausible.

Our mind wandered. How many people have died watching this opera, we wondered? It’s been around for hundreds of years. Yet, the show is so tedious, it must result in a substantial death toll. And for each one whose heart stopped, there must have been hundreds of others whose will to live was stretched to the breaking point.

As a point of American interest, Kathleen Kennedy, sister of JFK, once figured in the history of the castle. Despite the objections of her mother, Rose, she married a protestant, William Cavendish, (aka Billy Hartington) who was in line to become the 10th Duke of Devonshire. Unfortunately, he was killed in WWII only four months after their marriage. The title, and the fishing rights in the Blackwater River, went to his brother.

After a few years of widowhood, Kathleen, known as “Kick Kennedy,” took up with another British aristocrat, the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam. This time her mother threatened to disown her; her new squeeze was divorced. Kick flew to France, in 1948, to plead her case with her father and died in a plane crash.

“Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?” we asked Colm. “The Duke doesn’t have to know I’m out there. And I don’t take many fish; he won’t miss them. “And I did get caught. Once. I got home and there were two gardai (policemen) waiting for me. “But they didn’t know anything about the fishing rights. I told them I have a special license that gave me the right to fish out in the ocean or in the river. It was not exactly true... but who really wants to look out for the Duke of Devonshire’s fish? I invited them in. We had a drink. Then, they left. That’s how you settle problems in Ireland." (The Hutchs and the Kinahans should have thought of that.)

“But now, with your new neighbor [billionaire James Dyson bought the property next door], everything has changed. He has a security team. They drive around and keep everybody out. I can still come up the river, but I can’t come the way I used to... from the river bank. And over there (Colm pointed to the old abbey that has been in ruins since the ninth century), he even tried to prevent people from going to look at it. But that is sacred here in Ireland. No Englishman is going to come in here now and keep us from going there. Even if it is on his land.

They had closed the gates and told everyone they couldn’t come in. But then the security team got a visit from some old IRA guys. I guess they made it clear that if Dyson didn’t want his new house burned down, he would open up the gates. They were opened the next day.” Stay tuned."

Gregory Mannarino, "It Has Begun! And The Effect Of This Is Going To Be Widespread And Dramatic"

"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin

Your guide:
Gregory Mannarino, 6/5/24
"It Has Begun! And The Effect Of This Is 
Going To Be Widespread And Dramatic"
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"I Will..."

 

And so will you... Never give up!