"When We Have Time..."

“How small a portion of our life it is that we really enjoy. In youth we are looking forward to things that are to come; in old age, we are looking backwards to things that are gone past; in manhood, although we appear indeed to be more occupied in things that are present, yet even that is too often absorbed in vague determinations to be vastly happy on some future day, when we have time.”

- Charles Caleb Colton, “Lacon”

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“The problem is, you believe you have time.”

- Buddha

"Brace For A Sweeping Housing Bubble Burst As Rent And Home Prices Face Dramatic Crash"

Full screen recommended.

"Brace For A Sweeping Housing Bubble Burst 

As Rent And Home Prices Face Dramatic Crash"

by Epic Economist

"The U.S. housing bubble has finally burst, and real estate experts are warning that from ‘coast to coast,’ property values are set to face a sizable crash. Following the massive drop in home builder stocks last week, and lower-than-expected demand for mortgages in May, the housing market collapse is being aggravated by the dramatic surge in interest rates, which are fueling fears that a recession may be near. Affordability is only getting worse, and renters are suffering, too. This month, the median listed rent for a one-bedroom apartment rose above $2,000 for the first time ever. At this point, millions are already behind on their rent payments, and according to a new Bloomberg report, a tidal wave of evictions has begun.

In a backdrop of soaring mortgage rates, and rising treasury yields and borrowing costs, potential homebuyers are facing the most expensive housing prices on record. But as U.S. consumers grapple with higher prices for food, gas, and energy, roughly 19 million prospective buyers have been priced out of the market since January, according to a BlackKnight analysis of Fannie Mae data. And the softening demand has started to deflate the housing bubble much quicker than expected.

Housing starts in May dropped by 14.4% and given that mortgage rates are hovering around the 6% mark, it doesn’t seem likely that the demand will climb back up to where it was a year ago. As prices become too out of reach for many Americans, homes that would typically receive a couple of dozen offers last year aren’t getting a single offer anymore. Over the past two years, the median home price has jumped by 44%, now sitting above the $400,000 mark. In May, home prices surged for the 124th consecutive month, and when higher mortgage rates are added into that equation, the median pay for a median home has actually increased by a shocking 50%.

Rents are skyrocketing, too, causing overall housing affordability to collapse at its fastest rate on record and resulting in a lot of pain for financially drained renters. In the first three months of 2022, a period when the rental market typically cools, apartment occupancy actually hit an all-time high of an extraordinary 97.6%. Asking rents for new leases climbed 15.2% nationally, and far more than that in many places. And this month, the median listed rent for an available one-bedroom apartment rose above $2,000 a month for the first time in U.S. history.

These rent hikes are effectively serving as evictions by landlords who know very well that their tenants will likely have to move as a result, enabling them to rent out the newly vacant units to new tenants at significantly higher rates. According to a new Bloomberg report, more than eight million Americans are behind on rent payments and at risk of facing eviction in the next couple of months. The latest data shows that a tidal wave of evictions is underway. The Princeton University Eviction Lab shows that eviction filings have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels, shooting up by 80% in March and another 47% in May.

Meanwhile, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, Mark Zandi, is warning that the U.S. housing market is on the verge of a “coast to coast” price crash. In short, home price growth can't outrun income growth forever. And given that a smaller share of Americans can afford to buy a home in this environment, and sellers have already started to slash property prices, the 2021 housing boom has seemingly come full circle ending in a historic burst this year. A lot more volatility is coming for the U.S. housing market. This is just a hint of the devastating downturn that's approaching - the 2022 housing market crash has just begun!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "Insane! Russia WILL Use Tactical Nuclear Weapons"

Canadian Prepper, 6/28/22:

"Insane! Russia WILL Use Tactical Nuclear Weapons"

"Every indicator points towards a major escalation involving the use of low yield tactical nuclear weapons. When it happens there will be worldwide panic. NATO readies 300,000 troops, Russian Cruise missile stockpiles being depleted, Kyiv threatens Crimea, Lithuania hit with major cyberattack, Blockade of Russian outpost in Svalbard, Russia threatens WW3 over Crimean Threats, UK tells troops to prepare for War with Russia."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF6EOiI1DVU

Gerald Celente, "Peace? How Dare You? US And NATO Want War!"

Gerald Celente, Trends Journal, 6/28/22:5

Very Strong Language Alert!

"Peace? How Dare You? US And NATO Want War!"

- https://trendsresearch.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Tron Syversen, “Moonlight Reflections”

Full screen recommended.

Tron Syversen, “Moonlight Reflections”

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Grand design spiral galaxy Messier 99 looks majestic on a truly cosmic scale. This recently processed full galaxy portrait stretches over 70,000 light-years across M99. The sharp view is a combination of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared image data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

About 50 million light-years distant toward the well-groomed constellation Coma Bernices, the face-on spiral is a member of the nearby Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Also cataloged as NGC 4254, a close encounter with another Virgo cluster member has likely influenced the shape of its well-defined, blue spiral arms."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210624.html

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"Everything passes away - suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will still remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the earth. There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes towards the stars? Why?"

- Mikhail Bulgakov, "The White Guard"

The Poet: W. H. Auden, “The More Loving One”

“The More Loving One”

“Looking up at the stars, I know quite well

That, for all they care, I can go to hell,

But on earth indifference is the least

We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn

With a passion for us we could not return?

If equal affection cannot be,

Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am

Of stars that do not give a damn,

I cannot, now I see them, say

I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,

I should learn to look at an empty sky

And feel its total dark sublime,

Though this might take me a little time.”

- W. H. Auden

"The Crisis Of Competence"

"The Crisis Of Competence"

by The Zman

"One of the subtexts to the current war in the Ukraine is the fact that the West has been wrong about every aspect of the conflict. None of the predictions about the actual fighting have been correct. Even the propaganda has been hilariously wrong, often making the West look foolish. The economic response, which was supposed to be a fatal blow to Russia, has gone horribly wrong. Europe now faces an unprecedented energy shortage this fall and winter.

The bulk of the blame lies at the feet of the neoconservatives running foreign policy for the Global American Empire. The same cast of characters who were horrifically wrong about Iraq and Afghanistan in the Bush years have managed to turn a regional issue into a global disaster. London and Brussels, along with the provincials occupying legacy positions in national government share blame as well. They enthusiastically went along with a war plan that had no chance to succeed.

The degree of wrongness is a thing of beauty, when you can look at it from a purely objective point of view. Rolling dice, flipping coins or pulling policy ideas out of a hat would have had a better result. One could be forgiven for thinking that maybe this series of errors is somehow deliberate. Maybe that ridiculous bald guy from the World Economic Forum really is a super villain. The masters of the universe are setting the West ablaze so they can build back better.

The question that should be pondered is why has everything gone so terribly long for the collective West? One reason is competence. The Global American Empire is led by a man who barely knows where he is most of the time. In his prime, Joe Biden was known as an affable moron. In his dotage, he is a confused and incompetent old man unable to perform his duties. His handlers give him stage instructions for basic things like where and when to sit.

Biden is the bit of the iceberg we see. There is a whole apparatus around him that was instrumental in getting him into office. The Washington political community thought a dementia patient was better than Trump. That says nothing about Trump and everything about the people who engineered Biden’s ascension. People forget that the Democratic Party had to rig its own primary to get Biden the nomination. They never stopped to think what this would mean after the election.

Of course, this degree of incompetence is made possible by a political culture that is defensive, isolated and insulated. They picked Biden because he was the safest option to get rid of Trump. Biden’s primary appeal to the political class was that he was a vegetable they could move around however they pleased. Biden and his family were simply happy to fill the role and play their part. He also provided the best chance of liberating the city from the scourge of Trump people.

That decision gets to the insularity of the political class, not just in Washington, but across the collective West. These are people without any understanding of the societies over which they rule. When you look at the resumes of these people, the common feature is no experience in the dreaded private sector. Politics has been their life since they were adults. In fact, we have reached a point where private sector experience raises suspicion in the political class.

These are people who simply have no idea how things work. They just take for granted that things work. Like the heirs of a family business, the political class has spent their life in a system without ever having to think about how it came into being. The system of power they command is a permanent feature of life. The only variable is who will have control of the institutions of power. That is politics, the game of verbal chess which picks the winners and losers in the system.

Therein lies the other cause of this unfolding disaster. The West is a collection of people who deal in words exclusively. They have never done anything, other than talk about making other people do things. Nancy Pelosi has been in Washington for eighty years and there is no single physical thing she can point to, other than her ten-thousand-dollar freezer, as a product of her political career. When she is dead, the next wave will wash away her footprints in the sand and she will be forgotten.

On the other side of this fight is a different system, one that is the result of people doing things and rising in the ranks as a consequence. Putin is a man who had to navigate a world where failure meant prison or death. When that world collapsed, he had to navigate a world of chaos. When he gained power, he then had to impose order, often taking on powerful oligarchs backed by Western interests. Putin and his ruling circle are a collection of men who do things, not just talk about things.

Six months ago, the West was prepared to give the Russians a good tongue lashing, cancel her from the internet and de-platform her from the financial system. On the other side, the Russians prepared to fight a war against a well-armed and prepared enemy in Ukraine and a well-armed and prepared West on the world stage. One side was ready for a battle of words while the other side was ready for a battle of actions. It turns out that words count for a lot less than actions.

All civilizations have periods of incompetence. The Russians suffered through the Gorbachev and Yeltsin periods. The difference for the West is that the system has been selecting for bourgeois obsequiousness for a long time. The reason Washington is run by fossils is the next in line is much worse than the geezers. Mitch McConnell knows something about running the party. Kevin McCarthy was selected because no one in power worried that he would be a challenge.

The crisis of the West is that it is now run by a managerial class that was selected for being the teacher’s pet, ticking the right box on a form and making sure to never utter a discouraging word around the boss. It is why presidents have been increasingly ridiculous since the Cold War. Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and now Biden are all mileposts in the decline of competence. Next up is Kamala Harris, an absurd manifestation of a system that selects against competence."

- https://thezman.com/

"The Joke..."

"The joke was thinking you were ever really in charge of your life. You pressed your oar down into the water to direct the canoe, but it was the current that shot you through the rapids. You just hung on and hoped not to hit a rock or a whirlpool."

- Scott Turow

The Daily "Near You?"

Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen, Germany. Thanks for stopping by!

"Just Paddling While The Empire Burns"

"Just Paddling While The Empire Burns"

by Jim Quinn

"The phrase “fiddling while Rome burns” is an intriguing idiom, referencing the great fire which ravaged Rome for six days in 64 A.D. and the legend that Nero, one of the most sadistic, decadent, and cruel rulers of all-time, instead of taking action to stop the fire, played his lyre while composing a song about Rome’s destruction. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that Nero was rumored to have sung about the destruction of Rome while watching the city burn but it’s likely this was just a myth.

The fire destroyed seventy percent of the city and left half the population homeless. There are those who believe Nero set the fire on purpose, especially after he used land cleared by the fire to build his Golden Palace and its surrounding pleasure gardens. Being a soulless autocrat at heart, Nero did what all feckless politicians do, he blamed the Christians (an obscure religious sect at the time) for the fire and had many arrested and executed.

Whether this story is true or just a parable, the messages are pertinent throughout history, and never more so than now. Occupying one’s time doing inconsequential things while a catastrophic event is underway is the ultimate in leadership failure. Focusing on trivial matters while your people are suffering during a time of crisis is the mark of an ineffectual irresponsible leader or one whose true purpose is to burn down society so it can be “built back better” in the form of a communist totalitarian state ruled by a globalist elite cabal.

One cannot ignore the parallels to our American empire in flames as Biden, the hordes of hyena politicians in Washington DC, their captured corporate propaganda media mouthpieces, central banker fiat printing enablers, and the Davos billionaire cadre are attempting a controlled burn of our world, but it has become a conflagration destined to rage out of control and consume the planet in flames.

We are most certainly living in a time of crisis, as this Fourth Turning hastens towards our rendezvous with destiny. Not only is the American empire burning in an abstract sense, but once the ANTIFA, BLM and pro-abortion terrorist groups (all funded by Soros and Gates) hit the streets, the country is literally burning. The chaos, havoc, violence, and vitriol are all being engineered by the puppeteers/invisible government who control the minds of the masses through media manipulation, non-stop propaganda, technological deceit, and social indoctrination through government schooling. It was succinctly described by Edward Bernays nearly a century ago and has been perfected by those in governing the world today.

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” – Edward Bernays – "Propaganda" (1928) pp. 9–10

I wonder if the people of Rome were as baffled by their emperor’s total disregard for their well-being and safety as their city burned to the ground as the minority of critical thinking Americans are today watching Biden, his Obama handlers, and their toadies in congress systematically burn our once great republic to the ground. There is no doubt Biden is an incompetent, low IQ, hapless, dementia ridden, racist, pedophile, but what is happening in this country and across the globe is not due to incompetence, but a purposeful destruction of all productive structures, small businesses, Constitutional rights, and societal norms, in order to implement a totalitarian techno-gulag across the world run by a global elite of billionaires and their evil apparatchiks.

A crucial aspect of this New World Order is a massive depopulation of the planet to the desired number of serfs needed to do the slave labor necessary to keep the overlords in luxury and splendor. Private jets, yachts and fenced luxurious 25 bathroom mansions with private armed security for them. The serfs will own nothing, eat bugs, and be happy, or be swiftly terminated, since guns will have been outlawed. Our nation is beset by traitors within.

The pockets of firestorms swirling out of control across the world, purposely ignited by those running the show, makes it difficult to distinguish between fires detonated as distractions and the real inferno destined to reduce the world to ashes. Everything roiling the world over the last twenty-seven months has been initiated and/or utilized by the ruling oligarchs to implement their master plan of “building back better” after they burn the world to the ground. Even the distractions are designed to further their agenda. The latest distraction being the Supreme Court ruling on abortion.

The lunatic left is rioting and protesting in left wing cities where they can murder an unborn child any time they want, while woke corporations’ virtue signal, and insane females have mental breakdowns on Tik Tok. It gives the left-wing media something to scream about other than the January 6 “insurrection” hearings that no one watched. Pride month is nothing but a giant distraction, where drag queens, teachers grooming children, and transgender bullshit are jammed down our throats while corporations attempt to capitalize on the worship of abnormality to increase their profits. The government has achieved the goal put forth by William Casey in 1981."

Please view this complete article here:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Economy: Prepare For A Worst Case Scenario; Bank Of America Warns!"

Gregory Mannarino, 6/28/22:

"Economy: Prepare For A Worst Case Scenario; 

Bank Of America Warns!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Gonzalo Lira, "Russian Default Hurts The West - Not Russia"

 Gonzalo Lira,PM 6/28/22:

"Russian Default Hurts The West - Not Russia"

"More Stimulus Checks Are Coming In California- No Matter How Bad Things Are"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 6/28/22:

"More Stimulus Checks Are Coming In California-

No Matter How Bad Things Are"

"Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in. The state of California and other states have offered more stimulus checks. They are calling these inflation checks right now."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

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Gas prices 6/28/22:

- https://gasprices.aaa.com/

"Strange Prices At Meijer! More Empty Shelves!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 6/28/22:

"Strange Prices At Meijer! More Empty Shelves!"

"In today's vlog we are at Meijer, and are noticing some strange price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"

Gregory Mannarino, "Critical Updates! What You Must Know Now. Expect Years Of Sky High Prices"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 6/28/22:

"Critical Updates! What You Must Know Now. 

Expect Years Of Sky High Prices"

- https://traderschoice.net/

“The Return of Industrial Warfare” (Excerpt)

“The Return of Industrial Warfare”

Can the West still provide the arsenal of democracy?

by Alex Vershinin

Excerpt: "The war in Ukraine has proven that the age of industrial warfare is still here. The massive consumption of equipment, vehicles and ammunition requires a large-scale industrial base for resupply – quantity still has a quality of its own. The mass scale combat has pitted 250,000 Ukrainian soldiers, together with 450,000 recently mobilized citizen soldiers against about 200,000 Russian and separatist troops. The effort to arm, feed and supply these armies is a monumental task. Ammunition resupply is particularly onerous. For Ukraine, compounding this task are Russian deep fires capabilities, which target Ukrainian military industry and transportation networks throughout the depth of the country. The Russian army has also suffered from Ukrainian cross-border attacks and acts of sabotage, but at a smaller scale. The rate of ammunition and equipment consumption in Ukraine can only be sustained by a large-scale industrial base.

This reality should be a concrete warning to Western countries, who have scaled down military industrial capacity and sacrificed scale and effectiveness for efficiency. This strategy relies on flawed assumptions about the future of war, and has been influenced by both the bureaucratic culture in Western governments and the legacy of low-intensity conflicts. Currently, the West may not have the industrial capacity to fight a large-scale war. If the US government is planning to once again become the arsenal of democracy, then the existing capabilities of the US military-industrial base and the core assumptions that have driven its development need to be re-examined.

Estimating Ammo Consumption: There is no exact ammunition consumption data available for the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Neither government publishes data, but an estimate of Russian ammunition consumption can be calculated using the official fire missions data provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense during its daily briefing.

Number of Russian Daily Fire Missions, 19–31 May:

Date Fire Missions

31 710

30 710

29 717

28 542

27 499

26 526

25 490

24 684

23 688

22 700

21 735

20 251

19 356

Average 585.2308

Although these numbers mix tactical rockets with conventional, hard-shell artillery, it is not unreasonable to assume that a third of these missions were fired by rocket troops because they form a third of a motorized rifle brigade’s artillery force, with two other battalions being tube artillery. This suggests 390 daily missions fired by tube artillery. Each tube artillery strike is conducted by a battery of six guns total. However, combat and maintenance breakdowns are likely to reduce this number to four. With four guns per battery and four rounds per gun, the tube artillery fires about 6,240 rounds per day. We can estimate an additional 15% wastage for rounds that were set on the ground but abandoned when the battery moved in a hurry, rounds destroyed by Ukrainian strikes on ammunition dumps, or rounds fired but not reported to higher command levels. This number comes up to 7,176 artillery rounds a day. It should be noted that the Russian Ministry of Defense only reports fire missions by forces of the Russian Federation. These do not include formations from the Donetsk and Luhansk separatist republics, which are treated as different countries. The numbers are not perfect, but even if they are off by 50%, it still does not change the overall logistics challenge."

Please view this complete article here:

- https://rusi.org/

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Hat tip to Gonzalo Lira for referring this material.

- https://coyoteprimeblog2.blogspot.com/

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Related:

"Congress Is Bringing Back The Idea Of A ‘Limited’ Nuclear War"

Gonzalo Lira, "The Sitzkrieg We’re In"

Gonzalo Lira, 6/28/22:

"The Sitzkrieg We’re In"

"Because I've lost access to all my accounts and channels to the SBU (Ukraine's secret police), I don't have any way to promote my content - so please be so kind as to share this video with anyone whom you think might learn something. GL"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-BzyGQ_XSg

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My only other social media: - https://twitter.com/GonzaloLira1968

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“The Return of Industrial Warfare” (Must Read) 

"NATO Is Going To War! Ex-CIA Just Warned Me About What's Coming... Prepare Now"

Canadian Prepper, 6/27/22:

"NATO Is Going To War! Ex-CIA Just Warned

 Me About What's Coming...Prepare Now"

"I just had a two and half hour call with a former CIA agent and nuclear weapons specialist. The situation is far worse than our leaders are telling us. What happens next is going to catch everyone off guard."

"30 Stats To Show To Anyone That Does Not Believe The Middle Class Is Being Destroyed"

Full screen recommended.

"30 Stats To Show To Anyone That Does Not

 Believe The Middle Class Is Being Destroyed"

by Epic Economist

"If you know someone that still doesn't believe the U.S. middle class is literally falling apart, show them this video because by the end of it, they will probably have a different opinion. Overall, the long-term trends that have been eviscerating the middle class just continued to accelerate in the past few years. The percentage of middle-class jobs has significantly shrunk while the wealth of the typical American household has fallen precipitously. Homes are still the main asset class helping American families climb the income ladder, however, the rate of homeownership has been steadily declining as housing costs exploded all across the country. Now, we're seeing millions of middle-class households struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. And yet, the decline of the U.S. middle-class is a crisis we're not properly paying attention to.

Inflation has actually been squeezing the middle class for decades, but official numbers mask this reality. For instance, everyday expenses for middle- and low-income families rose 40% beyond what the Consumer Price Index would indicate, more than wiping out a middle-income worker’s gains. Another example of this is that between 2001 and 2020, rents shot up by 150%, at the same time, the official measure of housing costs only grew by a mere 54%. As housing prices soar, middle-class households with median annual incomes of $100,000 can only purchase homes in 36% of the country’s markets whose value is below $428,700 – and that’s assuming they already have a 20% down payment on hand. This also means that the middle class is now locked out of 64% of housing markets, BlackKnight data shows.

The skyrocketing prices of fuel, food, housing, and other necessities are extremely disconcerting to Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. Despite recent wage gains, 64% of the entire population was living paycheck to paycheck in March, meaning that over two-thirds of Americans reportedly said they had “little or nothing left at the end of the month after expenses," according to a LendingClub survey. Even rich people are living paycheck to paycheck. LendingClub reported that more than one-third, or 36%, of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers in the U.S. earn at least $250,000, suggesting that inflation is affecting how Americans of all income levels handle their budgets.

According to the National Institute on Retirement Security, 62% percent of middle-class Americans are worried about not having enough for retirement. Tyler Bond, the institute’s ​​research manager said that the US "can no longer afford retirement". A new report from the National Institute on Retirement Security found that the tax breaks designed to encourage Americans’ retirement savings disproportionately benefit high-income households and do little to assist middle-class families.

There are so many families out there facing financial hardships right now. So many husbands and wives constantly fighting with one another about money without even understanding that the position they're at right now is the result of decades of terrible decisions made by our so-called leaders. Without the middle-class, America loses its foundation. And as this group gets smaller and smaller, poverty is gradually spreading across the nation.

That's why today, we compiled 30 statistics that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class in America is being systematically destroyed."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

"If You Don't Hold Your Money You Will Lose It; Prepare For Massive Economic Slowdown"

Jeremiah Babe, 6/27/22:

"If You Don't Hold Your Money You Will Lose It;

 Prepare For Massive Economic Slowdown"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Crisis Situation: There Is Not Enough Debt In The System! (You Are Not Supposed To Know This)"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 6/27/22:

"Crisis Situation: There Is Not Enough Debt In The System! 

(You Are Not Supposed To Know This)"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Neil H, "Candlelight Dreams"

Neil H, "Candlelight Dreams"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way. Back in the old days, back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy. Today, there are less than 200 left. Many globular clusters were destroyed over the eons by repeated fateful encounters with each other or the Galactic center. Surviving relics are older than any Earth fossil, older than any other structures in our Galaxy, and limit the universe itself in raw age.

There are few, if any, young globular clusters in our Milky Way Galaxy because conditions are not ripe for more to form. Pictured above by the Hubble Space Telescope are about 100,000 of M72's stars. M72, which spans about 50 light years and lies about 50,000 light years away, can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Water Bearer (Aquarius).”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120819.html 

The Poet: Thomas Centolella, "Splendor"

"Splendor"

"One day it's the clouds,

one day the mountains.

One day the latest bloom of roses-

the pure monochromes, the dazzling hybrids-

inspiration for the cathedral's round windows.

Every now and then there's the splendor of thought:

the singular idea and its brilliant retinue-

words, cadence, point of view,

little gold arrows flitting between the lines.

And too the splendor of no thought at all:

hands lying calmly in the lap,

or swinging a six iron with effortless tempo.

More often than not splendor is the star we orbit

without a second thought,

especially as it arrives and departs.

One day it's the blue glassy bay,

one day the night and its array of jewels,

visible and invisible.

Sometimes it's the warm clarity

of a face that finds your face

and doesn't turn away.

Sometimes a kindness, unexpected,

that will radiate farther than you might imagine.

One day it's the entire day itself,

each hour foregoing its number and name,

its cumbersome clothes,

a day that says come as you are,

large enough for fear and doubt,

with room to spare: the most secret

wish, the deepest, the darkest,

turned inside out."

- Thomas Centolella

"Huxley vs. Orwell"

"Huxley vs. Orwell"

by Neil Postman

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one...

Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism... 

Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. 

Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance...

Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy...

As Huxley remarked in 'Brave New World Revisited', the civil libertarians and the rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In '1984,' Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In 'Brave New World,' they are controlled by inflicting pleasure...In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

Huxley was quite obviously correct...

"The Right to Bear Arms"

"The Right to Bear Arms"

by Jeff Thomas

“Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”

– General John Stark

"In recent decades, the US government has been doing its best to find a way to limit the ability of its people to bear arms. And, in turn, the people respond vehemently that their Constitution guarantees them the right to bear arms. Regardless of which side of the argument any particular American is on, I’ve almost never met one who knows what caused this right to be written in the Constitution.

Countless Americans believe that they have the right to bear arms, so that they can protect themselves and their homes from burglars or other miscreants. Others, particularly those who live in rural areas, believe in the right to go hunting if they wish. Whilst both of these concerns are reasonable, they’re not by any means the reason why the founding fathers were so adamant that the right to bear arms is critical.

The Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment, was passed by the US Congress in 1791, some eighteen months after the ratification of the Constitution in 1790. The reason why it was considered essential by the framers leads directly back to the Gunpowder Incident in 1776.

In 1774, in Boston, a meeting of the First Continental Congress took place to discuss the introduction of the Intolerable Acts by Britain, including the seizure by the British of gunpowder that was stored in Charlestown. In addition, Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, prohibited the importation of further supplies of gunpowder.

In Boston, this generated discussion, but no action. But in Williamsburg, then the capitol of Virginia, the reaction was quite different. There, the colonists, in early 1776, began to form armed militias. Governor Dunmore (the ruling British representative in the colony) decided to repeat the Boston seizure in Virginia. Just down the street from the Governor’s mansion, in the House of Burgesses, Patrick Henry had just delivered an impassioned speech in which he proclaimed, "Give me liberty or give me death."

Around the corner from the Governor’s mansion was the Magazine (pictured above), where gunpowder and armaments were stored by the Crown for the protection of the colony from Indian attacks or other disturbances. Governor Dunmore ordered that the gunpowder be removed from the Magazine to limit the colonists’ ability to resist official diktat. As it was being removed to a British ship anchored in the James River, a few colonists discovered the fact and alerted others.

The city council demanded its return, stating that it was the property of the colony and not the Crown. Patrick Henry led the Hanover County Militia – about 150 men - to Williamsburg to reclaim the gunpowder. A wealthy (and loyalist) plantation owner paid £330 for the powder, to calm Henry, who was then charged with extortion by Lord Dunmore. Dunmore’s popularity quickly waned. He left Williamsburg and attempted to continue his rule from a British ship, offshore.

Virginia’s government was taken over by a Committee of Safety and Henry became the now-independent state’s first governor in July, three months after the seizure. The Gunpowder incident not only led directly to the creation of the Second Amendment. It led directly to the independence and liberty of the American people. Think that over for a moment, with regard to the present times.

Now, as I’m British, it would be fair (though possibly incorrect) to suggest that I cannot be trusted to comment on the independence of the American colonies from Britain. So, let’s ask the American founding fathers for their views. Although very few Americans can actually name them, there were seven, and they all had something to say about what they learned from the Gunpowder Incident.

George Washington - "A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined..." - First Annual Address, to Congress, 8th January, 1790

John Adams - "To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of towns, counties or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a dissolution of the government." - Stated during the drafting of the Second Amendment, 1780.

Thomas Jefferson - "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." - Letter from Jefferson to John Cartwright, 5th June, 1824.

James Madison - "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country." - Annals of Congress 434, 8th June, 1789.

Benjamin Franklin - "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Alexander Hamilton – "If circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens." - Federalist #28, 10th January, 1788.

John Jay – "Government that wants away citizens right to bear arms is unworthy of trust." – Date unknown

And a final one from Thomas Jefferson, from a letter to James Madison in 1787: "What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms."

But perhaps the most succinct quote from that time is from George Mason, stating in the Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, 14th June, 1788, "To disarm the people... is the most effectual way to enslave them." These are indeed words to be remembered. Just as all governments will do their utmost to prevent their citizens from being armed, so too should those citizens do their utmost to be armed."

- internationalman.com

"Acceptance..."

"Acceptance is a crucial step forward for those who prefer the idea of living this life over simply existing within it. Accept all that you've said and what you've done, because you cannot change your past. Accept the idea of the unknown, because the future is the unknown waiting patiently to reveal itself. Accept the person you have become thus far in your journey, because you are the only person who will be there with you when you finish it. Do all of this so that you may never find yourself having to accept regret that haunts you at two a.m., leaving you sweaty and broken hearted. All you have is this minute; not this hour, or this day, or this year. Live in this minute so that you won't get stuck simply existing with your guilty past, or with nothing but anxiety for the future."

- Margaret E. Rise

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