"There Are Times..."

"There are times the lies get to me, times I weary of battering myself against the obstacles of denial, hatred, fear-induced stupidity, and greed, times I want to curl up and fall into the problem, let it sweep me away as it so obviously sweeps away so many others. I remember a spring day a few years ago, a spring day much like this one, only a little more sun, and warmer. I sat on this same couch and looked out this same window at the same ponderosa pine.

I was frightened, and lonely. Frightened of a future that looks dark, and darker with each passing species, and lonely because for every person actively trying to shut down the timber industry, stop abuse, or otherwise bring about a sustainable and sane way of living, there are thousands who are helping along this not-so-slow train to oblivion. I began to cry.

The tears stopped soon enough. I realized we are not so outnumbered. We are not outnumbered at all. I looked closely, and saw one blade of wild grass, and another. I saw the sun reflecting bright off the needles of pine trees, and I heard the hum of flies. I saw ants walking single file through the dust, and a spider crawling toward the corner of the ceiling. I knew in that moment, as I've known ever since, that it is no longer possible to be lonely, that every creature on earth is pulling in the direction of life- every grasshopper, every struggling salmon, every unhatched chick, every cell of every blue whale - and it is only our own fear that sets us apart. All humans, too, are struggling to be sane, struggling to live in harmony with our surroundings, but it's really hard to let go. And so we lie, destroy, rape, murder, experiment, and extirpate, all to control this wildly uncontrollable symphony, and failing that, to destroy it."

- Derrick Jensen, 

"A Language Older Than Words"

Graham Nash and David Crosby, “Wind On The Water”

"As I rocked in the moonlight,

And reefed the sail.

It'll happen to you

Also without fail,

If it happens to me.

Sang the world's last whale."

- Pete Seeger

“Wind On The Water”

by Graham Nash and David Crosby

"Over the years you have been hunted
by the men who threw harpoons,
And in the long run he will kill you
just to feed the pets we raise,
put the flowers in your vase,
and make the lipstick for your face.
Over the years you swam the ocean
Following feelings of your own,
Now you are washed up on the shoreline,
I can see your body lie,
It's a shame you have to die
to put the shadow on our eye.
Maybe we'll go,
Maybe we'll disappear,
It's not that we don't know,
It's just that we don't want to care.
Under the bridges,
Over the foam,
Wind on the water
Carry me home."

○

"Requiem"

 

“The crucified planet Earth,

should it find a voice and a sense of irony,

might now well say of our abuse of it,

"Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do."

The irony would be that we know what we are doing.

When the last living thing has died on account of us,

how poetical it would be if Earth could say,

in a voice floating up perhaps

from the floor of the Grand Canyon,

"It is done. People did not like it here.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

"Winding Up Americans"

"Winding Up Americans"

by Jeff Thomas

"For the last four years, Americans have become increasingly polarized – divided between Democrat crusaders who are determined to save America from becoming a racist, sexist Nazi dictatorship under Donald Trump, versus Republican crusaders who are determined to save America from becoming a liberal Marxist state under a Democratic reign.

This fervor has become so extreme that families can no longer meet for the holidays without a conversational blow-up. No longer are people "entitled to their opinions." This has become a crusade between Good and Evil. ("I’m good. You’re evil.") The absurd nature of this dichotomy has reached the point that even Dr. Phil is increasing his viewership by featuring disputes between siblings who are on opposite sides of the political divide and are no longer speaking to each other.

At this point, all that remains to be done by the networks would be to air a Red versus Blue television game show in which contestants compete with their own family members to "Win the White House."

Until November, the great majority of Americans appear to have been hoping that the November election would end this strife one way or the other. My take on this has been that the opposite would happen after 3rd November. The fireworks would increase exponentially after the election. The election would be hotly contested by whomever was the apparent loser.

This should easily have been foreseen, as the media on the right have insisted for months that the Democrat encouragement for mail-in ballots was a precursor to election fraud. Similarly, the media on the left have insisted for months that Donald Trump’s suggestion that he may not accept the election results meant that he was planning a coup after he (presumably inevitably) lost the election.

And now, the battle has been met. It’s been estimated that 93% of all Fox watchers are Republicans and 95% of MSNBC watchers are Democrats. Since neither side watches the other’s news program, each side is cognizant of only its own team’s heavily slanted rhetoric.

The conservative media is awash with details of voter fraud by Democrats, whilst the liberal media states with equal conviction that Mister Trump and his lawyers have provided no details whatever. Therefore, those who voted Republican will conclude by watching their own "unbiased" news channel that Democrats have tried to steal the election and thereby steal control of the country. And those who voted Democrat will conclude by watching their own "unbiased" news channel that Republicans have tried to steal the election and thereby steal control of the country.

But how did this get to be so bad? Americans have not been so wound up – nor so polarized – since 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War. Indeed, the post-election fervor is as strong as though Fort Sumter had just been fired upon. More importantly, what will be the outcome?

Will the courts rule against the claims of Mister Trump? If so, that decision will enrage an already angry right-wing crowd, refusing to vacate the White House and defending it against the pinko mob. Or will the courts rule in favor of Mister Trump? If so, that decision will unleash nationwide riots, intent on bringing down the evil dictator.

Either way, we can anticipate that the US will be in flames. If for any reason the level of strife is insufficient, those with deep pockets will hire squads of shills as mercenary soldiers. The populace will be in terror. Republican voters will beg the federal government to bring in the troops to contain Antifa and the BLM mob. Democratic voters will beg the federal government to bring in the troops to quell the Republican militias.

In such an upheaval, the one thing both sides will have in common is that they will both beg for the creation of a police state. And the federal government will answer that call. Martial law would be declared, possibly as a "temporary measure," until normalcy has returned. But what if normalcy does not return? What if pockets of violence continue to pop up all over the map with regularity? If that occurs, martial law would need to continue for as long as it was deemed necessary, which would be likely to translate into a permanent police state.

At one time, the media was for the most part impartial and benign, but in recent decades it has been bought out by four large corporations. And some of those corporations own and direct both liberal and conservative networks, which would seem to be at odds with each other. However, they are not. Today, the objective of the media is not to offer news. It is to create strife – to pit one half of the electorate against the other. In doing so, the ruling elite have the justification to lock down the entire USA under martial law. Once that has been accomplished, the elite may do as they please. As in all countries where a police state has been achieved – such as Nazi Germany, Mao’s China or Stalin’s Russia – once military control has been put into place nationwide, meaningful protest ends.

In each of the above cases, the populace was whipped up into a frenzy of hate and violence against the Jews or the aristocracy or whatever other demon had been invented. But the real objective and the result were the subjugation of the populace. The American populace has been programmed like windup toys, with the ruling elite winding up the keys on their backs as tightly as they will go. When the levers are released, Americans will act dramatically and, in many cases, blindly.

Economically, politically, and socially, the United States seems to be headed down a path that’s not only inconsistent with the founding principles of the country, but accelerating quickly toward boundless decay. In the years ahead, there will likely be much less stability of any kind.

At this point, it’s not too late for people to stand back, take a deep breath and ask themselves if they’re not being conned into their own subjugation. But it would appear that they’ve been wound up so tightly that such objectivity is unlikely to occur. However, if they do not, they risk losing what remains of their once-proud democracy."

- https://internationalman.com/

Critically Important! The Still Report, "Expert Witness Election Fraud in All Battleground States"

The Still Report,

 "Expert Witness Election Fraud in All Battleground States"

Start at 00:38 to avoid commercial.

○

Related:

"The 'Smartest Man In The Room' Just Joined Sidney Powell's Team"

"Election 2020: The US Constitution Goes to Court, 

Or, 'Vaccinating America’s Political Virus'”

○

So, it seems the reported Delta Force raid on the CIA server farm in Frankfurt, Germany is factual, and the very servers used in this massive fraud have been recovered...

"US Special Forces Raid and Capture CIA 

Server Farm in Frankfurt, Germany?"

Do you remember the traditional penalty for treason?

Must Watch! “Restaurant Apocalypse; Americans Are Stressed Out; Home Prices Over-Inflated; Credit Destruction”

Jeremiah Babe,

“Restaurant Apocalypse; Americans Are Stressed Out;

 Home Prices Over-Inflated; Credit Destruction”

Everywhere and everything... Pardon me, but we're absolutely, 

totally FUBAR'd in every conceivable way, shape and form...

and God help us, the worst is yet to come...

A Suggestion, Mr. President

 

Gregory Mannarino, “In Our Faces! Extreme (Dangerous) Fakery, Something Sinister Is Going On Here”

Gregory Mannarino

“In Our Faces! Extreme (Dangerous) Fakery,

Something Sinister Is Going On Here”

- https://traderschoice.net/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Sea of Dreams"

 

2002, "Sea of Dreams"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Cradled in cosmic dust and glowing hydrogen, stellar nurseries in Orion the Hunter lie at the edge of a giant molecular cloud some 1,500 light-years away. Spanning nearly 25 degrees, this breath-taking vista stretches across the well-known constellation from head to toe (top to bottom). The Great Orion Nebula, the closest large star forming region, is right of center. To its left are the Horsehead Nebula, M78, and Orion's belt stars. Red giant Betelgeuse is at the hunter's shoulder, bright blue Rigel at his foot, and the glowing Lambda Orionis (Meissa) nebula at the far left, near Orion's head. 

Of course, the Orion Nebula and bright stars are easy to see with the unaided eye, but dust clouds and emission from the extensive interstellar gas in this nebula-rich complex, are too faint and much harder to record. In this mosaic of broadband telescopic images, additional image data acquired with a narrow hydrogen alpha filter was used to bring out the pervasive tendrils of energized atomic hydrogen gas and the arc of the giant Barnard's Loop.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101023.html

"People Who Don’t Get It: Living with It"

"People Who Don’t Get It: Living with It"

by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"When dealing with people who seem very unaware, remember that everyone must find their own way to awakening. You may be someone who understands the true nature of reality, perceiving deeply that we all emanate from the same source, that we are all essentially one, and that we are here on earth to love one another. To understand this is to be awakened to the true nature of the self, and it is a blessing. Nevertheless, people who just don’t get it are seemingly everywhere and, often, in positions of power. It can be frustrating and painful to watch them behave unconsciously. We all encounter individuals of this bent in our families, at work, and in all areas of public life. It is easy to find ourselves feeling intolerant of these people, wishing we could be free of them even though we know that separation from them is an illusion.

It helps sometimes to think of us all as different parts of one psyche. Just as within our own hearts and minds we have dark places that need healing, the heart and mind of the world has its dark places. The health of the whole organism depends upon the relative health of the individuals within it. We increase harmony when we hold onto the light, not allowing it to be darkened by judgment, anger, and fear about those who behave unconsciously. It’s easier to accomplish this if we don’t focus on the negative qualities of individuals and instead focus on how increasing our own light will increase the light of the overall picture.

When dealing with people who seem very unconscious, it helps to remember that every one must find their own way to awakening and that the experiences they are having are an essential part of their process. Holding them in the light of our own energy may be the best way to awaken theirs. At the same time, we are inspired by their example to look within and shed light on our own unconscious places, sacrificing the urge to judge and surrendering instead to humble self-inquiry."

- https://www.dailyom.com/

"I Keep Saying That..."

"Angel: Well, I guess I kinda worked it out. If there's no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters... then all that matters is what we do. 'Cause that's all there is. What we do. Now. Today. I fought for so long, for redemption, for a reward, and finally just to beat the other guy, but I never got it.

Kate Lockley: And now you do?

Angel: Not all of it. All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because, I don't think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there's no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.

Kate Lockley: Yikes. It sounds like you've had an epiphany.

Angel: I keep saying that, but nobody's listening."

- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512846/quotes

Free Download: "The Essential Rumi"

"All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there. Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul? I cannot stop asking. If I could taste one sip of an answer, I could break out of this prison for drunks. I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way. Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home."

- Rumi, "The Tavern," Ch. 1:, p. 2, from "The Essential Rumi"

Freely download "The Essential Rumi" here:

- https://littlethingsaboutmeeh.files.wordpress.com/

"The Great Thing About The Internet..."

"The great thing about the internet is that you get to meet people you

would otherwise only meet if you were committed to the same asylum."

- Robert Brault

"Life Behind the Mask"

"Life Behind the Mask"

By Bill Bonner

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "Back in the U.S., we are woozy… out of phase. Like a wilting orchid in the Arctic. We landed in Miami. It felt like a foreign country. We rented a car. The idea was to drive up the coast, pausing to visit friends and family.

First, we were surprised at how many people were in the airport and how many cars there were on I-95. We didn’t think the Plague had let so many get away.

We stopped for the night in Savannah. The old part of the city is gracious and beautiful. It was designed in 1733. Even back then, people knew how to lay out an attractive town. It is surprising that they’ve built so many ugly ones since then. There, too, there were people out and about… all wearing masks, of course. It was as if everyone decided to rob a bank at the same time.

Puzzling and Strange: Yesterday, back on the family farm in Maryland, for a moment, we were puzzled to see the sun to the south of us. For the last nine months, it has reliably arced across the northern sky. And it was low. Even at noon, it barely rose above the treetops. A week ago, it was almost directly overhead. And then, in the hardware store, we were caught off guard again: “Sir, you have to wear a face mask to come in here.”

Everywhere you go, people are wearing the holy rag. Even old friends are hard to recognize. Catching up with them is odd, too. One said she “didn’t feel comfortable” coming for a visit with the coronavirus on the loose. Another said his family had not celebrated Thanksgiving. The risk was low, he admitted, but “why take chances?”

Taking Chances: Of course, taking chances is what we do. We cross the street. We eat mushrooms. We fall in love. Heck, we even invade foreign countries. We run risks all our lives. From our first whimper – as soon as we leave our mothers’ wombs – to the final sound of mud falling on our coffins… life is risks – and rewards.

But do face masks reduce the risk? Last week, many dear readers wrote to say that we were wrong about face masks. They are scientifically proven to work, they say. They especially insisted that masks “protect other people” from your germs. The very next day, a news item in The Daily Beast suggested that they were right: "New CDC Study Shows Mask Orders Work – No Matter What Governors Think":

"A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control on Friday adds to the evidence that mask mandates do, in fact, slow the spread of the coronavirus. The researchers looked at Kansas while it was in the throes of a surge this summer. Gov. Laura Kelly implemented a statewide mask requirement, but counties were allowed to opt out of it. Some did and some did not, giving epidemiologists a chance to do side-by-side comparisons. And what they found was clear-cut: counties that abided by Kelly’s mandate saw their cases drop 6 percent, while those that shunned a mandate saw increases of 100 percent."

But “slowing the spread” is not the same as keeping you from dying. Is it a good idea to “slow the spread”? Or would it be better to isolate those at risk… and let the virus spread quickly, so that life could get back to normal?

Social Science: Of course, we don’t know. And neither does anyone else. This is social science… not real science. It involves not just the actions of a virus… but the actions of humans, too. And in human activity… there’s always more to the story. There’s risk… and reward. A 90-year-old may be safer if he locks himself in his house and refuses to see his granddaughter. But where’s the reward?

In the Financial Times is a report that in China, one of the main places the virus spreads is in ballroom dancing classes. But who would want to give that up? It may be safer to drive under 30 mph… but it will take a long time to go from Miami to Annapolis. Besides, humans are not like iron filings or even tree squirrels. They react as well as act – often in subtle, science-confounding ways.

In the above-cited study, for example, the counties and states that pushed face masks on their citizens were those that had been worst-hit. Maybe they had less of the virus going forward simply because they had already had more of it and there were fewer people left to be infected. Or maybe… with so much coronavirus on the loose in the worst-hit counties… people there took extra precautions. Meanwhile, in the counties with little coronavirus, people may have seen little need for the masks… But they were virgin territory for the virus; naturally, when it arrived there, it found more targets.

What does this prove? Nothing. We don’t know why some counties had fewer cases than others. And we don’t know what the final score will be.

Weak Hypothesis: But the Mask Hypothesis is weak. Argentina has had one of the strictest mask-up rules in the world. Gauchos, riding alone, way out on the prairies, were required to wear face masks (obviously, it is difficult to enforce). With roadblocks every 20 miles or so, police checked to see if people were masked up. Every weekend, we drove up to our ranch in Gualfin. And every time, we had to put on the face covering before we got to the police stop – even though we were in our own car.

How did it work out for the Argentines? After nine months of roadblocks… compulsive, Lady Macbeth-style handwashing… enforced social distancing… and mandatory masks, they have suffered 848 deaths per million. In other words, not only did the masks not protect the wearers… they didn’t protect other people, either.

The U.S. has had hit-or-miss masking. Still, only 823 people per million have died from the coronavirus here. And Sweden, which is said to have the most relaxed mask policy in the world, had fewer still – 660 per million.

What do we make of these numbers? They prove nothing. But they hint that as a matter of public policy, mask-wearing requirements don’t really do much good. The disease goeth where it willst.

Self-Protection: But what about private policy? What can you do to protect yourself? We’re over 70 with a history of lung problems. If we get it, well, there’s no way to know how it will go. So we’re going to try to avoid it. All we know for sure is that the ultimate death toll will be 100%. The best we can do is try to live as long as we can – without becoming an embarrassment to the family."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

The Daily "Near You?"

 

Bainbridge, Georgia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Musical Interlude: Josh Groban, "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)"

Josh Groban, "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)"

Full screen mode recommended!

The Poet: Jeanne Lohmann, "Questions Before Dark"

"Questions Before Dark"

"Day ends, and before sleep

when the sky dies down, 

consider your altered state: 

has this day changed you? 

Are the corners sharper or rounded off? 

Did you live with death? 

Make decisions that quieted? 

Find one clear word that fit? 

At the sun's midpoint did you notice a pitch of absence,

bewilderment that invites the possible? 

What did you learn from things you dropped

and picked up and dropped again? 

Did you set a straw parallel to the river, 

let the flow carry you downstream?"

- Jeanne Lohmann,

"The Light of Invisible Bodies"

"Whatever Your Fate Is..."

“Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, “This is what I need.” It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment- not discouragement- you will find the strength there. Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures, followed by wreckage, were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.”

~ Joseph Campbell

"How It Really Is"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 11/30/20"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 11/30/20"

○

"The Virus Chart That Forecasts The Future"

By David Leonhardt

"The number of Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. has dropped in the last few days, but there is reason to think the decline is a statistical mirage - and that deaths are on the verge of surging again. Why? The relationship between confirmed new coronavirus cases and deaths has held fairly steady this fall. If you track the number of new cases, you can fairly accurately predict the number of deaths three weeks later. Every 100 new cases in the U.S. has led to an average of about 1.7 deaths, with that three-week lag.

It’s not a precise equation, of course. The time between diagnosis and death in fatal cases is sometimes shorter than three weeks and sometimes longer. And the death rate is not exactly 1.7 percent. But that simple formula has done a striking job of describing the path of Covid deaths in recent weeks.

The chart here shows the relationship - daily deaths compared with an index equal to 1.7 percent of newly diagnosed cases from three weeks earlier. The two lines have risen almost in tandem for the past three months:

By The New York Times

Sources: State and local health agencies and hospitals

The most likely explanation for the tick down at the end of both lines is the statistical mirage I mentioned: There was a slowdown in testing over Thanksgiving weekend, which may have artificially reduced the number of both reported coronavirus cases and deaths. “Thanksgiving has really blurred the picture,” Mitch Smith, a Times reporter who tracks the virus statistics, told me.

In coming weeks, deaths seem almost certain to rise, perhaps sharply. The run-up in cases during November suggests that daily deaths may approach 3,000 in December. The previous one-day high was 2,752, in April, and the previous high in the seven-day average was 2,232, also in April. Already, the U.S. death toll in recent weeks has exceeded one victim every minute of every day - 1,462 deaths per day in the two weeks before Thanksgiving. Barring a major surprise, that toll is about to get even worse. And January is looking worrisome, as well.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert, said yesterday that Thanksgiving gatherings may have created clusters of new infections. “We might see a surge superimposed upon that surge that we’re already in,” Fauci said.

An explainer: Andrew Joseph of Stat walks through the timeline of how an infection turns into a serious illness."

Nov. 30, 2020 8:00 AM ET: 

 Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak 

The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 62,847,000 

people, according to official counts, including 13,447,345 Americans.

At least 1,460,400 have died.

  Nov. 30, 2020 8:00 AM ET: 

Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

- www.nytimes.com

○

Related:

"Front Line at a Nursing Home – An In Person Report" 

○

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

NOV 30, 2020 12:21 PM: "NYC Positivity Rate Tops 4%, NJ Cancels Youth Sports And Cuts Gathering Limits: Live Updates"

NOV 30, 2020 11:27 AM: "New Jersey Cuts Gathering Limits, Cancels Youth Sports As Gov Warns 'Another Lockdown Possible': Live Updates"

○

Updated 11/30/20, 8:26 AM ET

Click image for larger size.

- https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

"Market Fantasy Updates 11/30/20"

"Market Fantasy Updates 11/30/20"

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

○

"The more I see of the monied classes, 

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

○

Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/30/20:

"Important Updates:

Stocks, Gold, Silver, Bitcoin, Crude, Dollar, Debt"

 - https://traderschoice.net/

○

Updated live.

- https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/marketsummary

○

- https://markets.businessinsider.com/

○

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

○

- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

○

Daily Update (Nov. 25th to 30th)

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

○

Insanity... 

○

And now... The End Game...

“If Only Cranks Find The Election Tabulations Strange, Put Me Down As A Crank…”

“If Only Cranks Find The Election Tabulations Strange, 

Put Me Down As A Crank…”

by Patrick Basham

"Reasons why the 2020 presidential election is deeply puzzling: To say out-loud that you find the results of the 2020 presidential election odd is to invite derision. You must be a crank or a conspiracy theorist. Mark me down as a crank, then.

I am a pollster and I find this election to be deeply puzzling. I also think that the Trump campaign is still well within its rights to contest the tabulations. Something very strange happened in America’s democracy in the early hours of Wednesday November 4 and the days that followed. It’s reasonable for a lot of Americans to want to find out exactly what.

First, consider some facts: President Trump received more votes than any previous incumbent seeking reelection. He got 11 million more votes than in 2016, the third largest rise in support ever for an incumbent. By way of comparison, President Obama was comfortably reelected in 2012 with 3.5 million fewer votes than he received in 2008.

Trump’s vote increased so much because, according to exit polls, he performed far better with many key demographic groups. Ninety-five percent of Republicans voted for him. He did extraordinarily well with rural male working-class whites.

He earned the highest share of all minority votes for a Republican since 1960. Trump grew his support among black voters by 50 percent over 2016. Nationally, Joe Biden’s black support fell well below 90 percent, the level below which Democratic presidential candidates usually lose.

Trump increased his share of the national Hispanic vote to 35 percent. With 60 percent or less of the national Hispanic vote, it is arithmetically impossible for a Democratic presidential candidate to win Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. Bellwether states swung further in Trump’s direction than in 2016. Florida, Ohio and Iowa each defied America’s media polls with huge wins for Trump. Since 1852, only Richard Nixon has lost the electoral college after winning this trio, and that 1960 defeat to John F. Kennedy is still the subject of great suspicion.

Midwestern states Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin always swing in the same direction as Ohio and Iowa, their regional peers. Ohio likewise swings with Florida. Current tallies show that, outside of a few cities, the Rust Belt swung in Trump’s direction. Yet, Biden leads in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin because of an apparent avalanche of black votes in Detroit, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee. Biden’s ‘winning’ margin was derived almost entirely from such voters in these cities, as coincidentally his black vote spiked only in exactly the locations necessary to secure victory. He did not receive comparable levels of support among comparable demographic groups in comparable states, which is highly unusual for the presidential victor.

We are told that Biden won more votes nationally than any presidential candidate in history. But he won a record low of 17 percent of counties; he only won 524 counties, as opposed to the 873 counties Obama won in 2008. Yet, Biden somehow outdid Obama in total votes.

Victorious presidential candidates, especially challengers, usually have down-ballot coattails; Biden did not. The Republicans held the Senate and enjoyed a ‘red wave’ in the House, where they gained a large number of seats while winning all 27 toss-up contests. Trump’s party did not lose a single state legislature and actually made gains at the state level.

Another anomaly is found in the comparison between the polls and non-polling metrics. The latter include: party registrations trends; the candidates’ respective primary votes; candidate enthusiasm; social media followings; broadcast and digital media ratings; online searches; the number of (especially small) donors; and the number of individuals betting on each candidate.

Despite poor recent performances, media and academic polls have an impressive 80 percent record predicting the winner during the modern era. But, when the polls err, non-polling metrics do not; the latter have a 100 percent record. Every non-polling metric forecast Trump’s reelection. For Trump to lose this election, the mainstream polls needed to be correct, which they were not. Furthermore, for Trump to lose, not only did one or more of these metrics have to be wrong for the first time ever, but every single one had to be wrong, and at the very same time; not an impossible outcome, but extremely unlikely nonetheless.

Atypical voting patterns married with misses by polling and non-polling metrics should give observers pause for thought. Adding to the mystery is a cascade of information about the bizarre manner in which so many ballots were accumulated and counted.

The following peculiarities also lack compelling explanations:

1. Late on election night, with Trump comfortably ahead, many swing states stopped counting ballots. In most cases, observers were removed from the counting facilities. Counting generally continued without the observers

2. Statistically abnormal vote counts were the new normal when counting resumed. They were unusually large in size (hundreds of thousands) and had an unusually high (90 percent and above) Biden-to-Trump ratio

3. Late arriving ballots were counted. In Pennsylvania, 23,000 absentee ballots have impossible postal return dates and another 86,000 have such extraordinary return dates they raise serious questions

4. The failure to match signatures on mail-in ballots. The destruction of mail in ballot envelopes, which must contain signatures

5. Historically low absentee ballot rejection rates despite the massive expansion of mail voting. Such is Biden’s narrow margin that, as political analyst Robert Barnes observes, ‘If the states simply imposed the same absentee ballot rejection rate as recent cycles, then Trump wins the election’

6. Missing votes. In Delaware County, Pennsylvania, 50,000 votes held on 47 USB cards are missing

7. Non-resident voters. Matt Braynard’s Voter Integrity Project estimates that 20,312 people who no longer met residency requirements cast ballots in Georgia. Biden’s margin is 12,670 votes

8. Serious ‘chain of custody’ breakdowns. Invalid residential addresses. Record numbers of dead people voting. Ballots in pristine condition without creases, that is, they had not been mailed in envelopes as required by law

9. Statistical anomalies. In Georgia, Biden overtook Trump with 89 percent of the votes counted. For the next 53 batches of votes counted, Biden led Trump by the same exact 50.05 to 49.95 percent margin in every single batch. It is particularly perplexing that all statistical anomalies and tabulation abnormalities were in Biden’s favor. Whether the cause was simple human error or nefarious activity, or a combination, clearly something peculiar happened.

If you think that only weirdos have legitimate concerns about these findings and claims, maybe the weirdness lies in you."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

- https://spectator.us/

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"Coup d'état"

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"New Analysis Shows Biden Winning Nearly 

Impossible Margins on Mail-in Ballots in Pennsylvania"

"Behind the Scenes in Swamptopia"

"Behind the Scenes in Swamptopia"

by Jim Kunstler

"Apart from the soporific side-effects of eating all that leftover turkey for three more days after Thursday’s celebration of gluttony, this holiday weekend was, news-wise, as still as the mummy’s tomb, or, rather, Joe Biden’s basement. Yet these post-election days are gravid with portent. The major newspapers and cable news platforms report nothing beyond their heartwarming narrative of Biden risin’ with Woke times a’comin’ - but the casual observer senses powerful intrigues swirling backstage in Swamptopia. Something tells me the scene is about to liven up this week, even explode.

There is the matter of the Kraken. Perhaps Sidney Powell was not speaking just figuratively about the lurking monster of the deep. The Kraken, apparently, is an actual computer system developed by the Department of Defense (DOD) to ferret out malevolent computer programs as might be deployed in cyber-warfare… or janky elections. Miz Powell has had legal consort all year with General Mike Flynn, the former chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency railroaded on a fake charge by the FBI, now pardoned, free to speak and act. Do you suppose that Gen. Flynn does not know about the agency’s cyber-warfare capabilities? Or that he does not know skilled military technicians who can spell out, say, in a court of law, exactly how the Kraken might be put to use? Or how the Kraken intersects with the two CIA proprietary election hacking programs, Hammer and Scorecard?

Next, there is the matter of where these agencies stand with each other these days. It was not for nothing that the president sacked cheeky Sec’y of Defense Mark Esper and replaced him with Christopher Miller, a Special Forces warrior, lately, as Deputy Assistant Sec-Def, in charge of counterterrorism, Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Information Operations, unconventional warfare, irregular warfare, direct action, special reconnaissance, foreign internal defense, counter proliferation, sensitive special operations.

Kind of sounds a little bit like exactly the skill-set you’d need to battle the rogue “resistance” operations across several US government agencies in their four-year quest to overthrow the chief executive climaxing in this election caper - for one example, the CIA. Somehow, when I think of the CIA, I think of the sinister John Brennan, architect of RussiaGate and probably also somehow behind the activation of his protégé, “whistleblower” (and CIA agent) Eric Ciaramella, the impeachment mole who was allowed to retreat back into the CIA fortress with no consequences after his seditious deed was done. Notice, Mr. Brennan has been tweeting like mad in recent days denouncing election skeptics. Is he worried about something? All of which raises the questions: what role did the agency play in the election, with its mystifying vote-tallying irregularities? Does Mr. Brennan still wield influence in the CIA? And is the agency an enemy of the people?

Then, what do you suppose really went down at the computer server farm in Frankfurt, Germany, after the election. Chatter on the web has it that the Frankfurt asset was a CIA installation, and that some kind of Army Special Forces unit bum-rushed the joint after November 3, and took possession of computer servers that were used to receive vote tabulations from Dominion machines back in the USA. There’s even rumor of some people getting hurt in the operation (unconfirmed). Do those servers hold actual evidence of vote-tampering? That would be my guess. Perhaps we’ll find out this week.

And if it were the case that the CIA and other actors - perhaps even in foreign countries -worked to rig the election to make absolutely sure that Mr. Trump was finally expelled from office, would this not amount to something like treason? Is the US government at war with itself? If so, does the president not have a duty to do something about it? Is he in the process of doing something… that the public is not yet aware of through and beyond the holiday week? Did Mr. Biden or Kamala Harris know about any of this? Allegations (with actual evidence) emerged in October that Mr. Biden and his family received large sums of money for services rendered from several countries considered not friendly to the USA. Maybe that’s just a sidebar to the election op, but it sure doesn’t look good, considering. A reasonable authority might designate Joe Biden a national security risk. Such a person would not be permitted to take an oath for the highest office in the land.

So, with Thanksgiving behind us, and Christmas a month away (and a very fraught Covid Christmas, at that), and the deadline for the states’ electoral vote certifications and the actual meeting of the electoral collegians looming in between now and then, we might gird our loins for some very weird doings out of Washington, DC. Unless it’s all just a bad dream… a conspiracy theory… a blather of peevish, deplorable nutters who just refuse to bend over and take it good and hard from their betters, as they deserve to. Standing by… just as you are… on developments."

- https://kunstler.com/

"Stop Whinin'..."

“We all got problems. But there’s a great book out called “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart.” Did you see that? That book says the statute of limitations has expired on all childhood traumas. Get your stuff together and get on with your life, man. Stop whinin’ about what’s wrong, because everybody’s had a rough time, in one way or another.”

- Quincy Jones

"Truth..."

“Truth is always stranger than fiction. We craft fiction to match our sense of how things ought to be, but truth cannot be crafted. Truth is, and truth has a way of astonishing us to our knees, reminding us that the universe does not exist to fulfill our expectations. Because we are imperfect beings who are self-blinded to the truth of the world’s stunning complexity, we shave reality to paper thin theories and ideologies that we can easily grasp – and we call them truths. But the truth of a sea in all its immensity cannot be embodied in one tidewashed pebble.”

- Dean Koontz

"America’s Pride In The Economy Is About To Be Greatly Shaken As Tens Of Millions Face Eviction In 2021"

"America’s Pride In The Economy Is About To Be 

Greatly Shaken As Tens Of Millions Face Eviction In 2021"

by Michael Snyder

"Unless there is emergency intervention, tens of millions of Americans could be facing eviction once the holiday season is over. We kicked the can down the road throughout 2020, but all of the rent that was originally owed to landlords all over the country is still due, and they are very eager to collect. Countless landlords are on the verge of financial ruin because of the rent moratoriums which were put in place, and kicking the can down the road even more would be absolutely disastrous for them. Of course it would also be absolutely disastrous if the moratoriums are not extended, because in some states more than half of all households are behind on their rent or mortgage payments, and most of them have no way to pay.

One way or the other, we are about to hit a breaking point. The Aspen Institute is telling us that a whopping 40 million people “could face eviction over the next several months”: "According to research by the Aspen Institute, nearly 40 million Americans could face eviction over the next several months. The only thing holding back the flood right now is the CDC’s eviction moratorium order and a patchwork of state and local protections for renters.

But these moratoriums are only kicking the can down the road. Chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Mark Zandi told the Washington Post that tenants could owe nearly $70 billion in back rent by year’s end. And for landlords left holding the bag, there’s been little relief, as they’ve been forced to take on the role of government - subsidizing housing for millions even as their own taxes, mortgage payments, and other expenses are due.

That is about 12 percent of the entire country. If they get evicted, where are they going to go? Into the streets?

Vox recently interviewed a 48-year-old Texas resident named “Kimberly”, and she says that is exactly where she is headed if she gets evicted: "But after Covid-19 hit, she lost hours at her job as a crew trainer at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers and found herself on the brink of financial collapse. She fell behind on her rent and when she tried to work with her landlord to set up a repayment plan, she told Vox that she was served an eviction notice. Now, the only thing keeping her in her home is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) national eviction moratorium, which prohibits landlords from evicting qualifying tenants for failing to make rent."

If she’s evicted, Kimberly says she has nowhere to go - and will be homeless for the second time in five years. And there are countless others out there that are just like her. According to Zero Hedge, “at least half of households in Arkansas, Florida and Nevada are not current on rent and mortgage payments”.

We have never seen anything like this in modern American history, and the new lockdowns that are being instituted across the nation will just make things even worse.

Of course there are many Americans that will be able to move in with family, and this has already been happening in very large numbers. In particular, young people are moving back in with their parents on a massive scale. According to the Pew Research Center, “a majority of young adults in the U.S. live with their parents for the first time since the Great Depression”.

The phrase “since the Great Depression” has been popping up a lot lately, hasn’t it? That is because this is literally the first economic depression that the U.S. has experienced since that time. Everywhere we look, we can see the sort of economic devastation that I have been warning was coming for a very long time.

In New Jersey, approximately one-third of all small businesses “have closed down in 2020”: "A third of small businesses in New Jersey have closed down in 2020, according to a report from The Star-Ledger newspaper. “It’s really bad… And without federal dollars coming into New Jersey, the Main Street stores and other establishments are not gonna make it through the winter.” said Eileen Kean, the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business."

New Jersey’s number is higher than the national average, but not by very much. Of course Atlantic City has been hit particularly hard because it is so dependent on tourism. At this point, it is being called “the city without a pulse”: "The boardwalk is empty, the beaches are deserted, and the casinos, though partially reopen, are limping into their fifth month of severely curtailed operations after four months of shutdowns. The coronavirus pandemic skewered the economic engine of this beachside town, taking the city’s vibrancy and its residents’ livelihoods out with it."

Sadly, things are inevitably going to get worse in the months ahead thanks to the new lockdowns. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment has risen significantly for the past two weeks, and more bad weeks are almost certainly ahead. Needless to say, rising unemployment will mean more Americans being pushed out of their homes and more Americans being pushed into poverty. According to a survey that was released in October, the number of Americans living in poverty has risen by 8 million since May:

"The number of Americans living in poverty grew by 8 million since May, according to a Columbia University study, which found an increase in poverty rates after early coronavirus relief ended without more to follow. Although the federal Cares Act, which gave Americans a one-time stimulus check of $1,200 and unemployed workers an extra $600 each week, was successful at offsetting growing poverty rates in the spring, the effects were short-lived, researchers found in the study published Thursday." Of course that number is more than a month old, and so the true number of Americans that have been forced into poverty is substantially higher by now.

This is what an economic collapse looks like, and even worse days are ahead of us.

The good news is that those that were warned in advance that an economic collapse was coming had time to make preparations for this sort of a scenario. But most Americans never wanted to listen to the warnings, and so now they find themselves in the middle of a storm without an umbrella. Unfortunately, what we have experienced so far is just the leading edge of the storm, and most people still do not realize that."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

“This Collapse Will Devour Millions; Great Depression 2.0; Economic Skillset; Drug Addiction Soars”

Jeremiah Babe,

“This Collapse Will Devour Millions; Great Depression 2.0; 

Economic Skillset; Drug Addiction Soars”