Monday, January 4, 2021

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 1/4/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 1/4/21"
"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will
do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."
- John Maynard Keynes
"Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
Gregory Mannarino, AM 1/4/21:
“Must Know Now Market Updates; Dollar Slammed Again”
"The more I see of the monied classes, 
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

CNN Market Data:

CNN Fear And Greed Index:
A comprehensive, essential daily read.
Daily Updates, Dec 31st to Jan 4th
Daily Job Cuts
1/4/21: "Wall Street’s Casino Banks, Taking Deposits from Savers, in 1929 and Today" "Following the stock market crash in 1929, more than 9,000 banks in the United States failed over the next four years. In just the one year of 1933, more than 4,000 banks closed their doors permanently as a result of insolvency."

Commentary, highly recommended:
And now, the End Game...

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 1/4/21"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 1/4/21"
by David Leonhardt, AM 1/4/21

"This simple chart shows why the new variants of the coronavirus - first detected in Britain and South Africa - are so worrisome:
By The New York Times | Sources: Local and 
national governments and health organizations, World Bank

The chart compares the spread of the virus in each of those two countries with the spread in a group of nearby countries. As you can see, cases have surged in Britain and South Africa since the variants first surfaced - while holding fairly steady in the rest of western Europe and southern Africa.

The new variants may not be the only reason. Britain and South Africa differ from their neighbors in other ways, as well. But there is no obvious explanation for the contrast besides the virus’s mutations. This suggests the rest of the world may now be at risk of a new Covid-19 surge.

The variants already seem to have spread around much of the world. More than 30 other countries, including the U.S., have diagnosed cases with the variant first detected in Britain, which is known as B.1.1.7. Scientists say that it could soon become the dominant form of the virus. The B.1.1.7 variant appears to be between 10 percent and 60 percent more transmissible than the original version. One possible reason: It may increase the amount of the virus that infected people carry in their noses and throats, which in turn would raise the likelihood that they infect others through breathing, talking, sneezing, coughing and so on.

As I’ve explained before, the biggest factor that will determine how many more people die from the virus isn’t likely to be the precise effectiveness of the vaccines or even the speed of their rollout. The biggest factor is instead likely to be how much we reduce the spread of the virus over the next few months, through a combination of mask wearing, social distancing and expanded testing. Those efforts can cut caseloads - and, by extension, deaths - more rapidly than a mass vaccination campaign can.

But the U.S. was struggling to hold down new infections even before the variants appeared, and they will probably make the job more difficult. “I dismissed the news initially because viruses mutate all the time and there have been too many baseless ‘mutant-ninja virus’ doomsaying headlines this year,” Zeynep Tufekci wrote in The Atlantic last week. “However, as data on the new variant roll in, there is cause for real concern.”

My colleague Apoorva Mandavilli, in a piece explaining what scientists do and don’t know about the variants, writes that they may end up “exacerbating an unrelenting rise in deaths and overwhelming the already strained health care system.”

In recent days, the number of Americans hospitalized with Covid-19 symptoms has risen to more than 123,000, up from about 95,000 a month ago and 50,000 two months ago. The virus is still winning."

 Jan. 4, 2021 12:12 AM ET: 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 85,098,500 
people, according to official counts, including 20,666,242 Americans.
At least 1,843,400 have died.

"The COVID Tracking Project"
Every day, our volunteers compile the latest numbers on tests, cases, 
hospitalizations, and patient outcomes from every US state and territory.
https://covidtracking.com/

"Military Recruiters Worry America's Youth Are Too Fat Or Dumb To Enter Service"

"Military Recruiters Worry America's Youth
 Are Too Fat Or Dumb To Enter Service"
by Tyler Durden

"A recent report in military news site Task & Purpose highlights that military recruitment could soon slump nationwide in large part because America's youth are too fat or in other cases too dumb to fight.

Going back a number of years this has been an increasing concern expressed by a growing chorus of both active and retired military leaders. It was also weeks ago expressed in a Dec.17 letter to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller signed by almost 800 retired admirals and generals. They warn that over 70% of young Americans between 17 and 24 can't make it into military ranks because they are "too poorly educated, too overweight, or have a history of crime or substance abuse."

The bipartisan group that penned the letter is urging the Pentagon to create a strategy to address the growing crisis. "Without coordinated action, these trends pose a significant threat to the future of the all-volunteer force," the letter said.

Identifying some of the same trends, Navy Recruiting Command chief Rear Adm. Dennis Velez recently separately told Military.com that making making sure "our children are healthier" is urgently needed to divert a national crisis.

Certain fitness and weight standards are required to even attempt to enter the armed services, with requirements determined by the particular branch - with the Marine Corps maintaining the strictest entry requirements. Further the head of the Marine Corps recruiting was also quoted as follows: "Maj. Gen. Jason Bohm, the head of Marine Corps Recruiting Service, said far fewer than 30% of young people are eligible to serve in that branch. "If you break it down further into those skill sets, intelligence level, and the physical ability level, those that we're looking toward bringing into the Marine Corps... quickly decreases to about 7%," he said. "That's enormously challenging."

For the foreseeable future the trend is likely to continue, given how the pandemic related lockdowns and social distancing orders for much of the past year have often resulted in canceled youth sports leagues, a reduction in social outdoor activities, and people generally being shut in their homes for longer periods."

Must Watch! “2021 Major Uncertainty Ahead- Prepare For The Worst; Never Forget Family; Luck Will Not Save You”

Jeremiah Babe,
“2021 Major Uncertainty Ahead- Prepare For The Worst; 
Never Forget Family; Luck Will Not Save You”

Sunday, January 3, 2021

"20 Numbers From 2020 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe"

"20 Numbers From 2020 That 
Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe"
by Epic Economist

"2020 was marked by unexpected and unprecedented events. Most of us entered the year without even imagining the entire world would experience the worst health crisis in almost 100 years, which was followed by the worst economic collapse America has ever faced since the Great Depression of the 1930s. All across the nation, delinquencies and social turbulence erupted as people have taken over the streets to protest their discontentment. We have witnessed the explosion of a dramatic hunger crisis, as millions hit their financial ruin. 

And, of course, we had one of the most frantic presidential elections in our history. Meanwhile, Congress has made a series of dubious decisions that have put our economy in major jeopardy. Inspired by the latest Michael Snyder's article, in this video, we gathered 20 numbers from 2020 that are almost too crazy to believe. So stay with us, and don't forget to leave it a thumbs up, share with friends, and subscribe to our channel to keep updated with the next chapters of the 21st-century economic depression. 

At the beginning of 2020, the world wasn't familiar with a fatal and highly contagious mysterious virus that has quickly spread across the globe. By the end of the year, it had hit over 85 million people and victimized 1.8 million lives. In the United States alone, we have registered more than 20 million confirmed cases and approximately 358,000 fatal casualties, according to the official numbers. 

As people started to get alarmed, authorities and health care professionals recommended the use of disposable face masks. However, according to scientists, nearly 1.5 billion masks might have ended up in the oceans in 2020. “The 1.56 billion face masks that have entered our oceans in 2020 are there for the long run. They will remain in the ocean for 450 years or more, and they’ll break into smaller pieces,” warned Dr. Bondaroff. 

The panicked response of our politicians to the health crisis made them institute strict lockdowns to control the spread of the virus, but it resulted in an unparalleled unemployment crisis, recording more than 70 million claims for unemployment benefits. On average, over one million claims were filed per week since the first round of lockdowns went into effect. As a comparison, the previous weekly record was of 695,000 jobless claims back in 1982. 

According to a Pew Research Center survey, roughly 4 in 10 Americans say they would “definitely” or “probably” not get a vaccine once it's available. The widespread mistrust could be related to the fact that the drugmakers that produced them have no accountability whatsoever to collateral damages resultant from the vaccine until 2024 as well as immunity against lawsuits the public isn't feeling confident about getting it. For that reason, the Department of Health and Human Services disclosed it will be spending $250 million on an “information campaign” that is designed to convince people otherwise.

The latest data from Moody’s Analytics highlights that about 12 million U.S. renters are now at least $5,850 behind in rent and utilities payments. On the other hand, landlords have also fallen in a financial cliff due to the estimated $70 billion in unpaid rent, and as soon as the CDC's order expires, a massive tsunami of evictions is expected to happen, and the financial damages experienced so far are also likely to contribute to the looming housing market crash. 

The severity of the current economic downturn has impaired the middle class and pushed many who used to have a comfortable lifestyle straight into poverty. A recent survey has described that for 55% of all Americans, 2020 was a “personal financial disaster”, and about 60% of them anticipate more challenges ahead. 

During the Obama administration, the U.S. national debt was at 10.6 trillion dollars, but in 2020 it climbed to 27.5 trillion dollars, and if the Federal Reserve continues to issue its massive liquidity injections, soon enough we will exceed the 30 trillion dollar mark. That will compromise the growth of our country for decades to come. Needless to say, this is the perfect recipe for a national financial catastrophe.

Last year, we witnessed the wildest presidential election ever. Supporters have never been so divided and angry at each other. On December 14th, the Electoral College voted to make Joe Biden the next president of the United States, ending what seemed to be a strong era of Trumpism, which signals to us that the plans of the leading global establishment have shifted. And now we wonder what the next plot twists of the Great Reset era will look like." 

"11 Things Everyone Needs You to Know"

"11 Things Everyone Needs You to Know"
by Marc

"A silhouette of a human being stands before you. Perhaps an old friend. Perhaps a neighbor.  Perhaps a perfect stranger, like me. Here are 11 things we all need you to keep in mind…

1. You never really know how much the people around you are hurting. You could be standing next to someone who is completely broken inside and you wouldn’t even know it. So never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have. And remember that there are two ways to spread light in this world: You can either be a flame of hope, or a mirror that reflects it. Be one of the two every chance you get. 
 
2. The most important trip you will likely take in life is meeting others half way. You will achieve far more by working with people, rather than against them. Giving someone else a voice, and showing them that their ideas matter, will have a long-lasting, positive impact on the both of you.

3. Relationships don’t create happiness, they reflect it. Happiness is an inside job. Relationships are simply the mirrors of your happiness; they reflect it and help you celebrate it. They are mirrors because they are a perfect reflection of your thoughts and beliefs. To reflect means to encourage you when you feel weak and challenge you when you feel strong, thereby returning you to your center. And to celebrate is to share the natural ease and joy of living from your center – of living in the now with clarity.

4. Compassion comes back around. The son who tends to his chronically ill mother, ignoring his own exhaustion; the neighbor who gives a helping hand, even as his own needs go unanswered; the one who donates a couple dollars to someone in need, even if she has to break her last five dollar bill to do it. Maybe you don’t hear the names of these unsung heroes in the news, but surely the universe hears their names and treats them accordingly.

 5. Timing is everything. There is a time for silence, a time to let go and allow your friends to launch themselves into their own destiny, and a time to cheer for their victories, or help them pick up the pieces, when it’s all over. 
 
 6. Actions are the loudest form of communication. What you do speaks so loud that others will have a hard time hearing what you say. So practice what you preach or don’t preach at all – walk the talk. And remember that there is often a major gap between what someone says and what they do. Characterize people by their actions and you will never be fooled by their words.

 7. A healthy relationship keeps the doors and windows open. Plenty of air is circulating and no one feels trapped. Relationships thrive in this environment. Keep your doors and windows open. If a person is meant to be in your life, all the open doors and windows in the world won’t make them leave.

 8. People are more what they keep silent than what they say. Pay attention to their quiet gestures. If you cannot understand someone’s silence, you will have a hard time understanding their words. 
 
9. What others say and do is often based entirely on their own self-reflection. When you have people speaking to you who are angry and upset, and you nevertheless remain very present and continue to treat them with kindness and respect, you place yourself in a position of great power  You become a means for the situation to be graciously diffused and healed. A Zen teacher once said, “When somebody backs themselves into a corner, look the other way until they get themselves out; and then act as though it never happened.” Allowing people to save face in this way, and not reminding them of what they already know is not their most intelligent behavior, is an act of great kindness. This is possible when we realize that people behave in such ways because they are in a place of great suffering. People react to their own thoughts and feelings and their behavior often has nothing directly to do with you.

10. Sincerity is giving without expectation. Good character and true friendship is all about how a person nurtures another person who is vulnerable and can give nothing in return. So when you have been through tough times and come out the other side, look around you. The people still standing beside you are your true friends.

11. Not every relationship is meant to last forever. Some people aren’t meant to stay in your life. Some people are just passing through to bring you something – perhaps a lesson you need to learn, or memory that makes you smile years later. When the time comes, it’s okay to let go and move on with your life."

"Face Masks and the Study of Violence. 'The Mask Destroys Empathy, Empowers Interpersonal Aggression'”

"Face Masks and the Study of Violence. 
'The Mask Destroys Empathy, Empowers Interpersonal Aggression'”
by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

"Those who have not studied violence may not fully understand how harmful it can be to not see someone’s face. Masks give a powerful sense of anonymity to the killer, and dehumanize the victim. Thus preventing empathy, and empowering aggression, violence, and murder. In city after city, across America, there have been more murders so far this year, than all of last year. And masks are one of the major reasons why this is happening.

I wrote the book "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society." With over half-a-million copies sold, in seven languages, "On Killing" is a “perennial bestseller” and Google Scholar says it has been cited over 2,900 times in academic research. It has established itself as one of the major scholarly works of our time.

I wrote the book, and created a new field of scholarly endeavor known as “killology” because I want to help keep people safe, and reduce violence in our society. Psychology is not about teaching people to be psychos, criminology is not about teaching people to be criminals, and killology is not about teaching people to kill. It is about understanding the factors that empower and restrain killing in our society.

People often point to some horrible crime and declare that, “This proves humans are naturally killers!” My response to them is, “No. That is an outlier. It is literally, one-in-a-million. You explain to me the 99.9% of our citizens who will go a lifetime, and never even seriously attempt to take a human life. Explain that!” Poverty, divorce, infidelity, layoffs, and traffic accidents occur by the millions every day in our society. And yet, in a lifetime of provocation, less than 00.1% of our citizens will attempt to take a human life. That is the hard thing to explain!

America is roughly a third-of-a-billion people. Every person who interacts with another person represents a friction point, adding up to billions of friction points every single day. An amazing array of social, physical, psychological and physiological factors provide a “lubricant” for each of these friction points, in order to prevent physical violence and murder.

Masks are like a handful of sand in an automobile engine, greatly increasing the “friction” at… Every. Single. One. Of these countless billions of daily contact points. We all understand that people will say things online that they would never say face-to-face. And masks create a similar sense of anonymity for the aggressor, empowering face-to-face violence and hostility across our nation.

Israeli research tells us that if you are kidnapped, and you are blindfolded or you have a hood over your head, you are far more likely to be murdered by your captors. You would think, since I cannot identify my captors, then I am less of a threat to them. But your potential long-term threat to your captors is not what is keeping you alive. It is looking into the face of another human being — thus creating a powerful biological sense of empathy — which is the most important factor keeping that captive alive.

The face is the window to the soul, and covering the face with a mask destroys empathy and empowers interpersonal aggression. That is why individuals being executed by hanging or firing squad, are traditionally blindfolded or hooded. Mass murders committed by criminals, terrorists, or totalitarian states, very often involve shooting victims in the back of the head, or cutting their heads off from behind. Once again, covering or hiding the face negates empathy, and empowers some of the most ghastly forms of mass murder.

Masks also muffle your voice. So, many people shout in order to be heard and understood while wearing a mask. But shouting signals aggression! When someone shouts at you, you immediately become defensive and hostile. And the situation can spiral downward from there, into aggressive confrontations, violence, and even murder

At a basic, intuitive, almost “biological” level, we understand this. We inherently distrust and fear anyone wearing a mask and the muffled shouts that come from that individual. This is buried deep in our genes, and in our culture. And it cannot be eliminated by declarations from politicians. Thus, seeing everyone around you in masks, creates anxiety and social isolation that can be profoundly harmful, and potentially create ever more violence.

This daily dehumanization, desensitization, alienation, and social isolation created by masks, can contribute to two different types of violence. Erich Fromm, tells us that “destructive aggression occurs… in conjunction with a momentary or chronic emotional withdrawal.”

First, is that “momentary emotional withdrawal” resulting in a spontaneous act of violence created by a specific circumstance. Often resulting in a single homicide, committed in a fit of rage. In addition to this spontaneous violence, there is the “chronic withdrawal” caused by a long-term build-up of alienation and isolation, that can result in mass murders and massacres. I hope I am wrong, but I believe in the coming year we will see many more horrific mass-murders and massacres.

Again, I pray that I am wrong. But I think it is very likely that we will see day-care massacres, school bus massacres, and vehicles used as weapons of mass murder, plowing into our children at 100 miles-per-hour. These crimes have happened around the world, and it may be only a matter of time, until they come to our nation. (And there are many things we can and must do, right now, to mitigate the possible loss of life from such attacks.)

What else is left to shock us? What else is there, that will create media coverage, and provide the fame, that the alienated enraged killer desires? We are on a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching descent into ever greater acts of evil. It started with school massacres committed by children, who grew up to give us college massacres, who then came back to our elementary schools as adults to express their rage in the mass murder of our children. 

More information about this can be found in my book, "Assassination Generation". In the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida, school massacre, I was invited to the White House as part of the President’s round table on violent video games. I had the honor of giving a copy of Assassination Generation to the President. Last year I was invited to the White House again, and had the honor of briefing the Vice President and giving him a copy of my book.

Doctors tell us that masks contribute to acne, anxiety, depression and heart disease. Dentists tell us that masks are causing gum disease and other dental problems. I cannot speak to these medical pros-and-cons of masks. But I can state, without hesitation, that having our entire population wearing masks, is one of the most physically and psychologically harmful things we can do. There can be no doubt that it will lead our nation into even deeper depths of violence, death, despair, and heartache.

There is one other important dynamic that we must consider. A monstrous mass murder, by a single individual, can create more psychosocial trauma than countless deaths by disease. In its section on PTSD, the DSM (the “bible” of psychology and psychiatry) tells us that, whenever the cause of trauma is “human in nature” (such as assault, torture or rape) the degree of trauma is “more severe and long lasting.” Millions die from disease every day, and it has little impact on our behavior, but one serial killer or serial rapist can paralyze a city.

Thus, from one major and critical perspective, the over-all societal harm of fear, isolation, distrust, and violence created by masks, is far greater than the harm caused by disease. This downward spiral into alienation and distrust, is the opposite of “de-escalation” and “empathy”. These are buzz-words we hear a lot, but they do communicate powerful tools that are needed to reduce violence. Tools that are badly diminished by wearing a mask.

Finally, the field of killology can tell us something that the field of criminology refuses to confront. The number of murdered people completely under-represents the level of violence, because medical technology is saving ever more lives.

In 2002, Anthony Harris and a team of scholars from the University of Massachusetts and Harvard, published their landmark research, in the journal "Homicide Studies." They concluded that advances in medical technology, between 1960 and 1999, cut the murder rate to a third, or a quarter, of what it would otherwise be. And the leaps and bounds of life-saving technology in the two decades since then — with lessons learned in almost 20 years of war — has saved the lives of even more victims of violence. Thus preventing many more murders.

When we compare money over any period of time, we speak in terms of “inflation-adjusted dollars.” If we fail to do so, we intentionally and willfully misrepresent the amount of money involved.

When we look at murder over any period of time, we must talk in terms of “medically-adjusted murders.” And we willfully and deliberately misrepresenting the situation, every time we fail to do so. When we finally start reporting “medically-adjusted murders” then we will begin to understand just how desperately, tragically bad the situation has become. For every murder we report, there are ever increasing numbers of our citizens physically maimed and scarred, and emotionally crippled and traumatized by violence.

And how much more so, when we create vastly more “friction” by throwing that “handful of sand” into the engine-block of our civilization, by making everyone wear masks?

For a politician sitting in his basement, or a movie star holed up in his mansion, it is easy to call for a universal mask mandate. But they have servants who do their shopping and yard work. For those living on the edge of physical and emotional well-being, for individuals who have to interact every day with potentially hostile employees or customers, for those who are already on the edge of committing violence, for all the “real people” out there, mandating masks can be profoundly harmful. This policy has already resulted in an erosion of emotional wellbeing, and an explosion of violent crime. And it is something that we can stop, right now, in order to save lives. Masks truly can be murder."

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Higher Destination"

2002, "Higher Destination"
Full screen recommended.

"A Look to the Heavens"

"What's the matter with the Bullet Cluster? This massive cluster of galaxies (1E 0657-558) creates gravitational lens distortions of background galaxies in a way that has been interpreted as strong evidence for the leading theory: that dark matter exists within. Different analyses, though, indicate that a less popular alternative - modifying gravity - could explain cluster dynamics without dark matter, and provide a more likely progenitor scenario as well. 

Currently, the two scientific hypotheses are competing to explain the observations: it's invisible matter versus amended gravity. The duel is dramatic as a clear Bullet-proof example of dark matter would shatter the simplicity of modified gravity theories. The featured sonified image is a Hubble/Chandra/Magellan composite with red depicting the X-rays emitted by hot gas, and blue depicting the suggested separated dark matter distribution. The sonification assigns low tones to dark matter, mid-range frequencies to visible light, and high tones to X-rays. The battle over the matter in the Bullet cluster is likely to continue as more observations, computer simulations, and analyses are completed."

Free Download: Seneca, "On the Shortness of Life"

"It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.

You are living as if destined to live for ever; your own frailty never occurs to you; you don’t notice how much time has already passed, but squander it as though you had a full and overflowing supply — though all the while that very day which you are devoting to somebody or something may be your last. You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire… How late it is to begin really to live just when life must end! How stupid to forget our mortality, and put off sensible plans to our fiftieth and sixtieth years, aiming to begin life from a point at which few have arrived!

Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."

Freely download "On the Shortness of Life", by Seneca, here:
'Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. 
We have only today. Let us begin.'
- Mother Teresa

"Tell Yourself..."

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”
- Louise Erdrich

"How We Know It’s a Show"

"How We Know It’s a Show"
by Eric Peters

"I recently got into a “debate” with a Sickness Cultist, who berated me for my heresy. I tried reason with him, which works as well as mixing oil and water.One thing I tried to specifically get an answer to is a question that ought to be of interest to anyone interested in a reasonable discussion of this business.
Click image for larger size.
It is simply this: If it is necessary to wear “masks” – as they’re styled – why are there no standards, beyond the thing being a “mask”?

Why isn’t there a requirement that the “mask” be at least an N95 and ideally an N100 respirator that actually can thwart the exhalation of those extremely tiny viral particles? Why is it that a literal rag – an old bandana, for instance that’s so porous one can see daylight passing through it – qualifies as a “mask” and grants entry to stores and such when it absolutely cannot thwart the transmission of viral particles?
Click image for larger size.
Also the disposable “mask” that almost everyone who wears one of these wretched symbols of submission wears? It says – it explicitly warns – right on the box that these things do not prevent the transmission of COVID-19 (all caps, now) or – implicitly – any other virus, the material being too porous to serve that purpose?

“This mask is not a medical device . . .or personal protective equipment offering protection from COVID-19 or any other airborne particles. This product is not intended as a replacement for medical grade personal protective equipment or other recommended measures to stop the community spread of COVID-19… ”  And yet, they qualify. Technically, a literal Diaper over one’s face qualifies.

Come on in! It makes no sense – it is dangerous . . . if you’re really worried about getting sick. If this is serious – in terms of “the virus” – then no one should be allowed within a public area without an N95 or better device covering their faces. Something that actually works. Unless the “mask” is for show. Unless it is theater – as Pope Fauci XVII actually admitted some months ago. In which case, it all makes sense.

The “mask” is to show that you give in – or that you believe. It is not about stopping the spread of anything – unless you count disbelief. And that is what cannot be tolerated.

These people walking around with their “masks” on are literally like people who wear tinfoil hats – with the difference being that the latter are still snickered at, the wearers regarded as being in need of psychiatric help – while the former are lauded as Responsible Citizens who are Doing Their Part.

In fact, all they’re doing is showing how little they care about their health – and how much they want to believe. How easy it is to terrify and control them, just by saying boo!

The less-than-N95 “masks” are the equivalent of a pocket full of posies – remember the rhyme? – but because they have been told by Anderson Cooper that they “work” they wear them. Religiously. You’d think they’d be interested to know whether they work. Would at least consider the answer when someone asks them how come there is no standard requiring that they work – but permitting literally anything to qualify, so long as it covers your face.
But they aren’t. Because they believe. Put your hands against the television set! Heeeaaaaa-uhl!

They grow militant when someone asks this question – when someone demands to know how it is that a piece of Holy Cloth does anything other than cover the wearer’s face. They grow even more militant when the follow-up query as to why it is so important that people cover their faces – even if the covering doesn’t do anything other than cover the wearer’s face? – is asked.

They grow militant when someone asks this question – when someone demands to know how it is that a piece of Holy Cloth does anything other than cover the wearer’s face. They grow even more militant when the follow-up query as to why it is so important that people cover their faces – even if the covering doesn’t do anything other than cover the wearer’s face? – is asked.
The answer one gets is the Corona equivalent of the mentally ill autistic girl whose face corkscrews into a paroxysm of fury and spits outs How Dare You! when someone questions the theology of the Climate Change Cult.

The adult Greta I debated – or rather, tried to – refused to answer either question. Instead, I was accused of being “inane” and “childish.” It reminded me of the answer I sometimes received as a child when I posed a question that an adult couldn’t answer: Because I said so. That’s not good enough.

If you can’t answer the question, then maybe you ought to re-think what this “mask” business is really all about and why your life as well as the lives of others isn’t worth more than the cost of a dirty old bandana."

"A Time for New Beginnings and Ending That Which Must End" (Excerpt)

"A Time for New Beginnings and Ending That Which Must End"
(Excerpt)
By Doug “Uncola” Lynn

"Janus is an ancient Roman, a composite god who is associated with doorways, beginnings, and transitions. A usually two-faced god, he looks to both the future and the past at the same time, embodying a binary." Source
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, 
they don’t have to worry about answers."
– Thomas Pynchon, “Gravity’s Rainbow” (1973)

"Two years ago, also during the month of Janus, I wrote a speculative article on Trump as two faces on the same coin and, specifically, considered the president as the “most interesting man in the world”: an enigmatic “ringleader”, of sorts, who always keeps us guessing between transitional episodes: In so many ways, Trump is the perfect foil to usher in a new epoch… a forerunner of sorts before another ringleader takes center stage.

To be sure, President Trump is like a flip-sided Obama the way he’s branded upon America’s psyche. And, like Obama, he’s a walking, talking, Rorschach test. For good? Or bad? Either way: We all have our suspicions and are becoming more certain with each passing day. And here we are today, two years later, still wondering.

In the wake of Russiagate, the Mueller Show, the 2018 Midterms, the Ukraine impeachment debacle, Covid, and, now, a stolen presidential election, it calls to mind the following questions: What if the innermost circle of The Borg, or, at least, the mid-level components like the Deep State, Orwellian Media, Dems, Rinos, and punditry, were actually caught off guard by Trump’s 2016 win – simply as a result of underestimating the awareness and will of the American voters who overwhelmed The Borg’s systemic election fraud four years ago? What if Trump were real and Spygate, Mueller, Ukrainegate, and Covid, were the means to gaslight the dupes and tie-up the president as much as possible over the previous four years?

In consideration of Occam’s Razor: What if everything we have seen during Trump’s presidency was merely a natural progression of events? Then, what if the same voter fraud occurred in the 2020 Election except, this time, The Borg was caught red-handed?

Certainly, the Orwellian Media’s anointing of Dementia Joe was, in part, a plan conceived and launched by the “bipartisan” Transition Integrity Project (T.I.P.) under the cover of Covid and using technologies and methodologies defecated straight from the bowels of Langley. Everything about November 3, 2020, and the ensuing post-election narrative propagated by the Orwellian Media smacks of desperation by those attempting to pull off the coup. Does it not? Or it could be another show: A really, super-big, gigantic, end-of-America-type media event."
Please view this complete article here:

"We Would Rather..."

"We would rather be ruined than changed;
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die."
~ W.H. Auden

Free Download: Orison Swett Marden, "An Iron Will"

"An Iron Will"
by Orison Swett Marden

"Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924) was an American writer associated with the New Thought Movement. He also held a degree in medicine, and was a successful hotel owner. Marden was born in Thornton Gore, New Hampshire to Lewis and Martha Marden. When he was three years old, his mother died at the age of 22, leaving Orison and his two sisters in the care of their father, a farmer, hunter, and trapper. When Orison was seven years old, his father died from injuries incurred while in the wood, and the children were shuttled from one guardian to another, with Orison working as a "hired boy" to earn his keep. Inspired by an early self-help book by the Scottish author Samuel Smiles, which he found in an attic, Marden set out to improve himself and his life circumstances. He persevered in advancing himself and graduated from Boston University in 1871. He later graduated from Harvard with an M.D. in 1881 and an LL.B. degree in 1882. He also studied at the Boston School of Oratory and Andover Theological Seminary.

Like many proponents of the New Thought philosophy, Marden believed that our thoughts influence our lives and our life circumstances. He said, "We make the world we live in and shape our own environment." Yet although he is best known for his books on financial success, he always emphasized that this would come as a result of cultivating one's personal development: "The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone." "In respect to mere mundane relations, the development and discipline of one's will-power is of supreme moment in relation to success in life. No man can ever estimate the power of will. It is a part of the divine nature, all of a piece with the power of creation."
Freely Download "An Iron Will", in PDF format, by Orison Swett Marden is here:

The Daily "Near You?"

Willenhall, Walsall, United Kingdom. Thanks for stopping by!

“Nine Meals from Anarchy”

“Nine Meals from Anarchy”
by Jeff Thomas

“In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Since then, his observation has been echoed by people as disparate as Robert Heinlein and Leon Trotsky. The key here is that, unlike all other commodities, food is the one essential that cannot be postponed. If there were a shortage of, say, shoes, we could make do for months or even years. A shortage of gasoline would be worse, but we could survive it, through mass transport, or even walking, if necessary.

But food is different. If there were an interruption in the supply of food, fear would set in immediately. And, if the resumption of the food supply were uncertain, the fear would become pronounced. After only nine missed meals, it’s not unlikely that we’d panic and be prepared to commit a crime to acquire food. If we were to see our neighbor with a loaf of bread, and we owned a gun, we might well say, “I’m sorry, you’re a good neighbor and we’ve been friends for years, but my children haven’t eaten today – I have to have that bread – even if I have to shoot you.”

So, let’s have a closer look at the actual food distribution industry, compare it to the present direction of the economy and see whether there might be reason for concern.

The food industry typically operates on very small margins – often below 2%. Traditionally wholesalers and retailers have relied on a two-week turnaround of supply and anywhere up to a 30-day payment plan. But an increasing tightening of the economic system for the last nine years has resulted in a turnaround time of just three days for both supply and payment for many in the industry. This is a system that’s already under severe pressure, and has no further wiggle room should it take significant further hits.

If there were a month where significant inflation took place (say, 3%), all profits would be lost for the month, for both suppliers and retailers, but goods could still be replaced and sold for a higher price next month. But, if there were three or more consecutive months of inflation, the industry would be unable to bridge the gap, even if better conditions were expected to develop in future months. A failure to pay in full for several months would mean smaller orders by those who could not pay. That would mean fewer goods on the shelves. The longer the inflationary trend continued, the more quickly prices would rise to hopefully offset the inflation. And ever-fewer items on the shelves.

From Germany in 1922, to Argentina in 2000, to Venezuela in 2016, this has been the pattern, whenever inflation has become systemic, rather than sporadic. Each month, some stores close, beginning with those that are the most poorly-capitalized. In good economic times, this would mean more business for those stores that were still solvent, but, in an inflationary situation, they would be in no position to take on more unprofitable business. The result is that the volume of food on offer at retailers would decrease at a pace with the severity of the inflation.

However, the demand for food would not decrease by a single loaf of bread. Store closings would be felt most immediately in inner cities, when one closing would send customers to the next neighborhood, seeking food. The real danger would come when that store had also closed and both neighborhoods descended on a third store in yet another neighborhood. That’s when one loaf of bread for every three potential purchasers would become worth killing over. Virtually no one would long tolerate seeing his children go without food because others had “invaded” his local supermarket.

In addition to retailers, the entire industry would be impacted and, as retailers disappeared, so would suppliers, and so on, up the food chain. This would not occur in an orderly fashion, or in one specific area. The problem would be a national one. Closures would be all over the map, seemingly at random, affecting all areas. Food riots would take place, first in the inner cities, then spread to other communities. Buyers, fearful of shortages, would clean out the shelves.

Importantly, it’s the very unpredictability of food delivery that increases fear, creating panic and violence. And, again, none of the above is speculation; it’s an historical pattern – a reaction based upon human nature whenever systemic inflation occurs.

Then… unfortunately… the cavalry arrives. At that point it would be very likely that the central government would step in and issue controls to the food industry that served political needs, rather than business needs, greatly exacerbating the problem. Suppliers would be ordered to deliver to those neighborhoods where the riots were the worst, even if those retailers were unable to pay. This would increase the number of closings of suppliers. Along the way, truckers would begin to refuse to enter troubled neighborhoods and the military might well be brought in to force deliveries to take place.

So what would it take for the above to occur? Well, historically, it has always begun with excessive debt. We know that the debt level is now the highest it has ever been in world history. In addition, the stock and bond markets are in bubbles of historic proportions. They are most certainly popping. 

With a crash in the markets, deflation always follows, as people try to unload assets to cover for their losses. The Federal Reserve (and other central banks) has stated that it will unquestionably print as much money as it takes to counter deflation. Unfortunately, inflation has a far greater effect on the price of commodities than assets. Therefore, the prices of commodities will rise dramatically, further squeezing the purchasing power of the consumer, thereby decreasing the likelihood that he will buy assets, even if they’re bargain-priced. Therefore, asset-holders will drop their prices repeatedly, as they become more desperate. The Fed then prints more to counter the deeper deflation and we enter a period when deflation and inflation are increasing concurrently.

Historically, when this point has been reached, no government has ever done the right thing. They have, instead, done the very opposite – keep printing. Food still exists, but retailers shut down because they cannot pay for goods. Suppliers shut down because they’re not receiving payments from retailers. Producers cut production because sales are plummeting.

In every country that has passed through such a period, the government has eventually gotten out of the way, and the free market has prevailed, re-energizing the industry and creating a return to normal. The question is not whether civilization will come to an end. (It will not.) The question is the liveability of a society that is experiencing a food crisis, as even the best of people are likely to panic and become a potential threat to anyone who is known to store a case of soup in his cellar.

Fear of starvation is fundamentally different from other fears of shortages. Even good people panic. In such times, it’s advantageous to be living in a rural setting, as far from the centre of panic as possible. It’s also advantageous to store food in advance that will last for several months, if necessary. However, even these measures are no guarantee, as, today, modern highways and efficient cars make it easy for anyone to travel quickly to where the goods are. The ideal is to be prepared to sit out the crisis in a country that will be less likely to be impacted by dramatic inflation – where the likelihood of a food crisis is low and basic safety is more assured.”
“It is well enough that the people of the nation do not 
understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, 
I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” 
- Henry Ford

"Hell..."

 

"The Most Damned Of All..."

“Damned is the soul that dies while the evil it committed lives on. And the most damned of all are those who see the evil coming for others and refuse to confront it. For it is not out of fear that heroes are born, but rather out of their selfless love that will not allow them safety bought from the torture, death, and degradation of others. It is better to die in defense of another than to live with the knowledge that you could have saved them but chose to do nothing. And to those who think that one person cannot make a difference, I say this… the deadliest tidal wave begins as an unseen ripple in a vast ocean. Live your life so that your integrity will motivate others to strive for excellence long after you’ve passed on, and know that no good deed or sacrifice, or offer of sincere friendship or love, is ever forgotten by the one who receives it.”
- Sherrilyn Kenyon