Monday, January 11, 2021

"2021: If It Wasn't For Bad Luck, We Wouldn't Have No Luck At All"

"2021: If It Wasn't For Bad Luck, 
We Wouldn't Have No Luck At All"
by Charles Hugh Smith


"In our self-deluded hubris, we reckon we've moved beyond the influence of fortune, a.k.a. Lady Luck: our technologies are so powerful and our monetary policies so godlike that nothing as random as luck could ever crush our limitless expansion. Thus does hubris beg for a comeuppance: the greater the hubris, the greater the reversal of fortune, the greater the confidence in our godlike powers, the greater the collapse of our prideful faith in technology and economic policies.

So we've enshrined our hubris-soaked happy story: the virus will naturally weaken, vaccines will conquer the Covid virus in short order, and by opening the monetary spigots and flooding the global economy with trillions in newly created currencies, we'll unleash the greatest boom in history, because it's so righteously "green."

We seem to have forgotten that to elicit a laugh, tell God your plans. We confused a sustained run of good fortune with godlike powers that are impervious to mere luck.

Unfortunately for all the true believers in our vaunted technology and human agencies, luck still matters, and after 50+ years of under-appreciated, fabulously good fortune, we're in the first at-bat of a sustained reversal of fortune, for as noted here many times, the way of the Tao is reversal: good luck doesn't last forever, nor is it some birthright of technologically advanced civilizations.

Are we ill-prepared for seven lean years of increasingly bad luck? Absolutely. Whatever technology can't resolve, trillions in newly issued currency will: either the magic of technology will work miracles, or the magic of limitless free money will work whatever miracles are left after technology wipes up the spot of bother.

If you wanted to script an unprecedented collapse of faith in the false gods of technology and money-printing, you'd outline exactly what transpired in 2020: a reckless dismissal of the pandemic followed by a monumental financial crash that opened the floodgates of free money, which triggered a massive "recovery" rally in risk assets, driving gamblers' confidence to new heights of fantasy.

All hail our new secular gods, the Federal Reserve, the most powerful force in the Universe!

Then you'd release miraculous vaccines that promised a permanent resolution to the pandemic and a measured return to the carefree pre-pandemic orgy of debt-based consumption. (Never mind the doubts of some experts about the vaccine protocols: "Covid-19 Vaccine Protocols Reveal That Trials Are Designed To Succeed" (Forbes.com) by William A. Haseltine)

Then you'd script the opening inning of the tragi-comedy unfolding in 2021: rather than fading as so many were pleased to confidently predict, the Covid virus has made remarkable gains in function, becoming more contagious and more elusive as multiple variants emerge globally.

Rather than conquering the virus, we're unable to even keep pace. The variant ravaging Britain was finally identified in late December, and subsequent sequencing of previously collected samples indicates that it emerged (or arrived) in September. In the meantime, this variant (and other mutations with similar characteristics) have spread around the world with business travelers, tourists, etc. One or more of these variants may reduce the efficacy of the much-hyped vaccines. It's all in this report from the New York Times: "As Coronavirus Mutates, the World Stumbles Again to Respond" (New York Times)

Everything that was supposed to work smoothly due to our oh-so-advanced technological and administrative prowess in now either in doubt or in shambles. Consider the potential for less than 95% efficacy in the vaccines due to the interactions and mutually reinforcing dynamics of 1) vaccine hesitancy in those who understand the conventional processes of testing vaccines best, i.e. healthcare professionals; 2) the potential for consequential numbers of those who receive the first shot of vaccine failing to come back for the second shot due to unpleasant experiences after the first shot or other conditions such as being overworked, evicted, etc., and 3) variants further reducing the efficacy of the vaccines in unpredictable ways.

So let's say the efficacy drops from the promised 95% to 65%. Are you in the 2/3 camp who are protected by the vaccine from serious illness (though you may be a carrier and infect others, a possibility that was not tested by the trials protocols), or are you in the 1/3 camp who for whatever reason is no longer protected by the vaccine?

Since we're chasing a fast-mutating virus, there may not be a fast, accurate way to identify who's fully protected and who isn't. Since this may be unknowable, everyone will have to continue the behavioral methods of limiting exposure and transmission of the virus. In which case the vaccines will have accomplished very little in terms of returning the world to the pre-pandemic glory days of 2019.

If we have indeed begun a sustained reversal of fortune, it might be prudent to consider the possibility we're only in the first inning of a sustained run of back luck. We might want to consider learning a new theme song for 2021, Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" (composed by Booker T. Jones and William Bell): "If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all."

The cycles of human history are amenable to a reversal of fortune: please consider historian Peter Turchin's three indicators of systemic disorder: check, check and check.
Suppressing discussions about the potentially lavish banquet of consequences set by a reversal of fortune won't actually change the outcome of the next eight innings, it will only serve to increase the odds of catastrophically consequential decisions being made by those at the top of the hubris-heap."
Albert King, "Born Under A Bad Sign"

Sunday, January 10, 2021

"Trump at the Rubicon: The Insurrection Act"




Jan. 8, 2021: "Pelosi Pressed Pentagon on Safeguards to Prevent Trump From Ordering Military Action" "But short of the cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment or impeaching and convicting the president, it would be unconstitutional to defy legal orders from the commander in chief, experts note. Mr. Trump, they noted, is still the commander in chief; unless he is removed, the military is bound to follow his lawful orders. While military officials can refuse to carry out orders they view as illegal - or slow the process by sending those orders for careful legal review - they cannot remove the president from the chain of command. That would amount to a military coup, the officials said."
"Trump at the Rubicon: The Insurrection Act"
by Alexander Macris

"In the closing days of 50 BC, the Roman Senate declared that Julius Caesar’s term as a provincial governor was finished. Roman law afforded its magistrates immunity to prosecution, but this immunity would end with Caesar’s term. As the leader of the populares faction, Caesar had many enemies among the elite optimates, and as soon as he left office, these enemies planned to bury him in litigation. Caesar knew he would lose everything: property, liberty, even his life.

Caesar decided it was better to fight for victory than accept certain defeat. In January 49 BC, he crossed the Rubicon River with his army, in violation of sacred Roman law, and began a civil war. “Alea iacta est,” said Caesar: The die is cast.

In the closing days of 2020 AD, the American media had declared that Donald Trump’s term as president was finished. As the leader of the deplorables faction, Trump has many enemies among the elite irates, and as soon as he left office, these enemies planned to bury him in litigation. Bill Pascrell, the Chairman of the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Oversight, has officially called for the prosecution of President Trump for “government crimes” following his term in office. In his thirst for vengeance, Pascrell had made it clear there will be no Nixonian escape by pardon: "Donald Trump, along with his worst enablers, must be tried for their crimes against our nation and Constitution. Any further abuse of the sacred pardon power to shield criminals would itself be obstruction of justice, and any self-pardons would be illegal."

Like Caesar, Trump now must fight for victory or lose everything. Now in January 2021, will Donald Trump decide to cast the die and cross the Rubicon? He might. The same people who warned us that Trump is worse than Hitler will now scoff: “Donald Trump is no Caesar!” That’s true. Trump is in a much better position than Caesar was. Unlike Caesar, Trump can cross the Rubicon legally. He need violate no sacred law. He has all of the legal power he needs to act and win. Congress has given it to him. All he needs to do is invoke the Insurrection Act.

Invoking the Insurrection Act: During the 2020 summer protests and riots, commentators on both the Left and Right argued about whether Trump would use the so-called Insurrection Act against the crowds. Strangely, no one seems to be considering the fact that Trump could use it now.

The history of the Insurrection Act dates back all the way to 1797, and the legislative record is so long and tortured that it’s woeful to contemplate. Suffice to say that in the 21st century, the Insurrection Act has been pleasantly re-titled “The Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act” and codified in four sections of the US Code:





Of the four provisions, the most recent and the most powerful is 10 USC § 253, which was written in 2006. This is the one that liberal pundits always forget to mention when they blab about Posse Comitatus and governors. It reads: "The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.

That’s powerful language! Consider: The authority is vested solely in the President. He does not need the invitation of state governors to intervene, nor does he need the approval of the Supreme Court. Older provisions of the Insurrection Act required either a governor or a judicial proceeding to authorize its use, but these limits were purposefully removed by Congress in § 253.

There is no time limit on the President’s activities. Older versions of the Insurrection Act limited the use of force to brief periods of time and then required legislative approval. Those limits, too, are also gone.

The President is allowed to use any means that he (and again, he needs no one else) considers necessary. This includes using the armed forces (which enables him to bypass the Posse Comitatus Act) and using the militia (which we’ll discuss in more detail below).

The President’s ability to use force isn’t restricted to actual rebellion or insurgency. He can act against merely unlawful combinations and conspiracies. To be clear: If the President decides that a conspiracy has deprived people of a right and believes that authorities fail or refuse to protect the right, he can send in the troops.

In blunt terms, Congress has given the power to President Trump to proclaim: “I, President Trump, have determined that a conspiracy has deprived 70 million Americans of their right to vote and that the other authorities are refusing to protect this right. I therefore order the suppression of this conspiracy by any means necessary.” And with that, Trump will cross the Rubicon.

Horror and Denial: He Shouldn’t! He Wouldn’t! If you are of libertarian leanings, you are likely to feel horror: “Why on Earth did a free republic vest so much power into one man?” You should feel horror. The Romans required a Senate vote to appoint a Dictator with emergency powers, and that Dictator served a strict six-month term limit. In America, we’ve given the President the right to decide when he should become a Dictator and for how long he can retain his emergency powers.

This was certainly unwise; but it is done. “Game over, man.” The power has been given. The power can be used. And it probably will be used if the Democrats continue on their foolish campaign to seek vengeance on Trump.

If you are in the grip of normalcy bias, you are likely to be in denial: “Trump wouldn’t dare! The US Armed Forces would remove him from office! The troops wouldn’t respond to his call!” Pompey said the same about the Roman legions. He was wrong. He was so wrong, in fact, that his decapitated head ended up in a stylish gift box presented to Caesar as a present when he landed in Egypt. Don’t be Pompey.

Now, I don’t expect beheadings (just helicopters) but I do expect that the US Armed Forces would obey Trump’s orders. Although he is not popular with the Pentagon, Trump remains popular with actual soldiers, especially with white middle-class men who make up a disproportionate number of the infantry, armor, pilots, special forces, and other combat arms. (His support among law enforcement personnel is even higher. The men with guns love Trump.)

But let’s assume the Armed Forces are paralyzed, split, or neutral. If so, Trump still has millions of troops available: The militia.

Calling Up the Militia: The militia is defined by 10 U.S. Code § 246:

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and… under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are - 
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

This is, again, an incredibly powerful piece of legislation. Put into plain English, and ignoring a few minor exemptions (postal workers, etc), Trump commands an unorganized militia consisting of every able-bodied man between the ages of 17 and 45. The men don’t need to be in the National Guard. They don’t need to be veterans. They don’t need to be anything except 17 to 45 and able-bodied.

Remember that 10 USC § 253 grants the President the power to use the militia to take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress conspiracy. The militia is statutorily defined to include the unorganized militia. Therefore, when you combine 10 USC § 253 with 10 USC § 246, the President can call on every able-bodied male age 17 to 45 to take any means he deems necessary to suppress the conspiracy to deny Americans their voting rights.

How many men is that? With 328M Americans, 50% of them male, and 40% of them between 18 and 45, that’s 65M militia members.

Organizing the Unorganized: When Trump calls up the unorganized militia, how does it get organized? What Federal statutes, regulations, and case law govern what happens next? The answer… Well, there isn’t one.

“The Citizen-Soldier under Federal and State Law”, a lengthy law review article published in 94 W. Va. L. Rev (1992), reviewed all of the available statutes, regulations, and case law relating to the use of citizen-soldiers. Turns out, there’s not much about the unorganized militia. In fact, in the entirety of the 20th century, there has only been one case: In 1946 Virginia Governor William Mumford Tuck issued a call to the state's unorganized militia to come to the aid of the state and to quell a labor dispute.

Let’s quickly look at what happened. According to the Encyclopedia Virginia, the crisis began when the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union announced that its members would strike against the Virginia Electric and Power Company unless its demands were met by a deadline of April 1, 1946.

At the time, “Virginia law divided its militia into four classes: the National Guard, the Virginia Defense Force, the naval militia, and the unorganized militia. This latter unit hypothetically consisted of all able-bodied males between the ages of sixteen and fifty-five who could be summoned by the governor if needed.” (Virginia law thus mirrored 10 U.S. Code § 246.)

Two days before the strike deadline, Governor Tuck “unilaterally decreed that all IBEW employees were summarily drafted into the unorganized militia and ordered, on pain of court-martial, to continue at their jobs.” Shortly thereafter, the dispute was resolved and questions as to the constitutionality of Tuck's actions were left unresolved. However, the next month, US President Harry S. Truman “used a similar tactic in threatening to draft into the U.S. Army railway workers whose union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, was calling for a nationwide strike; as in the VEPCO affair, the two sides reached a settlement at the eleventh hour.”

So in the only recorded instance in the last 100 years, an unorganized militia was called up, drafted, and ordered to perform particular duties on pain of court-martial, unilaterally by a governor, without any other legislative action, new statute, or court order. And rather than condemn the governor, the US President thought this idea was so awesome he used it himself the next month on the federal militia.

With no apparent limits whatsoever, the Insurrection Act combined with the Militia Act isn’t just a blank check; it’s a blank check book. Apparently our government can call on its citizens to do whatever it wants! I would protest this, but I’m currently on lockdown.

The Balance of Forces: Let’s return to our earlier assumption that Trump has invoked the Insurrection Act and then used it to call up the militia. Let’s continue to assume that the US Armed Forces are either paralyzed with indecision, split in their loyalties, or opting to stay neutral, and just look at the militia. So who is going to fight?

Now, no matter what the law says, not every eligible militia man would respond to Trump’s call. But it seems likely there’d be a large number who did respond, and an even larger number of noncombatant supporters. Right now, 70% of Republicans don’t think the election was free and fair. If Trump calls on the unorganized militia to save the Republic from voter fraud, a militia will come.

So too would an anti-militia or resistance. In fact, lots of people who are willing to fight are fighting on the streets already. It seems likely that if Trump crosses the Rubicon, he will trigger a civil war, just like Caesar triggered a civil war.

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he had only one legion against the might of Rome. What would Trump and his opponents be able to muster? Let’s assess the balance of forces. Trump’ voters consisted of 58% of 98M white men; 55% of 98M white women; 36% of 30M Hispanic men, 28% of 30M Hispanic women, 20% of 22M black men, and 9% of 22M black women.

Meanwhile, the demographics of gun ownership in the US are as follows: 48% of white men own a gun, while only 24% of white women own a gun, 24% of non white men, and 16% of non-white women. Assuming that women largely don’t fight (which is the historical norm), the balance of forces looks like this:

• 98 million white men x 58% Trump voters x 48% gun owners x 40% 18-45 = 11 million white gun-owning Trump militia

• 36 million Hispanic men x 30% Trump voters x 24% gun owners x 40% 18-45 = 1 million Hispanic gun-owning Trump militia

• 22 million black men x 20% Trump voters x 24% gun owners x 40% 18-45 = 0.4 million black gun-owning Trump militia

• 98 million white men x 42% Biden voters x 48% gun owners x 40% 18-45 = 8 million white gun-owning anti-Trump resisters

• 36 million Hispanic men x 70% Biden voters x 24% gun owners x 40% 18-45 = 2.4 million Hispanic gun-owning anti-Trump resisters

• 22 million black men x 80% Biden voters x 24% gun owners x 40% 18-45 = 1.7 million black gun-owning anti-Trump resisters

This basic math suggests 12.4 million potential Trump gun owners and 12.1 million potential anti-Trump gun owners. However, it’s likely the odds would stack more favorably to Trump. Although only 39% of Americans are Republicans, gun owners are actually 64% Republican. In other words, those who own guns are disproportionately Republican by a factor of 1.64! If we replace the percentage of Trump voters with the percentage of Republican gun-owners, then the balance of forces changes to 17.6M pro-Trump and 6.9M anti-Trump.

3% of Americans fought in the Continental Army during the Revolution. If 3% respond to the call for the militia, that would mean between 450,000 to 700,000 militia and 210,000 to 450,000 resisters. To put that in context, there’s only 60,000 soldiers in the Infantry Branch of the US Army.

Of the militia who do respond, those on Trump’s side will be much better trained. As noted earlier, the military’s combat arms are disproportionately white, with the infantry being 79% white and only 9% black. Since the United States has now been at war for 20 years, there are millions of combat veterans, and the vast majority of those who fought as infantry are likely to be on Trump’s side. Likewise, the vast majority of LEO veterans seem likely to fight on Trump’s side, if they chose a side.

The Oathkeepers, a hundred-thousand-strong organization made up of military and law enforcement veterans and personnel, has already stated that it will refuse to recognize a Biden presidency. “We’ll be very much like the founding fathers. We’ll end up nullifying and resisting,” said founder Stewart Rhodes. The founding fathers resisted, of course, with guns.

This Is Not a Drill: Meanwhile, those in the grip of normalcy bias still think that the ‘nuclear option’ is for Trump to ask the state legislatures to appoint some electors to the college. Using legislative ballots isn’t the nuclear option. It’s barely a grenade. The nuclear option is Insurrection Act and the Militia.

Left-wing media is a parade of ostriches marching heads down in the sand. “Trump lost in a landslide!” Wrong. “Trump has already lost!” Wrong. “There is no evidence of fraud!” Wrong. “Civil War could never happen!” Wrong. Maybe it won’t happen. The future is unpredictable. But it really, really could happen.

If I had told you last November that in the next 12 months the US would endure the worst pandemic since Spanish Flu, AND the worst depression since the Great Depression, AND the worst Constitutional crisis since the Civil War, AND the worst civil unrest since the summer of 1968, AND an unprecedented nation-wide lockdowns that led to the end of sports, bars, restaurants, movies, in-class attendance at school, and commuting to work, AND that it would culminate in the World Economic Forum announcing a Great Reset to the global economy to lock in this new normal, would you have believed me? No, you’d have laughed me off as a tinfoil nutjob. Yet here we are.

To repeat a statistic from earlier: 70% of Republicans think that the most recent election is illegitimate. In a functioning democracy, if 70% of the second-largest political party in the country thinks an election has been stolen, the elites come together to cooperate to investigate and restore legitimacy in the eyes of the voters.

In the US, that’s not happening. Instead, an enormous machine, consisting of tech oligopolies, liberal media, watchdog groups, and partisan activists, is doing everything it can to silence and suppress the dissenters. Simultaneously, this same machine is making enemy lists and actively declaring that when it wins, it will be taking vengeance, against Trump, against everyone who helped him, and against everyone who voted for him.

This is not a drill. This is where we are. If Trump is standing on the banks of the Rubicon, it’s because the leftist machine has purposefully widened the Rubicon River until it reaches his feet.

Clear-headed left-wingers - if there are any left - need to step in and deescalate the threats against Trump and his supporters, and listen to 70 million Americans clamoring for fair and fraud-free voting. There is still time. Otherwise, as another great military leader put it, “when on death ground, you must fight.”

"The Great Relocation: Americans Are Relocating From Major Cities Before 2021 Economic Collapse"

"The Great Relocation: Americans Are Relocating
 From Major Cities Before 2021 Economic Collapse"
by Epic Economist

"A mass relocation from Big Cities is being recorded all across the nation. Migration trends have been considerably intensified during the economic collapse and health crisis, a phenomenon experts named The Great Relocation. Amongst some of the reasons residents are seeking alternative locations to move out with their families are the growing civil turbulence in metropolitan areas, strict lockdowns, and, in some states, high wealth taxation. 

However, there are many other factors at play. As more people flee away from once-thriving states, such as California, these states get increasingly impaired by the lack of sufficient labor force, therefore, their growth and economic recovery get considerably compromised. According to analysts, the trend is expected to grow as the sanitary outbreak has reshaped work arrangements and severely damaged the economy of several major cities. That's what we're going to expose in this video. 

A new report published by U-Haul, which tracked one-way U-Haul truck customer transactions and observed nationwide migration trends, found that the outbreak certainly enhanced the exodus from liberal-run states and metro areas because of higher wealth taxation to conservative states that were more "business-friendly”. A different study from United Van Lines found different patterns, but similar results. The company found that relocation to Western and Southern states from Northern states has accelerated in 2020. 

Another survey conducted by the same company examined the reasons why their clients relocated to different states in 2020, and it found that 40 percent moved in an attempt to find a new job, or due to a job transfer. Others moved as a consequence of changes in employment status or work arrangements - approximately 57%, including the ability to work remotely; and 53% disclosed seeking a lifestyle change or improvement of quality of life.

What all of these data signals is how economic collapse response is leading more and more Americans to relocate from liberal-run states, which imposed tighter restrictions, to more conservative states, which introduced looser measures. 

The outbreak response has also prompted an uptick in the homeless population, mostly in urban areas. That has caused a surge in felonies, delinquencies, improper public behavior, most notably in New York City, where tens of thousands have been fleeing the metro area to find safer locations for their families. 

According to the DailyMail, the exodus has started days after residents of the area revealed plans to sue the city for allocating homeless people in luxury hotels in the neighborhood in a polemic attempt to control the spread of the virus that ended up generating a heated discussion amongst residents and city officials. 

Considering the city has failed to properly address a resocialization plan for the homeless, many of them end up on the streets again, and some of them inevitably resumed old disruptive habits, such as drug abuse, public urination, shoplifting, and physical disputes with locals. Several residents started to feel that the city had become an unsafe place for their families, so they decided to move away to live in less turbulent areas. 

Never before in modern American history, we have seen such a rapid mass exodus away from Big Cities. In fact, just before the 2020 Great Relocation phenomenon, American migration hit a 73-year low. The fact that millions decided to move in 2020 portrays another evidence of the lack of confidence Americans have been feeling regarding the economy and authorities' response to the crisis. Many of them are anticipating harder days and more financial setbacks in 2021. 

The run for affordable housing, better living standards, and locations with improved safety has been leading conservative states to benefit from the migration trends, while liberal states have been progressively falling into more socio-economic turmoil.

That's the case of California, which now has more people leaving the state than moving into it. According to a CNBC article, roughly 135,600 more people left the state than moved into it. It’s only the 12th time since 1900 the state has had a net migration loss, and this is the third-greatest relocation documented in the state's history. 

In short, The Great Relocation is an event that outlines many of the hardships faced in the U.S. since the burst of the sanitary outbreak. As Americans are getting increasingly alarmed by the mounting social agitation, and have been experiencing financial struggles for months now, it's only natural that they want to secure themselves outside of this madness brought by the meltdown. They can already feel that much worse is yet to come, and if you can protect yourself, you should also start right now."

Must Watch! “Am I In Venezuela? Economic Hell Is Coming; Economy In Chaos; Gold Price Will Shoot To the Moon”

Jeremiah Babe,
“Am I In Venezuela? Economic Hell Is Coming; 
Economy In Chaos; Gold Price Will Shoot To the Moon”

Peder B. Helland, "Dance of Life"

 

Peder B. Helland, "Dance of Life"
Fantasy music for relaxation and meditation.

Absolutely beautiful!
Be kind to yourself, relax, and savor this at full screen!

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Spooky shapes seem to haunt this starry expanse, drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus. Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible in dimly reflected starlight. Far from your own neighborhood on planet Earth, they lurk at the edge of the Cepheus Flare molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away.
Over 2 light-years across the ghostly nebula known as vdB 141 or Sh2-136 is near the center of the field. The core of the dark cloud on the right is collapsing and is likely a binary star system in the early stages of formation."

"The Message of Pain: Valuable Information"

"The Message of Pain: Valuable Information"
by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"Both emotional and physical pain are messages that we need to stop and pay attention. When we feel pain, our first impulse is often to eradicate it with medication. This is an understandable response, but sometimes in our hurry to get rid of pain, we forget that it is the body's way of letting us know that it needs our attention. A headache can inform us that we're hungry or stressed just as a sore throat might be telling us that we need to rest our voice. If we override these messages instead of respond to them, we risk worsening our condition. In addition, we create a feeling of disconnectedness between our minds and our bodies.

Physical pain is not the only kind of pain that lets us know our attention is needed. Emotional pain provides us with valuable information about the state of our psyche, letting us know that we have been affected by something and that we would do well to focus our awareness inward. Just as we tend to a cut on our arm by cleaning and bandaging it, we treat a broken heart by surrounding ourselves with love and support. In both cases, if we listen to our pain we will know what to do to heal ourselves. It's natural to want to resist pain, but once we understand that it is here to give us valuable information, we can relax a bit more, and take a moment to listen before we reach for medication. Sometimes this is enough to noticeably reduce the pain, because its message has been heard. Perhaps we seek to medicate pain because we fear that if we don't, it will never go away. It can be empowering to realize that, at least some of the time, it is just a matter of listening and responding.

The next time you feel pain, either physical or emotional, you might want to try listening to your own intuition about how to relieve your pain. Maybe taking a few deep breaths will put an end to that headache. Perhaps writing in your journal about hurt feelings will ease your heart. Ultimately, the message of pain is all about healing."

The Poet: May Sarton, "Unison Benediction"

"Unison Benediction" 

"Return to the most human,
nothing less will nourish the torn spirit,
the bewildered heart,
the angry mind:
and from the ultimate duress,
pierced with the breath of anguish,
speak of love.

Return, return to the deep sources,
nothing less will teach the stiff hands a new way to serve,
to carve into our lives the forms of tenderness
and still that ancient necessary pain preserve.

Return to the most human,
nothing less will teach the angry spirit,
the bewildered heart;
the torn mind,
to accept the whole of its duress,
and pierced with anguish…
at last, act for love."

~ May Sarton

"I Would Rather Have..."

"When a bull is being lead to the slaughter, it still hopes to break loose and trample its butchers. Other bulls have not been able to pass on the knowledge that this never happens and that from the slaughterhouse there is no way back to the herd. But in human society there is a continuous exchange of experience. I have never heard of a man who broke away and fled while being led to his execution. It is even thought to be a special form of courage if a man about to be executed refuses to be blindfolded and dies with his eyes open. But I would rather have the bull with his blind rage, the stubborn beast who doesn't weigh his chances of survival with the prudent dull-wittedness of man, and doesn't know the despicable feeling of despair."
- Nadezhda Mandelstam

Greg Hunter, "Dark Day for America – Will Trump Strike Back?"

"Dark Day for America – Will Trump Strike Back?"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

"Journalist Alex Newman says if you think the certification of Joe Biden as President means it’s over, you are wrong. It is not over, and the Deep State coup plotters are afraid of President Trump invoking something called the “Insurrection Act.” That act allows him to stop a coup or an attack on America by using the military or militia. Trump has said that he has tried to overturn the fraudulent election by all legal means and has failed. Newman says, “Former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) General Michael Flynn says he is 100% sure Trump will be President for the next four years. He said it was a ten out of ten. Flynn knows things we don’t know, and Flynn is dealing with the President on a regular basis. The President has to understand that if he walks away, they are never going to leave him alone. 

It’s a dark day for America. There are a lot of people that think the President is considering various options (such as the Insurrection Act). I get the sense that the Deep State swamp monsters are absolutely freaking out. There are a few reasons why I say this. One is the hysteria of removing the President under the 25th Amendment, and if that fails, then going for an impeachment. Why? If you really believe the guy’s gone in two weeks, if he’s been defeated and you’ve got him in checkmate and there is nothing more he can do, why are you so anxious to get him out of there? I think they are worried about massive declassification. 

I also think there is something else. Several former Defense Secretaries have written a letter and told the President that he should not invoke the Insurrection Act. Some generals that I was recently on a call with say he must invoke the Insurrection Act. I don’t know what he’s going to do, and I am not making any predictions, but I do think there are many powerful people in Washington that are terrified of what he might do in the next two weeks.”

Newman also says, “If Trump manages to pull it off and stay in, it’s still going to be a very, very rough ride. If Biden does get in, it’s not going to be a rough ride just for the short term, but it may be the end of our constitutional republic as we have known it. We don’t have to speculate about that either. If they just do the things they have said they are going to do, it’s the end of America. Say hello to the ‘Great Reset.’ Say hello to what they call the New World Order. Say goodbye to your liberties. Say goodbye to your religious freedom. Say goodbye to your most basic freedoms, your ability to earn a living, your ability to speak freely, your ability to elect your leaders, your ability to worship God, your ability to defend your family. We are talking about the most basic and God given rights we have taken for granted in America for way too long. They are going to be gone.”

In short, a second Trump Presidency means freedom and liberty preserved, and a Biden presidency means the end of America."

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One 
with journalist Alex Newman, author of the new book “Deep State.”

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 1/10/21"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 1/10/21"
 Jan. 10, 2021 2:07 PM ET: 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 89,986,500 
people, according to official counts, including 22,321,995 Americans.
Globally at least 1,930,100 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/

The Daily "Near You?"

Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Compassion..."

"Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too." 
- Frederick Buechner

"Housing Crash Is Coming! $10 Trillion Housing Debt Heading To Economic Collapse & Stock Market CRASH"

"Housing Crash Is Coming! $10 Trillion Housing Debt 
Heading To Economic Collapse & Stock Market CRASH"
by Epic Economist

"Will the housing market crash happen in 2021? The housing market has been through a wild ride over the past few months. While some cities have seen an unprecedented upsurge in housing demand, others are registering record-high vacancies. For that reason, analysts have been arguing that the roaring days of the housing market were mostly boosted by the extraordinary amount of fiscal stimulus, as well as the extension of the forbearance period and the foreclosure ban, therefore, the frenzy experienced so far won't last much longer.

Considering millions of Americans remain jobless and without any prospects of when or if they will ever regain their jobs, high delinquency rates might prompt a wave of foreclosures, which means the enormous price bubble will become unsustainable and inevitably pop. That's why, according to recent reports, home buyers and sellers are getting increasingly pessimistic about the future of the housing market in face of the decrepit state of our economy. And that's what discuss in this video. 

Tens of millions of borrowers who received mortgage forbearance have now gone ten months without meeting their mortgage payments. According to a Blck Knight Inc. report on the state of mortgage delinquencies, the national delinquency rate is a full three percentage points higher than pre-outbreak levels while seriously past-due mortgages total 1.8 million above pre-outbreak levels. 

Furthermore, several other sources have been confirming that the real estate market is indeed on the path for a correction. According to Fannie Mae's reports, until the first half of 2020, approximately $203 billion of the loans guaranteed by them were in forbearance. From the $100 billion in bubble-era loans that remained guaranteed by Fannie Mae, 15% were still in forbearance. In its 2020 second-quarter financial report, the agency revealed that there were $194 billion of seriously delinquent loans late in payment for over 90 days. 

Although skeptics may argue that delinquency rates for subprime mortgages were much higher during the 2008 crash and home prices have rebounded since 2012, experts say this recovery was completely artificial. The mainstream media keeps trying to sell the idea of a strong housing-market recovery during the past few months. But that isn't what real data shows. 

According to online broker Redfin, nationwide, last year, home sales were up by just 5% compared to 2019. In fact, in New York City, sales collapsed by 35% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. More concerningly, listings surged by 65% in the Big Apple as residents continued to run away from the lockdown calamity. 

Another evidence of a downturn in the market can be seen in the percentage of home sellers who had to drop their asking price. The Redfin research found that in San Francisco, 24.5% of owners reduced asking prices, and other big cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia and New York also saw a higher percentage of reduced listing prices compared to a year earlier.

For that reason, buyers and sellers reported feeling significantly less confident about making a deal in December of 2020, according to a monthly survey by Fannie Mae. The number of respondents who affirmed it was a bad time to buy went up to 39% from 35%. When it comes to selling, the number of those who said it was a bad time to sell increased to 42% from 33%.

In short, home sellers know that making a deal right now means that they will have to make some concessions and probably lose money. As for consumers, they have been feeling less confident about the housing market because they are also feeling less optimistic about the U.S. economy. As lockdowns linger, and jobless property owners can't afford to meet their mortgage and rental debt, the housing market will continue to be backed by unrealistic prices in a volatile environment. There's no way it can reach an actual recovery while based on billions of debt and sparse price spikes. 

Small landlords have been devastated by the lockdowns. The percentage of landlords who received a full rent payment from their tenants fell to 55%. Taking into account that there are at least 15 million properties owned by small landlords all over the nation, and many of them were already having financial setbacks even before the lockdowns began, unless a miraculous economic recovery takes place overnight and reinserts all of their tenants into the job market, the housing market is about to witness the same scene seen during the 2008 crash: a fire sale of properties of jobless and low-income owners and landlords that will trigger the burst of the sacred housing price bubble and lead the market to a dramatic correction of unprecedented proportions. This is America, and as always, someone has got to pay. Be ready for the housing crash!"

Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead: Critical Updates"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 1/10/21:
"Markets, A Look Ahead: Critical Updates"

Musical Interlude: Medwyn Goodall, "Invocation" Part 2

Medwyn Goodall, "Invocation" Part 2

"We Are All Of Us..."

"We are all of us born, live and die in the shadow
of a giant question mark that refers to three questions:
Where do we come from?
Why?
And where, oh where, are we going?"
- Tennessee Williams

"You're dying right now. Right this minute." He looked at his watch, said, "Right this second,"  then tapped it with his finger. "See there? That second passed. It's gone. Not gonna come again. And while I'm talking to you, every second I'm talking, a second is passing. Gone. Count them up. Count them down. They're gone. Each one bringing you closer to your dying time." 

- Billie Letts

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make,

who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? 

- Stephen Levine

"The Real Damage..."

"The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves - or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control. If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn."
- Sophie Scholl

"One Word Of Truth..."

 

"Dazed Lemmings Can't Bridge The Reality Gap"

"Dazed Lemmings Can't Bridge The Reality Gap"
by Zen Gardner

"Ever wonder why people can't make the leap to real awareness of what's going on? Why do so few people seem to care about the dangers of the unreported Fukushima radiation levels and toxic debris washing across the pacific? As the Orwellian American police state sweeps into place, the economy crumbles, Americans celebrated their entry into a brave new year with minimal awareness of the true dangers already dissolving their health, wealth and chances for survival in an engineered conflagration of mythic proportions that is already descending on their heads.

As the gap between reality and manipulated public perception grows, it may just be too big a leap for many at this point. Having been dumbed-down and unresponsive for so long, it's too much for them to take in. Sad, but again, that's reality. Hey, why wake up when everything's such a bummer? That's the underlying mentality. The thing is, this is a conditioned response. Overload and recoil. And it's been going on a long, long time.

Why? Like the dumbing down effect of fluoride and chemtrails and adulterated food, it eventually suppresses natural responses. When the real alert presents itself, the subject will not be able to react and protect himself. Why all the dramatic end of the world sci-fi movies? Why the emphasis on violence and horror movies and graphic, destructive wars? Why does the news major on the bad events of the day? Why the combative gladiator sports, emphasis on technology instead of humanity, and mind-numbing crass consumerism and sexualization of society? This is deliberate social engineering, and that's the biggie. It's all engineered..and that's the last thing most people want to realize. And it usually is.

The Power of Cognitive Dissonance: The world has become essentially schizophrenic in outlook. Being told one thing while the exact opposite is happening before their eyes for so long, the "dissonance" created by this conflict causes humanity to shut down. America is the perfect example. Ostensibly fighting for "freedom and liberty" we commit genocide and destroy nation after nation. To protect our liberties the government has overturned the Bill of Rights and made the Constitution a mockery. Yet the populace sits and takes it. Why? Too big of a leap. If it turned out they've been completely conned by a massive manipulated agenda they may just completely break down. And subconsciously the horror of that reality is therefore a "no". Even if it were true they're at the point they'd rather not know.

I'll Take Conscious Reality. "Why all the negativity?" is what you'll hear a lot of the time when you bring these things up. The answer, as David Icke often says, is that ignorance is negative. Truth is empowering, no matter how awful it may be sometimes. And at this point in history the more you learn the more negative it may seem, with the Controllers' agenda in full final-phase swing. But so what. Things haven't changed all that much. The purpose of life is to rediscover who you truly are, and that wonderful awakening makes everything else pale in comparison. Our mission then becomes to inform and empower, share and encourage. The same one it always has been. That it's taking this kind of extreme compression to awaken the slumbering masses is really no surprise, and ultimately a gift from the Universe to help people back into the real world... that of conscious loving awareness."

"Awaken from slumber, one and all..."

"Eventually You Understand..."

"That's where it all begins. That's where we all get screwed big time as we grow up. They tell us to think, but they don't really mean it. They only want us to think within the boundaries they define. The moment you start thinking for yourself- really thinking- so many things stop making any sense. And if you keep thinking, the whole world just falls apart. Nothing makes sense anymore. All rules, traditions, expectations- they all start looking so fake, so made up. You want to just get rid of all this stuff and make things right. But the moment you say it, they tell you to shut up and be respectful. And eventually you understand that nobody wants you to really think for yourself."  
- Ray N. Kuili, Awakening"

"How It Really Is"

 

"If You Look..."

"We have got some very big problems confronting us and let us not make any mistake about it, human history in the future is fraught with tragedy. It's only through people making a stand against that tragedy and being doggedly optimistic that we are going to win through. If you look at the plight of the human race it could well tip you into despair, so you have to be very strong."
- Robert James Brown

“This Is What An Economic Collapse Looks Like; Depression 2.0; Real Estate Apocalypse Coming”

Jeremiah Babe,
“This Is What An Economic Collapse Looks Like; 
Depression 2.0; Real Estate Apocalypse Coming”

Saturday, January 9, 2021

"SPECIAL REPORT: Understanding The REAL GOVERNMENT, And MASS MIND CONTROL"

Gregory Mannarino,
"SPECIAL REPORT: 
Understanding The REAL GOVERNMENT, And MASS MIND CONTROL"

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Remember Now"

2002, "Remember Now"

“You think you will never forget any of this, you will remember it always just the way it was. But you can’t remember it the way it was. To know it, you have to be living in the presence of it right as it is happening. It can return only by surprise. Speaking of these things tells you that there are no words for them that are equal to them or that can restore them to your mind. And so you have a life that you are living only now, now and now and now, gone before you can speak of it, and you must be thankful for living day by day, moment by moment, in this presence. But you have a life too that you remember. It stays with you. You have lived a life in the breath and pulse and living light of the present, and your memories of it, remember now, are of a different life in a different world and time. When you remember the past, you are not remembering it as it was. You are remembering it as it is. It is a vision or a dream, present with you in the present, alive with you in the only time you are alive.”
~ Wendell Berry