Full screen recommended.
2002, "Courting the Moon"
So, we rise from the rubble...
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
"A Look to the Heavens"
"A gorgeous spiral galaxy, M104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy. This sharp optical view of the well-known galaxy made from ground-based image data was processed to preserve details often lost in overwhelming glare of M104's bright central bulge.
Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen across the spectrum, and is host to a central supermassive black hole. About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104 is one of the largest galaxies at the southern edge of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Still the colorful spiky foreground stars in this field of view lie well within our own Milky Way galaxy. "
"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
Paulo Coelho, "Killing Our Dreams"
"Killing Our Dreams"
by Paulo Coelho
"The first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is the lack of time. The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the Good Fight.
The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don’t want to see life as a grand adventure, we begin to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life. We look beyond the walls of our day-to-day existence, and we hear the sound of lances breaking, we smell the dust and the sweat, and we see the great defeats and the fire in the eyes of the warriors. But we never see the delight, the immense delight in the hearts of those who are engaged in the battle. For them, neither victory nor defeat is important; what’s important is only that they are fighting the Good Fight.
And, finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being mature; we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. We are surprised when people our age say that they still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams – we have refused to fight the Good Fight.
When we renounce our dreams and find peace, we go through a short period of tranquility. But the dead dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being. We become cruel to those around us, and then we begin to direct this cruelty against ourselves. That’s when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid in combat – disappointment and defeat – come upon us because of our cowardice. And one day, the dead, spoiled dreams make it difficult to breathe, and we actually seek death. It’s death that frees us from our certainties, from our work, and from that terrible peace of our Sunday afternoons."
The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don’t want to see life as a grand adventure, we begin to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life. We look beyond the walls of our day-to-day existence, and we hear the sound of lances breaking, we smell the dust and the sweat, and we see the great defeats and the fire in the eyes of the warriors. But we never see the delight, the immense delight in the hearts of those who are engaged in the battle. For them, neither victory nor defeat is important; what’s important is only that they are fighting the Good Fight.
And, finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being mature; we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. We are surprised when people our age say that they still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams – we have refused to fight the Good Fight.
When we renounce our dreams and find peace, we go through a short period of tranquility. But the dead dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being. We become cruel to those around us, and then we begin to direct this cruelty against ourselves. That’s when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid in combat – disappointment and defeat – come upon us because of our cowardice. And one day, the dead, spoiled dreams make it difficult to breathe, and we actually seek death. It’s death that frees us from our certainties, from our work, and from that terrible peace of our Sunday afternoons."
The Poet: Carl Sandburg, "Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind"
"Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind "
The past is a bucket of ashes.
1
"The woman named Tomorrow
sits with a hairpin in her teeth
and takes her time
and does her hair the way she wants it,
and fastens at last the last braid and coil
and puts the hairpin where it belongs
and turns and drawls: Well, what of it?
My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone.
What of it? Let the dead be dead.
2
The doors were cedar
and the panels strips of gold,
and the girls were golden girls
and the panels read and the girls chanted:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.
The doors are twisted on broken hinges.
Sheets of rain swish through on the wind
where the golden girls ran and the panels read:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.
3
It has happened before.
Strong men put up a city and got
a nation together,
And paid singers to sing and women
to warble: We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.
And while the singers sang
and the strong men listened
and paid the singers well
and felt good about it all,
there were rats and lizards who listened
and the only listeners left now
are the rats and the lizards.
And there are black crows
crying, Caw, caw,
bringing mud and sticks
building a nest
over the words carved
on the doors where the panels were cedar
and the strips on the panels were gold
and the golden girls came singing:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.
The only singers now are crows crying, Caw, caw,
And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways.
And the only listeners now are the rats and the lizards.
4
The feet of the rats
scribble on the door sills;
the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints
chatter the pedigrees of the rats,
and babble of the blood
and gabble of the breed
of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers
of the rats.
And the wind shifts
and the dust on a door sill shifts,
and even the writing of the rat footprints
tells us nothing, nothing at all
about the greatest city, the greatest nation
where the strong men listened
and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was. "
- Carl Sandburg, 1878 -1967
"Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind"
"Public Policy: An Elaborate Fraud"
"Public Policy: An Elaborate Fraud"
by Bill Bonner
"To all the young people out there – I want you
to stay angry. I want you to stay frustrated."
– Barack Obama to climate activists
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "A dear reader, Steve S., writes: “I read all of Bill’s blogs. Obviously they are sarcastic and generally negative. Usually criticizing and pointing fingers. But I don’t ever see the positive aspects. What exactly does Bill want? How would he fix the problems? What does Bill actually stand for?”
We’re glad you asked, Steve. We stand for nothing. We only know what we like. Truth, rather than lies. Beauty, rather than ugliness. And freedom over slavery. Even as to that, it is not so much that we care about “freedom;” we just don’t like anyone telling us what to do. And why should they? We know what we want better than they do.
Lessons Learned: Of course, we do not claim to know everything. We admit, in fact, that we know very little. We can take a fair guess about tomorrow’s temperature… but as for 10 years from now, we know no more than the climatologists. But man must have some way of guiding his actions. He makes his guesses… he puts 2 and 2 together… and he turns to the lessons learned over centuries: Don’t spend more than you can afford… Don’t invade Russia… And if you find yourself in a spooky house, don’t go down into the basement.
Major Screw-Up: If we are “generally negative,” it is because we are commenting on public policy… which is almost always an elaborate fraud, backed by brute force. Wars… central planning… world improvement – can you give us one example of a large public policy that wasn’t a scam, a waste of money, or a major screw-up? The only ones that are even borderline worthwhile are those where we were fighting someone else’s even worse public policy…such as World War II.
In the early 1940s, America mobilized in what was the biggest public policy move in U.S. history. Automobiles stopped rolling from the assembly lines; tanks took their place. Sixteen million men and women joined the armed forces. U.S. debt soared. It was probably wasteful and foolish in many respects, but under the circumstances, almost everyone agreed that it was the right thing to do.
Misguided Policies: But the World War II global catastrophe wasn’t caused by the U.S., or by greedy corporations… or old white men… or by a lack of diversity on school boards… or by a virus or changing weather patterns. As German Holocaust survivor Hannah Arendt explained, it wasn’t caused by “hate,” either. It was caused by public policies initiated by politicians and administered by bureaucrats. Could the problem be fixed? Probably not. People do jackass things from time to time… and think they’re making improvements.
In the 1930s, Germany thought it could enhance its “Lebensraum.” Japan wanted to increase its “co-prosperity sphere.” Both looked to win by making weaker neighbors lose. Adolf Hitler even drew a comparison with American pioneers, who took land from native tribes in order to develop their own Lebensraum, from sea to shining sea. The world would be a better place, he argued, if Germans were able to more efficiently exploit the “under-used” lands to the East.
And who could say he was wrong?The invaders might have treated the Poles well. They might have brought tractors and increased productivity and wages. They might have actually made the Steppes bloom and hearts glad.
Stop at Nothing: In the evening, people walk their dogs in the park in front of our office. The dogs do what dogs do after being trapped in an apartment all day. And their owners bend over and pick up the canine excrement and put it in the trash. There is a law that insists on it. But the law is almost never enforced. Still, people clean up after their pets because they recognize that it’s the right thing to do… and they don’t want to be seen not doing it by their neighbors.
Which leads us to another old lesson: Anything you have to force people to do is probably not worth doing. In private policy, people normally respect the rules of civilized life. If they want land in Poland, for example, they have to buy it lawfully. No force required. But in public policy, the sky’s the limit… nothing is too barbaric or too preposterous. As we’ve seen, governments, in pursuit of public policy goals, will stop at nothing – neither murder, mass starvation, nor genocide.
Big Time Action: Which brings us back to Saint Greta, the climate change activist, subject of yesterday’s Diary. She wants action. Not “blah, blah.” She’s angry… frustrated. And the kind of action she wants is Big Time public policy action. That is, she is not satisfied with reducing her own carbon footprint and persuading others to do the same. She wants to force other people to do things they don’t want to do – on a scale not seen since World War II.
As America’s special presidential envoy to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), John Kerry, put it last week, the price tag will be trillions, not billions. And we’re talking about major changes – to the way we heat our homes, to the way we drive to work and the way we power our factories (if we have any left). One climate change enthusiast, Louise Crabtree-Hayes, even suggested that we might have to outlaw private homes to meet the “emergency.”
The cost – in money and inconvenience – will be huge. But it could be far worse…In 1850, the pre-industrial economy supported only 1.2 billion people. Today, we have 7.8 billion people, almost all of whom depend on oil, gas, or coal. Imagine the “supply chain disruptions” that could result from cutting off supplies of fuel.
Deadly Policy: And what is the truth of an “emergency,” like the attack on Pearl Harbor? Do we tighten our belts, stiffen our backbones, and accept the sacrifices that will be required of us? Or is the whole thing a false alarm… or a scam? If only we could read tomorrow’s headlines today!
All we know is that billions of people have been borne up out of poverty by nature’s stored-up energy. They’ve been able to live longer, more comfortable lives – with out-of-season fruits and vegetables, air-conditioning, and solar rooftop panels.
Meanwhile, the death toll from public policies in the 20th century – wars, government-caused starvation, concentration camps and the Gulag – was estimated by self-described atrocitologist Matthew White at 203 million, including 37 million soldiers, 27 million civilians killed as collateral damage, 81 million killed in purges and mass murders, and 58 million who were intentionally starved to death.
Saint Greta proposes more aggressive government action. But on this rudimentary evidence, the human race might be better off limiting public policies, rather than limiting the use of fossil fuel."
"Just Remember..."
“I know the world seems terrifying right now and the future seems bleak. Just remember human beings have always managed to find the greatest strength within themselves during the darkest hours. When faced with the worst horrors the world has to offer, a person either cracks and succumbs to ugliness, or they salvage the inner core of who they are and fight to right wrongs. Never let hatred, fear, and ignorance get the best of you. Keep bettering yourself so you can make the world around you better, for nothing can improve without the brightest, bravest, kindest, and most imaginative individuals rising above the chaos.”
- Cat Winters
"What Might Have Been..."
“Space I can recover. Time, never.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
“Lands can be reconquered, indeed in the course of a battle, a hill or a certain plain might trade hands several times. But missed opportunities? These can never be regained. Moments in time, in culture? They can never be re-made. One can never go back in time to prepare for what they should have prepared for, no one can ever get back critical seconds that were wasted out of fear or ego. Napoleon was brilliant at trading space for time: Sure, you can make these moves, provided you are giving me the time I need to drill my troops, or move them to where I want them to be. Yet in life, most of us are terrible at this. We trade an hour of our life here or afternoon there like it can be bought back with the few dollars we were paid for it. And it is only much, much later, as they are on their deathbeds or when they are looking back on what might have been, that many people realize the awful truth of this quote. Don’t do that. Embrace it now.”
- Ryan Holiday
○
And in secret moments of despair,
Too late, too late...We think what might have been,
should have been, and we let it slip away...
Chris De Burgh,
"Carry Me (Like A Fire In Your Heart)"
"Epic Inflation About to Surge Higher - Interest Rate Increases Coming"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, AM 11/9/21:
"Epic Inflation About to Surge Higher -
Interest Rate Increases Coming"
"A Final Warning To Humanity From Former Pfizer Chief Scientist Michael Yeadon"
"A Final Warning To Humanity From Former
Pfizer Chief Scientist Michael Yeadon"
View video here:
○
Related:
Gregory Mannarino, "Must Watch! A Dose Of Truth Everyone Needs To Hear"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/9/21:
"Must Watch! A Dose Of Truth Everyone Needs To Hear"
"Used Vehicle Prices Hyperinflate As Inflation Begins To Spiral Out Of Control All Over America"
"Used Vehicle Prices Hyperinflate As Inflation
Begins To Spiral Out Of Control All Over America"
by Michael Snyder
"It turns out that all of the “doom and gloomers” that were warning that we would eventually experience nightmarish inflation were right after all. In particular, vehicle prices have become exceedingly painful in recent months. Due to a crippling global shortage of computer chips, production of new vehicles is way down, and a lot of that demand has shifted into the used vehicle market. Over the past year, used vehicle prices have escalated at a pace that we have never seen before in our entire history, and things reached a crescendo during the month of October. If you can believe it, used vehicle prices increased by 9.2 percent last month…"The industry’s key index of used vehicle prices jumped another 9.2% over the span of just a month. That puts the index 38% higher than a year ago - compared to “just” 27% for the same stat in September."
If used vehicle prices rose by 9.2 percent for an entire year, that would be really bad. For that to happen in just one month is simply breathtaking. Overall, used vehicle prices are up a total of 38 percent over the past year, and they are now up a total of 59 percent since October 2019. So if you purchased a new vehicle within the past couple of years, it may now be worth more than when it was brand new.
To fully appreciate the insanity that we are seeing in used vehicle prices, I would encourage you to check out this chart. Used vehicle car prices going parabolic (chart courtesy @wolfstreeet ) pic.twitter.com/XZZf56mBeq - ritesh jain (@riteshmjn) November 9, 2021.
If that isn’t “hyperinflation”, what would you call it? I can’t imagine that used vehicle prices will continue to rise at an exponential pace like this, but “experts” have been saying the same thing for months and prices just continue to accelerate.
The funny thing is that used vehicle prices usually go down in October…"October typically sees above average vehicle depreciation and therefore used price declines. This October was the first October in the history of the Manheim Index data, which dates to 1997, to see a non-seasonally adjusted price increase in October."
Of course we are seeing very painful inflation in other sectors of the economy as well. For example, some meat prices are up “about 40% from a year ago”…"Supermarkets say shoppers are buying more store-brand meat products and trading down from beef to less-expensive alternatives such as chicken or pork, after prices for products such as rib-eye climbed about 40% from a year ago, according to research firm IRI. Some consumers are replacing boneless chicken breast with cheaper bone-in chicken, retailers said."
As food prices continue to soar, eventually it will get to a point where big corporations are putting armed guards on food trucks in order to protect deliveries from being hijacked.
The worst supply chain crisis in American history is one of the primary reasons why prices are beginning to spiral out of control. A couple days ago, Joe Biden attempted to explain why this is happening…“It’s backed up because peoples supplies or materials that end up being on our kitchen table or in our in in our our fam, our our our life, guess what? They close those plants because they have COVID.”
What does that even mean? As things get worse and worse, our leaders in Washington seem to have no answers and no solutions. It is being projected that this will be a very cold winter in many areas of the country, and heating bills are expected to be way higher than ever before…"With consumers already dealing with the fastest price increases in decades, another unwelcome uptick is on the horizon: a widely expected increase in winter heating bills.
After plunging during the pandemic as the global economy slowed, energy prices have roared upward. Natural gas, used to heat almost half of U.S. households, has almost doubled in price since this time last year. The price of crude oil - which deeply affects the 10 percent of households that rely on heating oil and propane during the winter - has soared by similarly eye-popping levels. When she was asked about this, this is how Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm responded…"Americans should expect to pay higher prices to heat their homes this winter, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Sunday. "Yeah, this is going to happen,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash. “It will be more expensive this year than last year.”
Things are so bad that they aren’t even trying to put spin on the ridiculously high energy prices any longer. And heating costs are expected to go even higher in the months ahead as we get into the middle of the winter…"Last month, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report warning that the cost of heating oil is expected to rise approximately 43% compared to last year to due to “higher expected fuel costs as well as more consumption of energy due to a colder winter.” Meanwhile, the agency expects propane costs to rise by 54%, natural gas costs to rise by 30% and electricity costs to rise by 6%.
Needless to say, government projections almost always turn out to be way too optimistic. Let’s just hope that the Biden administration’s reckless energy policies don’t result in widespread shortages this winter. One analyst that was interviewed by Fox News is actually warning that if things get bad enough we could actually see Americans “freezing in their homes”… “I hope it doesn’t end like this, but where I see it going is unfortunately the same thing that happened in February in Texas: People freezing in their homes,” he said, adding, “Most of the time when it’s extremely cold or there’s a real bad polar vortex situation, typically it’s pretty cloudy and there’s not a lot of wind.”
Let us pray that things do not get that crazy in the months to come. But without a doubt, this is going to be a difficult winter for millions upon millions of Americans.
During the early stages of 2022, we should expect more inflation, more supply chain problems and more economic chaos. Decades of very foolish decisions are now starting to catch up with us in a major way, and nobody in Washington seems to have a plan that will pull us out of this mess."
“Isochronic Tones: Cognition Enhancer For Clearer and Faster Thinking”
Full screen recommended.
“Isochronic Tones:
Cognition Enhancer For Clearer and Faster Thinking”
by Jason Lewis
“HEADPHONES REQUIRED – Note: As this session stimulates each ear with different frequencies, you will need to use headphones to experience the full effect. Alternative background sounds available on Mp3: Orchestral, Hybrid, World Music, Rain, Brown Noise.
What does this track do? This session stimulates Beta, SMR and Alpha, alternating in 2 minute increments to help keep the user relaxed and engaged. Note: SMR (sensorimotor rhythm) relates to the frequency range between 12 – 15Hz. It’s associated with sensory processing and motor control. Stimulating this can result in relaxed focus and improved attention. This session is meant to speed up the brain while keeping the left hemisphere dominant (good for attention, concentration and reducing emotional response and hyperactivity). ADD and similar disorders are often characterized by “slow-wave” EEG patterns, particularly in the left frontal region. As such, this session stimulates the left brain hemisphere with Beta frequencies and the right with SMR.
Can it be used to help with studying and if so, when should you listen to it? Yes, it can be helpful to use while studying, and if you read through the many comments about this track, you’ll see that many people have successfully used it for studying. You can either listen to it while you are studying, to get your brain into a good mental state when you need it. Or if you are someone that gets a bit distracted by music while studying, listen to it just before you begin.
How Loud Should The Volume Be? There is varying advice and opinions on the impact of volume with brainwave entrainment, with some saying the louder it is the more impact it has. From my own experience, my advice is to play it at a volume level you feel comfortable with. The main thing to consider is that it should be loud enough to hear the repetitive isochronic tones, so you don’t want it so quiet you can hardly hear them. But you also don’t want it so loud that it's uncomfortable for you. Somewhere in the middle is my recommendation.
Use this session in the morning or afternoon, to train your brain for better cognition, such as clearer and faster thinking. You can either sit somewhere quiet and comfortable with your eyes closed and give your brain a nice workout, or you can also listen to this while doing an activity that requires a boost in concentration, like studying.
How long should you listen for to get a good effect? It takes around 6 minutes for your brainwaves to fall in step with the tones and become entrained. It then takes time to be guided along the frequency range used in the track. Listening to about half way through is the minimum in my opinion, but 30 minutes is the optimum and preferred length to listen for.
IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS:
Drink some water – Make sure you are well hydrated before listening to brainwave entrainment.
WHY? Your brain is made up of around 75% water, so it needs plenty of water to function well. When you stimulate your brain in this way, you’re increasing electrical activity and blood flow in the brain and giving your brain a good workout, so it can be a good idea to drink before listening, so that your brain can fire on all cylinders.
It is not recommended to listen to this while driving or operating machinery.
WHY? Brainwave entrainment involves a process of stimulating your brainwaves and changing your mental state. While this is safe to do and use in normal situations, it can sometimes zone you out during the track, as you focus in on the sound of the tones. This could result in you being distracted temporarily, which is not a good thing while you’re driving or operating machinery. Some people also experience tingling and other sensations from the stimulation. While that might feel quite nice sitting in a comfortable chair at home, it could cause you to be distracted while driving and result in an accident.
It is not recommended to listen to this while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or any mind altering substance.
WHY? When your brain is under the influence of drugs or alcohol it’s not operating to it’s full capacity, and you react differently to stimulation and situations, compared to when you are sober. So as a precaution and because I don’t know how you will react in that situation, I recommend you do not use it in that situation.
Who Should NOT listen to this audio? Those who should not listen to this video/audio include: Those who are prone to or have had seizures, epilepsy, pregnant or wear a pacemaker should NOT listen to this video/audio.
WHY? There is insufficient research data in this area, so as a precaution, if you are among the categories listed above, I would recommend you consult a doctor or medical professional before listening to this video/audio.”
○
Look, whether you want to know it or not we're all in the fight
of our lives, for our lives. I for one will take any edge I can find,
and you should, too. Be alert, be aware, and stay informed.
This works, period. Try it. Stay strong, folks...
- CP
Monday, November 8, 2021
"Beautiful Relaxing Music for Stress Relief"
Full screen recommended.
Soothing Relaxation,
"Beautiful Relaxing Music for Stress Relief"
"Beautiful relaxing music for stress relief, composed by Peder B. Helland. This instrumental music ("The Hidden Valley") works well as sleep music, ambient study music, meditation music or relaxation music."
Magnificent...
“Home Delinquencies Pile Up; Your Job Will Be Gone; 50 Million Have Not Paid Off Last Christmas”
Jeremiah Babe, PM 11/8/21:
“Home Delinquencies Pile Up; Your Job Will Be Gone;
50 Million Have Not Paid Off Last Christmas”
Musical Interlude: Paul Mauriat, "Love is Blue"
Full screen recommended.
Paul Mauriat, "Love is Blue"
"When We Have Time..."
“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come.
We have only today. Let us begin.”
- Mother Theresa
○
“Life’s funny, chucklehead. You only get one and you don’t want to throw it away. But you can’t really live it at all unless you’re willing to give it up for the things you love. If you’re not at least willing to die for something – something that really matters – in the end you die for nothing.”
- Andrew Klavan
"Where Did They Go? There Are 107 Million Working Age Americans That Do Not Have A Job Right Now"
Full screen recommended.
"Where Did They Go? There Are 107 Million Working
Age Americans That Do Not Have A Job Right Now"
by Epic Economist
"The United States is in the middle of the worst shortage of workers in history. At the moment, every industry in the country is short-staffed and we are already seeing major disruptions occur due to the lack of qualified labor to perform the basic services our society needs. Many famous CEOs and business owners recently made the headlines complaining about the declining number of members in their staff. However, official numbers released by the federal government have been telling us a different story. They have been suggesting that there's no worker shortage, no unemployment crisis and that things are going fairly well in our labor market.
Recent data shows that there are currently tens of millions of job openings all across the nation. Employers have been so desperate to find new workers that they have been offering some generous bonuses, gifs, trips, and of course, dramatically raising wages to attract new employees. But even though all of this is happening, people are still not coming back. Nationwide, there are currently 100,450,000 people out of the labor force, up 38,000 from September numbers. October was the 14th straight month that the number of people out of work has remained above 100,000,000.
But that figure doesn't give us the full number of working-age Americans sitting on the sidelines because it doesn't include those who are officially unemployed. That number, according to the Federal Reserve, currently stands at 7.4 million, which gives us a grand total of more than 107 million people out of the workforce. With so many people on the sidelines, the labor market participation rate has remained stubbornly low in recent months, and it did not budge in October. Of course, this is already having a toll on the economy. In a recent note, the Congressional Budget Office pointed that such a low participation rate in the labor force is threatening to shrink our gross domestic product, compromise our economic growth this year and generate further federal outlays, as many who are not in the labor force are likely to enroll in federal benefit programs.
So far, the government hasn't shown much concern about this situation. But the fact that we went from a historically low unemployment rate before the health crisis to a severe lack of workers should be very alarming to all of us. After all, our workers are the backbone of our society. Right now, many of them are being impeded to do their jobs because of local mandates. And tens of millions as on the verge of losing their jobs as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandate goes into effect. The agency said that companies that fail to comply would face penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation. Repeat offenders or those found to be willfully non-compliant can face a fine of $136,532, according to a White House official.
It’s official. We now live in an authoritarian nightmare. Although we're already facing an acute shortage of workers, the federal government's measures are about to make this crisis even worse. On Twitter, the Co-Founder & President of RealClearPolitics, Tom Bevan, has expressed his concern about the consequences this mandate will have on our supply chains. "All the biggest trucking companies in America - who already face major driver shortages - will see a % of their workforce quit. The supply chain crisis is going to get much worse - very soon," he warned. It feels like they want to make it so that there is no escape. If people don't do as they're told, they will be unable to work anywhere. The threat of unemployment goes beyond the loss of a job and a steady source of income, it means that millions of people may lose the comfortable lifestyles they spent years building for themselves and their families.
In the short term, the national and local mandates will keep forcing millions of millions of highly qualified Americans out of their jobs. Needless to say, enforcing these measures while we're in the midst of the worst worker shortage in our history is absolutely insane. When it comes to the long-term, these measures may result in another economic slump and also worsen the political divides in our country. People say that a house divided shall fall, and given that we're now facing divisions that may never be repaired, it seems like the stage is set for a societal meltdown of epic proportions."
"A Look to the Heavens"
"On an August night two friends enjoyed this view after a day's hike on the Plateau d'Emparis in the French Alps. At 2400 meters altitude the sky was clear. Light from a setting moon illuminates the foreground captured in the simple vertical panorama of images. Along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy stars of Cassiopeia and Perseus shine along the panorama's left edge.
But seen as a faint cloud with a brighter core, the Andromeda galaxy, stands directly above the two friends in the night. The nearest large spiral galaxy, Andromeda is about 2.5 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Adding to the evening's shared extragalactic perspective, the fainter fuzzy spot in the sky right between them is M33, also known as the Triangulum galaxy. Third largest in the local galaxy group, after Andromeda and Milky Way, the Triangulum galaxy is about 3 million light-years distant. On that night, the two friends stood about 3 light-nanoseconds apart."
“What Mark Will You Leave On The World?”
“What Mark Will You Leave On The World?”
by Maria Rodale
“As some of you know, this time of year is my favorite time to truly reflect on the past and the future. Things seem to slow down enough that there’s finally time to ponder and think and plan and dream. The questions and thoughts change as I get older. When I was younger, it was more about what I wanted to accomplish (although I still have a VERY ambitious list for that). Now, it’s a little bit more of what do I want to leave behind?
The thing about life and reality is that it is so fleeting. Things that seem huge and vastly important can become footnotes to history or, like handprints in the sand – here today, gone tomorrow – washed away by wind or a wave. But I firmly believe that if we don’t think about it – and aren’t awake about it – we simply drift through life asleep and miss the best of it. In fact, I kind of believe that part of our purpose here in life is to create it, create change, push evolution forward, and improve things. To me, leaving a mark isn’t about getting credit or recognition, but making sure that the things we do have a positive impact rather than a negative one, and I think that starts in our heads and our hearts.
So I urge you to take some time for yourself this week, carve out an hour or, better yet, a day when you can really open your heart and calm your head enough to dream about what you truly desire. If you can dream it, you can create it. And then your life will leave a wake of happiness and joy.”
For more from Maria Rodale, go to www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com
"The Heart Has Its Reasons..."
“Passion doesn’t count the cost. Pascal said that the heart has its reasons that reason takes no account of. If he meant what I think, he meant that when passion seizes the heart it invents reasons that seem not only plausible but conclusive to prove that the world is well lost for love. It convinces you that honor is well sacrificed and that shame is a cheap price to pay. Passion is destructive. It destroyed Antony and Cleopatra, Tristan and Isolde, Parnell and Kitty O’Shea. And if it doesn’t destroy it dies. It may be then that one is faced with the desolation of knowing that one has wasted the years of one’s life, that one’s brought disgrace upon oneself, endured the frightful pang of jealousy, swallowed every bitter mortification, that one’s expended all one’s tenderness, poured out all the riches of one’s soul on a poor drab, a fool, a peg on which one hung one’s dreams, who wasn’t worth a stick of chewing gum.”
- W. Somerset Maugham
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“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”
- Sydney J. Harris
The Poet: Robert Frost, “Acceptance”
“Acceptance”
“When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud
And goes down burning into the gulf below,
No voice in nature is heard to cry aloud
At what has happened.
Birds, at least must know
It is the change to darkness in the sky.
Murmuring something quiet in her breast,
One bird begins to close a faded eye;
Or overtaken too far from his nest,
Hurrying low above the grove, some waif
Swoops just in time to his remembered tree.
At most he thinks or twitters softly, ‘safe!’
Now let the night be dark for all of me.
Let the night be too dark for me to see
Into the future. Let what will be, be.”
- Robert Frost
Free Download: Kahlil Gibran, “The Garden of the Prophet”
“The Garden of the Prophet”
by Kahlil Gibran
“Oftentimes we call Life bitter names, but only when we ourselves are bitter and dark. And we deem her empty and unprofitable, but only when the soul goes wandering in desolate places, and the heart is drunken with over-mindfulness of self.
Life is deep and high and distant; and though only your vast vision can reach even her feet, yet she is near; and though only the breath of your breath reaches her heart, the shadow of your shadow crosses her face, and the echo of your faintest cry becomes a spring and an autumn in her breast.
And Life is veiled and hidden, even as your greater self is hidden and veiled. Yet when Life speaks, all the winds become words; and when she speaks again, the smiles upon your lips and the tears in your eyes turn also into words. When she sings, the deaf hear and are held; and when she comes walking, the sightless behold her and are amazed and follow her in wonder and astonishment.”
Freely download “The Garden of The Prophet” here:
"Saint Greta"
"Saint Greta"
by Bill Bonner
"You can shove your climate crisis up your arse…
30 years of blah, blah, blah..."
– Saint Greta (Thunberg), climate change activist
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "We begin today’s dot-connecting with an admission: We don’t know whether the world’s weather is getting better or worse. The experts say the Earth is warming. But warmer temperatures are not necessarily a bad thing. And what if there is a runaway heat effect that leaves the survivors sweating on hilltops?
Nobody knows what cover stories TIME Magazine readers will find most alarming next year. But at least the world’s climate scientists, green energy hustlers, scolds, and busy-bodies gathered in Glasgow last week had a hypothesis: "The more CO2 (carbon dioxide) emitted by human activity, they claim, the higher the temperatures will go."
Is that true? Maybe. Maybe not.
No Correlation: The “greenhouse effect” is appealing because it is simple. CO2 acts like glass, they say. It traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Since the mid-19th century, which the climate worriers have taken as the baseline, there is at least a relationship… and a plausible explanation… for rising temperatures. The Industrial Revolution increased the use of fossil fuels… and CO2 emissions… leading to the aforementioned “greenhouse effect.” But over the longer term of the geologic record, there’s no proof that rising CO2 causes rising temperatures.
For millions of years, CO2 levels were higher… with higher temperatures, too. Then, there were millions of years when CO2 levels were lower… and temperatures went up and down. If there is any correlation at all, it is much too imprecise to draw any public policy conclusions. All we know for sure is that we don’t know much. Will temperatures continue to rise? Don’t know. Would that be a bad thing? Don’t know that either.
Would it make sense to force everyone to lower his standard of living in order to try to stabilize the world’s climate? Who knows? And even if it were effective, would it be worth it? Again, unknowable.
Empowered by Uncertainty: In the face of so many known unknowns… not to mention a boatload of unknown unknowns… and many other things about which we have no damn clue, sensible people hesitate. They take it for granted that some things are beyond our ken and outside of our control. The wisest course of action is to leave them alone, at least until we have a better handle on them.
Some people, however, are not hampered by uncertainty, but empowered by it. They simply replace convincing evidence with Revealed Truth. Their claims and guesswork are asserted as though they were facts… and taken up by the masses as religious dogma.
Great Cause: Centuries ago, hurricanes and tornadoes were considered the acts of an angry god. Today, they are the result of “global climate change.” And who better to lead us through the cracks of thunder and the wild whirling winds than a child saint, unblemished… untainted… pure as unsweetened muesli?
Like St. Joan of Arc, Greta Thunberg had her moment of Blinding Truth early in life. At age 11, beset by Asperger’s, obsessive-compulsive disorder, mutism, depression… unable to eat… she found a Great Cause to give meaning to her life… and something to live for. In an earlier age, she might have turned to God or the Church. Perhaps she would have joined a religious order and devoted herself to caring for lepers. But this is the 21st century. And today’s most popular faith is Climate Change.
And now, eight years later, Greta Thunberg believes, with her full heart and mind, that she can lead the world to victory over rising temperatures. She is a full-fledged Climate Change Believer… an activist in shining armor… and an obnoxious teenager.
Not the Whole Story: Flashing back to the young Joan of Arc… Her vision told her that she should support Charles VII, the still-uncrowned King of France, in a campaign against the English. Like all great causes, the fight between the English and the French in the 15th century had its nuances and uncertainties. The popular version – then and now – was a great deal less than the Whole Story.
The war was actually better understood as the Lancastrian Phase of the 100 Year War. It was a fight between factions, with English and French on both sides. What side God was on was not recorded. But Joan thought she knew. And then, the poor girl was captured, not by the English… but by the (French) Burgundians. Turned over to the English, she was tried by a French judge and a French prosecutor (charged, among other things, with cross dressing). She was burned at the stake in 1431.
Confusions and Contradictions: Poor Greta is unlikely to feel the hot flames licking her toes. She may, however, eventually come to see the many confusions and contradictions of her faith. Signaling her Exalted Status among the disciples, for example, she eschewed flying to the U.S. to give a talk at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit. Airplanes give off CO2, she reasoned. Instead, she took a private yacht, named Malizia II (malice), a zero-carbon yacht owned by a Rothschild, taking almost two weeks to cross the Atlantic.
The Team Malizia website shows 22 members. But the U.N. reports that only two of them, plus Greta’s father and a cameraperson, took the boat ride. Assume that each adult’s time was worth at least $200 a day. That’s a cost of more than $10,000 right there. Plus, the crew members flew back to Europe on carbon-emitting airplanes. And the boat needed servicing, maintenance, mooring… not to mention the initial investment to build the 60-foot racing yacht (probably millions).
Expensive Trip: Not to put too fine a point on it, but everything takes energy. And energy is measured in the prices we pay for things. So, if it cost Greta $700 to cross the Atlantic by plane, coach fare, that would be a fair measure of all the energy that went into to it – the energy from fuel, from building the plane, from the airport, from the pilot and stewards, rubber tires, the little bags of nuts, and so forth.
But instead of paying 700 bucks, Greta’s trip must have cost 100 times as much, and required far more fossil fuel than a seat on a commercial airline. And then, once arrived in New York, and celebrated as a saint by the great and the good… as if she had some special insight denied to the rest of us… or some virtue given only to crackpot virgins… she opened up the Summit with: "This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"
If people are dying, it’s not because of fossil fuels. Just the contrary.
No Evidence: The press delights whenever people get their feet wet… and has a field day when their houses burn down. But is the weather really more of a threat today than it was in the past? Apparently not. Scientists have tracked hurricanes in the Caribbean, heat waves in the Midwest, and fires in California. They’ve found no evidence of worsening trends. In the case of California wildfires, for example, before the arrival of Europeans, fires routinely burnt off far more acreage than they do today.
Nature still “acts up” from time to time. But, thanks to fossil fuel, humans are much less at risk. In the old days, an early frost or a dry summer could mean starvation. Now, it means you pay a little more for your peaches. Likewise, in a poor country, such as Haiti… a hurricane could mean thousands of deaths – both from drowning and subsequent disease. In Florida, a storm of the same strength might just take tin off roofs and topple porch plants.
Why the difference? Each resident of Haiti uses about 394 kilograms of “oil equivalent” per year, according to the World Bank. In the U.S., the total is 6,804 – 17 times as much.
Saving Lives: The point is this: Wealth – made possible by fossil fuels – helps humans survive nature’s hissy fits. Higher standards of living increased lifespans. Better sanitation… better nutrition… better access to medical care – all were made possible by stored-up solar energy, in the form of oil, gas, and coal. Millions of lives have been saved by the Industrial Revolution. How many lives will Saint Greta save?"
"Stocks Will Soar as We Get Bad News of More Inflation and Taxes"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, 11/8/21:
"Stocks Will Soar as We Get
Bad News of More Inflation and Taxes"
"Medicine Wants to Kill You"
"Medicine Wants to Kill You"
by Jim Kunstler
"Historians of the future, savoring ‘possum goulash around their campfires, will marvel that modern medicine squandered its authority, its credibility, and its sacred honor in the Covid Panic of the 2020s, when public health officials and doctors in clinical practice colluded to force mass vaccinations while suppressing news of the harms and injuries the vaccines caused - potentially sacrificing millions of citizens like so many experimental fruit flies.
Poster-boy for this epic debacle was Dr. Eric J Rubin, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine who, serving on the CDC’s advisory vaccine committee, actually said, “We’re never gonna learn how safe the vaccine is until we start giving it.” Giving it to children, that is, which the government authorized last week, even while that same CDC issued a safety advisory warning on vaccine-induced myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), especially in boys and young men.
Nota bene: myocarditis is not a condition you necessarily get over because affected heart muscle cannot replace itself; rather the inflammation leads to scarring of heart muscle and a shortened life-span.
Meanwhile, young vaxxed athletes drop dead of heart failure in shocking numbers on high school gridirons, soccer fields, cricket pitches, bike trails, and running tracks around the world, and ordinary civilians develop a bewildering array of post-vax cardiovascular, neurological, and thrombotic disorders of which only a small fraction end up being recorded in the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Recording System (VAERS). Those numbers now are at least roughly 10,000 deaths and 20,000 permanently disabled. The VAERS website is so kludgy and inadequate that doctors are discouraged from using it - to the degree that only an estimated 10 percent of adverse events are actually reported. Doctors are also threatened with disciplinary punishment for publicizing problems with the vaxxes.
In fact, the news can’t be completely suppressed. It is obvious now - due to the frantic push for “booster” shots - that the various vaccines stop working to prevent infection with Covid-19 after several months. What is only partially understood is the action of the spike proteins that linger in the body post-vax, but the evidence is not good, since they have a particular affinity for attaching to the endothelial linings of blood vessels generally, and in the capillaries of major organs in particular - especially ovaries and testicles, raising the specter of widespread infertility ahead.
On top of that, the vaccines are suspected of breaking down the immune system, leaving the vaxxed vulnerable to opportunistic infection, disabling the genetic mechanism that allows the body to routinely defeat cancer cells, and turning people’s immune systems against them in auto-immune disorders.
How are the doctors and public health officials behaving in the face of all this? Pushing ever more strenuously for the forced vaccination of everybody of all ages, no matter what, and vilifying anyone who militates for respecting informed consent to be vaccinated. The net result is that doctors appear to have violated en masse their Hippocratic oath of ethics which calls on them to first do no harm.
Everything about the virus and its countermeasures - from the murky origins of it in Dr. Anthony Fauci’s official funding of bioweapons research, to the patent trail of conflicted ownerships and interests in the subsequent vaccine developments, to the fierce suppression of news and debate — suggests nefarious motives, or else a mass psychotic panic among the very highly-trained people society must depend on in a crisis.
It’s also getting harder to tell how much of a crisis this actually is or ever really was. There’s no reliable way of knowing how many people really died as a direct result of Covid, or just tested positive for the virus (with a janky PCR test) when they were struggling with one or more serious illnesses (co-morbidities), especially when there were substantial dollar subsidies at stake from the federal government tied to Covid cases. Nor is it possible to determine right now how many deaths attributed to Covid are actually a result of reactions to the vaccines. Most troubling of all, it looks like the rate of deaths from cardiac disorders, thrombosis, and neurological damage in the general population is noticeably exceeding the normal range — as reported officially in the UK, Ireland, and other countries.
It bears repeating that whatever Covid-19 actually is or where it came from, it’s a disease not a whole lot more deadly in the general population than the flu in a bad season; that in the natural course of things, it would have probably only killed mostly the very old and already sick, and that the rest of the population would have soldiered through it and acquired a sturdy natural immunity superior to anything the vaxxes might confer (even in theory).
My own doctor tried to persuade me to get vaxed-up during a routine physical in October. I asked him if he was aware of the thousands of deaths and disabling adverse events reported on the CDC’s VAERS system. He said the numbers were not true and went on to say that he had “one hundred percent confidence in the vaccines.” He’s always appeared to be a smart and capable person. A year or so ago he was enlisted to act as an executive administrator in the health care org he practices in, and now only sees patients two days a week. Perhaps that leaves him no time to follow the news. Or maybe he has no inclination to follow any news except what comes from sources like cable TV channels, which are almost entirely sponsored by the Pharma industry.
The bottom line for me is that he has compromised my faith in his judgment. I wonder how many other people feel that way about their doctors. The medical profession was already in trouble before Covid came on the scene. It had entered into a demonic symbiotic relationship with the insurance industry that amounted to pervasive racketeering. (Just imagine the hospital bills of all those people with adverse vax reactions that the doctors affected to be mystified by, and ran countless, fruitless tests on.)
The good news for now is that a federal court has stayed the “Joe Biden” vax mandates. The government is expected to dispute that decision today (Monday Nov 8). Meanwhile, the rumor of a general strike against vaccine tyranny, set for today through Thursday, is in the air and we’ll have to stand by to see if anything happens. We should also be standing by in the weeks ahead to see how many more people begin to show symptoms of developing serious bodily disorders from the multiple shots they have been suffered to take."
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Related:
Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 11/8/21"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/8/21:
"Must Watch!
A 'Biblical' Meltdown Of The Stock Market Is Coming"
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Gregory Mannarino, PM 11/8/21:
"Epic! BlackRock Warns Of 'Asset Bubbles';
The FED Is Moving Goalposts, And I Have A Meltdown"
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