Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/28/22:
"Critical Updates: War; Economic Meltdown;
Arms Deals; Energy Crisis"
So, we rise from the rubble...
Monday, February 28, 2022
"Did NATO Just Declare War on Russia?"
"Did NATO Just Declare War on Russia?"
by Mike Whitney
“No matter who tries to stand in our way they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history. I hope that my words will be heard.” - Vladimir Putin issues warning to any country that tries to stop Russia’s “Special Operation” in Ukraine.
"In a move that can only be regarded as a major escalation, NATO officials announced on Friday that they would deploy troops from its Combat-Ready Response Force to support the Ukrainian regime in its war with Russia. The Alliance will also send additional weapons which will be used to blunt the Russian offensive that has already seized large parts of the country and obliterated most of Ukraine’s defensive capability. It is impossible to overstate the gravity of NATO’s action which assigns such importance to preserving its ‘junta regime’ in Kiev that they would willingly pit NATO against a nuclear-armed Russia in what could become a much broader regional war. Clearly, the strategic objectives of this murky conflict go far beyond the mere control of an ethnically-divided, failed state situated between Europe and Asia. Ukraine is no longer just a geopolitical trophy for western elites, but a last-gasp effort for Washington to prove it still controls the levers of global power."
Please view complete article here:
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Related:
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"...a near universal understanding among political leaders
that NATO expansion would be a foolish provocation against Russia.
How naive we were..."
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Full screen recommended.
"In 'Unacceptable Escalation',
Putin Orders 'Nuclear Deterrence' Forces On Alert"
"As we detailed earlier, President Vladimir Putin has ordered his army to put Russia's nuclear deterrence on "special" alert on Sunday following "aggressive statements" by NATO leaders. "Western countries are not only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic area. I'm speaking about the illegitimate sanctions that everyone is well aware of. However, the top officials of the leading NATO countries also make aggressive statements against our country as well," Putin stated on Russian media.
Putin: "Western countries aren't only taking unfriendly economic actions against our country, but leaders of major Nato countries are making aggressive statements about our country. So I order to move Russia's deterrence forces to a special regime of duty."
- max seddon (@maxseddon) February 27, 2022
"For this reason, I order the minister of defense and the chief of general staff to put deterrent forces on special combat duty," Putin continued. Earlier this month, Russia conducted exercises involving its nuclear forces including test launches of missiles. Placing Russia's nuclear deterrence on high alert may include the use of nuclear and conventional weapons. Russia's military definition said the deterrence is designed "to deter aggression against Russia and its allies, as well as to defeat the aggressor, including in a war with the use of nuclear weapons."
"I've Studied Nuclear War For 35 years - You Should Be Worried"; "The Insanity of Nuclear Deterrence"
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Full screen recommended.
TEDx Talks, "Brian Toon:
'I've studied nuclear war for 35 years - you should be worried.'"
"For the first time in decades, it's hard to ignore the threat of nuclear war. But as long as you're far from the blast, you're safe, right? Wrong. In this sobering talk, atmospheric scientist Brian Toon explains how even a small nuclear war could destroy all life on earth - and what we can do to prevent it. A professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Brian Toon investigates the causes of the ozone hole, how volcanic eruptions alter the climate, how ancient Mars had flowing rivers, and the environmental impacts of nuclear war. He contributed to the U.N.’s Nobel Peace Prize for climate change and holds numerous scientific awards, including two NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. He is an avid woodworker. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community."
Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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Full screen recommended.
TEDxChristchurch,
"Robert Green: The Insanity of Nuclear Deterrence"
Dec 13, 2017 - "When nuclear-armed nations face off, the threat of mutually assured destruction is expected to keep the worst from happening. But is this a rational strategy? Or is it one that is doomed to failure? In this eye-opening and powerful talk, Commander Robert Green shares his experience piloting nuclear-armed aircraft -- and his shift to becoming a staunch opponent of nuclear deterrence.
Commander Robert Green served for twenty years in the British Royal Navy. As a bombardier-navigator, he flew in Buccaneer nuclear strike aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters equipped with nuclear depth-bombs. His final appointment was as Staff Officer (Intelligence) to the Commander-in-Chief Fleet during the 1982 Falklands War.
He chaired the UK affiliate of the World Court Project, which led to the International Court of Justice judgment in 1996 that the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be illegal. Co-Director of the Disarmament & Security Centre in Christchurch since 1998, he is the author of "Security Without Nuclear Deterrence." This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community."
Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Sunday, February 27, 2022
"On Your Own Terms..."
“If the sun is shining, stand in it – yes, yes, yes. Happy times are great, but happy times pass – they have to – because time passes. The pursuit of happiness is more elusive; it is life-long, and it is not goal-centered. What you are pursuing is meaning – a meaningful life… There are times when it will go so wrong that you will be barely alive, and times when you realize that being barely alive, on your own terms, is better than living a bloated half-life on someone else’s terms.”
- Jeanette Winterson
"The Ideal Subject..."
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced
Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the
distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”
- Hannah Arendt
"As World War 3 Escalates, Get Ready For A Terrifying Breakdown Of Our Food And Energy Systems"
"As World War 3 Escalates, Get Ready For A
Terrifying Breakdown Of Our Food And Energy Systems"
by Michael Snyder
"If you believe that your life will continue on as normal because the war between Russia and Ukraine is on the other side of the globe, you should think again. We were already facing the worst energy crisis since the 1970s before the war broke out, and Russia is one of the most important energy producers on the entire globe. As energy markets are thrown into further turmoil, energy prices will go to unprecedented heights. And as I have documented repeatedly in recent months, the global food crisis has just continued to get worse as global food supplies have continued to get tighter and tighter. Normally, Russia and Ukraine export vast quantities of food to the rest of the world, but the war is going to change that. We really are facing a horrifying breakdown of our food and energy systems, and that is going to affect every man, woman and child on the entire planet.
Let’s start by taking a look at the impact that this war will have on food supplies. Even the Washington Post is admitting that the war in Ukraine will likely “push U.S. food prices even higher”… "Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could push U.S. food prices even higher, as the region is one of the world’s largest producers of wheat and some vegetable oils. And the disruptions could drag on for months or even years, as crop production in the area could be halted and take a long time to restart."
This new inflation shock comes at a time when global markets remain extremely strained because of pandemic-related disruptions. The price changes impacted commodity prices in recent days and could flow through to higher costs at grocery stores and restaurants soon. Food prices have already been rising very aggressively all over the world, and this has pushed millions upon millions of poor people at the bottom of the economic food chain into hunger.
But now this war threatens to push this crisis to a dangerous new level, because Russia and Ukraine typically produce “nearly a quarter of the world’s wheat”… "Russia and Ukraine together produce nearly a quarter of the world’s wheat, feeding billions of people in the form of bread, pasta and packaged foods. The countries are also key suppliers of barley, sunflower seed oil and corn, among other products."
So if exports from those two warring nations are reduced or completely cut off, how are we possibly going to replace that output? Does anyone have an answer for that?
Collectively, Russia and Ukraine usually account for “29 percent of all wheat exports and 75 percent of global exports of sunflower oil”… "Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of both corn and wheat. It is also the world’s largest exporter of sunflower seed oil, an important component of the world’s vegetable oil supply. Together, Russia and Ukraine supply 29 percent of all wheat exports and 75 percent of global exports of sunflower oil, said Kelly Goughary, senior research analyst Gro-Intelligence, an agriculture data platform."
This isn’t just bad. This is really bad. Previously, I have written about how global agricultural production is going to be down all over the globe in 2022 because fertilizer prices have started to spiral out of control. In fact, in Africa alone it is being projected that enough food to feed 100 million people will not be grown this year because of the outrageous cost of fertilizer.
Well, guess what? It turns out that Russia is one of the biggest global exporters of fertilizer…"Russia is a key global player in natural gas, a major input to fertilizer production. Higher gas prices, and supply cuts, will further drive fertilizer prices higher. Russia is one of the biggest exporters of the three major groups of fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Physical supply cuts could further inflate fertilizer prices. One expert that was interviewed by the Washington Post admitted that we are “headed for a supply crunch that will be hard to resolve”.
That is one of the biggest understatements that I have heard in a long time. Even before the war erupted, some types of fertilizer had doubled in price, some had tripled in price and some had actually quadrupled in price. A few weeks ago, I shared what one industry insider told me about fertilizer prices. He warned that many farmers all over the U.S. simply will not be able to grow corn this year because it will not be profitable due to soaring fertilizer prices. And now fertilizer prices are likely to go much higher.
This really is a nightmare. Six months down the road, we are likely to see food riots all over the globe. Meanwhile, the global energy crisis is entering a very alarming new chapter. According to USA Today, 30 percent of all natural gas that Europe uses is provided by Russia… "Russia accounts for more than 30% of Europe’s gas for home heating, industry and generating electricity, and other potential supply sources are not adequately prepared to bridge the gap if Russian gas is curtailed, Rystad Energy analysts say."
Europe is absolutely addicted to Russian gas, and without it normal life in many European cities would rapidly come to a grinding halt. There are some that are suggesting that imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States could help while the war is raging… "Supplies of liquefied natural gas brought by ship from the U.S. has helped relieve some of Europe’s gas shortage this winter, but it’s expensive. Meanwhile, natural gas prices in the U.S. are approximately 60% higher than a year ago, according to Rystad."
Sadly, natural gas prices all over the globe are going to continue to go higher. As will propane prices. As will coal prices. And the price of oil will soon leave the $100 per barrel threshold in the rear view mirror for good.
Joe Biden is publicly saying that he will do all that he can to keep the price of gasoline down, but meanwhile his administration is working extremely hard “to freeze new oil and gas drilling leases”… "As oil prices continue to rocket, now further helped along by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration is still fighting tooth and nail to freeze new oil and gas drilling leases – even after a court ruled against the administration for using a metric to estimate “the societal cost of carbon emissions” to justify their move. Despite the court’s ruling, Biden’s administration has stopped new leases and permits for federal oil and gas drilling, MSN reported this week".
So when you are soon paying seven dollars for a gallon of gasoline, just remember who did this to you. Everything is changing, and the months ahead are going to be extremely challenging.
I think that Mike Adams summed up the current state of affairs very well when he warned that we are heading for a “total collapse”… "In all, these factors combine (food, war, fuel, inflation, currency, etc.) to create a total collapse of the world we once knew. Forget about affordable food or just-in-time delivery of anything. The world is about to become extremely inconvenient, expensive and broken. The supply chain disruptions will get FAR worse from here forward, and crime is going to absolutely skyrocket out of sheer desperation. Expect to see flash mobs looting grocery stores in broad daylight. Carjackings will skyrocket. Home invasions will become commonplace, even outside the cities as looting gangs hit suburbs."
All the way back in 2013, I released a novel entitled “The Beginning Of The End” in which I specifically described the insane societal environment that we will soon find ourselves living in. So many of the things that myself and others have been warning about for so many years are starting to come to pass right in front of our eyes. We really are heading into a nightmarish breakdown of society, and all of us will be shaken to the core as it happens."
Greg Hunter, "Serious Global Pain as Economic Model Dies – Daniel Estulin"
"Serious Global Pain as Economic Model Dies – Daniel Estulin"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"International best-selling author, journalist and counter-intelligence expert Daniel Estulin says the problems in the world revolve around the rapidly dying financial system and a “coming global bankruptcy.” Estulin contends, “We are looking at $3 quadrillion or $4 quadrillion of global debt, and you are looking at the end of the Bretton Woods economic model. We are at a critical stage for humanity that will determine the direction of the world. There is much at stake for us but especially for the liberals because their model, which is based on infinite growth, is coming to an end.”
According to Estulin, the United States is in for hardship and poverty never seen before. Estulin says, “This is the year for the United States. A lot of things are going to be decided financially, economically, socially and with a president that should not be there. The Democrats understand this, and that is why they are leaving in droves. We are coming into some serious pain moments for the global economy. The Russians are used to suffering and having to live on nothing. You (USA) are not.”
How bad will this get? Estulin, who is former Russian intelligence, says just look at what happened to the Soviet Union when it broke up in 1991. Estulin points out, “Between 1991 and 1998, 26 million Soviet citizens died. It was caused by starvation, depression, drugs, alcohol and all kinds of things. Most importantly, it was because 40% of our countrymen lost everything that they saved over the history of their country. In 1989, in the entire Soviet satellite space, there were around 500 million people in the Soviet Union. There were only 14 million people living under the poverty line. That’s 14 million out of 500 million people. In 1996, just seven years later, these 14 million with the destruction of the Soviet Union, became 168 million. So, from 14 million, it went up to 168 million people living under the poverty line.
The same thing is going to happen to the West and the United States. This will be at least two times worse than what happened in the 1929 to 1933 period. That means future generations are going to be infinitely worse off than my generation. It means the standard of living in the West is going to be something they have never in their lives imagined. The kinds of things coming to America and to the west is what you see on television. You are talking about World War III zombies or some kind of other horrible things. It is coming home because the United States is in the same position as the Soviet Union in 1991. You have a President named Joe Biden who has dementia for goodness’ sake. This is a carbon copy of Brezhnev in the Soviet Union in 1981.”
Estulin also contends to deal with the so called “reset” and their dying financial system, the desperate globalists have no problem doing away with large chunks of the population or dramatically changing their DNA. Estulin says, “The final stage for the liberals is the evolution of humanity. In other words, the politics of post humanism. The liberals (such as Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum) are praising the new possibilities of post humanism. We need to understand what these people are going to do with us, and it’s in black and white. It’s the fusion with a machine that will greatly enhance body strength, memory and genetic engineering. What these people want is immortality. Any one that does not agree with this agenda, they are declared enemies of open society, and you get cancelled.”
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with best-selling author Daniel Estulin to talk about what is going on now with the “global bankruptcy” and “reset.” These are just a few of the topics Estulin analyzes in great detail in his latest book “2045 Global Projects at War.” (There is much more in the 54 min. interview.)
"People are Tired of the Supply Chain Problem - Fuel and Commodities are Spiking"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly PM 2/27/22:
"People are Tired of the Supply Chain Problem -
Fuel and Commodities are Spiking"
"Tensions are high. People are sick of the supply issues. It doesn’t matter what industries you’re working in. Everybody is being affected by this and some industries are worse than others. We are going to see fuel, natural gas and commodities actually spike in the coming weeks. People need to prepare and stock up on household goods and supplies while they can."
"Fears Of Rising Food Prices, Freight Rate Spike & Extensive Shortages Trigger Panic On Supply Chains"
Full screen recommended.
"Fears Of Rising Food Prices, Freight Rate Spike &
Extensive Shortages Trigger Panic On Supply Chains"
by Epic Economist
"Brace for more shortages, shipping disruptions, and painful price hikes as global tensions continue to escalate and wreak havoc on supply chains. This week’s events have sparked unforeseen chaos on global trade and already led to major interruptions in the flow of goods across the world. As the conflict continues to accelerate, industry experts are warning for catastrophic damages in the shipping industry, as well as soaring oil prices and a worldwide shortage of commodities and raw materials
In the past few days, several international companies already started a mass shutdown of factories, adding further strains to fragile global supply chains. The situation is threatening to cause extended delivery delays and exacerbate shortages all around the globe. The impact of the crisis on transportation is going to trigger shockwaves in every link of the global supply chain, but it won’t be the only ominous ramification. From grains to barley, and copper to nickel, every sector of the global industry will suffer as the confrontation takes a turn for the worse.
Of course, it’s not just the European Union that will be hit - many nations around the world, including the U.S., rely on exports, and interruptions to the shipment of goods can affect food security in many regions. “Rising food prices would only be exacerbated with additional price shocks, especially if core agricultural areas are seized by loyalists,” warned Per Hong, senior partner at consulting firm Kearney.
Together, both countries account for almost 29 percent of the global wheat export market. The countries in conflict are also major supplies of metals and other commodities. Right now, one major concern for the U.S. industry is the rising price of crude oil and oil derivatives spurred by the worsening tensions. Oil prices soared to over $100 per barrel this week, and the effects of the rise are already apparent.
Shipping companies have announced another round of price hikes in the coming days and weeks. Last month alone, the price of maritime fuel used to power ships had surged by 23% due to ongoing upward pressure on global crude prices, Bloomberg reported.
Meanwhile, truckers are warning that they will become more selective” in the jobs they pick amid fuel price uncertainty. One truck company owner told The Loadstar: “The sustained high price of road fuel has already started to affect which jobs we will and won’t do. Crude prices have hit their highest in several years, and this is a pricing situation that cannot go on deteriorating. But it looks likely that this will only be getting worse with news of the Ukraine fiasco.”
On a consumer level, the Americans were definitely amongst the first in the world to feel the impacts of the price distortions caused by the crisis. Overnight gas prices have shot up. At the beginning of the week, national gas prices were averaging $3.56 per gallon, by the end of Thursday prices were already up by $0.10 per gallon, closing at $3.66.
The relentless rise in gas and energy prices is already making the cost of everything reach extraordinary levels, and inflationary pressures will remain a headache for consumers and businesses. The CEO of Allegion said he sees an "iceberg" of inflation that will soon start to move through the economy, and noted that what we experienced so far is nothing compared to the turbulence that’s coming. He highlighted that as fuel costs rise, labor market shortages will become more acute, and businesses will struggle to hire truckers to deliver their goods across the country.
“You’re going to really start to see an impact on people’s buying power and you just worry about the long-term business impact on how that might start to play out,” he added. With inflation, supply chain issues, and now the impact of sanctions, many Americans are concerned about what the future may hold.
It seems that this modern-day nightmare is far from over. The simultaneous emergence of global conflicts, health and hunger crises, natural disasters, and a financial meltdown will definitely change the world as we know it. Now more than ever, we should start watching global events very closely because things could change in a snap of fingers, sinking the entire world into unprecedented chaos."
"A Look to the Heavens"
“What will become of these galaxies? Spiral galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are passing dangerously close to each other, but each is likely to survive this collision. Typically when galaxies collide, a large galaxy eats a much smaller galaxy. In this case, however, the two galaxies are quite similar, each being a sprawling spiral with expansive arms and a compact core. As the galaxies advance over the next tens of millions of years, their component stars are unlikely to collide, although new stars will form in the bunching of gas caused by gravitational tides.
Close inspection of the above image taken by the 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile shows a bridge of material momentarily connecting the two giants. Known collectively as Arp 271, the interacting pair spans about 130,000 light years and lies about 90 million light-years away toward the constellation of Virgo. Recent predictions hold that our Milky Way Galaxy will undergo a similar collision with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years.”
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Full screen recommended.
Monty Python, "The Meaning of Life: Galaxy Song"
"I'd Still Swim..."
“If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was
a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I’d despise the one who gave up.”
- Abraham Maslow
"No Smooth Road..."
"Life has no smooth road for any of us; and in the bracing atmosphere
of a high aim the very roughness stimulates the climber to steadier steps,
till the legend, over steep ways to the stars, fulfills itself."
- W. C. Doane
The Poet: Czeslaw Milosz, “A Song On The End Of The World”
“A Song On The End Of The World”
“On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.
On the day the world ends
Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night.
And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.
As long as the sun and the moon are above,
As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,
As long as rosy infants are born
No one believes it is happening now.
Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet
Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
There will be no other end of the world,
There will be no other end of the world.”
~ Czeslaw Milosz
"It May Be Then..."
"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
“Don’t Forget How Strange This All Is”
“Don’t Forget How Strange This All Is”
by David Cain
“Jerry Seinfeld joked that if aliens came to earth and saw people walking dogs, they would assume the dogs are the leaders. The dog walks out front, and a gangly creature trailing behind him picks up his feces and carries it for him.
Throughout my life I’ve had moments where I felt like one of these visiting aliens, where something I knew to be normal suddenly seemed bizarre. I remember walking home from somewhere, struck by how strange streets are: flat strips of artificial rock embedded in the earth so that our traveling machines don’t get stuck in the mud.
Everything else seemed strange too. Metal poles bending over the road, tipped by glowing orbs. Rectangular dwellings made of lumber and artificial rocks. The background noise is always the hum of distant traveling machines, and all of this stuff was built and operated by a single species of ape.
Even stranger was the fact that these strange things usually don’t seem strange. I know I’m not the only one who has felt this. A few people have shared similar experiences with me, and according to “The School of Life”, it was a central theme in Jean-Paul Sartre’s novel “Nausea.“
Sartre apparently believed that the world is far stranger and more absurd than it normally seems. Most of the time, however, we ascribe a kind of logic and order to the world that it doesn’t really have, so that we’re not constantly bewildered by it. Sometimes we momentarily lose track of that logic, and the true strangeness of life is revealed. In these moments, we see the world as it is when it’s been “stripped of any of the prejudices and stabilizing assumptions lent to us by our day-to-day routines.” In other words, we occasionally see the world as if for the first time, which could only be a very strange experience indeed.
Although I know this experience isn’t unique to me, I had no idea whether most people could relate. So when I discovered the surprisingly popular podcast “Welcome to Night Vale,” I felt that a small but significant part of my experience had been understood. Night Vale is a fictional desert town, and each episode of the podcast is about 20 minutes of broadcasts from its public radio station. The host reads public service announcements, advertisements, community news and weather, and messages from the City Council. That would be extremely boring, except that almost everything that happens in the Night Vale is incredibly strange, even impossible.
The first announcement in the first episode is a reminder from City Council that dogs are not allowed in the dog park, and neither are citizens, and if you see hooded figures in the park you are not to approach them. In an unrelated matter, there is a cat hovering four feet off the ground next to the sink in the men’s washroom at the radio station. It cannot move from its spot in mid-air, but it seems happy, and staff have left food and water for it.
Wednesday has been canceled, due to a scheduling error. There is a glowing cloud raining small animals on a farm at the edge of town. A large pyramid has appeared in a prominent public space, apparently when nobody was looking.
I imagine that when most people hear about WTNV, they listen to five minutes of it and turn it off. It feels like a joke at first, or at best, bad art. I kept listening, thinking the weird happenings are some kind of allegory, or a code to be deciphered. But they’re not. The story stays absurd, kind of like an over-the-top Twin Peaks, where none of the weirdness ever gets explained.
Everything is weird until it’s familiar: I was listening to the podcast on headphones, walking down our local riverside path, and I passed an older couple sun-tanning. I’ve seen people tanning a thousand times, but only then did the activity strike me as completely hilarious. In our world, people sometimes take off all their clothes—or at least as much as society will allow—so that they can get radiation burns from a glowing ball in the sky. Even though everyone knows this practice increases your chances of developing a fatal disease, people still do it because they like the color of the burned flesh. Skin burned to a certain tone confers social benefits for a few weeks.
The fact that we live on a planet at all would be unbelievable if we weren’t already used to it. Nobody could have dreamed up this setting: life is set on one of many ball-shaped rocks moving in circles around a bigger, glowing ball. And we have great affection for these other balls. When officials demoted Pluto to a minor ball, people were outraged, even though none of them had ever actually seen it. When the spaceship sent to take pictures of Pluto finally arrived, we discovered it had a giant white heart on its side. It had been loving us back the whole time!
Listening to Night Vale reminds us that our world is no less strange, just more familiar. If in our world, as in Night Vale, taco shops sometimes became encased in amber, we would accept that as a fact of life after seeing it a few times. But that’s no weirder than the fact that in order to live, we must breathe a gas that combusts so easily and so violently that every city has to have specialized departments dedicated to shooting water onto anything at a moment’s notice. (Bill Bryson captures this strangeness beautifully in “A Short History of Nearly Everything.“)*
You can see the weirdness in almost any normal phenomenon by imagining how you’d describe it to someone not from Earth or any place like it. Water falls uncontrollably from the sky? Pop culture is obsessed with people who pretend to be other people in moving pictures? We eat fresh food grown on the opposite side of the planet? What?
So our world is really weird and chaotic, which is a helpful thing to realize, because we suffer so much insisting that it should be sensible and orderly. We have to live in a very strange place, and when we forget that it’s strange due to familiarity blindness, it can seem like something’s always gone temporarily wrong. We become preoccupied with returning society to a kind of balance or sanity that it never had, often berating or abusing certain people or certain groups in the process. It’s quite a relief to remember that life was always nuts.
Albert Camus (who is an obvious influence in Night Vale) argued that the universe is always absurd and chaotic, yet we’re always trying to find meaning and order in it. When you listen to Night Vale, making sense is the first thing your mind tries to do with what it hears, and it can’t. When you relax that need for the events to make sense, something softens. You stop straining. You listen more for the moment and less for how each moment serves everything else. You gain a sense of humor about the whole thing, however dark it gets.
Because it requires listeners to voluntarily open up to extreme strangeness, Night Vale has made me a less uptight about our own society’s political and cultural nonsense. I am seeing society less like a troubled person who was once sane, and more like a funny-looking animal, adorably knocking things over by accident. milky way
The three options: Camus thought our unreasonable demand for meaning and sense was fundamental to human beings, and that it creates a ton of pain for us. He saw only three ways to respond to life’s absurdity: we can deny it (usually by claiming that a God has designed it this way), we can commit suicide, or we can embrace the weirdness and live in it wholeheartedly. The last option, he figured, was the only good one. When you stop expecting the world to be sensible, suddenly it all makes sense.
Embracing the weirdness takes the edge off of everything, even death. Whenever you’re worried about “big picture” ideas, such as war, climate change, crime, corporate greed, you can remember that this whole weird thing called life just happened, and it’s always fresh and interesting, even though nobody really asked for it. And in that light, the thought of it ending one day doesn’t seem distressing at all - when your time comes, all you can do is say, “Wow, that was odd.”
"Know What's Weird?"
"Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change,
but pretty soon... everything's different."
- Calvin, from "Calvin and Hobbes"
"In 'Unacceptable Escalation', Putin Orders 'Nuclear Deterrence' Forces On Alert"
"In 'Unacceptable Escalation',
Putin Orders 'Nuclear Deterrence' Forces On Alert"
by Tyler Durden
SUNDAY, FEB 27, 2022 - 10:59 AM: "Finally NATO Chief Stoltenberg warned that Putin's nuclear alert is both "SUNDAY, FEB 27, 2022 - 10:59 AM" and "irresponsible." Pentagon spokesperson confirmed that Russia's "nuclear posture change is an escalatory step," and warns that it "risks miscalculation." Additionally the Defense Department official refused to say if the US nuclear posture has changed.
As we detailed earlier, President Vladimir Putin has ordered his army to put Russia's nuclear deterrence on "special" alert on Sunday following "aggressive statements" by NATO leaders. "Western countries are not only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic area. I'm speaking about the illegitimate sanctions that everyone is well aware of. However, the top officials of the leading NATO countries also make aggressive statements against our country as well," Putin stated on Russian media.
Putin: "Western countries aren't only taking unfriendly economic actions against our country, but leaders of major Nato countries are making aggressive statements about our country. So I order to move Russia's deterrence forces to a special regime of duty."
- pic.twitter.com/AC1yHncqZc - max seddon (@maxseddon) February 27, 2022
"For this reason, I order the minister of defense and the chief of general staff to put deterrent forces on special combat duty," Putin continued.
Earlier this month, Russia conducted exercises involving its nuclear forces including test launches of missiles. Placing Russia's nuclear deterrence on high alert may include the use of nuclear and conventional weapons. Russia's military definition said the deterrence is designed "to deter aggression against Russia and its allies, as well as to defeat the aggressor, including in a war with the use of nuclear weapons."
Commenting on the latest development, natsec reported Paul Sonne writes that "Putin is now essentially threatening the use of nuclear weapons in response to the announcement that the Russian central bank will be targeted with economic restrictions."
"Putin is now essentially threatening the use of nuclear weapons in response to the announcement that the Russian central bank will be targeted with economic restrictions."
- Paul Sonne (@PaulSonne) February 27, 2022
In response to Putin's order, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that "President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable and we have to continue to stem his actions in the strongest possible way."
By way of reminder, here is what the five nuclear-weapon states said in January (yes, just a few weeks ago) on preventing nuclear war and avoiding arms races... "The People’s Republic of China, the French Republic, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America consider the avoidance of war between Nuclear-Weapon States and the reduction of strategic risks as our foremost responsibilities.
We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. As nuclear use would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons - for as long as they continue to exist - should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war. We believe strongly that the further spread of such weapons must be prevented.
We reaffirm the importance of addressing nuclear threats and emphasize the importance of preserving and complying with our bilateral and multilateral non-proliferation, disarmament, and arms control agreements and commitments. We remain committed to our Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations, including our Article VI obligation “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”
We each intend to maintain and further strengthen our national measures to prevent unauthorized or unintended use of nuclear weapons. We reiterate the validity of our previous statements on de-targeting, reaffirming that none of our nuclear weapons are targeted at each other or at any other State.
We underline our desire to work with all states to create a security environment more conducive to progress on disarmament with the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons with undiminished security for all. We intend to continue seeking bilateral and multilateral diplomatic approaches to avoid military confrontations, strengthen stability and predictability, increase mutual understanding and confidence, and prevent an arms race that would benefit none and endanger all. We are resolved to pursue constructive dialogue with mutual respect and acknowledgment of each other’s security interests and concerns."
So much for that!"
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Recommended, important:
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Full screen recommended.
"Estimating Deaths in a Nuclear War"
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Full screen recommended.
"This is a declassified video of the largest-ever hydrogen bomb blast. The bomb called Tsar Bomb or Tsar Bomba was equivalent to 50 million tons of TNT. The “Little Boy” Hiroshima bomb equaled 15 kilotones of TNT."
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Full screen recommended.
"Nuclear blasts, preserved on film. Beginning in 1945, and until atmospheric nuclear testing was banned, the United States conducted 210 above-ground nuclear tests, documented on film. Now, footage that has survived, now being preserved by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is being analyzed for their scientific data, changing what we previously knew about the destructive power of our nuclear arsenal. David Martin reports."
The Atlantis Report, "Peter Schiff Predicts The Worst Bear Market In History: Prepare Yourself For The Crash!"
Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, "Peter Schiff Predicts The Worst
Bear Market In History: Prepare Yourself For The Crash!"
"Peter Schiff is the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital Inc, financial commentator, and radio personality. In August 2006, the stockbroker Declared: “The United States is like the Titanic and I am here with the lifeboat trying to get people to leave the ship. I see a real financial crisis coming for the United States.” In later debates, he predicted crashing real estate prices in 2007 and a looming credit crunch."
Must Watch! Harry Dent, “This Should Be The Crash Of Our Lifetime!”
Full screen recommended.
Harry Dent, 2/26/22:
“This Should Be The Crash Of Our Lifetime!”
"Harry Dent is a financial newsletter writer, economist, best-selling author and one of the most outspoken financial editors in America. He's been warning investors for years about the stock market crash that will likely happen this year. 90% crash is the minimum we can expect this year. Prepare Now!"
"Massive Shortages At Walmart! What's Next? What's Coming?"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 2/27/22:
"Massive Shortages At Walmart! What's Next? What's Coming?"
"In today's vlog we are at Walmart with empty shelves everywhere! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a massive food shortage! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products! "
Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead: Expect This New 'CRISIS' To Be Drawn-Out, Milked For ALL Its Worth"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/27/22:
"Markets, A Look Ahead: Expect This New 'CRISIS'
To Be Drawn-Out, Milked For ALL Its Worth"
Saturday, February 26, 2022
“ATMS Run Out Of Money; Bank Runs Begin; FED Propping Up Markets; Economy On Life Support”
Jeremiah Babe, PM 2/26/22:
“ATMS Run Out Of Money; Bank Runs Begin;
FED Propping Up Markets; Economy On Life Support”
"Don't Be Brain Dead - In Other Words, Think For Yourself"
"Don't Be Brain Dead -
In Other Words, Think For Yourself"
by Robert W Malone MD, MS
"Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think."
- Thomas Edison
"The “Gell-Mann Amnesia effect” was coined by Michael Crichton, MD to describe the experience of encountering unreliable information in main stream media and the “approved narrative” in your area of expertise, and knowing by first person experience that this narrative is wrong. And then suspending your own critical thinking skills and trusting these same type of “experts” (legacy/mainstream “approved” media) in another area outside of your expertise.
His point was that one must use critical thinking skill even when outside your core competencies. Crichton writes: “Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward - reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”
– Michael Crichton (1942-2008)
In other words, think for yourself. As we transition into a new era of another war we must think for ourselves. Government(s) will want to control the narrative. They will control how main stream media and big tech respond to this crisis. Do not fall for the dominant paradigm, but instead do your own thinking. Dig deeper. We are so lucky to live in an era of alternative media. As much as the government hates it and those of us who look for “truth,” we still have this ability to think for ourselves and to find information that is not readily available on MSM.
This morning, while I was having breakfast with my wife Jill, we were talking about our personal finances. As I sipped coffee, I said to her “I don’t know enough about economics to make an assessment on crypto currency, how the situation in Ukraine will affect world economies, and the global push to transition from fiat money to digital currency.“ In so many words, she said to me that I had actually spent my whole life studying politics, investing and global economies as a way of living in the world. So why in the world would I now think that I was incapable of making an analysis of the current economic situation? And then the punchline- I needed to get going and do more research into the subject. She is right, I was being intellectually lazy. More than that, I was letting the legacy main stream media and pushed propaganda take my mind. I was giving over my critical thinking skills to MSM.
“Gell-Mann Amnesia” is exactly the trap I had fallen into. It happens all the time. Back in the day of the “founding fathers”, 250+ years ago, people did not have the luxury of being intellectually lazy. You had to think for yourself. That is what is so different about a more rural life. The problems that crop up are constantly changing, and they are very much in the present. You have to solve them yourself. That reality is what gave rise to the United States of America, as a country and as a culture.
The United States must re-create an army of critical thinkers. It is how We the People take back our power. We must find candidates for elected office who think for themselves, and we need to work to elect them. Now is the the time to not accept mediocracy and corruption in our elected officials. And no more WEF-trained hacks that do what they are told by non-US, non-elected third parties.
Elements of the Republican party are revitalizing its core belief system to fight the heavy-handed governmental edicts coming from the globalized public health deep state. They recognize that big pharma and the World Economic Forum acolytes that backs it has infiltrated every level of our government and virtually all “world leaders” from the Western “Democracies”. They recognize that corporatism and totalitarian thinking guided by the WEF has become the norm for many elected officials. That these officials have been trained by the WEF. This must stop. The army of critical thinkers that is emerging with the Great Awakening has to support this effort in every way possible. Why? Because public health is just the “camel’s nose”; the WEF has great plans for us in all aspects of our lives!"
Musical Interlude: Yanni, “Standing in Motion”, Live At The Acropolis, 25th Anniversary!
Full screen recommended.
Yanni, “Standing in Motion”,
Live At The Acropolis, 25th Anniversary!
"A Look to the Heavens"
"To some, it looks like a giant chicken running across the sky. To others, it looks like a gaseous nebula where star formation takes place. Cataloged as IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula spans about 100 light years and lies about 6,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Centaur (Centaurus).
The featured image, shown in scientifically assigned colors, was captured recently in a 12-hour exposure. The star cluster Collinder 249 is visible embedded in the nebula's glowing gas. Although difficult to discern here, several dark molecular clouds with distinct shapes can be found inside the nebula."
"As Americans..."
''As Americans, we must ask ourselves: Are we really so different? Must we stereotype those who disagree with us? Do we truly believe that ALL red-state residents are ignorant racist fascist knuckle-dragging NASCAR-obsessed cousin-marrying roadkill-eating tobacco juice-dribbling gun-fondling religious fanatic rednecks; or that ALL blue-state residents are godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving left-wing communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts?''
- Dave Barry
"A New Age of Barbarism"
"A New Age of Barbarism"
by Jeffrey A. Tucker
"Political leaders in the US, Canada, Germany, and France – all NATO countries – got back on script yesterday. They could not wait to get to the microphones. They all seemed to have new energy and purpose in life. Politicians are made for this moment! They are vastly more talented at dishing out righteous opprobrium directed at foreign beasts, which make far more compelling enemies, than inveighing against invisible viruses.
As Russian bombs rained down on Ukraine, Western leaders – having spent the better part of two years bullying their citizens and quelling protests – spoke in soaring tones about freedom, democracy, peace, and human rights. They condemned the brutality of Putin and his revanchist vision of Tsarist restoration. They had a new sense of resolve in their moral superiority as leaders of the free and modern republics that do not invade their neighbors.
The part we do not see is that many of these people – together with media organs and administrators of many deep-state bureaucracies – are absolutely thrilled to start a new season. Away with the appalling mismanagement of the pathogen. Away with public anger toward the lockdowns and mandates. Forget the collapse in children’s literacy, the rise in cancer, the waves of depression, the trucker protests, the collapsing polls of many elected leaders, and forget too the inflation, the federal debt, supply-chain snarls and goods shortages. Forget all the astonishing botches of everything.
Life was never as good in living memory as when we had a solid foreign enemy named Russia with a leader with a name and a face. Everything wrong with the world could be personalized, and with storybook thematics: good vs evil, freedom vs despotism, democracy vs dictatorship. This great struggle was so good for both sides that they made it last 40 years. There must be a certain nostalgia for those days alive in the hearts of incumbent political establishments today.
And so, Putin has given Western political elites a wonderful gift. He has created a template that allows them all to say in unison: there is something even worse than us. They can hope for a turnaround in their sagging polling numbers, new respect and appreciation for their strong leadership in a time of crisis, and more reliably depend on a deferential media machine that knows the ways of wartime require parroting whatever powerful foreign-policy experts say in public and private.
There is some powerful symbolism here with Putin’s outright military invasion. He knew that he could count on both India and China to look the other way, even tacitly approve his move. And he knew for sure that NATO countries would bluster and impose sanctions but were not in a position to do anything beyond that. He further knew that Ukraine was an easy win for him personally and politically. He has finally pushed back against NATO expansionism into Russia’s traditional sphere of influence, and caused the opening of a new chapter in world affairs. He has made it clear to the world that the American century is over.
Even more extraordinary, he has a clean path to retaining that power at home. Anti-war protests broke out in many cities in Russia. God bless these protestors, their resolve, their courage, their love of peace. If Putin is looking for a way to deal with them, he need only look at how Justin Trudeau dealt with the protests in Ottawa. Dox them, seize their bank accounts, tow their trucks and cars, and send in heavy armed military-style cops without badges and faces to clear the streets. Use facial recognition technology to follow up with people later, inquiring about their political loyalties.
The “free world” has lost the moral high ground to preach to the “unfree” world about rights, liberties, and democracy. For two years, most every government in the West experimented with new forms of servitude in the name of public health. They showed how emergency powers can be deployed to lock people in their homes, shut businesses, cancel church, close parks, ban travel, censor speech – massive attacks on essential freedoms all justified simply because the people in power said it was justified.
Further, the pandemic response revived the utility of nationalism (with travel bans and even vaccine approvals), class demarcations in policy (essential and nonessential businesses and workers), segregation and discrimination based on biology (vaccine passports), and the unquestioned hegemony of the administrative state over the whole of society. The experience further proved that there need be no limits to state ambition: even the absurd promise to eradicate a respiratory virus can serve as justification for a power grab.
Even the courts went silent, and the media could be relied upon to quell dissident voices and push out propaganda from the bureaucracies. Big Tech, once decried by the establishment for its libertarian ethos, also enlisted on the side of control, censoring and canceling accounts that raised doubts concerning the competence of the managerial elite.
What a lovely example to display to would-be authoritarians the world over! The pandemic response was brutal. It contradicted all law and tradition. It flew in the face of public-health science from the past. It was an enormous flop from a scientific point of view, of course. But the enterprise did create a political precedent that will resonate for decades. It firmly established that states can do what they want, when they want, provided the leadership maintains a posture of infallibility and the population is sufficiently fearful.
This was the West’s gift to Putin. Putin is now returning the favor. He has volunteered for the role of scapegoat for political establishments that are desperate for a change of topic, something that enables them to once again reclaim the vocabulary about freedom, no matter how implausible it might seem at first. Everyone knows that the best environment for controlling public opinion is the fog of war. All the better if it involves a far-away dictator with imperial ambitions.
The last two years have revealed to us what we would rather not have discovered, namely that freedom and rights, along with enlightened ideals and good science, are extraordinarily fragile. They are only guaranteed by a public that believes in them and is willing to stand up for them. When the cultural consensus in favor of liberty decays, terrible beasts are unleashed on the world.
There are two dates in my adult life that truly seemed darkly shattering of every enlightenment ideal. The first was March 12, 2020, when Donald Trump announced, under cover of emergency, the end of travel from Europe, the UK, and Australia, all in the name of virus avoidance. The second was February 24, 2022, when Vladimir Putin took the first major steps in the restoration of the 19th-century Russian empire, thumbing his nose at the once-mighty US empire and its pretensions to rule the world. It’s a new chapter in a story of what could be a very dark age of barbarism – unless and until enlightenment ideals once again ascend to commanding heights."
"Acceptance..."
"Acceptance is a crucial step forward for those who prefer the idea of living this life over simply existing within it. Accept all that you've said and what you've done, because you cannot change your past. Accept the idea of the unknown, because the future is the unknown waiting patiently to reveal itself. Accept the person you have become thus far in your journey, because you are the only person who will be there with you when you finish it. Do all of this so that you may never find yourself having to accept regret that haunts you at two a.m., leaving you sweaty and broken hearted. All you have is this minute; not this hour, or this day, or this year. Live in this minute so that you won't get stuck simply existing with your guilty past, or with nothing but anxiety for the future."
- Margaret E. Rise
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