“If I am what I have, and if I lose what I have, who then am I?”
- Erich Fromm
“All the money you make will never buy back your soul.”
- Bob Dylan
So, we rise from the rubble...
Monday, November 13, 2023
Gregory Mannarino, "The U.S. Treasury Is Bankrupt! The U.S. Government Is Bankrupt! America Is Bankrupt!"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 11/13/23
"The U.S. Treasury Is Bankrupt!
The U.S. Government Is Bankrupt! America Is Bankrupt!"
Comments here:
"Running on Empty"
"Do not underestimate the power of a dying lion,
for he may strike with unimaginable force."
"Running on Empty"
by Jeff Thomas
"We’ve grown accustomed to regarding the US as the most powerful country on earth. Since the end of World War II, it’s been the economic powerhouse that’s dictated terms to the rest of the world. War production created the world’s most modern factories, allowing for a postwar boom in manufacturing goods of every description. The fact that the US held two-thirds of the world’s gold by the end of the war enabled it to dictate that the US dollar would be the default currency for trade. And later on, the creation of OPEC ensured that all gas and oil would be settled in the petrodollar.
The resultant overwhelming economic power enabled the US to assume the role of the world’s policeman, with a defense budget that equaled that of the next ten most powerful countries combined. But all that power led the leaders of the US empire to assume that it was omnipotent. In 1971, they went off the gold standard, and over the ensuing decades, the US went from being the world’s largest creditor nation to its largest debtor nation.
The US can no longer produce goods, as its ever-increasing union labor costs have priced it out of the market, even for local consumption. It’s now dependent upon China, Mexico, and other countries for virtually all goods. And yet, the US is threatening those countries with controls. With help from the FATF and OECD, the US has become an economic ball and chain to the economies of the First World and, to a lesser extent, beyond.
The US is now a hollowed-out empire. By any measure, it’s a goliath that’s likely to fall in the near future. But recently, the above conditions have been exacerbated to a degree that’s unprecedented in the post-war world.
In March of 2021, the US made the fatal mistake of confiscating privately-held assets of the Russian people. Although this was seen by Americans as just punishment for Russia’s invasion of the Donbas, the rest of the world saw it differently. The leaders of even small countries took note, realizing that the rulebook had just been tossed out the window. If the US could seize foreign privately-owned assets in Russia… they could do it anywhere.
Although almost no one in the US noticed it at the time, more than two-thirds of the world’s countries quietly began to create treaties with China and Russia – seeking to build a new alternative to the robber empire. Although this still appears to be insignificant to Americans, the change has taken place quickly and substantially. Scores of new treaties are now in place, and more are on the way. The world is now "rent in twain."
Saudi Arabia moved decisively to shift its loyalty to China, along with other OPEC nations, assuring that the petrodollar will soon be no more. New treaties have been inked to allow the world’s countries to trade in their own countries, bypassing the dollar, assuring that the US dollar as the reserve currency is also on its way out.
An entirely new global paradigm is underway – one that’s not even on the news in the US. Americans are blissfully unaware that their country is now a house of cards, looking for a strong wind. That strong wind has come up in the Middle East in the form of a war that promises to break the bank of the US. The US pours $830 billion into the Military Industrial Complex annually for weaponry that has been outmoded, in some cases, for decades, while other powers have continued to advance and, today, far outweigh the US militarily.
Add to this the astonishing stupidity of American leaders to choose this time to emasculate their own military. No matter how supportive a country may be of gay rights, a de-emphasis on masculinity in the armed forces creates a military that no red-blooded man wants to be a part of. The US armed forces are gutted.
Be assured: this is not simply a country experiencing a downturn. It’s an empire in its death throes. To wit:
• The most prosperous cities in America are in dramatic decline. Downtown areas are filled with the homeless and the drug-addicted.
• Those who loot stores are not prosecuted, leading to a crime epidemic that’s closing entire blocks of previously-successful shops.
• Entire downtown areas are unable to support commerce, leading to an emptying out of cities.
• Banks are laying off tens of thousands of staff.
• Competent workers cannot be found. They may have credentials but can’t finish tasks. They maximize sick days and otherwise fail to show up for work.
• Simple business tasks fail to be performed. Deadlines can’t be met. Retiring older workers cannot be replaced with motivated replacements.
• Businesses are chronically understaffed – restaurants cannot serve customers; mechanics leave cars unrepaired; trash isn’t removed; flights are cancelled due to airline staff failing to turn up.
• Most countries recovered from lockdown mode, but in the US, literally millions of people have chosen not to return to the workplace.
Elsewhere in the world, the opposite is occurring. In Asia, in particular, there’s tremendous enthusiasm for new growth. New businesses are being created. Even in "communist" countries like Vietnam, it’s possible to stand on a street corner and see countless peasants setting up shop on the pavement each day: capitalism in the making.
None of this is a random occurrence. Countries have a life cycle. Empires have a life cycle. The level of prosperity a country achieves at its height is directly proportional to the severity of its eventual collapse. The First World, particularly the US, is indeed running on empty and can be expected to go down, literally, in flames. From inside the US, it’s difficult to understand that the remainder of the world began its consolidation and rise eighteen months ago and that the new dominant power is rising rapidly. The non-First world recognizes that this is not the end of the world but a global shift in predominance.
We’re presently witnessing the early stages of the collapse of the world’s greatest empire. That’s difficult to even conceive of, let alone picture. Yet, the early events are unfolding and are in evidence before us. If we bother to read the tea leaves, we’ll see that the larger events are about to play out. It’s entirely possible that, by 2030, we’ll be watching the dust settle on the past empire.
But history advises us that dying empires do not go quietly. In every case, they attempt to hold onto their dying power through warfare. If no war is needed, one is invented. The excuse for the war is unimportant. What matters is that there is conflict sufficient enough to subjugate the people of the empire into sacrificing their rights in favour of their country in its hour of need. And it’s also true that even a dying power can do massive damage on its way out.
Whether the reader lives in the US, another First World nation, or an outlying nation that’s likely to be less affected by the unfolding conflict, it would be wise to distance oneself from the fray. A dying lion is a dangerous beast."
"Israel and Lebanon Escalate Attacks As U.S. Seeks To Provoke Iran into War"
"Israel and Lebanon Escalate Attacks
As U.S. Seeks To Provoke Iran into War"
by Mike Adams
"The situation in the Middle East continues to escalate by the day, putting us all on a path toward nuclear war. Just this weekend, Israel stuck 40km deep inside Lebanon's territory, and Hezbollah is showing off anti-ship missiles that could be used to target US Navy vessels. Meanwhile, huge natural gas and oil reserves have been found underneath Gaza, providing yet another reason for Israel to want to control the land.
For its part, the US wants a justification to bomb Iran, but so far Iran is refusing to go along with the escalation. Nevertheless, the situation remains tense. Full details in today's Brighteon Broadcast News, plus an alarming interview with John Moore, The Liberty Man, who discusses the global consequences of escalation in the Middle East."
Find the full broadcast and interview here.
Bill Bonner, "How The West Was Lost"
"How The West Was Lost"
Tracing the "Faustian Civilization's" long fall from grace...
by Bill Bonner
Poitou, France - "Between today and next week, anything can happen. Stock prices can turn on a dime. But big trends have momentum. …the Primary Trend must run ‘all the way’ to the end. If the Primary Trend is now down – for stocks and bonds – there’s more bad news coming. And what about the bigger picture…the future of America…and of Western Civilization? Is it like a huge ship, headed to the dock and going much too fast?
On our drive down to below the Loire River, we pass a sign: ‘Battle of Poitiers, 732.” It is on a rural road, between Tours and Chauvigny…the middle of nowhere. No one visits. Because there is nothing to visit. It is along the banks of the Vienne River, rolling slowly down….past where David Ogilvy had his famous chateau (now for sale). No one knows for sure if the battle took place there…or elsewhere. It might not have taken place at all, but instead might have been nothing more than skirmish with a scouting party…reaching the limit of its incursion into what is now France.
The native Poitevins were the Palestinians then! The Saracens – mostly Berbers from North Africa – had conquered all of the Iberian Peninsula. By 730, they were seeing how deeply they could go before getting turned back. Poitiers was it. There, a force led by Charles Martel (the Hammer) stopped them. And thus did the tide turn, almost 1,300 years ago…against the Islamic world of Arabs, Turks, Persians, Berbers and dozens of other nationalities that had converted to Islam…in favor of Christian Europe.
False Prophets: The drive to push the Muslims out of Iberia took another 700 years. It was then, when Granada fell to the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella, that the Reconquista was completed. Then, it was the Muslims and Jews who were Palestinians…they had to flee, convert or become slaves. (Later, after they had converted, they were often accused of being ‘false Christians’…and burnt at the stake. In Mexico, even Lutherans were killed, as heretics.)
Even before Muslims were swept out of Spain, Europeans were on the move. Crusaders established their own fiefs on the coast of what is today Israel. They conquered Jerusalem…and took Sicily from the Saracens. Little later, they were sending out explorers…and then colonizers…all over the world. North America, South America, Australia, Asia, Africa – Judeo-Christian European civilization was triumphant…almost everywhere.
“The West” won. Its capitalism…its democracy…its fossil fuels and internal combustion engines…nation states…the rule of law…rational inquiry…bombs…science – those are the things that put western civilization on top of the heap. For more than a millennium, European civilization ruled the world.
But what’s this? Forbes: "The West Has Lost Its Dominant Global Position." Veteran diplomat and philosophical provocateur Kishore Mahbubani in his new book asks a question that has crossed many minds of late: “Has the West lost it?”
If “it” is the dominant position of Europeans and North Americans in the world, then yes. The rest of the world has caught up and are overtaking the West because they received and applied the gift of Western wisdom – i.e., scientific reason and an approach to governance where the rulers are accountable to their people, not the other way around. In this sense, the West is the victim of the success of its own ideas.
A Party of Losers: Talk about a Primary Trend! What Oswald Spengler called the “Faustian Civilization” – now called “the West” – is on the skids. A thousand years of history… always on the up-swing…always up-staging the competition…always with the upper hand against its enemies…and now ‘the West’ is slip-sliding into second-fiddle status.
Just look at the virtuoso of ‘The West’ – the US. Its elections reveal the rot at its core of the whole system. In the Republican candidates’ debate, Vivek Ramaswamy says his own party is a ‘party of losers.’ He accuses the president’s family of taking a bribe from the Ukrainians. He says the media is “corrupt.” And that the firepower industry has “spent trillions, killed millions, and made billions” for themselves. He – an upstart, an outsider with his own money – is the only one who makes any sense at all. Naturally, the commentators named him the ‘biggest loser’ in the debate.
Most likely, the election will be headlined by the same two worn-out husks the nation has suffered for the last 7 years – Biden and Trump. The former should simply retire and save his family further embarrassment. The latter should never have been allowed into public life in the first place.
Meanwhile, Congress – distracted by ‘culture wars’ – shirks its duty to avoid real ones…and can’t even put together a budget, much less balance it. As near as we can tell, the latest flop on the imperial frontier is in the Ukraine. The US promised to stand by Zelensky until he had driven the Russians out of the Eastern (Russian speaking) provinces. Now, after spending more than $100 billion, US policymakers are looking for other alternatives.
Ask No Questions: Another big flop is shaping up in Israel, where the whole world watches as the Israelis, backed by the US, conduct a ferocious killing campaign that won’t soon be forgotten. Whatever else may come of it, the US will never again be able to claim the moral high ground without triggering laughter and derision.
America’s financial situation is in trouble too. It is presided over by a privately-owned bank cartel – the Fed – whose mis-guidance added $27 trillion to the national debt so far this century (with more coming!). And it still pretends to be able to manage the US economy.
And the voters themselves are much too busy trying to make ends meet to look beneath the headlines. They are victims of a self-serving media establishment. The mainstream press no longer speaks ‘truth to power.’ It merely recites the latest propaganda talking points...and asks no questions.
In short, the whole foundation of ‘the West’s’ supremacy is falling apart – democracy, Congress, the dollar, firepower. Our most basic institutions are failing. And where does it lead? Can you still protect your wealth by buying leading US stocks and taking ‘the long view?’ Stay tuned..."
"Does It Seem Like Everything Is Falling Apart? It Is"
"Does It Seem Like Everything Is Falling Apart? It Is"
by John Wilder
"The story of the 20th century was one of things coming together. Part of it was based on technology – the world shrank as successive technologies made communications, typically mass communications, easier and quicker. The world went from letters carried over land to telegrams to telephones and then radio and television. Information that previously took weeks to get out, could now go out to millions nearly immediately so we could all know how tough Meghan Markle had it last weekend.
With this communication, the model was simple: one to many. One person could have their ideas spread out to literally everyone. In the Soviet Union, radio versions of Stalin’s speeches could be broadcast instantaneously to every person with a radio in the Soviet Union, though those radios were powered by large industrial tractors produced in Tractor Collective Number 323 that weighed 17 metric tons.
With the advent of this communication, it became feasible to run an actual empire, in real time. Things started clumping together because the span of control allowed it, and the size of empire was useful. The Soviets started collecting satellite states like they were Hallmark© Christmas ornaments, and so did the NATO nations.
Europe itself clumped together into the EU, which, oddly, was exactly the plan of an Austrian art-school reject. Up until the 1990s, clumping together was all the rage. There was strength in being together, and it was also strength in the titanic war without weapons between two competing ideologies: Western Capitalism versus Eastern European and Asian Collectivist Communism.
Some have said (and I would have argued, incorrectly, in the past) that technology is neutral. It is not. Technology absolutely changes the equation between the types of governments that can exist. Take, for example, weapons:
To be really good with a sword takes a lot of practice. I assume this because I watched a lot of movies where people learn to be good swordsmen and people always seem to get older in the montage. Beyond that, the suit of armor that a knight had to have was really, really expensive? How expensive? More than “hot dog at an NFL® game” expensive, it was completely unaffordable unless you had a manor and a bunch of dudes growing stuff for you. And, if you had it, those dudes couldn’t really do anything to you when you were out and about.
Freedom, in this case, belonged to those who had armor. That equation changed over time, and it’s a real reason I like firearms. I can go in a store and buy a close copy (or in some cases much better stuff) than the United States Army gives to the rank-and-file soldier. Remember, “military grade” is the code word for the cheapest stuff that they could buy that might do the job.
Anyway, as long as millions of Americans are as well armed as the average infantry soldier in our army, we are free. Round us up and try to put us in concentration camps like they did in Australia during the recent pandemic? Not going to happen because, well, all the guns. It doesn’t even take a montage to learn how to use a firearm.
Mao may have been ugly and smelled bad, but he knew something very true: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Why does the Left want to take away guns? Because they want power, and as long as you have weapons that equal theirs, they cannot make you do whatever it is that they want.
But that’s a digression. Technology allowed the flourishing of really large empires, mainly due to information management and that “one to many” communication model. Being together in these combinations allowed two sides to fight each other. Until they didn’t.
The biggest failure of Soviet-style communism wasn’t the socialist part, but the collectivist part. Capitalism in the West simply out produced them, but the collectivist mindset wasn’t really “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” That sounds spiffy, but in reality it became, “From each according to how little work they could get away with, to each according to how much they could milk the system for.”
This collapsed. I think it was a coincidence that it was just as the Internet began to flourish, but the Internet has changed the entire way that communication can flow. The old model was “from one to many” while the new model is “from many to many”. Not everyone has an equal voice, but ideas now flow freely. This is what puts the panties of Those Who Are In Power into a wad – they have lost control of the Narrative. It’s also going to be the story of the 21st century: the time when things dissolve.
We’ve seen it start with Brexit. Brexit would never have happened under the previous mode where the only options were the options from TPTB. In this case, the people rose up, and said no. Of course, in the case of Great Britain, TPTB decided to keep the unending flow of illegals headed there, because the last thing they want to reward were people from Great Britain deciding their own destiny.
It’s too late to put the genie back into the bottle, however. We see strains on NATO where vastly divergent incentives have weakened that alliance, and I see similar strains on the EU right now, where countries like Poland and Hungary are being ostracized for not wanting to become minorities in their own lands.
Likewise, we see the pressures of division putting strains on the United States. Every reader here is a part of that, since you regularly partake in ideas that are not approved by those who would have you live in pods and eat bugs and give up your arms. For the greater good, you know.
The story of the 20th century was of coming together. Our story, right now, is of things coming apart."
"Life Is Never Fair..."
"Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good
thing for most of us that it is not."
- Oscar Wilde
Fred Reed, "Gaza: A Filler War Between Ukraine and China"
"Gaza: A Filler War Between Ukraine and China"
by Fred Reed
"Everybody and his dog is writing about Palestine. The dogs are probably doing it more intelligently, but I can’t change my phylum, or even species. We columnists do what we can and suffer what we must.
OK, Israel. The current war is an ordinary case of colonialism. In the late Forties the Jews grabbed Palestine militarily. When you do that, the people displaced hate you and want to kill you. The only way to control them is brutally. Which the Jews did, and do. Eventually the colonized revolt. They just did. When this happens, the occupying power responds without measure or mercy. It is as predictable as the value of pi.
There is nothing particularly Jewish about it. Colonialism was all the rage for centuries among Eurowhites. The Jews just had poor timing, getting into colonialism when everybody else was getting out. European peoples, certainly to include Americans, acquired most of the world at gunpoint, exactly as the Jews are absorbing parts they like in the Middle East. America got half of Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. The Philippinos, who did not want to be colonials, fought. The Americans crushed them with stomach-turning savagery. If interested in this, read "Little Brown Brother", by Leon Wolff.
Europeans got all of Latin America, India, most of Southeast Asia, Africa, much of China, the Muslim world, and Gaza. The philosophy was that if you see something you like, and have better weapons, just say, “Mine!,” and snatch it.
What the Jews are doing is sickening, but usual. The Europowers (today often called in the Global South, Anglo-Saxons) routinely did things at least as bad as what the Jews now do in Palestine. These atrocities were hideous, but now largely unknown as they are not permitted in history books. The mass killings, torture, starvation, poisoning and so on were nauseating.
You may think that the British were above such barbarity, being noble and quoting Shakespeare and such. No. They were quite ordinary. Try this: Ten Atrocities That the British Don’t Want You To Know. French (Algeria), Belgians (the Belgian Congo), Spanish (Mexico et al), and America (the Philippines). The treatment of slaves in the sugar plantations of the British West Indies was ghastly. Go to Zacatecas in Mexico and see the torture instruments in the museum. You may blow your lunch.
To understand American foreign policy, remember that it has three, and only three, goals: Money, power, and empire. This may sound like high-school cynicism. It isn’t, or if it is, high-schoolers are more perceptive than they used to be. Governments, certainly Washington and Tel Aviv, don’t give a wan etiolated damn about democracy, human rights, values, war crimes, truth, justice, or the American way (as, anciently, the announcer droned of the latter three as Superman jumped out of the window). They don’t care about dead children or bombed hospitals, though they have to make mooing noises about these things while doing nothing.
In Gaza, the essential fact is that Israel can do anything it wants because Washington will support it without limit. This is because Jewish influence in America is immense and unshakable. If this were not so Israel probably would not last since it has nothing America needs or wants and the Arabs have oil, lots of it. Conservatives grouse about AIPAC’s power, but with no effect. One might as well complain of sunrise or gravitation.
Since the US wields a veto in the United Nations, this august box of pointless chatter can do nothing but wave its hands and say, “the children, the children.” Money, power, empire. Washington will urge a ceasefire and orate about humanitarian aid while sending arms and aircraft carriers to Israel. It will also stall until Israel has accomplished whatever it intends to accomplish. Huge demonstrations against the killing will probably have no effect as Western countries have learned to be democracies without the populaces having power.
No point exists in honking about international law. Law exists only when there are means of enforcing it. Who is going to make the United States follow laws?
Much breath is wasted in lamenting the killing of civilians. It would make more sense to drink beer and watch Star Trek reruns. This would have as much effect and be more agreeable. As long as America supports the killing, it will continue. Besides, killing civilians has a long and celebrated past in the West. The firebombing of Tokyo, Dresden, and other cities, the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki eliminated hundreds of thousands, often by burning. These were not military targets. The German siege of Leningrad did yeoman work in the starvation line. The Americans killed God knows how many Viet civilians in that war and often treated them bestially. The Germans, now called “Nazis” to disguise what Germans are and did, killed lots of Jews. When Americas pilots bombed Baghdad, perhaps they didn’t know that civilians lived in cities. Things can slip one’s mind.
When it comes to killing civilians, the Jews have been barely more than wannabes, though maybe only because they didn’t have the opportunity. In this century and the last, the heavy hitters in such matters as burning children alive have been chiefly the Americans, British, and Germans, with the Turks making a good showing in the early years of the last century. The Japanese did pretty well too. The Brits starved additional millions to death in India, but I don’t think they should be allowed to count these since it wasn’t intentional but just a result of using India’s food to support WW II or deny it to the Japanese.
Apparently some Israeli has mentioned the possibility of nuking Gaza. Whether this was casual blather or calculated intimidation, I don’t know. The Jews have also said that they could do to Beirut what they are doing to Gaza. Tel Aviv’s nuclear warheads presumably reduce the ardor of Hezbola and Iran for joining the fray.
But Iran is Israel’s bugaboo, as Iraq formerly was. An interesting question is what would happen if Israel nuked Iran. The Israeli approach is just do it, brazen it out, rely on American protection, and wait a few years for indignation to die down. What would, or could, any country do? Washington would be shocked, horrified, concerned, make disapproving noises, and do nothing. The “world community” would gnash its hair, pull its teeth, turn purple, and do nothing. That is, nothing effective. Countries would summon ambassadors, sever relations, stop trading with Israel for a few years, and maybe wave their hands in the air. Washington would Say Stern Tings, but do nothing, and make sure nobody else did either. Onward and upward.Or think beer and Star Trek reruns."
"World War III Prelude, AM 11/13/23"
Full screen recommended.
Scott Ritter, 11/13/23
"Gaza Is The Most Ingenious Trap In Modern History,
Hamas Will Have Their Palestine State"
o
Full screen recommended.
Scott Ritter, 11/12/23
"Israel Bombed Lebanon, Hezbollah Will Beat
Them With One Hand Tied Behind Their Back"
Comments here:
- https://www.youtube.com/
Scott Ritter, 11/12/23
"Israel Bombed Lebanon, Hezbollah Will Beat
Them With One Hand Tied Behind Their Back"
Comments here:
- https://www.youtube.com/
Note that Hezbollah has 150,000 battle-hardened, extremely well armed and equipped
professional soldiers, as well as 200,000 missiles than can strike anywhere in Israel...
o
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, AM 11/13/23
"Larry Johnson: (fmr CIA) - What Is Hezbollah Planning?"
Comments here:
o
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, AM 11/13/23
"Alastair Crooke: (fmr. British Diplomat) -
What Is Biden’s Endgame In Gaza?"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, AM 11/1/23
"Hezbollah Injures 18 Israeli Soldiers,
Civilians After Netanyahu Govt. Threatens Beirut"
Comment here:
Jim Kunstler, "Light in the Darkness"
"Light in the Darkness"
by Jim Kunstler
“I hope you realize the ideological brain worms possessing group narcissists preclude condemnation of anything done in the name of the cause no matter how evil. The ends justify the means - no matter how depraved. This is why you can’t reason with them. Ideology binds and blinds.” - Aimee Therese on X
"The sun is low on the horizon all day long now, and darkness creeps in like a home invasion of your mind. Demons descend through a red and black sky and no help is on the way. Our country is so mentally hog-tied trying to unravel the twisted events of just a few years past that it has no mojo left for rationally anticipating the events of just a few years ahead. Have you ever felt more alone?
This is the end-process that we’ve been softened up for: the inability to think and plan. The gigantic “intel community” evolved from something intended to act as sensitized antennae for detecting threats against our republic into what is now a remorseless mind-fucking operation against our republic. That word, by the way, derives from the Latin res publica: the public thing, a society that literally belongs to the people, who decide its affairs. Now, so much is mysteriously decided for us, and not in any good way.
It’s no wonder more than half the country can’t think straight, and it’s a whopping irony that this group comprises most of our country’s thinking class - the bureaucratic managers, the professors, the curators, the editors, the reporters lost in mis-reporting. This group used to play a critical role in the res publica: to earnestly determine what is true and what is real, and to present us with a way of understanding all that so we can think and plan. They appear to be captured by malign forces. The scribes are hard at work defending every act of official malice. The dishonesty at work is epic. You need a decoder ring to keep your mind right.
You are probably desperate to understand why this is happening - how, for instance, a blatantly corrupt and ignorant attorney general in New York state can get away with bringing a politically-motivated nonsense case against the leading presidential candidate in a courtroom ruled by a judge who acts like a jester in a Shakespeare play. New York AG Letitia James gets away with it because the flagship organ of the thinking class, The New York Times, is in on the gambit. But why?
We struggle to sort this out. One explanation is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has infiltrated the management of our country at every level so as to eventually conquer our territory for its resources while eliminating or enslaving the population? Surely, the CCP has made significant inroads, starting with the successful bribery and compromise of “Joe Biden,” probably other elected officials, too, in placing many CCP agents in the vast array of university research departments, NGOs, PACs, and lobbying gangs, and extending to the purchase of vital businesses and farmland to prepare the gameboard for eventual takeover. My opinion is they’ve accomplished a good bit of this, but it’s not the answer you’re seeking.
Another popular idea out there is that a sinister cartel or cabal composed of the World Economic Forum, the WHO, the EU, and a claque of super-rich megalomaniacs (e.g., Bill Gates, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg) trying to usher in the so-called “transhumanist” next chapter of human history. This scheme is so full of preposterous contradictions that it remains hard to take seriously. The main one is that their engineered collapse of techno-industrial civilization would destroy the very network of complex systems that might support their supposed cyborg nirvana, especially a reliable electric grid. Secondarily, collapse would result not in centralizing power but just the opposite, re-localizing power away from the center, negating the possibility of global rule.
A third theory is that the USA has somehow gone “communist.” The universities have, for sure, but in a most half-assed way imaginable that presents more as a case of collective mental illness than a true political ideology. Higher education has lately enjoyed stupendous subsidies and revenues that funnel down to the miserable cat-ladies who have taken over the faculty department chairs, plus the deans and president’s offices. The Niagara of grants and lavish salaries has funded the dissemination of incoherent cat-lady ideas, such as the foundational notion that all men are hopelessly defective except the ones who pretend to be women or vice-versa. Such postulations lead to ridiculous actions like the drag queen story hour, or men competing in women’s swim competitions. These actions-and-effects are “communistic” only insofar as the induce some Marxist-Gramscian overthrow of normality (i.e., a coherent cultural consensus) in order to usher in the utopia of perfect social equity, where nobody is allowed to do better than anybody else - that is, a society of cat-ladies (plus men pretending to be cat-ladies), all equally miserable.
Are the editors and reporters of The New York Times all bought off by the CCP, Soros, Gates? I doubt it. That’s not what’s going on here. And the same goes for the Intel Community, much of the rest of the executive branch of the US government, the various “blue” state and blue city governments, and the great social media companies. Are all the employees of these vast bureaucracies dedicated communists? Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha….
What’s going on is that all these players are now desperate to evade the blame for and consequences of their many crimes. Hundreds of top bureaucrats and elected officials will be liable for prosecution for monstrous acts of perfidy and treason against our republic and its citizens. The New York Times and other compliant news outlets that lied about everything from Russian collusion to election fraud to the safety of Covid-19 vaccines to protect their fumbling allies in power are desperate to save their reputations - though that will be impossible as the truth eventually unfolds, and it will. Their knowing lies did real and lasting harm to the public thing.
Take heart in these darkening days. The light will not be extinguished. It will return, as everything does in this universe of endless cycles. A nation turned upside down will find its feet again. The wicked will answer. The counter-revolution has begun. You are not alone."
Gregory Mannarino, "US Debt Downgraded To Negative"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/13/23
"US Debt Downgraded To Negative;
More Middle East Air Strikes"
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Dan, I Allegedly, "Banks in Crisis - $174B Vanishes!"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly AM 11/13/23
"Banks in Crisis - $174B Vanishes!"
"Today we're diving deep into an alarming financial phenomenon: a staggering $174B has vanished from banks! In this crisis, we're uncovering the ripples through the economy – from farmers feeling the pinch to retail theft skyrocketing. But it's not all doom and gloom; we also explore unique solutions and the ever-evolving business landscape."
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"15 Fast Food Pizza Chains Are Getting Wiped Out"
Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, AM 11/13/23
"15 Fast Food Pizza Chains Are Getting Wiped Out"
"No one is immune to the current economic hardship sweeping across the country, including the tomato sauce, cheese, and dough sector. From iconic names to buffet favorites, the pizza landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. As these pizza chains grapple with closures, bankruptcies, and strategic shifts, the pizza industry witnesses a transformation that reflects the broader economic challenges and shifting consumer preferences. The once-thriving pizza sector is now marked by uncertainty and change, leaving both industry insiders and pizza enthusiasts pondering what the future holds for these iconic brands."
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Adventures With Danno, "Massive Holiday Sale At ALDI!'
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 11/13/23
"Massive Holiday Sale At ALDI!'
'In today's vlog, we are at Aldi and are stocking up on some of these great deals on groceries. Aldi is having a massive holiday sale, and we all need to be taking advantage of this opportunity. We take you with us and show all of these great deals going on!"
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Meanwhile, elsewhere...
Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell, 11/13/23
"Russian Typical (Deep Discount) Supermarket: Chizhik"
"What does a Russian typical supermarket look like inside? Join me as i take a tour inside Chizhik, one of the most popular Hard Discount Supermarkets in Russia. Discover what a real typical Russian supermarket looks like."
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"Economic Market Snapshot 11/13/23"
"Economic Market Snapshot 11/13/23"
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Market Data Center, Live Updates:
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Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
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"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it.
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
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A comprehensive, essential daily read.
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Financial Stress Index
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."
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Job cuts and much more.
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Commentary, highly recommended:
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"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
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Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
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And now... The End Game...
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Douglas Macgregor, "We Are Entering a War With Iran"
Full screen recommended.
Douglas Macgregor, 11/13/23
"We Are Entering a War With Iran"
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"Alert! 4 US Soldiers Dead In Iran Attack? All Carriers Now Deployed; Ukraine 500,000 Mines"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 11/13/23
"Alert! 4 US Soldiers Dead In Iran Attack?
All Carriers Now Deployed; Ukraine 500,000 Mines"
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Sunday, November 12, 2023
Jeremiah Babe, "Alert! National Unrest - You're Not Safe Anywhere"
Jeremiah Babe, 11/12/23
"Alert! National Unrest - You're Not Safe Anywhere"
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"Israel Bombed Lebanon, Hezbollah Will Beat Them With One Hand Tied Behind Their Back"
Full screen recommended.
Scott Ritter, 11/12/23
"Israel Bombed Lebanon, Hezbollah Will Beat
Them With One Hand Tied Behind Their Back"
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"15 Signs A Terrifying Housing Crash Is About To Burst"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 11/12/23
"15 Signs A Terrifying Housing Crash Is About To Burst"
"This is shaping up to be the most dramatic housing crash we have ever seen. Mortgage rates haven’t been this high in over 23 years. Meanwhile, in October, sales dropped to the lowest level since the Great Recession. Now, the number of home listings is rapidly rising, and sellers are having to slash their prices to be able to strike a deal. The market already hit a turning point, and new data suggests that it’s all downhill from here.
Real estate agents, homebuilders, and mortgage lenders are getting increasingly pessimistic about the future of the market. Americans are extremely worried about losing equity in their homes or losing their homes altogether. When home sales rapidly fall after growing consistently year-over-year, it could serve as a warning sign of a housing market crash. That’s because declines in sales volumes can affect home appreciation, and when enough sellers are unable to find a buyer for their homes, they will have to lower the price to attract more buyers. In the third quarter, home sales plunged by 15.1%, meaning that the number of existing homes sold fell to levels not seen since the fallout of the Great Recession. With mortgage rates nearing 8%, the majority of would-be buyers are currently priced out of the market. That is leaving sellers no choice but to significantly reduce their asking prices right now.
According to data provided by Zillow and Redfin, a record number of sellers dropped the prices on their listings in the past quarter. In September, the percentage of home listings that had a price cut jumped to 9.2%, and in October, that figure went up by an additional 7%, an “unusually high” month-over-month increase, analysts said. Moreover, the National Association of Homebuilders reported that 32% of homebuilders slashed prices in the past month, with an average drop of 6% nationwide.
Meanwhile, housing inventory continues to grow. The supply of unsold homes in the market is starting to pile up. There are now more than half a million homes unsold active on the market. The latest numbers shared by the National Association of Realtors show that the U.S. housing inventory is almost 6% higher than it was a year ago. If the number of properties on the market is increasing, but the demand is keeping pace, that’s a significant indicator that there are more sellers than buyers, and the market is about to face a major shift.
Housing bubbles don’t happen out of thin air, and the same is true for housing crashes. There are always early signs that indicate things are starting to get out of hand in the market, and we need to recognize the red flags before the downfall begins so we can safeguard our finances. We hope this video was informative to you and that you prepare accordingly because many factors are expected to impact the economy in the months ahead. The key to weathering the storm is staying informed about local and national housing trends, and ensuring your financial situation is stable enough to survive the turbulence.
Several stats reveal that another disaster is imminent. So it might be helpful to homeowners and prospective homebuyers to identify the warning signs so that they can be prepared. For that reason, today we share the latest and most shocking facts about the housing downturn that is already unfolding."
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Dan, I Allegedly, "Who Is Going Down Next?"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly 11/12/23
"Who Is Going Down Next?"
"We keep hearing that there’s all these retailers that are in serious trouble. The real question is who is going down next? You can’t help it, walk in the stores that have zero inventory and no people shop in there."
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Musical Interlude: Grateful Dead, “Touch of Grey”
Grateful Dead, “Touch of Grey”
“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
Despite it all, and it looks grim as hell, God help us...
"We will get by, we will get by, we will get by,
we will survive..." Never, ever give up!
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and dark shapes are highlighted in this colorful skyscape. The image includes data from narrowband filters, mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur into blue, green, and red hues.
Click image for larger size.
The atomic emission is powered by energetic radiation from the hot stars, whose powerful winds and radiation also sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cutoff from their reservoir of star stuff. This field spans around 40 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111116.html
"The Sharp Tang And Savor Of Existence"
"The Sharp Tang And Savor Of Existence"
"The thought of the disaster which almost certainly lay in wait for the Other Men threw me into a horror of doubt about the universe in which such a thing could happen. That a whole world of intelligent beings could be destroyed was not an unfamiliar idea to me; but there is a great difference between an abstract possibility and a concrete and inescapable danger. On my native planet, whenever I had been dismayed by the suffering and the futility of individuals, I had taken comfort in the thought that at least the massed effect of all our blind striving must be the slow but glorious awakening of the human spirit. This hope, this certainty, had been the one sure consolation. But now I saw that there was no guarantee of any such triumph. It seemed that the universe, or the maker of the universe, must be indifferent to the fate of worlds. That there should be endless struggle and suffering and waste must of course be accepted; and gladly, for these were the very soil in which the spirit grew. But that all struggle should be finally, absolutely vain, that a whole world of sensitive spirits fail and die, must be sheer evil. In my horror it seemed to me that Hate must be the Star Maker.
Not so to Bvalitu. "Even if the powers destroy us," he said, "who are we, to condemn them? As well might a fleeting word judge the speaker that forms it. Perhaps they use us for their own high ends, use our strength and our weakness, our joy and our pain, in some theme inconceivable to us, and excellent." But I protested, "What theme could justify such waste, such futility? And how can we help judging; and how otherwise can we judge than by the light of our own hearts, by which we judge ourselves? It would be base to praise the Star Maker, knowing that he was too insensitive to care about the fate of his worlds." Bvalitu was silent in his mind for a moment. Then he looked up, searching among the smoke-clouds for a daytime star. And then he said to me in his mind, "If he saved all the worlds, but tormented just one man, would you forgive him? Or if he was a little harsh only to one stupid child? What has our pain to do with it, or our failure? Star Maker! It is a good word, though we can have no notion of its meaning. Oh, Star Maker, even if you destroy me, I must praise you. Even if you torture my dearest. Even if you torment and waste all your lovely worlds, the little figments of your imagination, yet I must praise you. For if you do so, it must be right. In me it would be wrong, but in you it must be right."
He looked down once more upon the ruined city, then continued, "And if after all there is no Star Maker, if the great company of galaxies leapt into being of their own accord, and even if this little nasty world of ours is the only habitation of the spirit anywhere among the stars, and this world doomed, even so, even so, I must praise. But if there is no Star Maker, what can it be that I praise? I do not know. I will call it only the sharp tang and savor of existence. But to call it this is to say little."
- Olaf Stapledon, "Star Maker"
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"In this passionately social world, loneliness dogged the spirit. People were constantly getting together, but they never really got there. Everyone was terrified of being alone with himself; yet in company, in spite of the universal assumption of comradeship, these strange beings remained as remote from one another as the stars. For everyone searched his neighbor's eyes for the image of himself, and never saw anything else. Or if he did, he was outraged and terrified."
- Olaf Stapledon, "Star Maker"
Freely download "Star Maker", by Olaf Stapledon, here:
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