So, we rise from the rubble...
Saturday, November 25, 2023
"Food Items That Are Set To Skyrocket In Price! This Is About To Get Ugly!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 11/25/23
"Food Items That Are Set To Skyrocket In Price!
This Is About To Get Ugly!"
"These foods have been becoming unaffordable in fall of 2023, and we're expecting another huge surge in prices on these products during winter of 2023 and into 2024. We discuss why these products are rising in costs and why we must be prepared for this!"
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"Black Flag Friday: Could Yesterday Be A Harbinger Of A Tapped-Out Consumer?"
"Black Flag Friday: Could Yesterday Be A
Harbinger Of A Tapped-Out Consumer?"
By Charles Hugh Smith
"If Black Friday is a bust, it may be a harbinger of what the mainstream has long considered impossible: the American consumer is well and truly tapped out. Could Black Friday be a complete bust this year? Let's explore the potential sources of a Black Flag Friday. Black flags are used to denote mourning, as in state funerals, and to warn of danger, for example, black flags posted at beaches mean "don't go in the water." Drivers in auto races who receive a Black Flag must return to their pit--their race is over.
Exhibit One is the Federal Reserve report which stated the bottom 80% of American households have fewer financial resources than they did pre-pandemic. The authors project that the cash reserves of this vast cohort would be depleted in the third quarter of 2023, i.e. right now.
Exhibit Two is a report that indicates half of employed consumers have side gigs to earn extra money. Side Gigs Help Ease Paycheck-to-Paycheck Consumers' Financial Stress This Holiday:
According to findings detailed in The Supplemental Income Edition of 'New Reality Check: The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report' by PYMNTS Intelligence and LendingClub, half of employed consumers now have supplemental income sources in addition to their regular paychecks. This includes side jobs, other types of supplemental income and active side incomes.
This is critical because the holiday season has emerged as the most financially challenging period for a significant number of individuals, according to separate research from PYMNTS Intelligence, with over 20% pointing to vacation costs as a key contributor to their financial stress.
Exhibit Three is the "revenge spending splurges" on vacations and other luxuries have already depleted savings and boosted credit card balances. Vacations are prime examples of "greedflation" in action, as resorts, AirBNB hosts, et al. jacked prices to the moon knowing that households desperate for a splurge vacation would pay any price without question.
In street parlance, consumers have already shot their wad. There's not much left to blow on Black Friday.
Exhibit Four is the long-term deterioration of the bottom 80%'s share of financial wealth as indicated by the charts below, courtesy of the Federal Reserve. These charts reflect the reality that the vast majority of financial gains have flowed to the top 20%.
The bottom 50% of America's 132 million households, representing 165.5 million of the nation's 331 million residents, owns a meager 2.3% of the nation's financial assets. There simply isn't much wealth to tap for splurge spending.
The share of total assets owned by the middle class--those between the 50% and 90% percentiles--has been in decline for 30+ years. No wonder half of all employed consumers are working extra hours on side gigs.
Exhibit Five is the devaluation of Black Friday by "front-running" pre-Black Friday sales. Which one offers the best deals - pre-Black Friday sales, pre-pre-Black Friday sales, or post-Black Friday sales?
Like many other aspects of American life, whatever is modestly successful is ground to dust via crapification and "Calculated Misery" in which the consumer experience is intentionally degraded so consumers are forced to pony up for "premium" or "elite" service - that is, the same mediocre service that was once standard but now requires a hefty fee if you wish to avoid immiseration.
The "Crapification" of the U.S. Economy Is Now Complete (February 9, 2022)
Stainless Steal (February 26, 2023)
The decay in quality reveals that the collapse of the neoliberal-hyper-financialization-hyper-globalization model has already occurred. If Black Friday is a bust, it may be a harbinger of what the mainstream has long considered impossible: the American consumer is well and truly tapped out, eviscerated by inflation and disgusted by rampant greedflation. It may also reflect a growing awareness of some of the populace that splurging with zero savings is not a stress-free strategy, and not worth the financial anxiety."
"Gaza - A Pause Before The Storm"
"Gaza - A Pause Before The Storm"
by Pepe Escobar
"The US and its allies will continue backing Israel's war on Gaza after a brief truce. But as the case for 'genocide' grows stronger, the new multipolar powers will have to confront the old hegemons and their Rules-Based Chaos.
While the world cries “Israeli genocide,” the Biden White House is gushing over the upcoming Gaza truce it helped broker, as though it's actually “on the verge” of its “biggest diplomatic victory.” Behind the self-congratulatory narratives, the US administration is not remotely “wary about Netanyahu’s endgame,” it fully endorses it - genocide included - as agreed at the White House less than three weeks before Al-Aqsa Flood, in a 20 September meeting between Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe “The Mummy” Biden’s handlers.
The US/Qatar-brokered “truce,” which is supposed to go into effect this week, is not a ceasefire. It is a PR move to soften Israel's genocide and boost its morale by securing the release of a few dozen captives. Moreover, the record shows that Israel never respects ceasefires.
Predictably, what really worries the US administration is the “unintended consequence” of the truce, which will “allow journalists broader access to Gaza and the opportunity to further illuminate the devastation there and turn public opinion on Israel.” Real journalists have been working in Gaza 24/7 since October 7 – dozens of whom have been killed by the Israeli military machine in what Reporters Sans Frontieres calls “one of the deadliest tolls in a century.” These journalists have spared no effort to go all the way to “illuminate the devastation,” a euphemism for the ongoing genocide, shown in all its gruesome detail for the entire world to see.
Even the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), itself relentlessly attacked by Israel, revealed - somewhat meekly - that this has been “the largest displacement since 1948,” an "exodus" of the Palestinian population, with the younger generation “forced to live through traumas of ancestors or parents.”
As for public opinion all across the Global South/Global Majority, it “turned” long ago on Zionist extremism. But now the Global Minority - populations of the collective west - are watching raptly, horrified, and bitter that in just six weeks, social media has exposed them to what mainstream media hid for decades. There will be no turning back now that this penny has dropped.
A former Apartheid state leads the way: The South African government has paved the path, globally, for the proper reaction to an unfolding genocide: parliament voted to shutter the Israeli embassy, expel the Israeli ambassador, and cut diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv. South Africans do know a thing or two about apartheid.
They, like other critics of Israel, better be extra wary moving forward. Anything can be expected: an outbreak of foreign intel-conducted “terra terra terra” false flags, artificially induced weather calamities, fake “human rights abuse” charges, the collapse of the national currency, the rand, instances of lawfare, assorted Atlanticist apoplexy, sabotage of energy infrastructure. And more.
Several nations should have by now invoked the Genocide Convention - given that Israeli politicians and officials have been bragging, on the record, about razing Gaza and besieging, starving, killing, and mass-transferring its Palestinian population. No geopolitical actor has dared thus far. South Africa, for its part, had the courage to go where few Muslim and Arab states have ventured. As matters stand, when it comes to much of the Arab world - particularly the US client states - they are still in Rhetorical Swamp territory.
The Qatar-brokered “truce” came at precisely the right time for Washington. It stole the spotlight from the delegation of Islamic/Arab foreign ministers touring selected capitals to promote their plan for a complete Gaza ceasefire in Gaza - plus negotiations for an independent Palestinian state.
This Gaza Contact Group, uniting Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Palestine, made their first stop in Beijing, meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and then on to Moscow, meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. That was definitely an instance of BRICS 11 already in action – even before they started business on January 1st, 2024, under the Russian presidency.
The meeting with Lavrov in Moscow was held simultaneously with an extraordinary online BRICS session on Palestine, called by the current South African presidency. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, whose country leads the region's Axis of Resistance and refuses any relations with Israel, supported the South African initiatives and called for BRICS member states to use every political and economic tool available to pressure Tel Aviv.
It was also important to hear from Chinese President Xi Jinping himself that “there can be no security in the Middle East without a just solution to the question of Palestine.” Xi stressed once again the need for “a two-state solution,” the “restoration of the legitimate national rights of Palestine,” and “the establishment of an independent state of Palestine." This should all start via an international conference.
None of this is enough at this stage - not this temporary truce, not the promise of a future negotiation. The US administration, itself struggling with an unexpected global backlash, at best, arm-wrestled Tel Aviv to enact a short “pause” in the genocide. This means the carnage continues after a few days. Had this truce been an actual “ceasefire,” in which all hostilities came to a halt and Israel's war machine disengaged from the Gaza Strip entirely, the next-day options would still be pretty dismal. Realpolitik practitioner John Mearsheimer already cut to the chase: a negotiated solution for Israel-Palestine is impossible.
It takes a cursory glance at the current map to graphically demonstrate how the two-state solution – advocated by everyone from China-Russia to much of the Arab world – is dead. A collection of isolated Bantustans can never coalesce as a state.
Let’s grab all their gas: There has been thundering noise all across the spectrum that with the advent of the petroyuan getting closer and closer, the Americans badly need Eastern Mediterranean energy bought and sold in US dollars – including the vast gas reserves off the Gaza coastline. Enter the US administration's energy security advisor, deployed to Israel to “discuss potential economic revitalization plans for Gaza centered around undeveloped offshore natural gas fields:" what a lovely euphemism.
But while Gaza's gas is indeed a crucial vector, Gaza, the territory, is a nuisance. What really matters for Tel Aviv is to confiscate all Palestinian gas reserves and allot them to future preferential clients: the EU.
Enter the India-Middle East Corridor(IMEC) - actually the EU-Israel-Saudi Arabia-Emirates-India Corridor - conceived by Washington as the perfect vehicle for Israel to become an energy crossroads power. It fancifully imagines a US-Israel energy partnership trading in US dollars – simultaneously replacing Russian energy to the EU and halting a possible export increase of Iran's energy to Europe.
We return to the 21st century's main chessboard here: the Hegemon vs. BRICS. Beijing has had steady relations with Tel Aviv so far, with lavish investment in Israeli high-tech industries and infrastructure. But Israel's pounding of Gaza may change that picture: no real Sovereign can hedge when it comes to real genocide.
In parallel, whatever the Hegemon may come up with in its various hybrid and hot war scenarios against the BRICS, China, and its multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), that will not alter Beijing’s rational and strategically formulated trajectory.
This analysis by Eric Li is all one needs to know about what lies ahead. Beijing has mapped out all relevant tech roads to follow in successive five-year plans, all the way to 2035. Under this framework, BRI should be considered a sort of geoeconomics UN without the G7. If you’re outside of BRI – and that concerns, to a large extent, old comprador systems and elites - you’re self-isolating from the Global South/Global Majority.
So what remains of this “pause” in Gaza? By next week, the western-backed cowards will restart their genocide against women and children, and they will not stop for a good long while. The Palestinian resistance and the 800,000 Palestinian civilians still living in northern Gaza - now surrounded on all sides by Israeli troops and armored vehicles - are proving that they are willing and able to bear the burden of fighting the Israeli oppressor, not only for Palestine but for everyone, everywhere, with a conscience.
Despite such a terrible price to be paid in blood, there will eventually be a reward: the slow but sure evisceration of the imperial construct in West Asia. No mainstream media narrative, no PR move to soften the genocide, no containment of “public opinion turning on Israel” can ever cover the serial war crimes perpetrated by Israel and its allies in Gaza. Perhaps this is just what the Doctor – metaphysical and otherwise - ordered for mankind: an imperative global tragedy, to be witnessed by all, that will also transform us all."
"Middle East Crisis, 11/25/23"
Full screen recommended.
Col. Douglas Macgregor, 11/25/23
"US Can't Save Israel In A Regional War,
Iran And Turkey Will Destroy Them"
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Full screen recommended.
Scott Ritter, 11/25/23
"IDF Is Soft Militarily, Cannot Beat Hamas
With US Technological Superiority"
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Full screen recommended.
OpenmindedThinker Show,11/25/23
"Revenge! Hezbollah Escalates Rocket
Attacks on Israel Amidst Ceasefire"
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Full screen recommended.
OpenmindedThinker Show, 11/25/23
"Panic In Israel; First Western Nation Hits
Israel With Biggest Sanction"
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Full screen recommended.
"China, Iran & Russia Warn US To Stop Israel In Gaza!"
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Friday, November 24, 2023
Jeremiah Babe, "Black Friday: Debt Is Enslaving The Masses"
Jeremiah Babe, 11/24/23
"Black Friday: Debt Is Enslaving The Masses,
Living Big On Credit Card Enables Shopping Addiction"
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Dan, I Allegedly, "Black Friday Is A Bust"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 11/24/23
"Black Friday Is A Bust"
"Black Friday was a total bust, people have no money."
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Musical Interlude: Il Divo, "Wicked Game"
Full screen recommended.
Il Divo, "Wicked Game" ("Melanconia")
Live In London 2011
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Grand design spiral galaxy Messier 99 looks majestic on a truly cosmic scale. This recently processed full galaxy portrait stretches over 70,000 light-years across M99. The sharp view is a combination of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared image data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
About 50 million light-years distant toward the well-groomed constellation Coma Bernices, the face-on spiral is a member of the nearby Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Also cataloged as NGC 4254, a close encounter with another Virgo cluster member has likely influenced the shape of its well-defined, blue spiral arms."
o
"Everything passes away - suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will still remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the earth. There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes towards the stars? Why?"
- Mikhail Bulgakov, "The White Guard"
The Poet: Henry Austin Dobson, “The Paradox Of Time”
“The Paradox Of Time”
“Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go;
Or else, were this not so,
What need to chain the hours,
For Youth were always ours?
Time goes, you say? – ah no!
Ours is the eyes’ deceit
Of men whose flying feet
Lead through some landscape low;
We pass, and think we see
The earth’s fixed surface flee -
Alas, Time stays, – we go!
Once in the days of old,
Your locks were curling gold,
And mine had shamed the crow.
Now, in the self-same stage,
We’ve reached the silver age;
Time goes, you say? – ah no!
Once, when my voice was strong,
I filled the woods with song
To praise your ‘rose’ and ‘snow’;
My bird, that sang, is dead;
Where are your roses fled?
Alas, Time stays, – we go!
See, in what traversed ways,
What backward Fate delays
The hopes we used to know;
Where are our old desires?
Ah, where those vanished fires?
Time goes, you say? – ah no!
How far, how far, O Sweet,
The past behind our feet
Lies in the even-glow!
Now, on the forward way,
Let us fold hands, and pray;
Alas, Time stays, – we go!”
- Henry Austin Dobson
○
“Time passes in moments. Moments which, rushing past, define the path of a life, just as surely as they lead towards its end. How rarely do we stop to examine that path, to see the reasons why all things happen? To consider whether the path we take in life is our own making, or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed? But what if we could stop, pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes? Might we then see the endless forks in the road that have shaped a life? And, seeing those choices, choose another path?”
- Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully, “The X-Files”
"Here's A Question..."
“Here’s a question every angry man and woman needs to consider: How long are you going to allow people you don’t even like – people who are no longer in your life, maybe even people who aren’t even alive anymore – to control your life? How long?”
- Andy Stanley
“That goes for old wounds, too, you know. I really wish we’d had the chance to talk before this,” he says, cracking the window so the smoke can escape. “There’s a Longfellow quote I have stuck on my bulletin board at the church office – ‘There is no grief like the grief that does not speak’ – and it’s true. I’ve found that keeping pain inside doesn’t give it a chance to heal, but bringing it out into the light, holding it right there in your hands and trusting that you’re strong enough to make it through, not hating the pain, not loving it, just seeing it for what it really is can change how you go on from there. Time alone doesn’t heal emotional wounds, and you don’t want to live the rest of your life bottled up with anger and guilt and bitterness. That’s how people self-destruct.”
- Laura Wiess
"You Think..."
"That's why crazy people are so dangerous.
You think they're nice until they're chaining you up in the garage."
- Michael Buckley
"You’re Not Being Told The Truth About Inflation, Prepare Your Families"
Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, 11/24/23
"You’re Not Being Told The Truth About Inflation,
Prepare Your Families"
"Despite the recent Consumer Price Index report suggesting a decline in inflation, the reality paints a far more alarming picture. Many do not realize that the reported decrease in inflation is masking the harsh reality of our economic situation. The rising prices of essential goods are making it increasingly difficult for people to manage their day to day lives. Although the Consumer Price Index is widely accepted, it deliberately hides the real impact of increasing costs, especially in critical areas like housing, healthcare, and education. These fundamental aspects, not considered in the official statistics, are actually rising at an alarming rate. Families are feeling the strain, and the relief that's supposed to come with the reported decrease is nowhere in sight. To understand the situation, we’ll have to look beyond the numbers and question what's really going on. Inflation is hitting us where it hurts the most, so brace yourselves as the challenges we're facing are far from being resolved."
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Epic Economist, "More Problems With The Banks"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 11/24/23
"More Problems With The Banks: Wells Fargo,
Bank of America Have All Had Their Ratings Downgraded"
"This has been a rough year for American Banks. Back in March, we saw the collapse of three US banks within a week. That was the biggest banking failure to hit the US since the 2008 financial crisis. By the time the fallout from the Great Recession was over, 600 banks had failed. But what if I tell you that we are staring at the same fate now?
On study on the fragility of the U.S. banking system found that 186 more banks are at risk of failure even if only half of their uninsured depositors decide to withdraw their funds. As we see banks mired in problems all around us, the taxpayers are losing faith in this country’s financial institutions. And there's a solid justification behind this sentiment.
However, this drop in confidence may lay the foundations for even bigger problems. You see, when banks fail, trust in institutions is a far greater loss than any temporary monetary loss. When the public sees that the Federal Reserve is taking the same pre-recession measures that it took in 2008, they have no choice but to hold on to what they have.
However, the common citizen is unfortunately playing a losing game. Because when financial institutions get into trouble, they immediately transfer that trouble to the consumer. The first sign of this switch is a Credit Crunch that you may have noticed in recent weeks.
America's Banks are in a spot of bother and it matters immensely to the welfare of the general public. We often hear that banks are the beating heart of the economy and when they suffer, the whole country feels the pain. What's shocking is that the mainstream media continues to ignore the signs and shows no urgency to report the plight of millions who are just scraping by."
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"A Virgilian Thanksgiving"
Autumn sunset over the Tuscan hills.
"A Virgilian Thanksgiving"
The great Roman poet on love and loss,
life and death, man and nature...
by Joel Bowman
"Perhaps even these things, one day, will be pleasing to remember.”
~ Virgil
“A happy life consists in tranquility of mind.”
~ Cicero
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon
the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest
satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.”
~ Seneca
Buenos Aires, Argentina - "With the holidays nigh upon us, we count the tasks outstanding against the year’s twilight hours and discover, without surprise, that the former far outnumber the latter. There are deadlines to meet... invitations to send... victuals to prepare... libations to sup... and of course, friends and family to gather near (such as geography and busy schedules permit). No doubt you’ve plenty on your own proverbial plate, too. Allow us, therefore, to relieve one item from your brimming to-do list. Or at least, to offer up a humble suggestion, on behalf of one of our favorite poets...
Publius Vergilius Maro, known more commonly as Virgil, was born in 70 BC in what the Romans knew as Cisalpine Gaul, today’s northern, alpine Italy. Before he passed into the realm of the shades, just half a century later, Virgil had composed three of the most important poems in Latin literature: the "Eclogues" (or "Bucolics"), the "Georgics," and of course the foundational epic, the "Aeneid."
In this second work, which follows the tensions of the seasons and man’s struggle with, and eventual triumph over, the havoc and danger of the natural world, Virgil presents a masterpiece at turns didactic, elegiac, epic and even (as in the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice) epyllion. Loosely modeled on (the Greek poet) Hesiod’s famous Works and Days (composed around 700-650 BC), Virgil’s own poem muses on the classic, universal dichotomies of myth and reality, power and politics, cause and effect, heaven and earth, love and loss, life and death...
Under a Tuscan Sun: Many modern moons ago, having once again taken to wandering the world as a homeless peripatetic, your flâneuring correspondent found himself holed up in the ancient township of Città di Cortona, in Tuscany.
Tuscan room with a view. Cortona
The fortified hamlet sits atop a picturesque Italian hillside, which overlooks the same fertile plains as once viewed by the Etruscans... the Romans... perhaps even Virgil himself (who would have traveled south to Rome and onto the port city of Brundisium, modern day Brindisi, where he eventually gave up the ghost).
Perched on a fine little Juliette balcony, we lazed one afternoon under a late Tuscan sun, Sangiovese (literally: “blood of Jove”) within easy reach. Through the wrought iron we scanned the plains below, plowed through the ages by man and beast, tiny clumps and copses scattered between the fields, green and fallow. Virgil’s work lay open in our lap, Book I...
“Wait… where exactly did I leave Jupiter’s blood, again?”
It is from the first book of the Georgics, in part a supplication to the Gods (as well as Augustus himself), that we recite our yearly Thanksgiving toast, remembering always those who went before us... as well as the halcyon days in Virgil’s birth country... and the longed-for future, when we will venture there once more. Please enjoy the immortal poet’s words, below…"
"A Thanksgiving Toast, from Virgil’s Georgics, Book I"
What makes a plenteous Harvest, when to turn
The fruitful Soil, and when to sowe the Corn;
The Care of Sheep, of Oxen, and of Kine;
And how to raise on Elms the teeming Vine:
The Birth and Genius of the frugal Bee,
I sing, Mecaenas, and I sing to thee.
Ye Deities! who Fields and Plains protect,
Who rule the Seasons, and the Year direct;
Bacchus and fost'ring Ceres, Pow'rs Divine,
Who gave us Corn for Mast, for Water Wine.
Ye Fawns, propitious to the Rural Swains,
Ye Nymphs that haunt the Mountains and the Plains,
Join in my Work, and to my Numbers bring
Your needful Succour, for your Gifts I sing.
(As translated by the English poet, John Dryden, 1631-1700)
"The Crash Will Be Spectacular"
"The Crash Will Be Spectacular"
by Jim Quinn
“Interest on the federal debt is now so immense that it’s consuming 40% of all personal income taxes… If federal finances continue on their current path, we are only a few years from the entirety of income taxes being needed to finance the debt…”
The government collects $2.6 trillion of individual taxes at the point of a gun and threat of prison. Meanwhile they still operate at an annual deficit of $2 trillion. And this is before interest on the national debt starts to really skyrocket. Our Troll Secretary of the Treasury Yellen had the opportunity to lock in trillions of our national debt for 30 years at 2% rates, but purposely kept rolling it on a short-term basis.
Interest on the debt will surpass $1 trillion annually within the next year, and, as you can see, will be approaching $2 trillion per year in a few more years. The government already spends every dime of the taxes they collect. That means they are already printing more fiat and borrowing from the rest of the world in order to pay the interest on the debt they already have.
Foreign countries, in particular China and India, are not only not buying any new US Treasuries, but unloading the Treasuries they already have. With the BRICS purposefully moving away from the USD for their trade, it’s only a matter of time until our mountain of debt crashes down in an epic avalanche upon the unsuspecting American public. The writing is on the wall, and if you refuse to read it, you will be shocked and devastated when you see your supposed paper wealth evaporate.
Now you know why Biden and his handlers are attempting to provoke wars across the globe against those countries who they realize are engineering the demise of the USD as the basis for world domination and control. We have evil men ruling our nation and they would rather burn it all to the ground than lose their wealth, power and control."
"Black Friday Is Dead Friday"
Full screen recommended.
Metal Leo, 11/24/23
"Black Friday Is Dead Friday"
"Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, it marks the start of the Christmas shopping season . Many stores offer highly promoted sales at discounted prices. Black Friday has been the busiest shopping day of the year but in recent years it’s popularity is fading away to the point of no relevance in most states, as online shopping took over in 2020. In this video I'm going very early in the morning to see the foot traffic inside the mall, department stores and electronics stores, and it’s NOT looking good for the retailers."
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"World War III Prelude, Middle East Crisis 11/24/23"
Note: This video has been very deliberately
implanted with a video game from 15:50 to the end.
Full screen recommended.
"Col. Douglas Macgregor: Israel Has Crossed
The Muslim Red Line, The Whole Middle East Will Eliminate Them"
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Full screen recommended.
Tech Show, 11/24/23
"Hezbollah, Taliban & Yemen Officially Attack Israel!"
"We go into the unexpected developments in the Middle East, where Hezbollah, the Taliban, and Yemen have officially initiated attacks on Israel in sympathy with Gaza Palestine, in this in-depth examination. This unexpected coalition has captured the world's interest, and we investigate the motivations and ramifications of their cooperation in depth.
The Israeli-Palestinian issue, a long-standing source of stress in the area, has resurfaced. Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group located in Lebanon, has a long history of hostility towards Israel. Their engagement highlights Iran's expanding influence in the Middle East, as Hezbollah is backed by Iran and shares religious links with Yemen's Houthi rebels.
The unexpected involvement of the Taliban in the Gaza conflict is a significant event. The Islamist organisation has moved its focus from Afghanistan to the Palestinian cause. As the Taliban seeks increased recognition and legitimacy on the world stage, this action might have far-reaching ramifications for the region and international relations.
Yemen's involvement in the crisis, via Houthi rebels backed by Iran, adds another degree of complication. Their participation is motivated by ideological as well as strategic factors, such as putting pressure on Saudi Arabia, a regional adversary that has historically supported Israel.
In this video, we look at the possibility of additional escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the repercussions for regional dynamics, and the problems the international community will have in responding to this unexpected coalition. We also examine the significance of addressing core problems, fostering diplomacy, and rebuilding trust in the Middle East in order to achieve long-term peace."
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Jim Kunstler, "The Suicide Cult"
"The Suicide Cult"
By Jim Kunstler
“… this is not confined to the Right — popular sentiment in
Israel is shifting from liberal-secular, to biblical-eschatological.”
- Alastair Crooke
"If we can agree on nothing else, you must grant that Western Civ needs to have its head examined. The war of Israel upon Gaza springs from the vast limbic netherworld where all the phantoms, myths, gods, and devils abide. What’s going on in the Bible lands now is a demonstration that the wrath of Yahweh is a match for the wrath of Allah. The West appears to abhor this battle, as it derives from the deepest and darkest sector of the West’s own psychology - a place the West fears to go. Having spurned the Judeo-Christian God lo these many decades, the West is horrified to see that dreadful figure step back onstage hurling lightning bolts and roaring.
Western Civ is like a Sarah Lawrence grad with a nose-ring, trained up to despise her own history and culture, trafficking with the incubi of barbarism - the romance of “edginess” - while playing with razor blades in anticipation of her own glorious suicidal psychodrama. There, I have explained The New York Times and The New Yorker Magazine to you, and thus exactly what is wrong with them trying to explain the world to you.
There is, of course, endless and seemingly irreconcilable misunderstanding between Western Civ and its adversaries, but the salient point of the current world mess is a failure to comprehend the meaning of Never Again. And among the many ironies of recent years is that the state-of-mind calling itself Progressive Globalism is obsessed with eradicating boundaries while the two crisis points of the present moment broke out precisely because boundaries were violated.
Whatever you think of Mr. Putin - and I refuse to join the stupid ritual chorus of his supposed “thuggery” - he couldn’t have made it clearer to the USA and its Euroland sisters that Russia would not accept Ukraine as a NATO member, right up against its border - meaning that NATO would be able to base missiles, bombers, and troops there. You may have lost count of how many times Russia has been invaded across the vast plain of Ukraine, but the Russians have not forgotten and their attitude about it is synonymous with the phrase Never Again. What part of that did the USA, Germany, France, and the rest not understand?
Yet they undertook this deranged project to arm poor Ukraine to the teeth - a people who have shown no aptitude for war, historically trampled over, with deeply schizoid allegiances to whomever dominates them from one century to the next - and sent it on a suicide mission that is now nearly complete. You understand that the sacrificial suicide of Ukraine for no good reason is just an enactment of Western Civ’s own apparent suicidal wish fulfillment. Like I said: this is a dark and deep psychodrama.
Accordingly, the West affects to be chagrined by Israel’s refusal to join the West’s new gnostic suicide cult. Here, too, is a failure to comprehend the phrase Never Again. We know where that succinct slogan comes from - the West’s previous suicide attempt, 1939 to 1945, in the course of which the annihilation of Europe’s Jews was a featured set-piece. And when Western Civ finally woke from this nightmare war, all the contesting nations were mortified by what had happened, including especially Germany, the nation that perpetrated that particular enormity.
And so, the new supposedly world-saving organization, the United Nations, that cohered after that cataclysm - led, of course by the victors of the Second World War - felt obliged to create a State of Israel in the Bible lands where so long ago, past memory for many in the modern world, there was a place called Israel where the Jews once dwelt. That was Zion, Jerusalem and its precincts, and it was the long-held wish of the Jews scattered about the world to return to Zion, and that is all that the term Zionist means - despite the attempts of the many other Semitic tribes in the region, and their demented allies in the Ivy League - to color it as some sort of demonic host out to swindle the world.
Western Civ, driven by the Progressive Globalist suicide cult, wishes to dissociate itself from Israel now while jihadis seek mayhem and murder in the streets of Berlin, Paris, London, Milan, Amsterdam and even the little towns of the provinces. And in the USA, too. The governments of Western Civ refuse to stop the flood of migrants pouring out of North Africa, the Middle East, and myriad stans of the greater Asian Stans-land. The USA, too, with its long borders being violated at a fantastic scale with the consent of “Joe Biden” & Co. It’s as though they are intent on allowing Western Civ to be overrun and defeated.
Israel, being part of Western Civ, in some ways the beating heart of its heritage, is also deeply conflicted in its own politics. But Mr. Netanyahu refuses to join the suicide cult, to the great consternation of so many inside and outside Israel. He could not be more alone among all the other elected heads of Western Civ nations. Even “Joe Biden” is ragging on him. But hark, as it is said in Western Civ - especially this Christmas season - as in something momentous approacheth. Just in one week past, Argentina elected an anti-Globalist, Javier Milei, by a huge margin, and the Netherlands elected (surprise) a party led by Geert Wilders quite vocally disenchanted with Jihad in his country. Something is up. Mark my words: Germany is next. Western Civ is going to get its mind right after all.
America’s psychodrama has been equally deep and dreadful as Europe’s, but we are heading toward our own political reckoning, and many here have had enough of a life without boundaries in every sense of the word. “Joe Biden” has been the perfect embodiment of no boundaries. And his party is in the process of being destroyed by that before they can complete the destruction of our country. The battle is here, too. And it is joined. Stand back and watch."
Adventures With Danno, "Outrageous Price Increases At Sam's Club! What Now?"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 11/24/23
"Outrageous Price Increases At Sam's Club! What Now?"
"In today's vlog, we are at Sam's Club and are noticing some outrageous price increases on some different grocery products! It has become a real struggle to buy groceries these days as prices continue to rise beyond belief!"
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"Black Friday, Cindy Crawford in a Swimsuit, and Karen"
"Black Friday, Cindy Crawford in a Swimsuit, and Karen"
By John Wilder
"Thanksgiving morning I was in bed, in that half-slumber that I slip into when there’s no danger that I have to go to work. The Mrs. stirred next to me. When’s the turkey going to be done?”
John Wilder: “Yeah, babe, when is the turkey going to be done?”
The Mrs.: No, I mean it. I have some other things I need to cook. When will the turkey be done?”
John Wilder: “Ohhhhh, I haven’t put it in the oven yet. I thought, as much as you were making six other dishes, that you were gonna do the turkey, too.”
This was, of course, a stupid idea. I have cooked the turkey every year, ever, since we’ve been married. Everything else (except pumpkin pies) has been The Mrs. Why would I assume that The Mrs. was going to cook the turkey? I have no idea. But I did.
We Wilders are night owls, when allowed to go feral unconstrained by the tyranny of work, so having a dinner at supper time (or a supper at dinner time) would just be fine. Since we bought everything we’d need for dinner yesterday, I knew we’d be fine: no last-minute trips to stores for us, and that was good.
Because I hate going to the store, especially anytime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hate it so much, that when I was (much) younger, I’d do all of my shopping for presents during a two-hour period on Christmas Eve. But yet, there are people who look forward to Black Friday, which to me is the sort of hell I imagine that H.P. Lovecraft reserved for Beto O’Rourke, except Beto’s hair would be on fire and he would have surgically attached flippers instead of arms.
Black Friday is a day that some people look forward to. While I don’t share in their enthusiasm, I can understand it. There is something about shopping that makes people feel good, unlike the turkey tartare I tried to serve the family on Thanksgiving. Who knew you had to thaw the turkey before sticking it in the oven?
Shopping is of vital importance to businesses they want to capture as much of your money as possible. They study ways to arrange merchandise so it is most attractive, to create advertisements that engage with your psychology to drive you to purchase, and purchase from them. If you look at shopping as a science, shopping has been studied by economists, business majors, and psychologists more thoroughly than I studied Cindy Crawford’s, umm, charm, in my younger days.
Remember, actresses are different than models – actresses can read.
Also, I don’t know if I can fit an actress in the basement freezer.
Again, I don’t begrudge people who are on a tight or fixed budget that are attempting to get a good deal - that would be heartless. But yet, isn’t Black Friday based at least in part in... greed? The idea of getting a 65-inch 4K Philips ® television for $78 when it normally retails for $448 is the essence of Black Friday. $10 Crock© pots with a $10 mail-in rebate are Black Friday.
Why do we get such satisfaction over buying things?
• It is wired into us - once upon a time, we were hunter/gatherers. This is similar – shopping is gathering. Hunting is still hunting, which is good. Work? Work is where men go to avoid gathering and think about hunting.
• Shopping distracts us from our problems. If we’re worried or sad? Retail therapy can be cheap if you have inexpensive tastes. But when the shopping is done – if you have a real problem like having surgically attached flipper arms, they’re still there.
• In today’s world, there are a lot of people that live lives that are marked by a nearly complete lack of control. They’re controlled by spouses at home, bosses at work, and the number of choices that the own are small. Shopping gives them a sense of control.
There was a hurricane this year named Karen.
Managers everywhere quaked with fear.
• Instant satisfaction is built into shopping. Why wait for later, when you can have it now (or in 36 hours with Amazon© Prime? Rather than wait for what your goal is, you can have some smaller thing now. And it’s certain. Who cares if it derails your longer term plans?
• Shopping for neat things floods your brain with serotonin like an autistic clown with a firehose. Serotonin stabilizes mood, so if you’re depressed, shopping can make you feel better, and you don’t need a prescription for Xanax ®.
• Shopping resolves boredom. Kids doing well in school, job going well, no financial problems and relationship with spouse is fine? So boring. Hey, let’s spice life up by shopping for things we don’t need!
When we lived in Alaska, we would go to auctions because it was fun. Every so often some family would say, “that’s it!” and decide to move to the Lower 48. Thus? I bid $70 on a table saw that I could have bought for (drumroll) $70 yes, it was a pretty crappy saw. Why? Scarcity. People were bidding, and, well, I won. And scarcity is the true key to Black Friday. Only seven fruitcake-toasters at $92 off the retail price of $292? I must have one!
Most vices, when kept in check, aren’t a problem. But Black Friday seems like a drug that’s designed to take advantage of the various satisfactions listed in the bullet points above. Thankfully, there are other cures.
We live in a society where most of the basic needs are easily met for most people, at least for now. Yes, you might not have a 65” LED television that doubles as a tanning bed. But nearly everyone has food. Nearly everyone has power, heat, and access to a library. How else could people spend those same hours and minutes that would otherwise be spent in a WWE®-level fight over an inexpensive radium-powered popcorn popper and a coal-powered flashlight?
They could write. They could visit a sick family member. They could face digestive difficulties because Dad put the frozen turkey in the oven. They could play cards or board games and have family fun. Oh, wait: that describes the Wilder family. I really should have realized that putting a turkey filled with ice into the oven wasn’t my best idea...Axis and Allies ®, anyone? I have Pepto ®."
Thursday, November 23, 2023
"World War III Prelude, 11/23/23"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 11/23/23
"Alert! NATO Executes 'Shengen'; N. Korea Moves To Border;
Panic Over AGI; US Nuclear Sub; Iran"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Scott Ritter, 11/23/23
"What If Egypt And Jordan Joined Gaza War?"
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o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 11/23/23
"Iran's Big Declaration On Israel-Hamas War
In Gaza Ahead Of Truce; 'Palestinian Victory...'"
"The Iranian President has declared Palestinians as the 'winners' of the ongoing war in gaza. Ebrahim Raisi claimed that Israel fell short of its goals & 'failed' to secure victory over Hamas. Raisi said the IDF failed to meet the objectives of occupying Gaza by eradicating Hamas. The Iranian President's statement came ahead of the expected four-day truce in the Gaza strip. Raisi further praised Hamas, saying it demonstrated a 'golden scene of resistance' in the war."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 11/23/23
"Hamas' Abu Obaida's Big Claim &
Warning For Israel Ahead Of Gaza Truce"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
MrLboyd Reacts, 11/23/23
"Iran's Secret Weapon Revealed,
Can Launch 100,000 Ballistic Missiles In Minutes"
Comments here:
o
Hezbollah alone has 200,000 missiles and 150,000 battle-hardened,
extremely well armed and supplied professional soldiers.
Draw your own conclusions...
Jeremiah Babe, "Dumb People Keep Doing Dumb Things; We Are Not Going Back To Normal Times; Holiday Debt Surges"
Jeremiah Babe, 11/23/23
"Dumb People Keep Doing Dumb Things;
We Are Not Going Back To Normal Times; Holiday Debt Surges"
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"A Look to the Heavens"
"Why doesn't the nearby galaxy create a gravitational lensing effect on the background galaxy? It does, but since both galaxies are so nearby, the angular shift is much smaller than the angular sizes of the galaxies themselves. The featured Hubble image of NGC 3314 shows two large spiral galaxies which happen to line up exactly. The foreground spiral NGC 3314a appears nearly face-on with its pinwheel shape defined by young bright star clusters. Against the glow of the background galaxy NGC 3314b, though, dark swirling lanes of interstellar dust can also be seen tracing the nearer spiral's structure. Both galaxies appear on the edge of the Hydra Cluster of Galaxies, a cluster that is about 200 million light years away.
Gravitational lens distortions are much easier to see when the lensing galaxy is smaller and further away. Then, the background galaxy may even be distorted into a ring around the nearer. Fast gravitational lens flashes due to stars in the foreground galaxy momentarily magnifying the light from stars in the background galaxy might one day be visible in future observing campaigns with high-resolution telescopes."
"Live All You Can..."
"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much
matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life.
If you haven't had that, what have you had?"
- Henry James
The Poet: David Whyte, "The Opening of Eyes"
"The Opening of Eyes"
"That day I saw beneath dark clouds
The passing light over the water,
And I heard the voice of the world speak out.
I knew then as I have before,
Life is no passing memory of what has been,
Nor the remaining pages of a great book
Waiting to be read.
It is the opening of eyes long closed.
It is the vision of far off things,
Seen for the silence they hold.
It is the heart after years of secret conversing
Speaking out loud in the clear air.
It is Moses in the desert fallen to his knees
Before the lit bush.
It is the man throwing away his shoes
As if to enter heaven and finding himself astonished,
Opened at last,
Fallen in love
With Solid Ground."
~ David Whyte
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