Monday, February 12, 2024

"Being Poor Ain't Cheap"

"Being Poor Ain't Cheap"
by Joshua Wilkey

"Poor people are cash cows. It makes no sense, really. One would think that poor people, by virtue of being poor, would not be profitable customers. However, for many large corporations that target the poor and working poor, there's big money to be made on the backs of those who have no money.
At Dollar General Store locations, customers can get cash back on their purchases. This is not novel. In fact, most all retailers these days offer this option. Soccer moms get cash back so they can have lunch money for their children. Restaurant patrons can get money back to leave a cash tip for their servers. I sometimes get cash back at the grocery store so I can buy Girl Scouts cookies on the way out. It's a simple process. Click "yes" when the little screen asks for cash back, tap the $20 icon, and the cashier hands you some bucks along with your receipt. We've all done it. For those who are poor and those of us who are not but who have limited retail options, however, there's often a sinister catch.

I noticed this a few years ago, first at Dollar Tree, then at Dollar General. There's a little asterisk after the standard "would you like cash back?" prompt. The footnote indicates that "a transaction fee may apply." The transaction fee is usually $1 no matter the amount of cash back. If one opts to get $10 cash back, one is charged a dollar. That's a ten percent fee, for a service that costs the retailer nothing. It's just another way for retailers like Dollar General to make a profit off of their customers, many of whom are very often living below the poverty line.

If an organic grocer or movie theater were charging a fee of this sort, I would likely be annoyed by it, but I wouldn't be so annoyed that I would write about it. However, the poorest members of our communities do not shop at Whole Foods, and they do not often get a chance to go see the latest blockbuster at the theater. They can afford neither. In fact, they likely do not have either organic grocers or first-run theaters in their neighborhoods. Instead, they have Dollar General. Dollar General's stores grow like kudzo in rural America. Even if there isn't a real grocery store in most tiny communities, there's probably a DG.

These ridiculous transaction fees are but one example of how corporations make billions of dollars by taking advantage of socioeconomically disadvantaged customers with few options. There are many other examples, though, and politicians continue to allow it at the expense of their poorest and most marginalized constituents.
Payday lending is one of the most sinister ways that large corporations exploit poor people. For those who are not familiar, payday lending goes something like this: People who are running short on money but who have a verified record of regular income (whether it be Social Security, SSI, payroll, etc.) are able to go to payday lenders and receive a cash loan to be repaid on payday. Often, borrowers are unable to repay their full loan balances and simply “roll over” their loan until a future payday, accruing all sorts of fees and additional interest. The annualized interest rate on these loans is often in the triple digits. Yes, that’s right. Sometimes the annual interest rate is over one hundred percent.

In defense of this practice, many payday lenders and their high-dollar lobbyists argue that they are simply offering a service to poor borrowers that said borrowers cannot obtain anywhere else. This is partially true. The poorest members of society have no access to traditional forms of credit. Some even lack access to checking accounts because of low credit scores or a history of financial missteps.

I know some people who make occasional use of payday lending because they genuinely have emergencies arise that they could not address without a short-term infusion of cash. I also know people, including members of my own family, who have been riding the high-interest payday loan merry-go-round for years, and who have paid thousands more back than they have borrowed yet still owe more. In debating the role of payday lending in our communities, it is essential that we take a nuanced approach. Some form of short-term credit is necessary for those mired in poverty. However, it is flat-out immoral that we regulate payday lending so loosely in many places that people end up feeling crushed under the weight of small high-interest loans that they have no hope of ever repaying. Taking out a $1,000 payday loan should not mean a person becomes tied to tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
Another egregious example of corporations exploiting the poor is rent-to-own retailing. Companies like Aaron’s and Rent-a-Center purport to offer a valuable service for the poor. Because those at the bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum are seldom able to save for big-ticket items like appliances or furniture, these retailers offer a pay-by-the-month scheme that often requires no credit check and no money down. The result is that customers pay as much as three times the retail price of the item, assuming they are able to make payments until the item is paid for. When they are not able to maintain the payments, the retailers simply show up to repossess the items.

Like payday lenders, rent-to-own retailers argue that they provide a valuable service to poor consumers. However, many observers, myself included, conclude that some rent-to-own practices are ethically questionable and tend to target vulnerable consumers who need immediate access to essentials like appliances and bedding. In many states, companies are not required to disclose the final price of the items. Instead, they simply tell customers the amount of the monthly or weekly payments. Because companies call the arrangement "rent-to-own," in many places they are not required to disclose the amount of "interest" customers will pay because it technically isn't interest. When consumers can no longer afford the payments and have to return the item, they often get no credit for payments they have made even if they have paid substantially more than the item is worth. Many customers never realize that they are paying as much as three times the retail price for their items. Those who do realize it likely have no choice apart from going without a bed or refrigerator.

In some instances, state attorneys general have successfully sued major rent-to-own retailers for violating usury and consumer protection laws. However, because these retailers are covered generally by state laws rather than by federal laws, there exists a hit-and-miss patchwork of regulations. Some consumers enjoy greater protections than others. The only determining factor is their location. Those states with more corporation-friendly attorneys general are unlikely to see any activity that might force retailers to behave more ethically toward their customers, because such enforcements will result in a drop in profitability for the retailers. Many major corporations spend good money to be sure that politicians protect their interests rather than the interests of consumers. Rent-to-own retailers and payday lenders are no exception. The poor, of course, can’t afford lobbyists or political contributions.

There are some who will argue that the free market, not the federal government, is the best solution to corporations that exploit the poor. However, those at the bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum, especially the rural poor, do not live in anything resembling a free market. Also, it is important that we label the behavior of rent-to-own companies and payday lenders as what it is: exploitation.

In the hills of Appalachia, poverty is often the rule rather than the exception. One of the most poverty-stricken ZIP codes in the United States is Manchester, Kentucky. Manchester is located in Clay County, which has a population of just over 20,000 people. According to the most recent US Census data available, the per-capita income average between 2011 and 2015 was just $13,802 (less than half the national average) and 46% of the population lives below the poverty line. In Manchester, Rent-a-Center is often the go-to option for poor people looking to buy appliances or furniture. The county has a Walmart, but the nearest discount appliance and furniture dealers are miles away, too far for many to drive. There are some locally-owned options, but few in Clay County are able to pay cash for major purchases given the high rate of poverty and the low rate of employment.

In addition to the rent-to-own retailers, Clay County also has no less than five payday lenders, but only two traditional banks. Conveniently, the primary shopping center in Manchester currently houses a Dollar General, a Rent-a-Center, and two payday lending branches, all within feet of one another.

In places like Manchester, rent-to-own and payday lending outfits thrive. They do so often to the detriment of the poor folks who frequent their businesses. Those promoting the so-called free market approach might argue that customers are not forced to do business with these types of companies. However, given their dire financial circumstances and lack of available options, poor people in Manchester have little choice. They are excluded from participating in the wider world of commerce, often because of forces beyond their own control.

Manchester is not a rare exception. Particularly in central Appalachia, rent-to-own retailers are often the only option for poor people, and payday lenders outnumber banks by large measure. In addition to being food deserts, many poverty-stricken communities are retail deserts. In the most isolated rural areas in Appalachia, Dollar General is one of the only available retail options. Within ten miles of our house in rural Jackson County, NC, there are four Dollar General stores, and our community isn't even particularly isolated. Dollar General is the closest store to our home, and my wife and I tend to shop there by default because it is either that or a ten minute drive to the closest grocery store, or worse, a twenty minute drive into town. While we have the resources to go to town any time we want, many of our neighbors do not. The folks in the trailer park down the road often walk to Dollar General because they have few other options. This does not seem much like a free market driven by competition. Therefore, "free market" solutions simply do not work here.

Dollar General is, I believe, fully aware of the demographics of their shoppers. They know that there are often few ATMs near their locations, and their customers often lack access to traditional banking anyway and end up paying fees of three or four dollars to access their money at ATMs. Especially for people who depend on Social Security or SSI for their income, access to money is an important issue. Dollar General and similar retailers, it seems, understand this. Their solution is not to offer a resource for their customers but to profit from their customers’ limited access to funds. It's cheaper than an ATM, but it's a fee more affluent shoppers never have to think about. While there is nothing illegal about this, it is certainly morally questionable.

That’s the thing about the so-called free market. It makes no accounting for moral right or wrong. That, free market proponents allege, is up to the consumers. Poor consumers, however, still need to eat. They still need ovens and beds. Consumer choice and self-advocacy is often, like so many forms of social or political action, a full-stomach endeavor. When one is hungry, one’s ability to be an activist is diminished. When poor people have no choice but to do business with the greedy companies who reap a hefty profit from their customers' lack of options, those drawing the short straw simply do what they must to survive. Surviving is what poor people do best, and it makes for a miserable life. I know, because I have been there.

When poor people have little option but to do business with discount retailers who charge cash-back fees, rent-to-own retailers who charge inflated prices, and payday lenders who mire their customers neck-deep in impossible-to-pay-back high-interest loans, they are even less likely to ever escape poverty. The stark reality is that poor people often pay substantially more for essentials – bedding, appliances, housing – than would those of us with means. If my wife and I needed a new washer, we'd shop around for the best deal and go buy it. In fact, we might even buy it from Amazon Prime and get free two-day shipping. When my mother, who lived her entire life in poverty, needed a new washer, she was forced to buy one from a rent-to-own outfit that charged her an outrageous delivery fee and hassled her every time she was even a few hours late on a payment. She probably ended up paying $2,000 for a $450 washer. The poor do not have access to Amazon Prime like the rest of us because they can't afford a hundred bucks a year to subscribe. They do not get free delivery and obscenely low prices. They get fleeced.

The limited options available to those in poverty are rarely considered by the political ideologues who are so prone to victim-blaming. These retailers, who are all too often protected by state and federal lawmakers from both parties, package their predatory tactics as opportunities. What they are really selling are tickets on yet another segment of the poverty train. The politicians who protect them should be deprived of options and see just how much more expensive it is to survive. They should be ashamed for protecting those who profit from poverty, and those of us who know about it and have the resources to fight back should be ashamed for letting it happen to our neighbors."

"How It Really Is"

 

"'The Graveyard Of Israel', Regional Armageddon in the Middle East"

MUST WATCH!
Full screen recommended.
Breaking Points, 2/12/24
"Bibi Bombs Rafah As Egypt Threatens War"
"Krystal and Saagar discuss Benjamin Netanyahu 
bombing Rafah, Gaza as Egypt threatens war."
Comments here:
o
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/12/24
"Alastair Crooke: 
 Regional Armageddon in the Middle East"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 2/12/24
"'Ready For War': Putin Ally's Big Declaration 
Against Israel; Iran FM In Israel's Backyard"
"Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad amid Israel's all-out war in Gaza. Hossein issued a warning to Israel during a press conference with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, and said, "There will not be any Zionist action without a response." Mekdad also threatened Israel, saying, "Syria has waged several wars against the Zionist entity and is ready for new wars."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Times Of India, 2/12/24
"'Ready For Israel’s Full-blown Collapse': 
Iran FM Near Israel's Golan Heights With Bashar Al-Asad"
Comments here:

Adventures With Danno, "Massive Price Increases At Aldi! This Is Ridiculous!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 2/12/24
"Massive Price Increases At Aldi! This Is Ridiculous!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Aldi and are noticing some massive price increases on groceries and other products. It continues to get rough out here as many families continue to struggle to put food on the table!"
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 2/12/24: Full-Blown Liquidity Crisis"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/12/24
"Full-Blown Liquidity Crisis Worsening Much Faster!
 This Is Not An Accident!"
Comments here:
o
Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/12/24
"The System Is Destabilizing, 
Expect Hyper-Debt And More War Moving Forward"
Comments here:

Jim Kunstler, "Think About It"

"Think About It"
by Jim Kunstler

“It’s not enough to be against globalism or the WEF, 
we have to also be for something better.” 
- Tom Luongo, Gold, Goats ‘n Guns

"Mr. Luongo makes an important point. I want you to think about this: there is a reason that the WEF-Globalist cabal is losing the battle to control and dominate the rest of us. They are trying to power straight into the opposing currents of reality. Above all, they seek to centralize power and decision-making. But the world is moving in the opposite direction. All of the WEF’s aims founder on the macro trends unspooling in history.

The rising rule for human affairs now is that anything organized at the giant scale is going to wobble and fail. There will not be any world government run by the creatures of Davos or Brussels, or Washington DC, or any other place that the grandiose imagine would be their seat of global power. It’s not going to happen so you can stop worrying about it. But you’d better prepare for what is happening: everything in our world wants to get smaller, slower, finer, and more local. Anything that opposes these trends is pissing into the wind.

Since every activity we humans practice has to move in that direction, we are seeing colossal industries, institutions, and arrangements crack up: everything from national government to long-distance supply chains to giant retailing outfits to worldwide business networks to overgrown universities and high schools to transport matrices to metroplex cities to mega-farms to political parties.

Where the rot is probably greatest, but more veiled for the moment, is in the operations of organized capital, the banks and money systems, including financial markets. When these monsters blow, as they must, all the others will shake, rattle, and roll. They have to blow because the fuel tank is emptying.

American oil production may be at an all-time peak now at about 13-million barrels-a-day, but most of that - about 8-million - is shale oil, which is a manifestation of our tremendous debt roll-up since 2009. Now that we’re at the absolute limits of debt, we’re also at the limits of shale oil. The production of shale oil paralleled the accumulation of all that debt both in size and rate of increase, and as the debt goes bad - meaning, unpayable - the organized capital sector will blow and shale oil production will fall as sharply as it rose. It is also a fact that shale oil is subject to natural limits - we’re out of “sweet spots” to drill.

That’s America. Europe is way worse because aside from whatever oil is left in the North Sea (not much), Europe has no oil. Europe’s largest gas field - Groningen in the Netherlands - is scheduled to cease operations in October of this year. You all know what happened to the Nord Stream pipelines. And then Germany, in some psychotic fugue state, shut down its entire nuclear power industry, while France is just not replacing its nuke plants as they age-out. Europe is completely screwed. They won’t have anything we might call modern industry. In the meantime, the WEF is playing them like a flugelhorn, keeping them distracted with “green” politics, an unchecked immigrant invasion, and sexual confusion.

A lot of the same nuttery afflicts us in the USA, of course, but none of that alters the real macro trends. Our federal government is not really getting more powerful, it’s cracking up, starting from the very top, with a mentally incompetent president - the secret that everybody knows. Agencies like the DOJ and Homeland Security may seem more tyrannical for the moment, but they are actually breaking as institutions because in their lawlessness they’ve lost the trust of the people - and nothing is more fundamental to a civilized society than trust in the law. That’s what consent of the governed means.

So, the period of disorderly transition we’re in is not moving toward greater dominance by giants, but to the survival of the small and nimble. We will not see capital formation like the orgy of recent times; rather the vanishing of things falsely presumed to be capital, contraction not expansion. You’ll be struggling to identify and preserve real wealth, which you’ll find in unexpected places, like the friends you can count on, your reputation for honesty, your dependability, acquired skills, and your health, physical and psychological.

The WEF won’t be able to impose its Globalist nightmare of elite transhumanism and surveilled bug-eating serfs, and they know it now. They’re running scared. The vile Yuval Noah Harari has even said so publicly. The political figures and agents serving that cabal will be lucky if they are not hanged in the public squares. The political criminals here in America, the hoaxsters, the grifters, the seditionists, the Lawfare agents, the election fraudsters, know very well the danger of their looming prosecutions, and that’s exactly why the Democratic Party and its blob henchmen and flunkies are acting like desperate lunatics.

Expect: failed national governments, maybe even state governments; failed supply lines; failed electric supply, failed trucking, failed big box stores, failed supermarkets, failed giant companies; failed banks, failed investments, failed money, failed news orgs, failed airlines, failed car dealers, failed hospitals, failed colleges, and much more. But don’t discount human ingenuity and resourcefulness, our ability to work-around and reinvent systems for daily life, even if it’s on a downscaled and more modest level.

Expect rebuilt local economies from production to wholesale to retail. Expect smaller stores, fewer things to buy but much of it better quality. Expect a lot less long-distance travel but a lot more happening in your locality. Expect the rebirth of local culture - theaters, live music, news-sheets, dances - to replace all the canned entertainments we’re used to. Expect small private academies to rise to replace the shuttered central schools. Expect small, local clinics to appear from the ashes of the medical conglomerates. Expect Americans to return to churches as an organizing mechanism for community relations. Expect more formality and less slobbery in public. Expect all of us to feel a renewed sense of gratitude for being here instead of rage, resentment, and grievance, because it’s likely there will be far fewer of us around."

"Economic Market Snapshot 2/12/24"

"Economic Market Snapshot 2/12/24"
Market Data Center, Live Updates:
Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
A comprehensive, essential daily read.
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: creditequity valuationfunding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United Statesother advanced economies, and emerging markets."
Job cuts and much more.
Commentary, highly recommended:
"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
And now... The End Game...
o

Sunday, February 11, 2024

"When 'Good For You' Is Too Good"

"When 'Good For You' Is Too Good"
by Todd Hayen

"The ultimate “good for you” is to be dead. At least that is what it would be if some outside authority, or entity, was watching our human behaviour and assessing what looks to be the “best” for us - meaning that if we are dead, nothing bad can happen to us. I would assume that if we fed all of the information a typical human life creates into a supercomputer, and then asked it “What is the best state of being for a human being” it would spit out, “that it never be born, and if alive, it would be safest, (best, good,) for it to be dead.”

The next notch down from this perfection would be to live in a bubble, literally. Apparently, there are some people who have no immune systems who have to do this (remember the Seinfeld episode, “The Bubble Boy”?)
The next notch down is to be a recluse, to live on some little patch of land, in a little house, and venture out only into your local neighborhood to buy fish sticks, Twinkies, and RC Cola. You would never fly in a plane, and never drive as well.

The next notch down is the spot that most people seem to wish they occupied. This place in the sun is actually sunless. Or at least as sunless as you can make it. Here we find gobs of sunscreen, dark glasses on cloudy days, heavy coats in the fall, and umbrellas in summer. We find ourselves avoiding nearly everything that can be avoided, except the things, of course, that actually do harm us, like McDonalds’ “Big Macs” and a nice can of Diet Coke. Here we avoid travel to dicey countries (which includes nearly all of them), if we travel at all. We avoid being in the same room with someone who is coughing or sneezing or looking the least bit odd, and we essentially avoid taking any risks whatsoever. Nearly everything is dangerous, and it is best to avoid anything unknown, dubious in nature, or not recommended by the guys and gals in white coats with the antique medical device hanging around their neck.

A person at this level of existence is alive but certainly not living. Why are people into this? Well, once again, we can thank Mr. Agenda.

Before I was “awakened” I used to muse at this phenomenon and wonder how it could have happened naturally and organically. I thought about all the men clambering on board boats and planes to go to Europe to fight in the trenches in 1917, as well as in 1941. I thought of the scads of pioneers setting out on the perilous journey across the American continent during the decades after the Civil War. I thought of the untold numbers who left the comfort of their homes (which at the time probably wasn’t all that comfortable) to hazard the jungles of Central America to work on the malaria-infested Panama Canal, and the same untold numbers of brave men and women who set out on various journeys in dark and dangerous parts of the world to pursue fame and fortune, or to lend their humanitarian hand in helping others less fortunate.

Where are all of these people today? Sure, there are a few left, but nowhere as many as there used to be. Now most people are terrified to step out of their house, and if they are told by Big Brother to avoid coming close to other humans, or to wear a piece of paper or cloth over their quivering face, they do so frantically and obediently. Did this decline in chutzpah happen as a natural consequence of social evolution? No. I don’t think so. Now I believe it is part of the plan - the agenda.

Ol’ Dr. Paranoia’s mind at work again. Maybe so, but I suspect there are a lot of you out there in the same psych ward as me. Not only have we been dumbed down, but our natural sense of “joie de vivre” has been all but entirely sucked out of our collective soul. I see this particularly in men, which needless to say have been a major focus of the agenda. But, of course, it is found in all of us, men and women alike.

We have become a nation (or nations) of wimps. When a Covid particle allegedly enters a room, we jump up on the nearest chair and shriek, much like the proverbial fragile women of the Victorian age presumably did when they saw a mouse (if they did this, it was probably all an act to help men feel more manly). Only difference is that you can see a mouse, but you must be told the Covid particle is in the air. And guess who told us? Yep, Mr. Agenda. We are wimps. Enough said. And the agenda wishes us to be wimps because fear is the devil’s greatest and most effective weapon.

Along with fear, there is the carrot - a reward for behavior, or even an enticement to comply by convincing us whatever we are expected to comply with is good for us. And not only us, but for everyone! So, the vaccine is good for us because it keeps us from getting a deadly disease (or so we are told). Wearing masks is good for us, and keeping a “social distance” is good for us. All these things keep us safe, wearing latex gloves, sloshing poison disinfectant on our hands, and staying at home out of the swarm of Covid nasties flying about on the street. We must do what we can to live safe lives, safe from all the horrible things that nature wants to throw at us. Always remember, the agenda tells us, nature is our enemy.

And this is only part of it. We are now protected from everything because just about everything wants to take a chunk out of us. Not only that, but it isn’t even good for us to own things, because owning things is a pain, and makes our life difficult. It is much easier to just rent stuff. It is also good for us to be lazy and avoid doing anything at all. Why not play virtual games rather than travel, why not have that conference that took us to Las Vegas every year in our bedroom on Zoom? Why not have therapy virtually, or even visit our doctor through the computer or phone?

Why not get a salary paid by the government for doing nothing? How about getting an advanced academic degree without having to go to any classes? What about winning a gold medal in women’s swimming when you are a man and can beat all those little ladies’ times in your sleep? Sure, it is best for us not to drive too much or have to go out of town to meet friends or go to that cool restaurant that’s 20 miles away. It’s safer and better for us to work at home too. In fact, why not just stay at home and do everything there, and have every meal there, even if we want a nice evening without having to stay at home, which used to be a nice visit to a beautiful restaurant, with maybe some nice live music. Nope. Now it’s Uber Eats. That’s good too. It’s all good for us, safe, convenient, takes no effort or skill, and fun. We’re happy, right? Anyone know where you can buy a nice, cheap, plastic bubble?"

Greg Hunter, "Nobody Gets Out Alive From Climate Engineering Disaster"

"Nobody Gets Out Alive From Climate Engineering Disaster"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

"Climate engineering researcher Dane Wigington says huge lies are being told daily to cover up the speed in which the climate is imploding on a global scale. Sure, there have been all sorts of ways harm has been done to the environment, but Wigington contends the biggest single cause of damage being done to the planet right now is man-made climate engineering being sprayed from the skies. Wigington explains, “The bottom line is we are fighting for our lives right here and right now. The current paradigm is over. It’s in the death throws. The oceans are dying. The insects are dying. Plankton is dying. Our atmosphere is changing radically. Nothing can adapt to changes at this speed. Again, we are talking about toxic elements that should never be in our atmosphere. We know there are patented processes for chemical ice nucleation. They have openly announced they are doing this. If you bring this up, they spit out the conspiracy mantra from the fact-less and the fearful, and they don’t do any investigation whatsoever. Since when do we have winter storms coming out of the record warm Gulf of Mexico? We had water temperatures in Florida of 101 degrees. That is the same temperature range that Jacuzzi recommends for their hot tubs. It killed everything - everything.”

Wigington says people need the truth, and they need to wake up because time is running out for the world you grew up in. Wigington says, “We have layer of layer upon layer of total insanity by a military industrial complex that is completely out of control. If we remain on this course, none of us will be here much longer. I don’t care who rolls their eyes, walks away and tells themselves they don’t believe it. Unfolding events will tell you otherwise. Refusing to acknowledge climate engineering being the single most damaging human activity in this moment in time. How can these environmental groups ignore this massive destructive part of the equation? It’s because they want to protect their 501(c)(3) non-profit. GeoEngineeringWatch.org thinks that is criminal hypocrisy. On the current course, nobody gets out alive, and that includes those who think they are going to go underground and ride this out. We have caused a certain amount of planetary heating, and climate engineering is making that worse. We have triggered this feedback loop and triggered these massive methane explosions. It covers the planet and traps heat like a layer of glass. That heat causes more methane releases and causes more heating. That is a feedback loop, and we have about 50 of those kinds of feedback loops occurring.”

Wigington asks, “What does it take to wake people up and show them we are fighting for our lives? We have AccuWeather and Weather Channel, and if it was not so tragic and terrible, it would be comical to watch the Weather Channel climate engineering cover-up actors try to explain away why it is snowing in 40 degrees on the ground and it is 50 or 60 degrees up in the sky. Their job seems to be, at this point, to cover the tracks of the climate engineers. This is ludicrous."

In closing, Wigington does hold out some hope, but it is going to take the public waking up. Wigington says, “In the (GeoEngineeringWatch.org) movie “The Dimming,” I always try to make this point, and that is anyone of us could be the final grain of sand that can trigger the landslide of awakening. That means if we learn to fight effectively and efficiently, and that does not mean pointing to the sky and ranting, but passing on credible data. That can be done for free from your own home computer. Share links to “The Dimming” (a free film which already has more than 6.2 million views). Send that link out to Congressmen and anyone because you are planting a seed that will be forced to grow. I want to stress that, it will be forced to grow. So, we are not powerless, and those controlling things are not gods. We can make a difference. We absolutely can make a difference.” There is much more in the 51-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with climate researcher Dane Wigington, founder of GeoEngineeringWatch.org, with an update on the calamity geoengineering is causing. 
Note the comments at this link

Jeremiah Babe, "People Are Waiting For A Crisis, Don't Realize They're Already In One"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/11/24
"People Are Waiting For A Crisis, 
Don't Realize They're Already In One"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Sound of Invisible Waters"

Deuter, "Sound of Invisible Waters"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebulas. The Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), the bright structure just above the image center, houses several of these massive stars and has itself changed its appearance.
The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. Eta Carinae is the brightest star near the image center, just left of the Keyhole Nebula. While Eta Carinae itself maybe on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that much of the Great Carina Nebula has been a veritable supernova factory.”

Chet Raymo, “Why Cranes Fly”

“Why Cranes Fly”
by Chet Raymo

"There were a few Comments here about herons, from right around the world. What is the power of this bird to touch our minds and hearts? The naturalist Aldo Leopold was intimately familiar with the cranes of Wisconsin, cousins of our New England great blue heron, the Irish gray heron, and Adam2's aosagi from Japan, and wondered about their ability to move us so deeply. In A Sand County Almanac he watches as a crane "springs his ungainly hulk into the air and flails the morning sun with mighty wings." Our ability to perceive beauty in nature, as in art, begins with the pretty, he says, then moves into qualities of the beautiful yet uncaptured by language. The beauty of the crane lies in this higher realm, he proposes, "beyond the reach of words." Words may fail, but poets have tried to capture the ineffable.

John Ciardi sees "a leap, a thrust, a long stroke through the cumulus of trees" and stops to praise "that bright original burst that lights the heron on his two soft kissing kites."

Theodore Roethke observes a heron aim his heavy bill above the wood: "The wide wings flap but once to lift him up. A single ripple starts from where he stood."

In Chekhov's "The Three Sisters", sister Masha refuses "to live and not know why the cranes fly, why children are born, why the stars are in the sky. Either you know and you're alive or it's all nonsense, all dust in the wind."
o
Kansas, "Dust in the Wind"

"Maybe..."

“Maybe we’re not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes to simply be a human. Maybe, we’re thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe, we’re thankful for the things we’ll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.”
- “Grey’s Anatomy”

"15 Fast Food Chains Shutting Down In 2024"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 2/11/24
"15 Fast Food Chains Shutting Down In 2024"
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The Daily "Near You?"

Weatherford, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Adventures With Danno, "Food Prices Are Going Up! Be Ready"

Adventures With Danno, 2/11/24
"Food Prices Are Going Up! Be Ready"
"Food items that are going up in price in February of 2024.
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Dan, I Allegedly, "These Bets Are Crazy"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 2/11/24
"These Bets Are Crazy"
"It is amazing what you can bet on with today’s football game. 
There are hundreds of bets that you never thought were available."
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"What Is The Point Of You?"

“What is the point of you? What is your worth? And by worth I am not talking about your financial value, I am talking about something much more significant than that. So, I ask again - what is your worth? And you won't find the answer in any scripture or church - you won't find it even in this book. Because no external power can give you the answer to something so incredibly existential in nature.

If you want to know your worth, ask yourself, what are you without your bank account? The worth of a person lies in character. The same goes for a nation and the same goes for a world. Therefore, a nation's worth lies not in the value of its currency, but in the character of its people. And it all begins with the individual - it all begins with you. Your character holds not just the worth of your own life, but that of the lives of your people as well. So, feel like it's the feeling of your society and act like it's the action of your society.

But mark you, here I do not mean, feeling and acting like the society, rather, I am asking you to feel, think and act as an original, brave and conscientious human being, so that you become the very emblem of humanhood in front of others, for them to draw their life’s inspiration from. Doing what the society wants, makes you a second hand human - wanting the society to do what you want, makes you a narcissistic bigot - but being an embodiment of humanhood without any expectation from others, is what makes you a sentient human.”
-  Abhijit Naskar

“Yet now, as he roared across the night sky toward an unknown destiny, he found himself facing that bleak and ultimate question which so few men can answer to their satisfaction. What have I done with my life, he asked himself, that the world will be poorer if I leave it?”
- Arthur C. Clarke, “Glide Path”

"And Never, Never To Forget..."

"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget."
- Arundhati Roy

"Knowing..."

“Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn’t know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.”
- Sue Monk Kidd

"How It Really Is. Didn't You Know?"

 
"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
- John 8:44

"Israel - Palestine War Update 2/11/24"

"A Move On Rafah Might Be The 
Spark That Ignites A Bigger Explosion"
by Moon of Alabama

"The Middle East is short of exploding. "Report: Egypt warns Israel Rafah offensive may lead to suspension of peace treaty" – Times of Israel, Feb 10 2024. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have added their voices to a rising tide of criticism of a planned Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that such a campaign was forthcoming.Netanyahu announced Friday that he had ordered the Israeli military to present the cabinet with a plan to both evacuate the city’s civilian population - augmented by over one million refugees from the strip’s north and center - and destroy Hamas’s remaining battalions in the area.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Egyptian officials warned the decades-long peace treaty between Egypt and Israel could be suspended if Israel Defense Forces’ troops enter Rafah, or if any of Rafah’s refugees are forced southward into the Sinai Peninsula.

In addition, Saudi Arabia - which has already conditioned normalization with Israel on an end to hostilities and steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state - issued a statement Saturday warning of “the extremely dangerous repercussions of storming and targeting the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip,” given the city being “the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of people.”

Reuters reported that in an effort to forestall a massive influx of refugees, Egypt has over the past two weeks stationed some 40 tanks near its border with Gaza, after having reinforced the border wall since the beginning of hostilities, both structurally and with surveillance equipment.

On Friday, Israel’s Channel 12 also reported that IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi was opposed to Netanyahu’s plan for a swift Rafah campaign, saying that although the military is technically capable of such an operation, it would be unwise to undertake it without coordination with the Egyptians and plans for the city’s massive refugee population.

Plans are made to react to an onslaught on Rafah: "Sayyed Nasrallah Receives Iranian FM, Discuss Latest Regional Developments" - Al Manar, Feb 10 2024. "The Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, received the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian,Amir-Abdollahian and Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah discussed a variety of issues regarding the developments in the region and the situation in the Gaza Strip during the meeting.

Preparations are ongoing: "Hezbollah Escalates Attacks on Enemy Border Sites in Response to Israeli Aggression on South Lebanon" – Al Manar, Feb 10 2024. I have a bad feeling here. Many things could get wrong and people will be hurt on all sides."
o
Full screen recommended.
Al Jazeera English, 2/11/24
"Arab Response Shameful, Western Response
 Shameless On Netanyahu's Gaza Plans"
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o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 2/11/24
"Iran: Missile Parade; Skydiving With Palestine Flag;
 'Death To USA, Israel' Banners"
"Iran used 'Islamic revolution' anniversary celebration to send a warning to Israel and the USA. Iran showcased a range of its ballistic missiles, including Martyr Haj Qassem and Sejjil. Simorgh satellite carrier was also displayed as part of the 'revolution' anniversary fest. Palestine was the prominent theme in pan-iran celebrations of 'Islamic Revolution' anniversary."
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o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 2/11/24
"'Sitting Ducks': Israeli Leader Lashes Own Troops 
As Hezbollah 'Ready For War With Radwan Force'"
"In a shocking turn of events, an Israeli leader has called his own forces "sitting ducks." The mayor of the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, Avichai Stern, said that Israelis are acting like "sitting ducks" with Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force on the border. Stern also urged Israelis not to return to Kiryat Shmona amid Hezbollah fears. The potential war between the IDF and Lebanon's Hezbollah holds a grim reality for Israel, according to a 300-page report by experts at Reichman University."
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Saturday, February 10, 2024

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Unusual Activity, The Coming World War Explained"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 2/10/24
"Alert! Unusual Activity, 
The Coming World War Explained"
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o
Check out part 1 here:
An in depth conversation about the lesser known 
aspects of how a nuclear conflict will be fought.

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Life Is"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Life Is"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Massive stars, abrasive winds, mountains of dust, and energetic light sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies. Known as N11, the region is visible on the upper right of many images of its home galaxy, the Milky Way neighbor known as the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC).
The above image was taken for scientific purposes by the Hubble Space Telescope and reprocessed for artistry by an amateur to win the Hubble's Hidden Treasures competition. Although the section imaged above is known as NGC 1763, the entire N11 emission nebula is second in LMC size only to 30 Doradus. Studying the stars in N11 has shown that it actually houses three successive generations of star formation. Compact globules of dark dust housing emerging young stars are also visible around the image.”

"Fear..."

“I was as afraid as the next man in my time and maybe more so. But with the years, fear had come to be regarded as a form of stupidity to be classed with overdrafts, acquiring a venereal disease or eating candies. Fear is a child's vice and while I loved to feel it approach, as one does with any vice, it was not for grown men and the only thing to be afraid of was the presence of true and imminent danger in a form that you should be aware of and not be a fool if you were responsible for others.”
- Ernest Hemingway, "True at First Light”

Dan, I Allegedly, People Are Going Broke To Look Rich"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 2/10/24
People Are Going Broke To Look Rich"
"We are seeing garbage loans from car dealerships. People are getting car loans for 84 months where they are paying $2550 a month. Plus, we are seeing ridiculous loans for 96 months and they are as high as $3000 a month."
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The Daily "Near You?"

Collinsville, Oklahoma, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Col. Douglas Macgregor on the State of the Empire"

Tom Woods, 2/10/24
"Col. Douglas Macgregor on the State of the Empire"
"Col. Douglas Macgregor discusses the current situation in Ukraine,
 Gaza, the Red Sea, and more, plus his retrospective on the Cold War."
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