Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Greg Hunter, "Fed Will Be Forced to Raise Rates to Defend the Dollar"

"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
o
"Fed Will Be Forced to Raise Rates to Defend the Dollar"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Precious metals expert and financial writer Bill Holter says the market is exuberant with the idea the Federal Reserve is going to be forced to cut interest rates as the economy sinks. Holter has warned about the US dollar turning into confetti because of massive dollar printing and more and more bank bailouts. Holter is taking the other side of the rate cutting bet, and he thinks the Fed will do just the opposite. Holter says, “If you look at the amount of debt service the federal government is paying, it’s over $1 trillion a year. That’s going to go to $1.5 trillion, and then it will go to $2 trillion in interest a year. There is no reflection of deterioration of credit in the rates themselves. I foresee the day, and it may be within the next year, that the Fed is forced to raise interest rates to defend the dollar. That’s the problem. You have bad credit with the country who issues the world’s reserve currency. If all of a sudden the dollar falls apart, how does evil get paid to perform? How do we fight wars?”

Holter goes on to say, “The US Treasury, this year alone, has more than $6 trillion plus the $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in deficit that they will run. They are going to have to borrow this money this year. Where are they going to borrow that from? Who are they going to borrow it from? Is the Fed just going to conjure the money up and buy the bonds? The Fed lost $114 billion last year, and they are technically insolvent, as is the European Central Bank, as is the Bank of Japan, as is the Bank of England. These central banks are technically insolvent because their assets have dropped in value because interest rates have gone higher. The bond prices have dropped by more than what their equity was worth. The whole system is running on nothing. There is nothing holding it up.”

Several years ago, Bill Holter envisioned a Mad Max type of scenario unfolding because of all the exploding and unpayable debt. Holter heard snickers, but nobody is laughing at his prediction now. Holter says, “Once the credit spigots stop, you are going to see everything stop. You’ll see no goods in stores. You may or may not have water. You may or may not have electricity. Who knows what is not going to work. Everything runs on credit. Without credit I think you could see a 60% to 70% drop in actual GDP, and there is your Mad Max scenario. Commerce is not going to happen if there is no credit available.”

On the election coming up in November, Holter sees a 50/50 chance of it not happening. Holter says, “If Trump wins, they will be jailing people left and right.”

On gold, Holter says, “Gold never defaults, and it will act as a risk barometer. Gold will be going much higher in price. We live in the most indebted time in history.” There is much more in the 51-minute interview."
https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with 
financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter. 
https://rumble.com/

"War...; Scott Ritter"

"War does not determine who's right... only who's left."
- Bertrand Russell

"The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting
 each other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals."
- Edward Abbey
o
Scott Ritter: "Geopolitics 2/21/24"
Comments here:

"Israel is the personification of Evil,
 Israel is the embodiment of the Devil..."
In video above.

"The Most Precious Gift I Have..."

"Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have - life itself."
- Walter Anderson

"How It Really Is"

Gregory Mannarino, "We Are Being Slaughtered, And The MIC Is Winning!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/21/24
"We Are Being Slaughtered, And The MIC Is Winning!"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "NYC Exodus - Why Titans like Cardone & O'Leary Bailed"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly AM 2/21/24
"NYC Exodus - 
Why Titans like Cardone & O'Leary Bailed"
Comments here:

Canadian Prepper, "'False Flag Alert'; Belarus Prepares For World War; Iran's '3 Nukes'"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 2/21/24
"'False Flag Alert'; 
Belarus Prepares For World War; Iran's '3 Nukes'"
Comments here:

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Musical Interlude: 2002, "We Meet Again"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "We Meet Again"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away, in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries, embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. 
Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The dusty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years."

Jeremiah Babe, "Escape From New York ASAP, You Are Not Safe"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/20/24
"Escape From New York ASAP, You Are Not Safe
Corporate America Has A Message For You"
Comments here:

Gerald Celente, "America: No Ceasefire! We Supply The Weapons..."

Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 2/20/24
"America: No Ceasefire! We Supply The Weapons..."
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present facts and truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for what’s next in these increasingly turbulent times."
Comments here:

"2023: The Year Humanity Died"

"2023: The Year Humanity Died"
By Seraj Assi

"As a Palestinian who was born two generations apart from the Nakba, I have never imagined that one day I would witness the genocide of my people unfold before my eyes in broad daylight. While I always feared the prospect of a Second Nakba, as many Palestinians do, I have never dreamed, not even in my worst nightmares, that I would live it, witness it, and write about it.

In my happy Palestinian innocence, I believed that even if Israel was keen on repeating the Nakba, or attempting to “finish the job of 1948,” as many Israeli officials have threatened over the years, the Free World would not allow it to happen. In my wishful thinking, I believed that the world had learned its lesson since the Nakba. Yes, the world failed the Palestinian people in 1948. Yes, it allowed Israel to carry out its ethnic cleansing and mass expulsion of Palestinians. Yes, it abandoned the Palestinian refugees, and rewarded Israel with a United Nations recognition and membership. But that was 75 years ago, the age of genocides and holocausts. A lot of progress had been made since, I told myself. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. The U.N. evolved. Human rights groups mushroomed. Mandela won the Nobel Peace. True, genocide would occur so often and so uncontested in the decades since, but after the horrific genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia, the leaders of the Free World seemed to have had enough! They seemed adamant not to allow another genocide to happen - Never Again! Not in Palestine, not again!

Summit after summit, they vowed that such atrocities had no place in the new century. Even when the new century in Palestine ushered in the Second Intifada and the collapse of the Oslo Accords, I still believed that the horrors of the past were in check. Even when Israel mushroomed in size, and the settlements tripled, and the apartheid system was closing in on the Palestinians in the West Bank, and the merciless siege suffocating those in Gaza, where one million children were born and raised in captivity, I still believed that that was the peak of our suffering and nothing remotely close the terrors of Rwanda or Bosnia, or indeed the First Nakba, would happen to us, because the world was watching, and it was ready to dispatch its postwar moral arsenal to stop it!

As a Palestinian, as a human being, I feel that part of me has died in this war.

I was dead wrong. For four bloody months since the Gaza Genocide first unfolded, the Free World has sat there watching, and cheering, and mocking us to death. During the first weeks, I still held onto my naïve optimism. True, the Free World betrayed Palestinians in Gaza; it allowed Israel to act with impunity; it tolerated its war crimes and mass atrocities; it denied the children of Gaza even the pretense of humanity. But ultimately it was bound to come to its senses and unleash its moral diplomacy to end this horror. So I persisted in my optimism. Perhaps the world needed more time to fathom what was happening. Perhaps it was waiting for a few more thousands of Palestinians to be killed before making its drastic move. Yet week after week, the world remained silent, blind to our deaths, deaf to our sufferings.

One month into the bloodshed, after Israel had killed 1,000 children, I said that’s it; the world would make its move now, if only to save the children! But the U.S. responded by vetoing a humanitarian cease-fire that could have saved thousands of innocent lives! A month after, when the death toll of children reached 10,000, I said enough is enough; it’s high time the world acted NOW, because humanity itself is at stake! U.N. officials had already sounded the alarm that Gaza was becoming a “graveyard for children,” so no one could pretend they did not know. The time to act was now or never! Yet there was another U.S. veto; another cold hand was raised to issue a new death sentence for Palestinians. Another spit in the face of humanity!

Now I’m lost for words. I have lost faith in humanity. The staggering death toll in Gaza is humanly impossible to fathom or accept without losing our sense of shared humanity. As a Palestinian, as a human being, I feel that part of me has died in this war. I know for certain that I will not emerge from this tragedy the same person I was before. None of us will.

Gaza may be annihilated, but it’s not going anywhere. When the dust of war settles, it will sit on our global conscience for generations to come. It will be a permanent stain on our humanity. The children of Gaza will not forget, if they survive. The living will remember, and the dead will haunt us forever. Gaza will be remembered not only as the crime of the century, but also as the site of our greatest shame, where humanity failed. 2023 will go down in history as the darkest in Palestine - the year humanity died."
o
"Gaza Health Ministry: 29,000 Palestinians have been killed, and 75,243
wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7."

Now 29,000 innocent men, old people, women and 14,000 children killed, another 8,000 missing and buried under the rubble by US supplied 2,000 lb bombs, which WE to our eternal shame and disgrace allow and support! These creatures, monsters, doing this are NOT human beings! They are pure Evil incarnate. They're a bloodthirsty, psychopathically genocidal sub-species of humanity! And, except for the Houthis and Hezbollah somewhat, the world sits silently watching this horror and does nothing! Shakespeare wrote, "Hell is empty and all the devils are here." Sartre said, "This is Hell, cleverly disguised just enough to keep us from escaping." I believe them... - CP
o

"War With Hezbollah To Be 'Israel's' Deadliest: 130-page Israeli Report"

"War With Hezbollah To Be
 'Israel's' Deadliest: 130-page Israeli Report"
An Israeli report underlines that the Israeli occupation has no 
chance in the face of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon 
as the latter's capabilities would rapidly overwhelm "Tel Aviv".
By Al Mayadeen

"The potential war between the Israeli occupation and Lebanon's Hezbollah holds a grim reality for the Israeli occupation, as it would be the most devastating war it has gone through since its inception, as per a three-year study conducted by hundreds of experts at the Counter-Terrorism Policy Institute at Reichman University. Israeli news outlet Calcalist shed light on the grim analysis of the potential war, which warns of unprecedented destruction and bloodshed in a conflict that could surpass the Israeli occupation's worst fears.

The exhaustive 130-page report was a collaborative effort of six think tank teams, consisting of 100 experts, former military and security officials, academics, and government officials. Notably, the team was led by Professor Boaz Ganor, a globally recognized pioneer in so-called "terrorism research" and the current president of Reichman University.

The report delves into critical aspects, including the readiness of the Israeli forces and the home front for a multi-front war. Key contributors to the study include Reserve Major General Aharon Ze'evi Farkash, Reserve Major General Isaac Ben-Israel, Reserve Brigadier Generals Zeev Zuk Ram and Betzalel Treiber, Reserve Colonel Eran Makov, Haim Tomer, and former Justice Minister Dan Meridor.

Despite the gravity of the findings, Calcalist suggests that doubts surround the timing of the report's release, hinting at possible concealment or manipulation. Ganor reportedly presented the report to various Israeli military and political leaders in the months leading up to the Palestinian Resistance's October 7 operation. However, the attempts to alert security agencies and decision-makers were allegedly unsuccessful, according to the Israeli media outlet.

The report was presented to senior Israeli officials over the span of 40 meetings with figures as high-ranking as former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Security Minister Moshe Ya'alon, and former Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, among others. Professor Ganor expressed his disappointment in failing to secure meetings with more high-profile figures like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi, and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, despite multiple requests.

Of particular concern is the claim that only the findings of five think tank teams were made public, with the section prepared by the sixth team, focusing on aspects related to a potential Israeli preemptive attack, remaining strictly confidential.

Hellfire to rain down on 'Israel': Ganor's report suggests that the war, anticipated to erupt from the north, will be overwhelmingly intense for the Israeli occupation, with Hezbollah launching a whopping 2,500 to 3,000 missiles per day. This barrage includes both statistically inaccurate rocket artillery and high-precision long-range missiles.

Periodically, Hezbollah is expected to unleash massive salvos targeting specific areas, such as crucial Israeli military bases or cities in the key "Gush Dan" region, where hundreds of rockets could rain down in a single day. The relentless assault is projected to persist day after day, extending over three weeks from the outbreak of hostilities. The report warns that the resulting destruction will be unprecedented, accompanied by thousands of casualties on both the front lines and among Israeli settlers within occupied Palestine, sparking a state of panic and disarray.

One of the primary objectives of Hezbollah's prospective operations, as highlighted by Ganor, is to undermine the Israeli forces' air defense system. Precision ammunition and low-flying aerial devices, including drones, gliders, and cruise missiles, are expected to inflict material damage and target Iron Dome batteries.

The pace of the barrage will present unprecedented challenges to Israeli capabilities, depleting reserves of interception missiles for the Iron Dome and David's Sling within the early days of the conflict. The Israeli occupation could be left exposed to thousands of rocket and missile attacks without an effective and reliable defensive mechanism.

Simultaneously, Hezbollah aims to sabotage the activities of the Israeli Air Force and limit its operational capabilities as heavy precision missiles will be directed at takeoff runways within specific timeframes to hinder repair efforts and aerial offensives. Intensive fire will target hangars storing military aircraft and precision missiles with explosive warheads will strike sensitive infrastructure, including power stations, electricity-related facilities, desalination plants, and transportation facilities in Haifa and "Ashdod", the report underlined.

The report's research team also issued a dire warning that a swarm of dozens of suicide drones flying at very low altitudes would target critical assets within occupied Palestine. These include weapons facilities, emergency storage facilities for the Israeli occupation forces, and hospitals that would be needed for the unprecedented casualties that would be incurred.

The assault won't be limited to physical attacks; critical transportation infrastructure, communication channels, and sites related to government ministries and local authorities are expected to face widespread cyberattacks, posing a serious risk of disrupting the economy.

Hezbollah, allies to overwhelm 'Israel': The report highlights that chaos is expected to escalate within the Israeli occupation as Hezbollah prepares to send hundreds of fighters from the Radwan force into Israeli territories. Their primary objective would be to gain control of settlements along the border area with Lebanon and strategic military sites in the northern region. This would force the Israeli army to divert its efforts from immediate operations in Lebanon, engaging in ground maneuvers to counter the imminent threat.

Internally, the Israeli public is anticipated to face challenges in receiving updated and reliable information about the unfolding situation, leading to a loss of trust in messages relayed by official sources. The potential for panic and fear is expected to intensify due to the significant number of casualties, extensive damage, disruptions in power and water supply, delays in the arrival of rescue and relief forces, and difficulties in obtaining essential services such as food and medicine.

Hezbollah plans to exacerbate panic and confusion through continuous psychological warfare, flooding the media and social networks with threats and information that deepen internal divisions. Additionally, those seeking to escape from occupied Palestine may discover that the country's air links with the world have been severed.

Ganor, a prominent figure in the region, pointed out that the Israeli public's expectations of the Air Force and intelligence formations preventing the majority of guided missile strikes on the Israeli occupation are likely to be disproven. The assumption that an intensive Israeli attack on strategically important properties in Lebanon will force Hezbollah to cease fire is also expected to be proven wrong.

Hezbollah will not be alone in this battle, as the report warns of involvement from organizations across the region. Resistance factions in Syria and Iraq, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, as well as Ansar Allah in Yemen, are expected to contribute to what the report describes as a "violent and extensive upheaval." The upheaval in question will include disruptions in the West Bank and among Palestinians of '48, with rioting in mixed cities, challenges in war perception for the public, and the lowering of expectations from the army and rescue forces.

The report concludes by outlining vulnerabilities and pinpointing weaknesses in the Israeli forces and society. It challenges the expectations of the public and a significant portion of the leadership, stating that the effective Israeli Air Force and intelligence formations might not prevent the majority of missile strikes from reaching occupied Palestinian territories. Similarly, the assumption that extensive attacks on strategically important properties in Lebanon would force Hezbollah to cease fire is expected to be inaccurate.

In a related context, a former Shin Bet official Dvir Karev told Israeli Channel 13 that "Israel" is currently in its third war with Lebanon and that Hezbollah has much more power than Hamas, both in weapons and in force. He questioned whether the IOF's power could be sufficient against Hezbollah and expressed hope that the confrontations would remain at a low level, acknowledging the many Israeli casualties."

Stipendium peccati mors est, Israel...

Judge Napolitano, IDF Slaughters Innocents in Rafah"

Full screen recommended.
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/20/24
"Scott Ritter: IDF Slaughters Innocents in Rafah"
Comments here:
o
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/20/24
Must Watch! 
"Scott Ritter: Brought To Tears As He 
Recounts A Story Of A Lost Child"
"Judge presented a deeply moving video featuring the speech given by the Palestinian envoy to the UN at the ICJ. Ritter acknowledges the sincerity and emotional depth of the speech. He proceeds to narrate a heart-wrenching incident involving a child pleading for assistance before facing devastating actions by the IDF. Ritter, visibly affected, speaks passionately, drawing on his roles as a father, husband, and fellow human being."
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "Alert! Every Single Economic Indicator Is Crashing, With No End In Sight"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/20/24
"Alert! Every Single Economic Indicator Is Crashing, 
With No End In Sight"
Comments here:

"Millions Of Americans Prepare For The Apocalypse As Global Food Crisis Reaches Unprecedented Levels"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 2/20/24
"Millions Of Americans Prepare For The Apocalypse 
As Global Food Crisis Reaches Unprecedented Levels"
"The world is facing a food crisis like never before, and millions of Americans are preparing for the apocalypse. The elite are trying to control the food supply and the climate, and they suggest absurd and harmful solutions, such as blocking the sun with a giant umbrella, drinking sewage water, and eating insects and soy. Some people are getting ready for the end of the world with various ways, such as hoarding food, water, weapons and building underground bunkers. But what are the risks and benefits of these solutions and methods? Are you ready for what’s coming? Let’s explore the horrors that await in 2024."
Comments here:

"World War 3 and the New World Order"

"World War 3 and the New World Order"
by Nick Giambruno

"The only winning move is not to play." That’s a famous line from "WarGames," a movie about a young computer whiz named David who hacks into a US military supercomputer designed to simulate nuclear war scenarios. David initially believes he’s playing a computer game, but his actions inadvertently prompt the supercomputer to prepare for a real nuclear war. As the situation escalates, with the world on the brink of a nuclear apocalypse, it becomes clear that there is no strategic advantage in nuclear war; any exchange of nuclear weapons would lead to mutual destruction, known as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).

MAD is not just something out of Hollywood; it’s a real concept that is relevant today. Consider this. Several credible studies and simulations have shown that a nuclear war between Russia and the US could kill more than 90 million people in the first couple of hours of conflict. Over 5 billion people could starve to death in the following months.Historically, the incomprehensible destruction nuclear war would bring to all sides has prevented direct military conflict between the world’s largest powers since World War 2. MAD is why World War 3 will probably not be like the previous world wars.

Total war between the world’s largest powers that reshuffled the international order defined the previous world wars. However, with the advent of nuclear weapons, total war between the largest powers today - Russia, China, and the US - means a nuclear Armageddon where there are no winners and only losers. That could still happen despite nobody wanting it, but it’s not the most likely outcome.

World War 3 is unlikely to be a direct kinetic war between the US, Russia, and China. Instead, the conflict will play out on different levels - proxy wars, economic wars, financial wars, cyber wars, biological wars, deniable sabotage, and information wars. In that sense, World War 3 is already well underway, even though most don’t recognize it.

Here’s the bottom line. Russia, China, and their allies want to change the US-led world order that has been in place since the end of World War 2. The conflict is playing out on a level that is below the threshold of direct kinetic warfare because that could invite a nuclear Armageddon. Nonetheless, it is a conflict between the biggest global powers to determine the world order - like the previous World Wars.

It’s important to remember that world orders are nothing new. World orders are how the big global powers have set the rules of the game for centuries. They are simply the architecture for international political relations between countries. On a smaller scale, it’s similar to when the most powerful criminal groups in a given city - like mafias and street gangs - come together and agree on how to divide their activities and neighborhoods among themselves.

Sooner or later, though, these agreements always break down. Then, there is a violent power struggle until the criminal groups reach a new agreement reflecting the new power balance. A similar dynamic is at play with the most powerful countries and world orders. Conflicts among the most powerful countries typically lead to a breakdown and restructuring in the world order.

Here is a brief overview of some of the most recent world orders. You can think of them as epochs or distinctive historical periods reflecting the shifting power balance among global players.

Peace of Westphalia (1648 to 1803): This agreement ended the Thirty Years’ War and set the framework for international relations in Europe for over two centuries by preserving the balance of power among major European powers. It brought together the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, France, Sweden, the Dutch Republic, and various German territories. This world order largely lasted until the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, which led to the need for a new international arrangement among the big powers.

Congress of Vienna (1814 to 1914): The military defeat of French Emperor Napoleon I led to this world order. It enshrined the British as the dominant global power. The Congress of Vienna formed the basis for European international politics until the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914.

Treaty of Versailles (1919 to 1939): The victors of World War 1 created this world order, which featured institutions like the League of Nations. It broke down after Germany, Italy, and Japan tried to overturn it and make their own world order during World War 2.

The Current US-Led World Order (1945 to Today): The Allies crafted the current world order in the aftermath of World War 2 with the US as the leader. It features institutions like the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund - all located in the US. The current world order has been largely unipolar, with the US exercising significant influence over international policies and decision making. Today, it’s evident global power is shifting as the current US-led world order is breaking down at an accelerating pace as World War 3 unfolds.

Changes to the world order are historical events with enormous implications. That’s why it’s crucial to sift through the noise and propaganda to put the pieces together correctly to see the true geopolitical Big Picture."

The Daily "Near You?"

Wake Forest, North Carolina, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Free Download: "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions
 and the Madness of Crowds"

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back." - Carl Sagan

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841. The book chronicles its subjects in three parts: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions". MacKay was an accomplished teller of stories, though he wrote in a journalistic and somewhat sensational style.

The subjects of Mackay's debunking include alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetizers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Present-day writers on economics, such as Michael Lewis and Andrew Tobias, laud the three chapters on economic bubbles. Scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan mentioned the book in his own discussion about pseudoscience, popular delusions, and hoaxes.

In later editions, Mackay added a footnote referencing the Railway Mania of the 1840s as another "popular delusion" which was at least as important as the South Sea Bubble. Mathematician Andrew Odlyzko has pointed out, in a published lecture, that Mackay himself played a role in this economic bubble; as leader writer in the Glasgow Argus, Mackay wrote on 2 October 1845: "There is no reason whatever to fear a crash."

Freely download "Extraordinary Popular Delusions
 and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay, here:

"The Madness of Crowds"

"The Madness of Crowds"
By Brian Maher

"Man is at bottom a herd animal.His behavior is influenced heavily by social pressures that constantly bear down upon him. It takes a unique individual to resist them, and to follow his own way. Markets are mass phenomena. And the same pack instincts that compel men to follow a street mob or fight a war, compel him to follow the market herd. Below, we reflect upon the madness of crowds, and praise the exceptional man who is able to think for himself.

When a man enters a crowd he exits civilization. He goes in, his blood goes up… and his reason goes out. As Herr Nietzsche observed, madness is a rarity in individuals - but the rule in crowds. Or as argued Mr. Charles Mackay, author of the 1841 classic "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds": "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."

“A Crowd Runs Not on Thought but on Hormones”: A man in a crowd ceases to be a man but a face. He ceases to be an independent unit but a cog in a lunatic machine. A man in a crowd does not think for himself. The crowd thinks for him. That is, the man ceases to think whatsoever. For a crowd runs not on thought but on hormones. The crowd’s lusts become the man’s lusts, its will becomes his will, its devils become his devils. It is these devils - in fact - that unite the crowd.

A Crowd Needs a Devil: These devils may appear in the form of policemen, of whites, of blacks, of Muslims, of Christians, of Chinamen, of Russians, of conservatives, of progressives, of capitalists, of anti-capitalists, of greenhouse gas-geysers, of meat-munchers. One crowd has its devil. A second crowd, another. A third, a devil of its own. Above all:

Above all: Any crowd’s hate for devils vastly exceeds its love for angels. Angels do not excite the blood. Angels do not bubble the hormones. Angels do not furl the fingers into fists. Devils do excite the blood, get the blood up. Devils do bubble the hormones. Devils do furl the fingers into fists.

A Crowd Is Not Necessarily a Street Mob: But by our comprehensive standards, a crowd is not merely a mass on a street. A nation is a sort of crowd - a supercrowd. And no greater menace exists than a supercrowd after a devil. It is given to the same madnesses as the street crowd… only its madnesses are amplified by the tens, by the hundreds, by the thousands and the millions. They often leave “rivers of blood” and a “harvest of groans and tears” trailing behind them.

From the aforesaid "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds": "In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion and run after it till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple, and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears, to be reaped by its posterity."

The Madness of Market Crowds: A market too is a crowd, a mob… and equally susceptible to lunacy. Do you doubt it? Mr. Mackay consecrates page upon page to the Tulip delirium (1636–37), the Mississippi Bubble (1718–20) and the related South Sea Bubble (1720). And let us say it now: It is a pity the fellow no longer writes.

The stock market bubble of 1929, the technology bubble of 2000 and the housing bubble of 2008 added entire chapters to the literature of mass delusion. Additional chapters - no doubt - await writing. We hazard the 2020-2021 market deliriums will rank high among them.

Here is the common element that unites them all: The man in a crowd. Only the man under crowd influence heaves his reason into a ditch. Why do men do it?

Man Must Choose Between Freedom and Happiness: Mankind confronts a choice, argued George Orwell in 1984. He must choose between freedom and happiness. And the mass of men prefer happiness to freedom: The choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness and that, for the great bulk of mankind, happiness was better.

The great bulk of men seek the peace and contentment of herd living - of life in a crowd. The man truly divorced from the social influence is a man truly exceptional. Freedom is too hot for most hands, as Mencken described it - or too cold for most spines, as Nietzsche described it. Either way… freedom runs to temperatures too extreme for most constitutions.

Here we do not judge. Nor do we evaluate or condemn. We merely describe, describe a phenomenon. The crowd offers safety. Numerical strength. Solidarity. Companionship. Reassurance.

“Freedom Includes the Freedom to Starve”: As we have written before: The free man must go upon his own hook. He must push along under his own steam, weave his own safety net, face cruel fate alone. Do not forget: Freedom includes the freedom to starve. We therefore have no heat against the man who chooses security over freedom, the full belly over the empty belly.

We enjoy happiness ourself. Safety. Security. And a belly stretched to capacity. Extremes of heat and cold, meantime, immiserate us. And - despite all evidence - we enjoy human companionship. We nonetheless confess a vast respect for the man who never wanders into a crowd, for the man who does not flock. For we prefer humanity in batches of one. The free man’s example is the eagle, the free and noble eagle.

“The Eagle Does Not Flock. You Find Him One by One”: We would emulate the solitary eagle over the flocking birds - over the birds that crowd. For the eagle does not flock. You find him one by one. That is, the eagle takes the individual view. In our experience, that view is often the higher view, the superior view. The free man is the eagle high aloft, wheeling and wheeling on motionless wings, on steady wings, on confident wings… On free wings.

He is free to starve, it is true. But he is also free to soar. And the man in a crowd? As the bird in a flock… he is free only to follow…"

"How It Really Is"

Dan, I Allegedly, "Bank Merger Desperation - It's Not What You Think!"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 2/20/24
"Bank Merger Desperation - 
It's Not What You Think!"
"Like we have been told over and over again that companies are going to merge to become a super company. This is not the case. Capital One is going to purchase and merge with the Discover card. This is not a form a super bank. It’s survival for both firms."
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"Fear, Shame And Intimidation Are Chemical Weapons"

"Fear, Shame And Intimidation Are Chemical Weapons"
by Paul Rosenberg

"Imagine that some combination of circumstances end with you walking into a so-so bar, then accidentally causing some gigantic brute to spill his drink. Imagine also that this brute just learned that his girlfriend moved out, taking his bank account with her. The brute, towering over you, clenches his fists and start spewing horrifying threats. Your knees go weak, you can barely think or move… you try to back up but do it so clumsily that you’re grasping the edge of the bar to prevent yourself from falling.

The brute hasn’t touched you, but you’ve already been seriously impacted. This happened because of well-known and well-studied chemicals… the chemicals that are now surging through your body. So, then, wasn’t this fear a chemical weapon? (It was, in fact, the bully’s first blow.)

Yes, the chemicals in question were generated by your own body, but they are chemicals just the same, and the actions of the brute were the cause of their release. Fear, then, is clearly a chemical weapon. So are intimidation and shame. As are their cousins, guilt, blame, and probably a few others, depending upon how we write our definitions.

Robert Sapolsky studied the chemicals involved (he studied baboons, but their body chemistry and ours is nearly the same), finding that these “chemical weapons” resulted in more stress, higher blood pressure, a suppressed immune system, and reduced fertility. We must, then, consider these very potent weapons. Consider these two cases, please:

Solomon Asch found that about 37% of people were willing to say something they knew to be untrue if they saw other people saying so first. (Fearing their shame.) 75% would go along at least some of the time.

Stanley Milgram found that 65% of people would obey an authority figure (an imposer of shame) and deliver electric shocks to another person, even to levels that would be fatal. (Though in fairness, the authority figure was accompanied by a plausible story.)

Our Unfortunate Biology: For both better and worse, we have a biological history. On one hand, that biological history has kept our species present and thriving, and so our complaints, however legitimate, are mitigated. On the other hand, however, our hormones, after who knows how many generations, have been trained to respond to things like authority and group identity. As a result they can release some very unpleasant and harmful chemicals into our bodies at certain times. And that’s something the manipulators of mankind have learned to use.

Our hormonal responses are not necessarily overwhelming, but they do have their effects… poisonous effects. By triggering fear, shame or intimidation (and the boundaries between them can be fuzzy), our hormones are triggered as well. And these hormones do more than just spur some of our thoughts and actions, they directly damage our health. And, by the way, people display higher IQs and do far better in executive control tests when they are feeling less rather than more intimidated.

Western Guilt: We Westerners are especially susceptible to some of these influences because of our cultural traditions. These particular characteristics leave it vulnerable to guilt. As a result, we’ve developed political classes that are devoted to finding fault, assigning blame, and then offering paths to absolution that suit their selfish goals. In other words, our civilization has been attacked with the chemical weapons of intimidation and shame, purposely and very effectively.

Blame, of course, is a method of assigning shame. Political types, especially – and very definitely authority types – thrive upon assigning shame. It has worked for them, time after time after time.

Nonetheless, our hormones, however long trained, can be managed. Prize fighters, football players and other repeated participants in violent activities learn how to manage those chemical attacks. And so, we who are subjected to endless chemical attacks both large and small (even ads that make you feel insufficient qualify)… we are also able to manage our responses. We must train ourselves to not respond to guilt.

We can consider facts, then repair and improve our actions if they are truly harmful, but merely feeling these weaponized chemicals is not to be taken as any sort of verdict. In most cases, it’s a hijacking of our internal chemistry, by and for professional abusers. In point of fact, billions of dollars are spent every year, precisely to take advantage of our unfortunate biological history. And so I say again, we must train ourselves not to be moved by those chemical weapons… and particularly not to respond to guilt."

"The End of the Empire" (Excerpt)

"The End of the Empire"
by Scipio Eruditis

Excerpt: "The barbarians are inside the gates…“It is also a habit of tyrants to prefer the company of aliens to that of citizens at table and in society; citizens, they feel, are enemies, but aliens will offer no opposition.” - Aristotle

"If the Biden suzerainty has made anything clear, it is the utter loathing that the Regime has for the native-born American populace. Whilst America is embroiled in the midst of an unprecedented overdose epidemic, the Senate is busy passing bills that not only codify the ongoing invasion of America, but accelerates it. While American families struggle to pay their bills, families of illegal aliens are being funded to the tune of thousands a month and invaders are being handed “cash in envelopes” as they cross the border. While illegal invaders are being released without bail after assaulting the police, Navy veteran Michael Cassidy is being charged with felony hate crimes for righteously tearing down the satanic altar in Iowa’s state capitol. While the cartels are freely trafficking children over the border (sometimes with the assistance of Child Protective Services), American children are being kidnapped from their parents if they do not consent to the mutilation of their child’s genitalia.

I do not know how much clearer our occupying regime could make this for us: they consider Americans a conquered people. It is no accident, therefore, that nearly every major corporation in America is engaged in openly hostility towards the increasingly dwindling White population of America (truly, the West as a whole). On the one hand, mindless stenographers in the mass media will claim that this reality, dubbed The Great Replacement by French author Renaud Camus, is nothing but a conspiracy theory. On the other hand, they will boldly proclaim that “America’s Getting Less White”. Newsweek openly declared in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville that “White Nationalists Are Right: America Is Becoming Less White”. The glee and regularity with which this news is now reported serves as a testament to the veracity of the critics concerns."
Full, highly recommended article is here:

Adventures With Danno, "Items At Meijer Everyone Should Be Buying This Week!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 2/20/24
"Items At Meijer Everyone Should Be Buying This Week!"
"Items we are seeing at Meijer that everyone should be buying right now. 
 Take advantage of some of these deals before the prices go up again."
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Meanwhile, elsewhere...
Full screen recommended.
"Tucker Carlson Buying Groceries in Russia
 Exposes the Inflation in the USA"
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Gregory Mannarino, "False Flag! British Cargo Ship Sunk By "Iranian Backed" Houthi Forces"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/20/24
"False Flag! British Cargo Ship Sunk
 By "Iranian Backed" Houthi Forces"
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Monday, February 19, 2024

"What Is This Chemical Being Found In Cheerios & Quaker Oats?! This Will Shock You!"

Adventures With Danno, 2/19/24
"What Is This Chemical Being Found In 
Cheerios & Quaker Oats?! This Will Shock You!"
"Breaking News: As a chemical [Chlormequat Chloride] is being found in Cheerios and some Quaker Oats products. This has many people concerned whether these products are safe."
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Jeremiah Babe, "Horrific And Catastrophic Events Are On The Way, This Is Not The Old America"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/19/24
"Horrific And Catastrophic Events Are On The Way, 
This Is Not The Old America"
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Musical Interlude: Neil H, "Spellbound"

Neil H, "Spellbound"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe - a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. 
Along with a bright central core, this stunning galaxy portrait, a composite of image data from amateur and professional telescopes, highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's spiral arms. It also shows off remarkable reddish jets of glowing hydrogen gas. In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 at bottom right, background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame. M106, also known as NGC 4258, is a nearby example of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, seen across the spectrum from radio to X-rays. Active galaxies are powered by matter falling into a massive central black hole.”

Chet Raymo, "Lessons"

"Lessons"
by Chet Raymo

"There is a four-line poem by Yeats, called "Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors":

"What they undertook to do
They brought to pass;
All things hang like a drop of dew
Upon a blade of grass."

Like so many of the short poems of Yeats, it is hard to know what the poet had in mind, who exactly were the unknown instructors, and if unknown how could they instruct. But as I opened my volume of "The Poems" this morning, at random, as in the old days people opened the Bible and pointed a finger at a random passage seeking advice or instruction, this is the poem that presented itself. Unsuperstitious person that I am, it seemed somehow apropos, since outside the window, in a thick Irish mist, every blade of grass has its hanging drop.

Those pendant drops, the bejeweled porches of the spider webs, the rose petals cupping their glistening dew - all of that seems terribly important here, now, in the silent mist. There is not much good to say about getting old, but certainly one advantage of the gathering years is the falling away of ego and ambition, the felt need to be always busy, the exhausting practice of accumulation. Who were the instructors who tried to teach me the practice of simplicity when I was young - the poets and the saints, the buddhas who were content to sit beneath the bo tree while the rest of us scurried here and there? I scurried, and I'm not sorry I did, but I must have tucked their lessons into the back of my mind, a cache of wisdom to be opened at my leisure.

Whatever it was they sought to teach has come to pass. All things hang like a drop of dew upon a blade of grass."

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! China/Russia Amassing Doomsday Stockpiles

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 2/19/24
"Alert! China/Russia Amassing Doomsday Stockpiles
Seed Vaults, Secret Bunkers And World War 3"
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Watch Part 1 Here:

"George Galloway: Israel Has Destroyed Itself as Yemen, Iran, Lebanon Prepare for War"

Full screen recommended.
Danny Haiphong, 2/19/24
"George Galloway: Israel Has Destroyed Itself 
as Yemen, Iran, Lebanon Prepare for War"
"Former UK MP George Galloway came on the show to discuss the situation in the Middle East and how the growing opposition to Israel's war spells doom for Netanyahu and the regime."
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