Thursday, February 29, 2024

Dan, I Allegedly, "It’s All About Who You Know"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 2/29/24
"It’s All About Who You Know"
"How unfair is this? You have a governor who has passed a law that that raises the minimum wage to $20 per hour. Now we find out that there is a local restaurant that is going to be exempt from this because they are friends with the governor. This is outrageous. The governor also got a donation from this person. "
Comments here:

"Here's A Question..."

“Here’s a question every angry man and woman needs to consider: How long are you going to allow people you don’t even like – people who are no longer in your life, maybe even people who aren’t even alive anymore – to control your life? How long?”
- Andy Stanley

“That goes for old wounds, too, you know. I really wish we’d had the chance to talk before this,” he says, cracking the window so the smoke can escape. “There’s a Longfellow quote I have stuck on my bulletin board at the church office – ‘There is no grief like the grief that does not speak’ – and it’s true. I’ve found that keeping pain inside doesn’t give it a chance to heal, but bringing it out into the light, holding it right there in your hands and trusting that you’re strong enough to make it through, not hating the pain, not loving it, just seeing it for what it really is can change how you go on from there. Time alone doesn’t heal emotional wounds, and you don’t want to live the rest of your life bottled up with anger and guilt and bitterness. That’s how people self-destruct.”
- Laura Wiess

"How It Really Is"

 

"From Trucker-Boycotts To Grid-Down – There’s Only One Way To Survive A Food Crisis"

"From Trucker-Boycotts To Grid-Down – 
There’s Only One Way To Survive A Food Crisis"
by Brandon Smith

"If there is one reality that Americans need to accept, it’s that every system has a breaking point and there are no exceptions. Human beings are built to adapt and this has given us incredible resilience, but it also means we have a tendency to wait too long to fix the parts of our society that are broken. Instead, we let the problems build and fester until, sadly, the final straw falls and everything comes crashing down.

Sometimes this collapse is by chance and sometimes it’s by design. In either case the catalyst is the same – The public does not prepare and they don’t take action to correct the people creating the crisis until it’s too late.

In our modern era of invasive technology, economic weakness, nuclear weapons and biowarfare, this is an unsustainable model. We can no longer ignore threats on instability in the hopes that they will go away or that governments will defuse the danger, nor can we simply pick up the pieces over and over again after each calamity. There may come a time when the mess is so big we won’t be able to clean it up. People must plan ahead, and they must stop tolerating the notion of passive involvement in the mechanisms that influence their lives and future.

I write often about hypothetical trigger events and breakdown scenarios because a large number of people still need to be educated on how fragile the western world truly is right now. For example, any significant disruption to supply chains and logistics at this time would be devastating for a large number of Americans (or Europeans).

In the past couple weeks alone there has been a rising tide of political discontent among US truckers; the very people that handle over 70% of all freight in our country. They have threatened to boycott a number of Democrat controlled cities (primarily New York City) over a host of issues and complaints including the legal treatment of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. This boycott may not play out in the near term (watch for talk of boycotts to escalate in November around election time), but the potential is on the table and it’s an important learning moment. What would happen if the US freight system actually stopped?

US supply chains operate on a “just in time” freight schedule – meaning, all the grocery stores in your area will carry just enough backstock to serve normal business operations for about a week, when the next fleet of trucks arrive. The just-in-time structure is the lifeblood of the supply chain, and most American cities would fall into chaos after one week without it. Trains and railway networks handle around 28% of total freight and have struggled through a long state of decline. There is no realistic alternative to trucks.

FEMA and the National Guard could try to field drivers to fill the void, but consider this: There are currently 3.5 million freight drivers in the US today, and that number is at least 80,000 drivers short of what is needed. Do you think the government or the military is going to be able to come up with enough scabs to undermine a trucker strike against blue cities? There’s no chance.

I have to say, I’m not opposed the concept of a trucker boycott; its a peaceful redress of grievances and all peaceful measures should be exhausted first. All they have to do is refuse to take on shipments to places like NYC or Washington DC – Many of them are subcontractors that can pick and choose whatever jobs they want.

However, we need to keep in mind how terrified the Canadian government was during their trucker protests; so terrified that they labeled the truckers as terrorists and started freezing the bank accounts of anyone supporting them. This action was against their own constitutional laws; that’s how effectively frightening a freight shutdown is to politicians.

Even so, if the US government responded in the same way as Canada, it still wouldn’t do much to stop a boycott. Tensions are extremely high and it’s only a matter of time before conflict erupts in one form or another. The political left (and their globalist handlers) have offered no indication whatsoever that they intend to back away from their current destructive path. Something has to give. Why not a trucker protest or red state protest cutting off blue regions from vital resources?

Unfortunately, there are still a number of conservatives and independents living in these cities that could be negatively affected by a freight shutdown along with their progressive neighbors. Maybe this strike never comes to fruition and everything will continue on as “normal.” Maybe not. The point is, anything can happen and the way our economy and supply chains currently function is not going to pass muster for much longer.

The average American has around one week’s worth of food in their pantry at any given time. With FEMA response in place a rationing system would be instituted over the course of several weeks, probably using a digital tracking method much like an EBT card. And make no mistake, there will be strings attached to any government rationing program: “Do you have the latest covid booster? No ration card until your shots are up to date. We see that you have registered firearms…you need to turn those in before you can get rations. We see that you’ve made problematic comments in your social media history, you may not be eligible.”

It takes around 7-10 days of zero food supply for panic to set into a population (when people finally realize things are not going back to normal). It takes two weeks for starvation to take a physical toll and three weeks for people to start dying. Riots and looting are inevitable, but that won’t solve the problem if there’s no food to loot.

Some people will argue that they only need to not be where the shortages are, but there’s no way to predict this. In the case of conservative trucker boycotts, the targeted areas are obvious, but that is only one scenario. There are a host of events that could cause a crippled supply chain in both rural and urban areas, including a mass immigration crisis or a nationwide grid down scenario.

The only viable solutions is to secure a long term food storage plan, and don’t forget the protein because western governments have become increasingly hostile against animal agriculture these days.  Food storage for each family for at least a year is essential. It doesn’t have to start there; even one month of food will give you an edge over most of the population and will ensure you don’t have to go begging to FEMA. But eventually a year’s supply or more is necessary (along with community organization for mutual security). This will give you time to establish a more permanent and sustainable food plan after the worst has happened.

You can see the storm that a logistical breakdown would cause. In 30 days or less a city like New York could be brought to its knees even with government intervention. On a national scale, regardless of the cause, the result would be about the same. Ultimately there are two kinds of people in the wake of these kinds of events – The people that planned ahead, and everyone else. It’s my hope that through education and encouragement we can convince enough of the populace to prepare so that this large percentage of Americans acts as a redundancy against catastrophe (leftists won’t listen, but maybe the rest of the public will). In other words, the goal is to give the public a natural immunity against supply chain collapse, so that when the crisis does strike the effects will be greatly diminished."
o

"Shoplifting In America Is Wildly Out Of Control"

"Shoplifting In America Is Wildly Out Of Control"
by Michael Snyder

"Shoplifters are going hog wild all over America, and our politicians seem powerless to stop this crisis. When I was growing up, shoplifting was something that was pretty rare. Once in a while some irresponsible idiot would slip a candy bar into his pocket, but it wasn’t something that retailers were too stressed out about. But now everything has changed. Retail “shrink” broke the 100 billion dollar barrier in 2022, and the final number for 2023 is expected to be even higher. Stuff is being stolen from our major retailers on an industrial scale, and this is having very serious consequences.

From coast to coast, retail locations are being permanently shut down because there is no end in sight to this madness. This is particularly true in our largest urban areas. In San Francisco, a Macy’s store that had been open for 77 years is being closed down, and employees are telling the press that shoplifting was the primary factor behind the decision…"Employees at Macy’s flagship San Francisco store in Union Square have blamed its planned closure on shoplifting – despite mayor London Breed claiming crime was not a factor. The Union Square store announced earlier this week it will be closing its doors after 77 years as part of a plan to close 150 locations across the nation over the next three years."

It isn’t just a few things that are going missing at that Macy’s store. According to one employee, the men’s department is being systematically looted on a daily basis…“It happens every day,” employee Steve Dalisay said. Hanging up blazers in the Macy’s sixth-floor men’s department, Dalisay said blazers, wallets and boxer briefs are the items most frequently stolen from his department. He said thieves take at least four blazers every day, adding that he typically sees about 10 wallets and 20 briefs stolen daily."

Another employee says that most of the shoplifting is being done by drug users and groups of teens… "Shoplifters, he said, tend to be in two categories: drug users going after specific items for fences or teens entering the store in teams on brazen shoplifting blitzes. “I’m not in charge of making the estimates of how much we lose in a day, but last year we were told the losses were in the millions,” the employee said. “It’s a big thing,” he added. “What we have learned is a lot of drug users have deals with the fencers. They’ll give the drug users a list of stuff from the store, and they’ll go try to execute the list.”


"Roughly 62,000 pounds of fentanyl smuggled into California was confiscated by authorities in 2023. The total amount of the potent synthetic opioid seized last year “is enough to potentially kill the global population nearly twice over,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Tuesday.
In 2023, the California National Guard supported other law enforcement agencies in counter-drug operations across the state, seizing a record 62,000 pounds of fentanyl at ports of entry, according to a news release from Newsom’s office."

That is certainly a lot of fentanyl. If you can believe it, the amount of fentanyl that was seized in the state in 2023 was more than 10 times greater than the amount that was seized in 2021…"Compared with just a few years ago, the amount of fentanyl seized by authorities has dramatically surged. In 2021, California authorities seized more than 5,300 pounds of the drug, with a street value of $64 million. In 2022 that rose to 28,000 pounds, with a street value of $230 million, based on the U.S. Department of Justice evaluation of illegal-drug values in the Los Angeles region."

We have never seen anything like this before. A lot of that fentanyl comes from Mexico, but a lot of it also comes from China. The streets of California cities are flooded with addicts, and they are going to do whatever they have to do to feed their addictions. So this shoplifting crisis is not going away.

At one hardware store in San Francisco, employees are now escorting customers around the store in a desperate attempt to reduce the level of shoplifting…"A longtime San Francisco business is trying something new to curb what it says has been “rampant shoplifting.” Fredericksen’s Hardware and Paint in Cow Hollow is now offering a one-on-one shopping experience. The idea is to separate actual customers from those looking to steal from the store.

During certain hours, Fredericksen’s blocks off part of the store’s entrance and has people wait for an employee to help them instead of allowing people to just roam the store. The store’s longtime manager says it’s a move that was worth trying for the sake of the business, their employees, and their customers." I think that we will soon see many more retailers offer “one-on-one shopping experiences” to their customers.

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 25, 2024

Major retailers just can’t keep losing inventory like they have been. The amount of retail “shrink” in the United States has more than doubled in recent years, and it just continues to explode higher…Shrink is the industry term for inventory loss often attributed to theft, damage, or errors. Once simply considered a cost of doing business, shrink resulted in retail profit losses exceeding a staggering $100 billion in 2022.

What’s more problematic, the trend of shrink appears to be far from reversing course, with losses more than doubling over the past five years. In an industry where margins and profitability are already under significant pressure, the rise in retail shrink is capturing the attention of all levels within retail organizations.

Sadly, there are some parts of the country where the looting of retailers has essentially become a way of life. In fact, this has even been happening in our nation’s capital…"A Washington D.C. CVS store is shutting its doors after being repeatedly ransacked by thieves, the chain has confirmed. The pharmacy, located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, went viral last October when videos emerged of it totally stripped of all its products after being targeted by a teen gang."

Staff claim more than 45 schoolkids would go into the store and steal chips and drinks in the morning, after their classes and late at night. It will close on February 29, according to WTTG-TV. Those kids wouldn’t have been able to loot that store multiple times per day if they had been put in prison the first time they did it. But our politicians don’t want such harsh laws. They want to coddle the criminals, and as a result much of the rest of the population is living in fear. This is just another example of how upside down our society has become. The solutions to our national shoplifting crisis are simple enough, but I doubt that we will see things turn around any time soon."

Gregory Mannarino, "Hyper-Alert! Ignore The Propaganda! The FED Is On A Fixed Path To Destroy You!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/29/24
"Hyper-Alert! Ignore The Propaganda! 
The FED Is On A Fixed Path To Destroy You!"
Comments here:

Adventures With Danno, "Massive Sale At Kroger Right Now!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 2/29/24
"Massive Sale At Kroger Right Now!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Kroger and are noticing they are having a massive sale on many different items. I take you shopping with me as we check out some of these great bargains. So get your notepad ready, as you will definitely want to take advantage of some of these great deals!
Comments here:
o

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Jeremiah Babe, "Your Money Can Disappear With The Press Of A Button; WW3 Is Closer Than You Think"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/28/24
"Your Money Can Disappear With The Press Of A Button; 
WW3 Is Closer Than You Think"
Comments here:

Gerald Celente, "America: It's A Criminal Organization, Sickness in Front Of Everyone's Eyes"

Gerald Celente, 2/28/24
"America: It's A Criminal Organization,
 Sickness in Front Of Everyone's Eyes"
"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:

Bill Bonner, "A Predictable, Avoidable Disaster"

"A Predictable, Avoidable Disaster"
Stolen Russian loot, forever foreign wars 
and the Fed's funny money...
by Bill Bonner

“If it is easy for us to go anywhere and do anything, 
we will always be going somewhere and doing something.”
~ U.S. Sen. Richard B. Russell,
 then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee

Youghal, Ireland - "Sin on top of crime. Scam riding on a flimflam. Mistake hard on the heels of an error. And all of it part of a pattern.

We summarize last week’s cogitation… It is not that we know anything more than you do…but we aim to avoid the Big Loss, and here is where we think it may come from. That is, it will come from the world of megapolitics…the deeper, hidden forces behind the headlines.

Donald Trump has warned Europe that it better pay more for its own defense. But, defense against what? After three years of war, Russia has shown that it can barely capture an area, right on its flank, of Russian speakers who want to be part of the Russian federation, and used to call their country New Russia. The idea that Russia, with a GDP less than the value of Nvidia, poses a threat to Germany and France, with a GDP thrice as large, is a fantasy. Why then should Europeans waste money on more weapons?

Stolen Loot: In yesterday’s news, America’s Secretary of the Treasury suggests stealing money from Russia. Why? So the Ukraine can buy more weapons. AP is on the story: "Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday offered her strongest public support yet for the idea of liquidating roughly $300 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank assets and using them for Ukraine's long-term reconstruction. “It is necessary and urgent for our coalition to find a way to unlock the value of these immobilized assets to support Ukraine’s continued resistance and long-term reconstruction,” Yellen said in remarks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors are meeting this week.

The US is headed towards a predictable, avoidable disaster – a classic denouement for a great empire. It is spending too much money and trying to bully too many people in too many places; this will probably lead to the end of the empire. But that is still far into the future. More immediate…and inevitable…is a debt crisis. Defaults. Depression. Inflation. Whining…wailing…teeth grinding – the yoush.

Why then, do the deciders not do something about it…something so obvious and easy as cutting spending now? Why? Because this is megapolitical problem, not a political problem. The interests of the deciders – of both parties – and the interests of The People are at odds. Cutting back on US deficits would require cutbacks in the one and only area of discretionary spending that might actually make a difference. But it is also the area that cannot be controlled. The dogs of war have slipped their leash. The firepower industry – including the whole ‘empire budget’ of foreign aid, spooks, university and think tank grants, contracts to ‘defense’ suppliers, and overseas bases – is the biggest, richest, most powerful single business in the empire. It is so big and so rich that it can no longer be brought to heel. The federal government, academia, media, Wall Street – all have been captured.

The Firepower Industry - When Europeans spend more on ‘defense,’ they buy weapons from the US firepower industry. When the Ukraine gets more money, its corrupt leaders skim a portion; the rest buys supplies from America’s firepower industry…and lobbyists to argue for more. Is this ‘Russian propaganda?’ Maybe. More likely, it is the megapolitical reality of a late, degenerate empire.

The empire budget is the biggest ‘discretionary’ item of US federal spending. If the feds can’t cut there they can’t make meaningful cuts anywhere. And if they don’t make very substantial cuts, the US will continue to run deficits…bigger deficits…until the whole system blows up.

That is not a prediction. It is just math. Already, the interest on the federal debt is about $1 trillion. Much of the debt was contracted, however, at some of the lowest interest rates in history. As those bonds are rolled over, they will be refinanced at higher rates (barring a freakish return to ultra-low interest rates).

At the current pace, the debt will soon reach $40 trillion. At 5% interest, that would be annual payments not of $1 trillion but of $2 trillion. Tax receipts last year were about $4.5 trillion. Assume they rise to $5 trillion (with no recession). That will mean that 40% of all tax receipts must be earmarked for debt service.

Cometh the Gunslingers: How could the feds do that? Will they just stop sending out Social Security checks? Will they just stiff creditors and default on the debt? Will they turn out the lights in the Capitol…serve only cold sandwiches in the Senate dining room? What they won’t do is cut back on ‘military’ spending.

Typically, the armed forces are controlled by using the power of the purse. The firepower industry relies on civilian funding – either from private lenders (such as Nathan Rothschild, who funded Wellington in the Napoleonic wars) or from tax revenue. Such funding was always limited…thus keeping the gunslingers in check.

But now, the Military-Industrial complex controls the purse. The US invited its military to ‘cross the Rubicon’ when it fudged its money system. Post-1971 Congress could run deficits and appropriate more and more money for its enforcers without raising taxes. And they could use their billions to support think tanks that explain why we need to spend more money on ‘defense,’ and lobbyists who tell Members of Congress that they may face some stiff competition if they don’t vote for the next military appropriations bill, and ‘journalists’ to whoop for more war in the newspapers.

Stephen Walt in ‘Foreign Policy Magazine,” sums up the situation: "The United States Couldn’t Stop Being Stupid if It Wanted To." There’s too much money in being stupid. And now, with more money than ever before, it is the Military/Industrial Complex that calls the shots, not the elected government. And since what it wants more than anything else is more power and more money…spending on firepower cannot be cut, the budget can’t be balanced, and disaster can’t be avoided."

Musical Interlude: Kevin Kern, "Another Realm"

Full screen recommended.
Kevin Kern, "Another Realm"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait, though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars.
Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in gigantic bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past."

"Live All You Can..."

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much
matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life.
If you haven't had that, what have you had?"
- Henry James

Paulo Coelho, "The Water Pitcher"

"The Water Pitcher"
by Paulo Coelho

"A legend tells of a man who used to carry water every day to his village, using two large pitchers tied on either end of a piece of wood, which he placed across his shoulders. One of the pitchers was older than the other and was full of small cracks; every time the man came back along the path to his house, half of the water was lost. For two years, the man made the same journey. The younger pitcher was always very proud of the way it did its work and was sure that it was up to the task for which it had been created, while the other pitcher was mortally ashamed that it could carry out only half its task, even though it knew that the cracks were the result of long years of work.

So ashamed was the old pitcher that, one day, while the man was preparing to fill it up with water from the well, it decided to speak to him. "I wish to apologize because, due to my age, you only manage to take home half the water you fill me with, and thus quench only half the thirst awaiting you in your house."

The man smiled and said: "When we go back, be sure to take a careful look at the path." The pitcher did as the man asked and noticed many flowers and plants growing along one side of the path. "Do you see how much more beautiful nature is on your side of the road?" the man remarked. "I knew you had cracks, but I decided to take advantage of them. I sowed vegetables and flowers there, and you always watered them. I've picked dozens of roses to decorate my house, and my children have had lettuce, cabbage and onions to eat. If you were not the way you are, I could never have done this. We all, at some point, grow old and acquire other qualities, and these can always be turned to good advantage."

The Universe

"Friends are friends because they've discovered how much they have in common. Opponents, adversaries, and foes are friends too, who have not yet discovered this. It's as if a band of amazing angels got together, before time even began, to celebrate their common heritage, sense of adventure, creativity and savoir faire, and decided to meet in the distant future, amongst the jungles of time and space, upon a distant little blue planet, to see how long it would take for each and every one of them to discover who they really are. 8 billion angels, to be precise."
"Your friend,"
The Universe

"Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!"

"The Whole World Is Terrified Of What Iran Just Announced, Israel Is In Total Shock!


Full screen recommended.
Geopolitics TV, 2/28/24
"The Whole World Is Terrified Of What 
Iran Just Announced, Israel Is In Total Shock!

"The Iran nuclear agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), represents a significant diplomatic achievement aimed at addressing one of the most pressing geopolitical concerns of the 21st century – Iran's nuclear program. Negotiated over several years and finalized in July 2015, the JCPOA involved a complex framework of commitments and concessions from both Iran and a group of world powers, including the United States, China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Central to the JCPOA was Iran's agreement to curb its nuclear activities, including reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium, dismantling centrifuges used for enrichment, and modifying key nuclear facilities to limit their capability to produce nuclear weapons. In return, Iran received significant sanctions relief, unlocking billions of dollars in frozen assets and gaining access to global markets for its oil and other commodities. This economic relief was crucial for Iran, as years of sanctions had severely impacted its economy and isolated it from the international community. Moreover, the JCPOA established a robust inspection and verification regime, overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to ensure Iran's compliance with its nuclear commitments. This unprecedented level of international scrutiny provided assurances to the world community that Iran's nuclear program would remain peaceful and transparent.

The deal was praised by many as a diplomatic achievement and evidence of the effectiveness of international diplomacy in resolving difficult security issues. It illustrated that even in the midst of enduring hostilities and profound mistrust between groups, discussion and compromise might result in tangible answers. However, the JCPOA has faced significant challenges and criticism since its inception. Critics argue that the agreement did not go far enough in constraining Iran's nuclear ambitions and failed to address other destabilizing activities, such as Iran's support for proxy groups in the Middle East and its ballistic missile program. Additionally, opponents, particularly in the United States, raised concerns about the temporary nature of certain restrictions in the agreement, which would eventually expire, allowing Iran to potentially resume its nuclear activities at a later date. Stay tuned as we delve into the Iran nuclear deal and how its effects on geopolitics."
Comments here:

"In Ordinary Times..."

"In ordinary times we get along surprisingly well, on the whole, without ever discovering what our faith really is. If, now and again, this remote and academic problem is so unmannerly as to thrust its way into our minds, there are plenty of things we can do to drive the intruder away. We can get the car out or go to a party or to the cinema or read a detective story or have a row with a district council or write a letter to the papers about the habits of the nightjar or Shakespeare's use of nautical metaphor. Thus we build up a defense mechanism against self-questioning because, to tell the truth, we are very much afraid of ourselves."
- Dorothy L. Sayers

Travelling with Russell, "I Went to Europe's Largest Indoor Theme Park (In Russia)"

Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell, 2/28/24
"I Went to Europe's Largest Indoor Theme Park (In Russia)"
"I decided to spend the day at the Largest Indoor Theme park in Russia. Dream Island Theme Park is home to Europe's largest indoor all-season amusement park. The main building includes a covered area of 300 thousand square meters."
Comments here:

The Daily "Near You?"

Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Dan, I Allegedly, "Get Ready for Surge Pricing on Hamburgers"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 2/28/24
"Get Ready for Surge Pricing on Hamburgers"
"This is insane. The CEO of Wendy’s is proposing that they charge surge pricing and get more money from you when the restaurant is more busy. Just like an Uber when there’s a lot of traffic you pay more. Well now at Wendy’s when it’s busy, you’re not gonna know how much it’s going to be and it could be one to four dollars more for your hamburger in your meal. This is insane."
Comments here:

"Global Debt Bubble Of $2.3 Quadrillion"

Full screen recommended.
The Good Ship "World Economy" meets the perfect 
storm of the $2.3 QUADRILLION derivatives wave.
o
"Global Debt Bubble Of $2.3 Quadrillion"
by Egon Von Greyerz

"As I have outlined in many articles, these towers mentioned above have been instrumental in creating a global debt bubble of $300 trillion plus derivatives and unfunded liabilities of around $2 quadrillion, most of which will turn into debt in the next decade or less. So even if the world can avoid a major nuclear war, it is likely to suffer massive repercussions from the financial calamity coming next. As Gandhi said: “There is sufficiency in the world for Man's need but not for his greed.”

To create $2.3 quadrillion of global liabilities has nothing to do with man’s need but only with the greed of a few at the expense of mankind. When the nuclear financial bubble bursts we will see an implosion of asset prices in real terms by 75-90% as I have outlined in many articles like here.

In my article “In The End The $ Goes To Zero And The Us Defaults” , I also explain that “there is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion” as von Mises stated.

So even if the world survives the threat of a nuclear war, a collapse of the financial system is absolutely inevitable. The greed and the adoration of the golden calf that some parts of the world have practiced in the last 50 years, will not go unpunished. This major transformation coming will be like a financial nuclear event. After a difficult transition, the world will not only come out of it with a much sounder foundation but also based on much better human values than currently."
o
Full screen recommended.
"US Debt of $30 Trillion Visualized in Stacks of Physical Cash"
For conceptualizing the amount of debt being discussed. This was 2 years ago when the debt was only $30 trillion. Now it's $34,350 trillion, and about to explode higher. Try to imagine $2.5 QUADRILLION of derivatives, an impossibility really, inconceivable. As the glorious Mogambo Guru said, "We're so freakin' doomed!" Oh, we are...
Comments here:
o
"Derivatives Time Bomb - 
Is YOUR Bank On This List?"
by Hal Turner

For years there has been much talk about how "Derivatives" are a gigantic problem, and if Derivatives Markets collapse, it is the end of the financial world as we know it. We looked at Bank exposure to "Derivatives" and below is a list that will likely frighten you. US Banks are on the hook for two Quadrillion dollars, in "Derivatives." Is **YOUR** bank on this list? If it is, ask yourself "If they LOST all this money, would MY money still be safe in this bank?" Act accordingly.

Below is the list of United States banks and how much exposure they have to "Derivatives." Two quadrillion dollars is the total notional value of derivative contracts off-balance sheet. Need collateral. It’s notional. Not sustainable. Triffins dilemma. Dollar shortage. More collateral. But from where?

Of course, net notional value is completely different than directional risk. Just seeing these numbers does NOT indicate how much the bank itself is on-the-hook for. Moreover, there is still value in the underlying commodities for many of these derivatives. People that think these are all bilaterally netted (Hedged) and those people are partially correct. But that bilateral netting will lead to the complete collapse of equities markets.

The numbers are utterly staggering and logic dictates the banks with the highest exposure, have the most to lose. Being that derivatives are interest rate sensitive, for most of these banks, it’s a doomsday scenario.

The majority of people don’t understand monetary inflation let alone derivatives. So think of it like this: Derivatives are IOU’s backed by other IOU’s. Hustling fast money by selling chickens before they hatch, 5 generations in advance, hoping all the eggs hatch because the money was already spent on fees for a loan to pay interest on credit card debt.

Below is a graphic known as Exeter's Pyramid. It shows financial risk from the safest, GOLD; to the least safe: Derivatives.
Banks Ranked by Derivatives: The following is a ranking of all banks in the United States in terms of "Derivatives". This comparison is based on data reported on 2022-06-30.
View complete, shocking, list here:
Related:
o
So, if it's truly hopeless, and it is, then why bother?
If you were facing a firing squad, and we all are...
wouldn't you at least want to know why? 
And who stood you against the wall? I would...

“Societal Collapse”

“Societal Collapse”
by Hardscrabble Farmer

“Anyone interested in understanding the mechanics of human history must first and foremost understand the cycles of Nature and the nature of living things. There exists a balance in every closed system; creation and dissolution, growth and decay, life and death. There is no escape from this dynamic, no means by which one can exist without the other. Sometimes societies ascend, but eventually, over time, they collapse.

For a very long time America has benefited from exploiting the reserves of other nations – their labor, their resources, and their environments in a form of cultural strip mining. It has given the appearance of a sustainable system that required no effort to store surpluses or to build reserves for the future. There has been a perpetual live for the moment feel to our experience that was based on such illusory systems as credit and fiat.

These things are not real. They are manifest realities, things that exist only because a critical mass of people agree to believe in them rather than what is reflected by actuality. When such time occurs that a large enough number of people abandon their participation in that system, reality rushes in to the void left behind.

A large part of what we are seeing – as described to us by experts or media – is occult in nature, hidden not by design or subterfuge, but due to the ignorance or stupidity of the mass of men. They no longer recognize that a large part of what is taking place on the streets of cities like Portland and Minneapolis is simply a mating ritual for a generation that was so atomized and dissolute that they had no opportunity to make real life connections with the opposite sex except through electronic devices. Living beings cannot - despite the assurances of the Musks and Weils - exist by proxy.

They must eat, sleep, perform some activity during their waking hours, seek companionship, etc. These drives can be sublimated or suppressed either by societal controls or chemical dependencies, but they cannot be removed from our core drive. This is what happens when humans are thwarted from fulfilling their animal destinies – the drives of their particular species. If you eliminate the family, you do not stop fornication. If you eradicate healthy foods and a connection to its production, you do not eliminate hunger. Thus the dramatic rise in obesity and the ubiquity of pornography.

Everything exists in context, there is no way to eliminate the void left behind in a fatherless home without a corresponding flow of the feminine. A mind that has no reason will seek to replace it with an equal measure of emotion.

The Western Cultural experience that gained prominence and near global hegemony over the past several centuries is in terminal decline, accelerated by the opportunistic interference of competing cultural spheres, but predominantly by its own senescence. We are, in short, spent. What we are seeing is not a political or ideological struggle – again, manifest realities – but the natural process of a cultural expiration. The West is dying and with it all of the ideals and symbols that were attached to its rise.

Just as an elderly family member in their last days makes a point to give away their possessions, America is passing its treasures on; freedom of speech, the iconic symbols of Manifest Destiny like the statues of its heroes, even its own birthright to the rising of a new cultural expression, one that is less concerned with things like honor, nobility, truth and justice. None of those things exist in Nature, but rather are created and used like iron tools to achieve an end. Now that its energy is spent they serve no purpose, especially to the multitudes of others who share a far more dynamic and exuberant expression of collective identity.

This is a natural event, no different from a forest fire, but one which applies to the human species specifically. This is how we clear the ground for whatever is to replace us and we will serve as its fertilizer.”

"A Wise Man Once Said..."

“A wise man once said you can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. What he meant is nothing comes without a price. So before you go into battle, you better decide how much you’re willing to lose. Too often, going after what feels good means letting go of what you know is right, and letting someone in means abandoning the walls you’ve spent a lifetime building. Of course, the toughest sacrifices are the ones we don’t see coming, when we don’t have time to come up with a strategy to pick a side or to measure the potential loss. When that happens, when the battle chooses us and not the other way around, that’s when the sacrifice can turn out to be more than we can bear.”
- “Dr. Meredith Grey”, “Grey’s Anatomy"

"How It Really Is"

"The Future..."

 

Canadian Prepper, "Russia Moving Nuclear Weapons, NATO Entering Ukraine"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 2/28/24
"Russia Moving Nuclear Weapons, 
NATO Entering Ukraine"
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 2/28/24"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/28/24
"Prepare Yourself! Be Ready! 
Things Are Going From Very Bad To Much Worse Rapidly"
Comments here:
o
Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/28/24
"Your Path To Serfdom! You Are Being
 Forced Into Accepting Neo-Feudalism"
Comments here:

John Wilder, "Kardashians And The Cult Of Growth"

"Kardashians And The Cult Of Growth"
by John Wilder

“The economy grew at an annualized rate of 4.9% in the third quarter of 2023.” And my response: so what? There is a Cult of Growth in the world. In the United States, at least, that growth was literally in the DNA of the young country – there was lots of space and it was only filled with some pesky Indians who didn’t have a lot of resistance to smallpox or lead, some buffalo, no zoning, and lots of empty land to build Blockbuster Video® stores.

So, off my ancestors went. The idea was simple – fill the country from sea to sea with farms and businesses, eventually mines and mills and railroads and factories and highways. No one really planned it, and there weren’t economists reporting on unemployment figures to Rutherford B. Hayes.

The growth that the United States experienced was amazing, and it was real. People built those farms and businesses and mines and railroads and factories and highways. That sort of growth allowed the creation of amazing wealth and prosperity because it was enduring and built upon itself. In those decades of growth, the United States experienced not diminishing returns but increasing returns as the steel mills fed the oil boom which fed the creation of the automotive industry and interstates.

Add in a few thousand nuclear weapons, and this growth of actual productivity and wealth production allowed the country to achieve tremendous national prosperity during a time of relative safety. Some would maintain that this prosperity peaked in 1973, but when you look at the relative availability of exceedingly cheap “stuff” – it was probably later than that. Perhaps a good case could be made for the 1980s when Blockbuster Videos™ roamed the land like a great majestic beast, spewing properly rewound videotapes and Raisinets® to all. Regardless of when that exact date is, it is likely past.

What was once achievable on a single income now requires (in many cases) two incomes. People of the past always thought that new labor-saving devices would accrue benefits to the worker, and we’d see a two- or three-day work week. Instead, we see people working more hours for less (relative) pay.

Why is that? I mean, the economy grew, right? Yes, it did. But the way the economy grew, fueled by illegal aliens contributed to lower wages. The argument could be made that that the economic activity, the growth from these added workers helped everyone. Well, no. Illegals are certainly a net negative when everything is accounted for – welfare, roads, schools, medical care, voting GloboLeft, and Kardashian body hair.

And the “growth” that we saw in many cases was the productive bit of the economy being hollowed out and shipped off overseas. Why? Because regulation increased in the United States (it never goes down) and it was easier to start and run a factory in Malasia than it is in Maine. And if iMegaCorp® can ship the factory over and increase corporate profits by 2%, they’ll do it.

Why? They’re owned by the people who make bad growth. What’s bad growth? Well, the financial sector. It should be set up not as a casino or a place where the businesses make money selling money. Growth is not always good. And it’s not always desirable. Let’s take an example: if I decided I wanted to gain a pound of weight next week, the healthy way to do it would be to put on a pound of muscle through exercise. But the easy way to put on a pound would be to pound some beers and milk shakes.

The United States could do the same – we could increase the size of the economy by producing more and better cars or computers or flat panel displays, or bulldozers. Or, we could increase the size of the economy by ChaseCitiFargo™ charging extra fees on overdrafts and GoldmanBlackRock© buying a company, loading it up with debt that it can’t pay, and then selling it piecemeal for a 15% profit. One of these makes a more productive society. The other is the equivalent of two people selling a house back and forth for 10% more each time and talking about all the wealth that they created.

So, not all growth is good, and not all increased profit is increased wealth. One economy can make stuff, the other just makes magical made-up profits. I’ve made the argument for some time that China’s economy is fine. It is. They know how to make stuff, so they are fundamentally more stable than the United States because the growth in China wasn’t in financial shenanigans, it was in productive stuff.

Does China have all sorts of debt? Yes, yes they do. Have they produced a lot of suspect crap in the past, especially for internal consumption? Yes, yes they have, and probably still do. Doesn’t matter. Their economy isn’t based on “growth” that occurs only on paper, and only due to paper even though people smoke in China to get fresh air. They don’t worship the Cult of Growth. Do I want to live there? Nope. Again, there’s good news – this system can’t last, so it won’t. The ride, however may be bumpy . . . as we get to rebuild it – on healthy growth this time."

"They Want You To Starve And Be Poor, People Can't Survive On Mickey Mouse Jobs; Bank Closures Soar"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/27/24
"They Want You To Starve And Be Poor, People Can't 
Survive On Mickey Mouse Jobs; Bank Closures Soar"
Comments here:

Greg Hunter, "Entering a Global Great Depression"

"Entering a Global Great Depression"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Economic analyst and financial writer David Morgan has gone against the majority in the past with predictions that seemed unbelievable at the time. One prediction last year is the Fed not cutting interest rates in 2023. The Fed didn’t, and Morgan is still predicting there will be no Fed interest rate cut anytime soon. Now, with a record high stock market, Morgan is predicting “We are entering into a global depression the likes of which the world has never seen.” The warning signs are many as Morgan explains, “When we enter a depression, people cannot keep up with inflation. So, they work even harder or more hours to try to make ends meet.”

Another sign, says Morgan, is all the bankrupt businesses that thrive on disposable income such as “Gold’s Gym, Neman Marcus, Hertz, JC Penny, GNC, Pier One, Belk’s founded in 1888, Revlon, David’s Bridal and Bed, Bath and Beyond. That is just a few, and that is the real economy. What you see on that list of bankrupt stores primarily is disposable income. That is a sure sign of a depression. This is a clear, concise and accurate picture of the truth. You don’t have to tell this to the girl with three jobs. She knows what is going on.”

Other signs of a coming depression include “stress over money, and this is the number one thing people are stressing about today,” according to Morgan. In the age of money printing and unpayable debt, there is going to be an end, and the end, according to Morgan, has never been closer than today. Morgan points out, “Money is usually the root cause of stress. I have dedicated my work to inform everybody of what is coming and tell everybody what the difference is between money and a currency and what happens at the end of these great inflations. There is ‘nothing new under the sun.’ We have all been there and done that, but a great depression has never been global before. This is why the system is hinged on the viability of the US dollar, what supercedes it and what moves next.”

Morgan says other signs include, “increasing war, trade barriers, such as sanctions, transportation /supply chain problems such as sinking ships in the Red Sea, and a much lower standard of living.” So, these are signs of a global great depression? Morgan says, “Correct. If you survive the destruction of the old system, then you have the New World Order, which is pushing one world government, one global currency and, in time, one world religion. That’s the direction it is going, but there is a lot of push-back. I would not say we are losing, but I would not say we are winning either. I want to win, and I want freedom for everyone.”

Morgan says the dollar will hold together for now and predicts, “It will be the most trusted asset (behind gold and silver) until it blows up. The dollar will remain quite strong, but you will know we are getting near the end when gold will be increasing as the dollar is increasing. The dollar’s value looks strong, but gold is going to be going up at the same time.”

In closing, Morgan says, “I am sure the entire world is getting ready to dive into a global great depression, and that is the way I see it. The globalists are telling you ‘you will own nothing and you will be happy.’ They are warning you and letting you know the direction they plan on going.” There is much more in the 46-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One on One with David Morgan, founder of “The Morgan Report,” and producer of the upcoming documentary film called “Silver Sunrise”: 

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Musical Interlude: 2002, "The End Is a Beginning"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "The End Is a Beginning"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"What's happening at the center of the Trifid Nebula? Three prominent dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together. Mountains of opaque dust appear near the bottom, while other dark filaments of dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula. A single massive star visible near the center causes much of the Trifid's glow. The Trifid, cataloged as M20, is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulas known. 
The star forming nebula lies about 9,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). The region pictured here spans about 10 light years. The featured image is a composite with luminance taken from an image by the 8.2-m ground-based Subaru Telescope, detail provided by the 2.4-m orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, color data provided by Martin Pugh and image assembly and processing provided by Robert Gendler."