Friday, March 8, 2024

Bill Bonner, "The Komodo Dragon of Foggy Bottom"

"The Komodo Dragon of Foggy Bottom"
Goodbye and good riddance to Victoria Nuland
by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland - "So long Toria! And good riddance. We watched part of the State of the Union address last night. Mr. Biden is a professional politician – with more than 50 years of campaigning experience. Last night, he sounded like what he is…a pro who has gotten old.

Even with the teleprompter in front of him, some things he said didn’t make sense. He was describing his success with the American Rescue Plan, for example, but then said that “every American voted against it.” And some things were just typically dishonest. His administration provided the weapons and approved the massacre in Gaza. Now, he and Vice President Harris are attempting to put themselves on the side of the angels, as defenders of Palestinian lives. Biden began his speech, to a cheering, jackass crowd in a Joint Session of Congress, with an opening line: “If I were smart, I’d go home now.” He was right; he’s not smart enough to do it.

Blood and Misery: Today, we write about people who are smarter…more cunning…and more dangerous than Biden himself…the people who actually run the government. Victoria Nuland was in the news this week; she fell off the ‘glass cliff’ at the State Department. She will probably go to work at some other arm of the Deep State. A think tank most likely. One financed by the ‘defense suppliers’ undoubtedly.

Ms. Nuland is the wife of Robert Kagan. The two are a ‘neo-con power couple’…a pair of big-shot meddlers…spilling treasure, blood and misery wherever they go. And doing it in the name of (what else?) democracy. Ms. Nuland was a foreign policy wonk…and later…advisor to the Clintons…the Bush team…Obama and Biden. The only recent president she didn’t advise was Trump, largely because her husband had made such a public display of disgust with The Donald that his wife was persona non grata.

The problem for Mr. Kagan was that Trump was insufficiently bloodthirsty; he threw his support to the more reliable warmonger, Hillary Clinton. Not that it mattered. Republicans, Democrats…teeters and totters…it didn’t make any difference to Kagan or his wife. Ms. Nuland is a pro, too. Whomever the people elected, it was she who was large and in charge. Swamp Critters ruled; and she was the komodo dragon of Foggy Bottom. Besides, the new president wouldn’t know Donetsk from donuts. Ms. Nuland would guide him.

Like Hunter Biden, Toria had a special regard for the Ukraine. Her family was from there. She spoke Russian and had studied Tolstoi, Pushkin, and Dostoevsky in college. Mostly she had a special affinity – like Madeleine Albright, in whose dreadful footsteps she trod – for the firepower industry, which she and her husband saw as the source of their wealth, power, status…and a better world for everyone.

Professional Warmongers: Some people like war. Old Testament relics, God must speak to them directly. He tells them they can get away with murder…in His name. Robert Kagan argued, just before the invasion of Iraq, that fighting was just part of the US character and its tradition. Unlike the French and Germans, whose diplomatic solutions he despised, “Americans are from Mars, Europeans are from Venus,” he wrote.

Every society must have its retards and psychopaths. The real goal of a decent government is to keep them away from power. Instead, in today’s USA, they are invited in. Then, like a gambler in charge of the church treasury, it is just a matter of time until the money disappears.

Ms. Nuland led a privileged life. She went to the very private school, Choate, where the current tuition in $67,000, including room and board, we presume. From there, she entered Brown University and then slipped easily into America’s foreign policy community.

Her career as a shill for the firepower industry probably began in the 1990s, when she worked with Strobe Talbot in the Clinton Administration. Strobe, like Nuland, went to a private school in Connecticut, then to Yale and became a ‘Russia expert.’ (Coincidentally, he was at Oxford – along with Robert Reich, Bill Clinton and our old friend, Jim Davidson…from whom we gained many useful insights). In 1999, voters asked for a change…something new; they picked George W. Bush over Clinton VP Al Gore. Bush promised a more ‘modest’ foreign policy. But what voters got was more of Ms. Nuland.

There are only two key issues in government – how it raises and spends its money…and against whom it goes to war. Everything else is a footnote. But on the two important issues, American voters have almost no say. Foreign policy is determined by the Foreign Policy Establishment, working hand in glove with the rest of the firepower industry’s shills and toadies – the press, the universities, Congress, and the bureaucracy.

Toria’s Agenda: Ms. Nuland had been on the job with the Bush team for only a few months when the 9/11 twin towers got blown up. What luck! This afforded a great opportunity for the warmongers to strut their stuff. The firepower industry had weapons galore. And as Madame Albright had said, what good were they if we couldn’t use them?

But use them on whom? The 9/11 attackers were all dead. Their alleged accomplices were being rounded up…for torture sessions. Where was a worthy enemy? Ms. Nuland was on the case. She, her husband, and her brother-in-law helped steer the Bush team into America’s first and biggest-debacle of the 21st century, its attack on Iraq.

Everybody now knows that the whole war was based on a lie…and was a complete disaster. So, you’d think that a mistake like that – $2.5 trillion down the drain…1 million dead – would set your career back. In Ancient Greece, those who proposed wars…that turned out badly…were executed. Unsuccessful Roman commanders, with a sense of dignity, “fell upon their swords.’ More recently, failed Japanese generals committed suicide in a gruesome ritual…taking our their own intestines until they bled to death.

But in America’s Deep State a failed leader can expect a promotion. Soon, Ms. Nuland was advising Barack Obama. Obama didn’t want to get the US embroiled in a war with Russia. But that was exactly what was on Toria’s agenda. She had a hand in the Maidan revolution – replacing the Ukraine’s elected leader with hacks who were friendlier to the US. She then blocked efforts at diplomacy, putting Vladimir Putin in a corner. The result was war.

But now, after an ill-advised summer offensive promoted by the US “we” are losing that war too. And the deeper Deep State of the Foreign Policy Establishment is tossing Nuland off the cliff. Most likely, they want to get her out of the way so they can settle with Russia…and move on to their next debacle. Whatever the actual cause of her departure, it is a relief to get her off the federal payroll. Stoning would be better. But we take what we can get."

The Daily "Near You?"

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"For Nothing Is Fixed..."

"For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out."
- James Baldwin

"We are fast moving into something, we are fast flung into something like asteroids cast into space by the death of a planet, we the people of earth are cast into space like burning asteroids and if we wish not to disintegrate into nothingness we must begin to now hold onto only the things that matter while letting go of all that doesn't. For when all of our dust and ice deteriorates into the cosmos we will be left only with ourselves and nothing else. So if you want to be there in the end, today is the day to start holding onto your children, holding onto your loved ones; onto those who share your soul. Harbor and anchor into your heart justice, truth, courage, bravery, belief, a firm vision, a steadfast and sound mind. Be the person of meaningful and valuable thoughts. Don't look to the left, don't look to the right; we simply don't have the time. Never be afraid of fear."
- C. JoyBell C

"Nothing New Under the Sun"

"Nothing New Under the Sun"

"Yes, the times change with the tides; yet the tales, like the surf, sound on in familiar perpetuity and with steady repetition. In the modern era, during the great clash of civilizations currently underway, there will be no new, great and ghastly crusades. Only resistance or surrender. In America, just as her tide recedes from the world, in the end it may become Man overboard, and every man for himself. The sun rises. The sun sets.

As sand through an hour-glass, or waves rolling over every shore, so too, do our journeys mark passageways through time; and, in the end, our navigation may, indeed, depend upon guidance, like stars, shining down from heaven upon what we know, over the decisions we make; on the destinies we choose. And, of course, there will be losses incurred during the storms.

So, we raise our sails and pray for the prosperous winds of Providence to guide our ways and guard our lives through uncharted seas. Perhaps it's true that fortune finds and favors the faithful above all. Even still, those who believe, and those who doubt, and those who sleep, all do drift and blow by the same breeze. The winds of change are on us. They've always been here, steadfast and old as time itself. Like the earth. Nothing new under the sun."
- Doug "Uncola" Lynn
Marmalade, "Reflections of My Life"

Dan, I Allegedly, "No More Real Estate Agents"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 3/8/24
"No More Real Estate Agents"
"The Richmond Federal Reserve Bank just issued its first report for 2024. This was a scathing 42 page report on real estate agents and the amount of commission that they are paid. It is going to be game changing."
Comments here:

"Wars And Rumors Of War"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 3/8/24
"Alert! 48 Hour Security Threat In Russia, 
Nuclear Forces Ready; US Troops Deploying"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 3/8/24
"Israel To Formally Declare War Against Hezbollah 
After This Day Of March? Tel Aviv Sets Deadline"
Comments here:
Really want to do that Israel? You cowardly monsters are good at shooting defenseless old people, women and children, but Hezbollah with it's 100,000 very well trained and equipped professional soldiers, many battle-hardened veterans of the 10 year Syrian civil war, having massive artillery resources and 150,000 missiles, Hezbollah will crush you. And if Iran, Turkey, Syria, Egypt and Iraq join the Houthis in declaring war Israel will cease to exist...
o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 3/8/2
"'Yes, We Fired Shots At Palestinians':
 Israeli Army's Big Admission In Gaza Aid 'Massacre' Probe"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended
Scott Riter, 3/8/24
"Iran Aided The Houthis In The Red Sea, 
Israel Had A Strategic Failure In Gaza"
Comments here:

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 3/8/24"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 3/8/24"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Super Tuesday was this week, and Trump ran that table. He won 14 out of 15 primary states. Nikki Haley finally stopped embarrassing herself and gave up. Meanwhile, Joe Biden gave the State Of The Union address and left out the real things he should have been talking about. Here’s my short list: The border, Ukraine war and US military boots on the ground there, the Fani Willis/Trump RICO case pushed by the White House falling apart, flying 320,000 illegals into America and the federal government involved in massive sex trafficking are just a few of the things that should have been talked about Thursday night. The country is falling apart, and this is exactly what the Deep State wants.

The FBI is now increasing arrests of anyone even close to the US Capitol on January 6th. It looks like they are going after another 2,150 people who were protesting a stolen election. It’s being called a “riot,” but the vast majority of Americans know this is a frame job by the FBI and DOJ. Hey, what happened to all the terror suspects coming to America that the FBI has been constantly warning about? Are there any arrests of the real terrorists? NO, is the short answer. What is going on with the FBI? Have they become the enemy of “We the People”?

Bank of America is warning of a “dollar death spiral” with the debt of the US going up a whopping $1 trillion every 100 days. Financial writer John Rubino was four months ahead of Bank of America, and Rubino predicts dark days for the dollar and big inflation coming sooner than later." There is much more in the 32-minute newscast."

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble for these stories 
and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 3/8/24.

"An Invisible Man..."

"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination - indeed, everything and anything except me."
- Ralph Ellison, "Prologue to Invisible Man"

"How It Really Is"

"On a single night in Jan. 2023, there were 35,574
homeless veterans in the U.S., the report also revealed."

8 million illegals simply walked across the border, and we provide them everything they need, while 35,574 homeless vets join the total of homeless Americans at 642,000, and we do NOTHING to help them! There is no end to the shameful, disgraceful abomination America has become... and that's REALLY how it is! - CP

Jim Kunstler, "The Fate of the Union"

"The Fate of the Union"
by Jim Kunstler

“I think he borrowed a little something from Hunter tonight.”
 - Mike Lee, US Senator, Utah

“The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.” - Thomas Sowell

"Let’s face it: as pure theater, the president’s annual address to Congress has become a disconcertingly shabby affair, bursts of gloatish barking wedged into an hour of nearly continuous hand-clapping, as if drowning public utterances in applause might divert the audience from the empty, vicious bluster “Joe Biden” served up Thursday night. You couldn’t help but be reminded of the old Supreme Soviet in the twilight hours of Konstantin Chernenko, whose country’s renowned mortuary experts managed to embalm a year or so before his actual decease and interment.

The Ruskies back in the day had a secret recipe for premature mummification of their leadership; our pharma-driven experts prefer to mummify not the body but the personality with a cocktail of adderal, clonazepam, and prednisone - the latter responsible for the ‘roid rage on view whenever “Joe Biden” is hauled out of his catacomb for public performances.

The Kid from Scranton’s most memorably mendacious line got front-loaded, so as not to be lost on the watching millions already nauseated by “JB’s” pre-speech triumphal journey from the entrance down the aisle through the mob of his elected admirers clamoring for selfies: “Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today,” the president squawked.

True dat. The part he left out was that said assault emanates entirely from the very government he pretends to head. It’s reported (in The Epoch Times today) that since the start of this year the FBI has rounded up 93 new suspects in the event of 1-6-21 touted as “the insurrection” - most of the years-old charges related to trespassing, disorderly conduct, and parading, conduct now regarded as nation-threatening. He also left out the prodigious three-year-long campaign of his inter-agency flunkies to abolish the First Amendment by capturing all the transmitters of free speech. And never mind the regime’s banana republic style lawfare op to jail “JB’s” chief political opponent on spurious charges before the November election - rank, in-your-face election interference.

Also up front in the show: the regime’s lust to start World War Three by asserting falsely that Russia intends to invade and overrun Europe at any moment, in order to continue justifying our insane proxy war in Ukraine, now on its last legs. Putin Putin Putin is “sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond,” the president barked to hearty applause, as if anyone in the chamber really believes it. The truth is that our country, now effectively the Intel States of America, has sown all that chaos.

The feckless Ukraine project has failed. The end of the Zelensky fake-out is near. The CIA announced it in last week’s Sunday New York Times, and all that’s left to do is cover-up the Biden family’s private racketeering activities in that notorious money-laundry and then somehow escape the massive national humiliation that will ensue when this fiasco is concluded, finalizing America’s loss-of-standing in the world. It’s all on “Joe Biden” and everybody knows it.

Now, the catch to the adoring hoo-rah ginned up on the left side of the chamber last night is that all the wildly applauding ninnies are plotting desperately to find some way to ditch “Joe Biden” before the party’s August convention, to avoid the embarrassment of having to toss him overboard at the last minute in a smoke-filled back room there - which would be an admission that his entire reelection campaign has been a ruse all along.

As of this week, they’ve lost on the simple expedient to get Mr. Trump erased from blue state ballots. The biggest court actions against Mr. Trump are collapsing spectacularly. Fulton County DA Fani Willis has so wrecked herself that she’ll certainly be dropped from the case, could be kicked out of her job altogether, and stands to lose her law license for committing crimes ranging from perjury to conspiracy with White House lawyers to interfere with the coming election - and then lying about it under oath. The case itself is now so tainted with prosecutorial misconduct that any sane jurist would dismiss it on summary judgement

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s main case (the “insurrection” rap) is getting batted around in the sure-thang DC federal district court, and could be defenestrated altogether by the Supreme Court any day now. I’ll go out on a limb here and predict that the so-called Mar-a-Lago document case will get tossed by Judge Aileen Cannon on the grounds of gross procedural misconduct as “discovery” reveals that the FBI raid was a dishonest pursuit of documents other than the ones logged on Jack Smith’s warrant - namely, Mr. Trump’s archive of RussiaGate crimes committed by the very DOJ that is going mad dog on him, an obvious gross embarrassment for them.

It remains to be seen what other sort of election interference mischief can be cooked up by the Party of Chaos. We know that Rep. Jamie Raskin is grandstanding to concoct a bill to kick Mr. Trump off the ballot by an act of Congress. It’s already fulfilled its purpose of getting Jamie’s puss on MSNBC to impress the home folks in his Maryland district. Short of the CIA or some other clandestine outfit from the fathomless depths of the Intel Community gunning down Mr. Trump outright, the party’s best bet probably is to bring on the chaos needed for martial law and cancellation of the election by activating sleeper cells of the jihadists, “military-age men,” Maoist agents, convicts, and mental patients they’ve illegally ushered across the border to join with Antifa and BLM in an extravaganza of street violence as warm weather sets the stage for rioting and mayhem.

All of that could easily be mooted by what looks like a dollar and bond market crisis shaping up on the financial scene in the spring days ahead. Why, do you think Bitcoin and gold have made record leaps in recent weeks? I’ll tell you why: because a bunch of really rich people are fleeing desperately out of the dollar and things denominated in it for safe harbors as a financial ill-wind blows in from offshore. Alas, the BRICs are about to dethrone the world’s reserve currency. The value of our dollars could sink thirty percent or more overnight. The “unthinkable” approaches. So, maybe you better start thinking about it."
The full name of Kunstler's website is so right...

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Gerald Celente, "Gold To Keep Glowing, War To Keep Rising"

Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 3/7/24
"Gold To Keep Glowing, War To Keep Rising"
"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."
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Jeremiah Babe, "Ford Pickup Truck Apocalypse, Thousands Sit In Parking Lots; Five Guys Burgers Robbing Customers" Comments here:

Jeremiah Babe, 3/7/24
"Ford Pickup Truck Apocalypse, Thousands Sit In Parking Lots; 
Five Guys Burgers Robbing Customers"
Comments here:

"15 Restaurant Chains Collapsing Before Our Eyes"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 3/7/24
"15 Restaurant Chains Collapsing Before Our Eyes"
"According to a research study by Ohio State University, 80% of restaurants close before their fifth anniversary. While many have tried and failed to reinvent themselves, others are like how you remember them. But here are the shocking details: due to low-margin propositions, inflation, and economic instability, most of your beloved restaurants are on the brink of closure."
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "More Proof! The US/World Economic Freefall Collapse Is Picking Up Speed"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 3/7/24
"More Proof! The US/World Economic 
Freefall Collapse Is Picking Up Speed"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Leonard Cohen,"Everybody Knows"

Leonard Cohen,"Everybody Knows"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"How do clusters of galaxies form and evolve? To help find out, astronomers continue to study the second closest cluster of galaxies to Earth: the Fornax cluster, named for the southern constellation toward which most of its galaxies can be found. Although almost 20 times more distant than our neighboring Andromeda galaxy, Fornax is only about 10 percent further that the better known and more populated Virgo cluster of galaxies.
Fornax has a well-defined central region that contains many galaxies, but is still evolving. It has other galaxy groupings that appear distinct and have yet to merge. Seen here, almost every yellowish splotch on the image is an elliptical galaxy in the Fornax cluster. The picturesque barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 visible on the lower right is also a prominent Fornax cluster member."

"Here We Are..."

"Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment.
There is no why."
- Kurt Vonnegut

Scott Ritter & Larry Johnson, "Israel is LOSING the War as IDF Cruelty Exposes Battlefield Weakness"

Full screen recommended.
Scott Ritter & Larry Johnson,
"Israel is LOSING the War as IDF 
Cruelty Exposes Battlefield Weakness"
"Former US Marine Corps Officer and UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter and former CIA Analyst Larry Johnson discuss their reactions to Israel's military incursion and how the crimes being committed by the IDF expose its weaknesses."
Comments here:

The Daily "Near You?"

Saco, Maine, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Dan, I Allegedly, "Your Bank is Watching You"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 3/7/24
"Your Bank is Watching You"
"Banks are starting to scrutinize your transactions, more and more. We are now hearing about people that have cash businesses that are not only being scrutinized, but the accounts are being closed because the banks don’t want to deal with cash."
Comments here:

"Don’t Waste Time, That’s All You Have"

"Don’t Waste Time, That’s All You Have"
by John Wilder

"One of Seneca's (Dead Roman Philosopher Dude) most famous quotes is, "It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it." What surprises me is that Seneca wrote this before Twitter® existed. But even back in the time of Rome, there were ways to waste time. I’m thinking Facebook® might be that old.

Regardless, his message is timeless: every moment that we’re breathing here on Earth is precious. We may not always get a choice as to how we spend our time (Ted Kaczynski seems to be booked every day) but the true crime is to waste time. Oh, and blowing people up.

I have been as guilty as anyone of wasting time. And one of the biggest wastes of time is to become consumed by negative thoughts and emotions. In reality, most of the time (most) the things that irritate me are small. How small? So small that if I pack up my emotions, and really assess as to why I’m mad, it just looks silly. When Hillary reflects on why she’s mad, well, she calls the Suicide Hotline and places an order.

But that reflection is crucial. It’s called self-control, and although it appears to be unfashionable in certain locations (Chicago, I’m looking at you) it is the only way to be successful. If I threw a temper tantrum when (spins wheel) I drop a sock on the floor, I think there’s a simple word for that in the English language: Leftist feminist the ATF unstable.

No, when I’m upset I stop. I take a deep breath. I ask myself, “Does it matter?” Most of the time, it doesn’t. At all. Very few of the things that have irritated me matter at all over any rational timeframe. The old two rules apply: 1. Don’t sweat the small stuff. 2. It’s all small stuff.

The second question is, can I control whatever the situation is or influence it? If the answer is no, then that’s like being mad that the Sun is coming up in the morning. Even if it’s my mistake, it’s sillier than being angry over the English coal minimum price subsidy in the 1800s or...anything that happened in 1619.

One concept I’ve come across recently is "amor fati," which is Latin for “put armor on fat people”. Oh, wait, my translator was wrong. It really means, "love your fate." I think I first heard a variation of this when I was a kid: “You get what you get, and you’ll like it, and grease up the fat people so we can put plate mail on them.”

The reality of amor fati is this, though: I am where I am, and I have a choice. I can get up every morning and be mad, or I can be happy where I am. Does that mean I’m content? No. Does that mean I’m not going to fight like hell? No. Does that mean I’m not going to try to change certain things with the fire of a thousand suns? No.

It does mean that if life sucks, I can still find meaning, still find purpose, and still try to create the change that I seek to create. It’s not complacency. Heck, Seneca himself was one of the richest dudes in all of Rome. That didn’t just happen. He didn’t just wake up one morning, and say, “Holy crap, I have an amazing amount of money. How did that happen?” Seneca embraced what he had, and tried to better himself, and change himself. He did okay.

Our choices are our choices, but even more than that, we always have the choice how we feel, even Ted Kaczynski. We may have lost everything else, but we always retain that. We should not be overcome by fear or despair. To be clear – those are just about the most negative things we can let into our lives, unless you know one of the women on 'The View.'

The only proper way to deal with tough times is to face into them. Our obstacles make us stronger. Each obstacle we face with virtue and excellence improves us. Except for bullets. Those sound like they really suck.

Regardless of all of that, the first point is still the most important: our lives aren’t too short – our lives are exactly as long as they are. Deal with it. Love it. Use your time – every minute. Every second you waste? It’s wasting your life. Now, go make something happen."
Full screen recommended.
Hans Zimmer, "Time"

"Meanwhile, In A Sane, Civilized Society..."

Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell, 3/7/24
"I Went To Russia's Largest Flower Market"
"Come on a tour of the famous Rizhsky Flower Market in Moscow, Russia. Ahead of International Womens Day around the world let's see how flower sales are going in Russia. Riga Market in Russia is the largest flower market in Russia."
Comments here:

Look at the people... what do you see?

"How It Really Is"

 

"The Illusion Of Freedom..."

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” - Frank Zappa

“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.” - George Orwell, "1984"

"It's Not A Lie If You Believe It" (Excerpt)

"It's Not A Lie If You Believe It" (Excerpt)
By Jim Quinn

“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, 
the lie became the truth.” – George Orwell, "1984"

“Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical 
point of view, is silence about truth.”
- Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"

Excerpt: "I wish I could go through a day without having to reference Orwell and Huxley when observing how the ruling class is able to manipulate, subjugate, and propagandize the willfully ignorant masses through lies, deceptions, disinformation, and fear. But here we are, living through a dystopian nightmare blending the worst aspects of Orwell’s "1984" and Huxley’s "Brave New World."

It’s as if O’Brien and Mustapha Mond are running the show, using behavioral conditioning, restricting freedom of speech, adhering to a strict caste system, surveilling everything we say or do, using our fears to control us, utilizing propaganda to produce false narratives, and ultimately threatening to stomp a boot on our faces forever if we do not obey and conform. Virtually everything we are told by politicians, government bureaucrats, military brass, “esteemed” journalists, medical “experts”, bankers, and corporate executives is lies. They do not believe their lies, but they know it benefits themselves financially to lie, and as long as they work together, they know the ignorant masses will believe them.

George tells Jerry “It’s not a lie if you believe it” as he is going to take a lie detector test. I wonder how Fauci, Biden, Hillary, Obama, Comey, Wray, Pelosi, and the slew of other Deep State coup conspirators would fare on a lie detector test about Russiagate, Covidgate, J6 Insurrectiongate, and Vaccinegate. Based on the titanic volume of lies they have spewed over the last several years, I’m sure the machine would overheat and explode if hooked up to any of this traitorous vile scum.

The humorous phrase uttered by George Costanza on a sitcom twenty-seven years ago captures a significant kernel of truth about the mindset of the vast majority of non-critical thinking drones roaming the aisles of WalMarts and waiting in the drive-thru at McDonalds across our dystopian states of America. The lies run so deep you need hip-boots to wade through them on a daily basis. The reason our leaders lie is because we let them lie. The majority prefer comforting lies to unpleasant truths, because accepting unpleasant truths would require them to act and they prefer being distracted by trivialities like sports, reality TV, social media likes and otherwise being addicted to their technological gadgets."
Full, recommended must-read article is here:

"A Primer For The Propagandized: Fear Is The Mind-Killer"

"A Primer For The Propagandized:
Fear Is The Mind-Killer"
by Margaret Anna Alice 

“Those who can make people believe absurdities, 
can make people commit atrocities.”
- Voltaire

"The noose is dangling gently around our necks. Every day, they cinch it tighter. By the time we realize it’s strangling us, it will be too late. Those who – gradually and gleefully – sacrifice their freedoms, their autonomy, their individuality, their livelihoods, and their relationships on the altar of the “common good” have forgotten this is the pattern followed by every totalitarian regime in history.

Everyone wonders how ordinary Germans could have been manipulated to participate or stand dumbstruck while their government was transformed into a genocidal juggernaut. This is how. Read Sebastian Haffner’"Defying Hitler" memoir to see how this can happen anywhere - including here.

Everyone wonders how Russians could have permitted and even zealously reported fellow citizens for imprisonment and execution under "Article 58", the penal code invented to incarcerate anyone who dared express the slightest whisper of noncompliance under Stalin’s homicidal state. This is how. Read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s meticulously documented "The Gulag Archipelago" to witness this progression of authoritarian lunacy.

Everyone wonders how Hutus could have suddenly started axing their Tutsi neighbors to death after being inundated with waves of anti-Tutsi propaganda from "Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines." Read Philip Gourevitch’"We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda."

The list goes on. And on. And on. From Machiavelli’"The Prince" to Ã‰tienne de la Boetie’s "The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude" to Edward Herman’s and Noam Chomsky’s "Manufacturing Consent" (and accompanying documentary) to BBC’s "The Century of the Self," mechanisms of mass control have been chronicled for millennia.

George Orwell wrote, "As far as the mass of the people go, the extraordinary swings of opinion which occur nowadays, the emotions which can be turned on and off like a tap, are the result of newspaper and radio hypnosis.”

Can you imagine what master propagandist Edward Bernays would have done with access to today’s mainstream media conglomerate combined with the global surveillance infrastructure of Big Tech? And you really think that’s not happening now - with another century of psychological, neurological, and technological research under their belts?

The present ability to curate reality and coerce obedience is unprecedented, far beyond what Orwell envisioned in "1984", Bradbury in "Fahrenheit 451", Huxley in "Brave New World," and Burgess in "A Clockwork Orange."

A textbook example of "Problem Reaction Solution", the current tsunami of worldwide hysteria is the latest and potentially most threatening example of mass control in history.

The recipe is simple. Take a naturally occurring phenomenon, say a seasonal virus, and exaggerate its threat far beyond every imagining - despite exhaustive evidence to the contrary. Suppress, silence, ostracize, and demonize every individual who dares present facts that expose the false mono-narrative.

Whip up a witches’ brew of anger, envy, and, most importantly, fear, escalating emotions to a boil so as to short-circuit our faculties of reason and logic.

Isolate us from one another, supplant real-world interactions with virtual feuds, label nonconformists as a threat to the group, and pump the public with a disinformation campaign designed to confuse and atomize. In essence, foster a cultlike mentality that shuts down thought to guarantee assent.

Cultivate and wield our cognitive biases - especially ingroup biasconformity bias, and authority bias - against us in a comprehensive divide-and-conquer policy that keeps us too busy squabbling amongst each other to recognize and unite against those corralling us into a Matrix-like collective delusion that enables the powerful to extract our resources for their own gain.

This ideological mass psychosis is religion - not science. If this were about science, the Media–Pharmaceutical–Big-Tech complex would not be memory-holing every dissenting voice, vilifying every thought criminal, and censoring every legitimate inquiry in quest of the truth.

Mark Twain said, “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” He also said: “In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.”

The next time you’re watching the news, reading a social media post, listening to a friend repeat a scripted talking point, pay attention. Learn to identify the earmarks of propaganda, the clickbait used to trigger your emotions, the mechanisms employed to engineer your cognitive biases.

Don’t let your pride prevent you from seeing - and admitting - the Emperor is naked. We are losing our last sliver of opportunity to resist authoritarianism. This is not a partisan issue. Those who wish to control us have made it such because disunited lemmings are easier to steer than independent, critical thinkers.

This is a human issue. This is about crushing the middle class - the backbone of a democratic republic - and transferring trillions from the middle and lower classes to the ruling plutocracy. This is about demolishing the foundations of a free society and building it back - not better, but better-controlled.

I will close by recommending a series of illuminating videos on menticide (“the systematic effort to undermine and destroy a person’s values and beliefs … to induce radically different ideas”) throughout history by "Academy of Ideas." This analysis of mass psychosis is nonpartisan and of value to every thinking human being.

"Dare to question. Dare to disbelieve. 
Dare to defy ideology in favor of science while you still can."

"There Is A War On Free Speech, And They Won't Ever Be Satisfied Until It Is Completely Eradicated"

"There Is A War On Free Speech, And They
 Won't Ever Be Satisfied Until It Is Completely Eradicated"
by Michael Snyder

"The freedom to say whatever we want is one of the most fundamental rights in a free society. If we are not free to speak up, it is is just a matter of time before all of our other rights are taken away as well. So it should deeply alarm all of us that free speech is under attack like never before. Much of the population has become convinced that “hate speech” is a special class of speech that does not deserve protection. Of course in practice “hate speech” ends up being whatever forms of expression that the leftist elite hate. That is why “hate speech” laws are always written so vaguely. That way they can be used to go after whoever the leftist elite feel like going after at the time.

It is not always easy to have a society where people are allowed to say whatever they want. People say things all the time that deeply, deeply offend me. And there are some that have said things about me that are tremendously hateful and untrue. But if we are going to have a free society, people have got to be free to say whatever they want. So we should never support freedom of speech being taken away from anyone, because once we start going down that slippery slope it is just a matter of time before they come after our freedom to say what we want.

That is why what is happening in the state of Washington is so alarming. A new law would allow private individuals to collect up to $2,000 every time they report someone to the new “hate crimes and bias incidents hotline”…"Senate Bill 5427, after it is signed into law, would allow private individuals (note: this is not limited to American citizens) to report “bias incidents*” (see definition below) to the State Attorney General’s Office, with the possibility of receiving up to $2,000 of taxpayers money for this noncriminal incident. The bill was very clear: this is a non-crime which they will then forward to local law enforcement to investigate. What’s to investigate? No crime, no investigation."

The Progressives & Marxists who sponsored this bill say it is intended to help “victims of hate crimes” before a crime even happens. Say what? In reality, SB 5427 would create a “tattletale hotline,” undermine legitimate criminal investigations, and freeze, not just chill, speech & the press in Washington State. People will stop talking to others and writing to others except very close friends & relatives, for fear a greedy “Karen” will report them to Washington’s version of the Gestapo. This is crazy. Do we live in East Germany now?

It has been pointed out that those that use social media could make a fortune reporting their fellow citizens to the new “tattletale hotline”… “Spend five minutes on Twitter on any given day and I assure someone would say something offensive under this law that we could call a ‘hate crime’ and collect $2,000 from the attorney general,” Conservative Ladies of Washington Founder and President Julie Barrett told the Senate Ways and Means Committee at a Feb. 20 public hearing. “It potentially target[s] people for actions they don’t like, but are not actually hate crimes. In collaboration with bills like HB 1333, this would create sort of a ‘tattletale hotline’ to report people one doesn’t agree with or doesn’t like.”

Of course we have seen similar efforts in other states. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul intends to massively expand the hate crime laws in her state…"Governor Kathy Hochul today highlighted her groundbreaking State of the State proposal to expand the list of charges eligible to be prosecuted as hate crimes and announced grant funding to strengthen safety and security measures at nonprofit, community-based organizations at risk of hate crimes or attacks because of their ideology, beliefs, or mission.

“The rising tide of hate is abhorrent and unacceptable – and I’m committed to doing everything in my power to keep New Yorkers safe,” Governor Hochul said. “Since the despicable Hamas attacks of October 7, there has been a disturbing rise in hate crimes against Jewish and Muslim New Yorkers. In recent years we’ve seen hate-fueled violence targeting Black residents of Buffalo and disturbing harassment of AAPI and LGBTQ+ individuals on the streets of New York City. We will never rest until all New Yorkers feel safe, regardless of who they are, who they love, or how they worship.”

And in Michigan, last year a bill was introduced that would have made it a felony if someone felt “terrorized, frightened, or threatened” by your words…"Last month, the Michigan House passed Bill 4474—legislation that would expand the state’s existing Ethnic Intimidation Act beyond current protections for religion, ethnicity and race, to categories including sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. HB 4474 would make it a felony hate crime offense to cause someone to “feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened” with words—deliberately misgendering someone, for example—subject to a potential penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine."

The Left has been pushing its “words are violence” premise for some time. But Michigan’s willingness to go the extra mile and criminalize gender-related speech has summoned a ghoul from some dystopian fever dream. I certainly do not like hate speech. Every day, people say things that are horribly offensive to me. But I support their right to say those things, because I don’t want my freedom of speech to be taken away. And the leftist elite will never be satisfied until they take things as far as they possibly can.

For example, a new law in Canada allows courts to put people in prison for the rest of their lives for “hate crime offenses”…"It also amends the Criminal Code to create a new standalone hate crime offence that would allow penalties up to life imprisonment to deter hateful conduct, as well as raise the maximum punishments for hate propaganda offences from five years to life imprisonment for advocating genocide. “I’m the father of two youngsters and, like parents and grandparents around Canada, I’m terrified by the dangers that lurk on the internet for our children,” said Justice Minister Arif Virani Monday, as the Liberals unveiled the bill. “I’m also a Muslim. The hatred that festers online is radicalizing people and that radicalization has real world impacts for my community, and for so many other communities,” added Virani."

So what constitutes a “hate crime” in Canada? Well, over the years the rules have been written so vaguely that they could be used to go after just about anything. As a result, many Canadians are now deeply afraid to say anything that is even remotely “offensive”.

Now this new law which is being pushed by Justin Trudeau will make things even worse. If you can believe it, this new law would actually allow authorities to take certain kinds of actions even before a hate crime has been committed…"Trudeau’s bill is called Bill C-63, and it’s a “hate crime bill” that primarily affects “social media” and essentially “criminalizes a human emotion.”

“If you have quote ‘fear of hate’ … you can get a judge to issue a kind of restraining order against your enemy before he does anything, before he says anything, and that restraining order can include house arrest, giving up any lawful firearms, limiting who he can talk to directly or indirectly, limiting the places he can go, and requiring him to to take urine and blood tests – just because you are quote ‘afraid’ he might in the future say some hate speech,” he explains, adding that the so-called perpetrator “doesn’t have to have done anything in the past” to be required to go through the process, making it “a pre-crime bill.”

What in the world has happened to Canada? Once upon a time, it was such a nice place to visit. The laws that seek to restrict how we express ourselves are never enforced uniformly. Instead, we have seen example after example where conservatives are specifically targeted.

Here in the United States, the left believes in being very soft on violent criminals, but they will go after pro-life activists with all the fury they can muster. Right now, a 59-year-old grandmother is probably going to spend the rest of her life in prison because she was attempting to convince women not to go into an abortion clinic…"In prison, every move an inmate makes is controlled. Ms. Idoni, 59, is getting used to that. She must, because she is facing more than 41 years in prison—the rest of her natural life.

Her sentence is expected to be the longest in the United States for someone charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that prohibits interfering with anyone obtaining or providing “reproductive health services.” It was seldom used until the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reversed Roe v. Wade in June 2022, which returned abortion regulation to the states."

Her crime: sitting near or in front of the doors of abortion clinics to give sidewalk counselors a few moments to talk to women before their abortion appointments and potentially change their minds. Nine women out of 10 give them the middle finger and keep walking, Ms. Idoni said. But some women do change their minds, and sidewalk counselors say the life of every baby saved is worth the risk. More than 60 million babies have been killed in the United States since 1973, but those responsible for the killing are not being held accountable. Instead, those that are trying to do something about the relentless slaughter are being viciously targeted by authorities.

We really do live in an upside down society. Good is being called evil, and evil is being called good. And if you try to speak out about what is happening, you could find yourself in an enormous amount of trouble. They intend to completely crush all dissent, and they will never stop until they have achieved their goal."

Gregory Mannarino, "We The People Are Being Set Up On A Grand Scale, Expect Pandemonium In The Streets"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/7/24
"We The People Are Being Set Up On A Grand Scale, 
Expect Pandemonium In The Streets"
Comments here:

"Israel - Palestine War Update, 3/7/24"

Full screen recommended.
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, 
"Zionism And The Israeli Attack on Gaza"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 3/7/24
"'Disgrace, Shameful': 
Xi Jinping's Fiery Attack On Israel Amid War In Gaza"
"China condemned brutal Israeli offensive in Gaza as "a disgrace for civilization". Chinese foreign minister reiterated support for a ceasefire amid the raging Gaza war. Beijing, which is an ally of Iran, voiced its full support for Palestine's U.N. Membership. Wang Yi highlighted the need for need for peace, stability and international solidarity."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
LiveNOW from FOX, 3/7/24
"Israel-Hamas War: 
Iran Allows Hezbollah To Escalate Attacks On Israel"
"Iran has given Hezbollah the "green light" to escalate attacks on Israel and its northern border, according to Arab media, as the fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza."
Comments here:
"Hezbollah has 150,000 missiles..."

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Jeremiah Babe, "Another Major Bank Crisis, Get Your Money Out Now"

Jeremiah Babe, 3/6/24
"Another Major Bank Crisis, 
Get Your Money Out Now"
Comments here:

Adventures With Danno, "Massive Meat Recall Leaves Restaurant Owners Speechless!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 3/6/24
"Massive Meat Recall Leaves Restaurant Owners Speechless!"
"Restaurant owners and customers alike are furious at MF Foods, a company out of New York, who have recently recalled almost 100,000 pounds of raw beef due to a chemical like taste in the food."
Comments here:

"Go To The Gas Station Now And Hoard Fuel Because Prices Will Hit Sky Highs In The Coming Weeks"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 3/6/24
"Go To The Gas Station Now And Hoard Fuel 
Because Prices Will Hit Sky Highs In The Coming Weeks"

"Millions of American motorists are feeling pain at the pump again. Have you noticed how rapidly prices are rising lately? If you want to avoid having a major headache over the next few months, you should definitely start stocking up on fuel while prices are still relatively low because that won't last much longer, according to market analysts and the Energy Information Administration. A seasonal spike is about to hit the U.S. gas market, and prices are already climbing at the fastest pace since 2023, new data reveals.

Earlier this week, the AAA reported that the prospects of a $3 national average seem very distant now that oil prices and, consequently, gasoline prices have started to steadily rise. As of today, the national average gas price stands at $3.32 per gallon, up almost $0.17 cents from a week ago. After a bit of a relief in January, experts said that falling gasoline prices have bottomed out. New numbers released on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's latest fuel update showed that millions of drivers across the country are now paying some of the highest prices for gas in nearly three months.

The update outlined that the price of U.S. regular gasoline was $3.065 per gallon on January 29, marking an almost $0.30 increase over the past month alone. From now on, Americans will start noticing a major acceleration on pump costs, Gas Buddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said during an interview on Tuesday. For four straight weeks, the nation's average has gone up, per GasBuddy data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering 150,000 gas stations across the country.

In essence, less investment translates into less supply, which translates into higher prices. Lower productions levels can have the same effect. It’s just basic economics that when the government squeezes the supply in an industry, that will lead to higher prices both now and in the future. The White House was warned by many critics at the time that this would happen, but it proceeded anyway.

As a result, in 2024, we will all have to deal with the consequences of our government's actions. This means, paying more for fuels and all transported goods. So if I were you, I wouldn't miss this window of opportunity to stock up on gasoline while prices haven't spiked yet because this is as low as they will get for a while."
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "In the Moment"

Liquid Mind, "In the Moment"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Is our Milky Way Galaxy this thin? Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky, in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. This sharp, colorful image reveals the spiral galaxy's boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 
An assortment of other background galaxies is included in the pretty field of view. Thought similar in shape to our own Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 4565 lies about 40 million light-years distant and spans some 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier missed.”