Monday, May 6, 2024

Jim Kunstler, "Prisoners of Themselves"

"Prisoners of Themselves"
by Jim Kunstler

“Ok, let’s be clear. If the intelligence community 
led by the CIA is not the “deep state,” what is?” 
- Jeffrey Tucker

"You realize, don’t you, that the gross misconduct of government officials from RussiaGate on down to the courtroom of Judge Juan Merchan has amounted to one continuous operation against the American people? If it were ever honestly adjudicated, many hundreds of them might go to prison, or worse. Each successive seditious and treasonous action they attempt against their arch-nemesis, Mr. Trump, only compounds their criminal liability - the Steele Dossier, CIA agent Eric Ciaramella’s 2019 impeachment prank, the Covid-19 caper, the George Floyd-BLM hustle, the 2020 election hijinks, the J-6 op and the House J-6 Committee conjured up to spin it, the present battery of farcical court cases - and yet the Golden Golem of Greatness not only remains defiantly at large, but seems to amass ever more electoral mojo.

The epic failure of these mighty efforts, and the humiliation entailed, has lately driven this vast bureaucratic cabal - collectively styled as “the blob” - to a stage of abject desperation that looks a lot like insanity. They fear for their lives, their fortunes, their chattels, and their families, and they seem ready to wreck the republic to save themselves. They have so far pretty much wrecked American justice with their lawfare tactics - a degenerate campaign to use the vested authority of prosecutors and judges to twist and cheat the law at the cost of the law’s legitimacy. Merrick Garland, Norm Eisen, Andrew Weismann, Mary McCord, Lisa Monaco, Marc Elias, Christopher Wray, Letitia James, Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg have made law the enemy of the people.

All this becomes more obvious each day, for instance events of the past week in Judge Aileen Cannon’s federal courtroom in Florida where the Mar-a-Lago documents case proceeds. Turns out that Special Counsel Jack Smith has deliberately messed with the evidence, which is patently felonious. Also, turns out that sometime between the “Joe Biden” inauguration and the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in August, 2022, boxes of presidential documents stored by the US General Services Administration were “delivered” to Mr. Trump’s mansion without any proper accounting for what might have been in them. A set-up you suppose? Why not? After everything else the FBI and the DOJ have attempted since 2015?

Christopher Wray in particular might have wanted some surefire probable cause to get his agents into Mar-a-Lago where, rumor has it, Mr. Trump kept his own dossier of evidence against the FBI and DOJ officials who concocted the “Crossfire Hurricane” chapter of RussiaGate. Even if you assume that Mr. Trump had multiple copies of the thing, FBI Director Wray - in position since 2017 throughout most of RussiaGate - surely wanted to see what Mr. Trump was holding if it would become necessary for current and former FBI/DOJ officials to defend themselves in court against very serious charges.

You see the desperation, don’t you? And how stupendously amateurish these machinations have been? Planting evidence and then fiddling around with it? I’m waiting for the moment when Judge Cannon summons Jack Smith and announces to his face that she is tossing the case for prosecutorial misconduct. Will she add a criminal referral to that? How will that affect the other case (attempting to overturn the 2020 election) brought against Mr. Trump in Judge Tanya Chutkan’s DC federal district court? Who will prosecute it if Jack Smith can no longer function as Special Counsel? And since the case was contrived in his name - even if Eisen, McCord, Weissmann, and others are really the authors - does that case blow up, too?

Letitia James’s real estate case under Judge Arthur Engoron was so idiotic it can’t possibly survive an ultimate appeal, and the Alvin Bragg confection under Judge Merchan is playing out like something that usually only happens in places like Honduras or Liberia. Yet the American Left, the “progressive” Democratic Party, is staking everything on it. It’s all they have left Lawfare-wise, at least for now. Which brings us to the question: Why do the non-governmental elites of this land, the managerial and thinking classes, the college presidents, the cable news producers, the corporate execs, the movie directors, the whole arts establishment...why do they feel compelled, for nearly a decade now, to hitch their identity and their self-respect to this fantastic train of Kafka-esque corruption, tyranny, and abuse? How did they get owned by the blob?

We may never find out, and they may never know either, even after they snap out of the mass formation they’ve been in thrall to. But they have made themselves ridiculous - figures like Sam Harris, Steven Colbert, and Rob Reiner - yelling about “saving our democracy” while the blob they worship systematically disassembles the US Constitution, and makes American law a global laughingstock.

Most of my old ex-friends are riding the same ideological bus. You have to wonder: how did the likes of “Joe Biden,” Merrick Garland, Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff, Christopher Wray, Fani Willis, Anthony Fauci, Klaus Schwab, and Bill Gates become their heroes? Did the Covid vaccines destroy their minds? Are they really avid for central bank digital money and surveillance of their every move? Do they want to be told how to live by the WHO? Things are going south fast now in our country. If these people ever cherished the idea of being free to think their own thoughts and live their own lives, it’s getting late in the game. They will end up prisoners of themselves."
o

"Economic Market Snapshot 5/6/24"

"Economic Market Snapshot 5/6/24"
Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
o
Market Data Center, Live Updates:
Comprehensive, essential truth.
Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: creditequity valuationfunding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United Statesother advanced economies, and emerging markets."
Job cuts and much more.
Commentary, highly recommended:
"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
And now... The End Game...
o

Sunday, May 5, 2024

"80 Years Old And Homeless Veteran In Los Angeles Needs Help"

Full screen recommended.
Invisible People, 5/5/24
"80 Years Old And Homeless Veteran 
In Los Angeles Needs Help"

"Wendell is an 80-year-old retired veteran who finds himself facing the harsh realities of homelessness in Los Angeles. After a life marked by service and sacrifice, including the heartbreaking loss of one son in the Afghanistan war and another in a tragic car accident, Wendell's challenges escalated when his beloved wife was diagnosed with cancer. Despite spending every penny on her treatment, she passed away, leaving Wendell without his life partner and financially devastated. Today, Wendell lives in a broken-down RV, a stark reminder of the cascading tragedies that led him to this point.

The crisis of elderly homelessness is escalating, with countless older adults like Wendell finding themselves without a safe place to call home. The vulnerability of this population is profound, as they face unique health and mobility challenges, exacerbated by the lack of stable housing. In urban areas like Los Angeles, where the cost of living is high and social services are stretched thin, the plight of elderly homeless individuals is particularly acute.

A dedicated street medicine team brought Wendell's situation to our attention, emphasizing his reluctance to ask for financial help. Wendell's humble wish is for a functioning RV, allowing him the dignity of mobility and the ability to relocate to a place he can once again call home. Understanding the improbability of such a donation, we convinced Wendell to agree to a GoFundMe campaign. Rest assured, this campaign is transparent—every cent raised goes directly to Wendell’s bank account to fund his new RV. We have made sure that there are people involved to help Wendell drive to the location that he wants to go and that he will be taken care of. "
Comments here:

Help Wendell get an RV to go back home - https://gofund.me/e55367c9

Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, "I Giorni"

Full screen recommended.
Ludovico Einaudi, "I Giorni"

"A Look to the Heavens..."

“To some, the outline of the open cluster of stars M6 resembles a butterfly. M6, also known as NGC 6405, spans about 20 light-years and lies about 2,000 light years distant. M6 can best be seen in a dark sky with binoculars towards the constellation of Scorpius, coving about as much of the sky as the full moon.
Like other open clusters, M6 is composed predominantly of young blue stars, although the brightest star is nearly orange. M6 is estimated to be about 100 million years old. Determining the distance to clusters like M6 helps astronomers calibrate the distance scale of the universe.”

The Poet: James Kavanaugh, "Searchers"

"Searchers"

"Some people do not have to search -
they find their niche early in life and rest there,
seemingly contented and resigned.
They do not seem to ask much of life,
sometimes they do not seem to take it seriously.
At times I envy them,
but usually I do not understand them -
seldom do they understand me.

I am one of the searchers.
There are, I believe, millions of us.
We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content.
We continue to explore life,
hoping to uncover its ultimate secret.
We continue to explore ourselves,
hoping to understand.

We like to walk along the beach -
we are drawn by the ocean,
taken by its power, its unceasing motion,
its mystery and unspeakable beauty.
We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers,
and the lonely cities as well.

Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter.
To share our sadness with the one we love 
is perhaps as great a joy as we can know -
unless it is to share our laughter.

We searchers are ambitious only for life itself,
for everything beautiful it can provide.
Most of all we want to love and be loved.
We want to live in a relationship that will not impede
our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls.

We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.
We are wanderers, dreamers and lovers,
lonely souls who dare ask of life everything good and beautiful."

- James Kavanaugh

"Walk With The Dreamers..."

"Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it..."
 - Wilferd Peterson

"Having One Of Those Days?"

“Why Albert Einstein Thought We Were All Insane”

“Why Albert Einstein Thought We Were All Insane”
by Simon Black

“In the early summer of 1914, Albert Einstein was about to start a prestigious new job as Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. The position was a big deal for the 35-year old Einstein – confirmation that he was one of the leading scientific minds in the world. And he was excited about what he would be able to achieve there. But within weeks of Einstein’s arrival, the German government canceled plans for the Institute; World War I had broken out, and all of Europe was gearing up for one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history.

The impact of the Great War was immeasurable. It cost the lives of 20 million people. It bankrupted entire nations. The war ripped two major European powers off the map – the Austro Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire – and deposited them in the garbage can of history. Austria-Hungary in particular boasted the second largest land mass in Europe, the third highest population, and one of the biggest economies. Plus it was a leading manufacturer of high-tech machinery. Yet by the end of the war it would no longer exist.

World War I also played a major role in the emergence of communism in Russia through the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. Plus it was also a critical factor in the astonishing rise of the Nazi party in Germany. Without the Great War, Adolf Hitler would have been an obscure Austrian vagabond, and our world would be an entirely different place.

One of the most bizarre things about World War I was how predictable it was. Tensions had been building in Europe for years, and the threat of war was deemed so likely that most major governments invested heavily in detailed war plans. The most famous was Germany’s “Schlieffen Plan”, a military offensive strategy named after its architect, Count Alfred von Schlieffen. To describe the Schlieffen Plan as “comprehensive” is a massive understatement.

As AJP describes in his book "War by Timetable", the Schlieffen Plan called for rapidly moving hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the front lines, plus food, equipment, horses, munitions, and other critical supplies, all in a matter of DAYS. Tens of thousands of trains were criss-crossing Europe during the mobilization, and as you can imagine, all the trains had to run precisely on time. A train that was even a minute early or a minute late would cause a chain reaction to the rest of the plan, affecting the time tables of other trains and other troop movements. In short, there was no room for error.

In many respects the Schlieffen Plan is still with us to this day – not with regards to war, but for monetary policy. Like the German General Staff more than a century ago, modern central bankers concoct the most complicated, elaborate plans to engineer economic victory. Their success depends on being able to precisely control the [sometimes irrational] behavior of hundreds of millions of consumers, millions of businesses, dozens of foreign nations, and trillions of dollars of capital. And just like the obtusely complex war plans from 1914, central bank policy requires that all the trains run on time. There is no room for error.

This is nuts. Economies are comprised of billions of moving pieces that are beyond anyone’s control and often have competing interests. A government that’s $30 trillion in debt requires cheap money (i.e. low interest rates) to stay afloat. Yet low interest rates are severely punishing for savers, retirees, and pension funds (including Social Security) because they’re unable to generate a sufficient rate of return to meet their needs.

Low interest rates are great for capital intensive businesses that need to borrow money. But they also create dangerous asset bubbles and can eventually cause a painful rise in inflation. Raise interest rates too high, however, and it could bankrupt debtors and throw the economy into a tailspin. Like I said, there’s no room for error – they have to find the perfect balance between growth and inflation.

Several years ago hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio summed it up perfectly when he said, “It becomes more and more difficult to balance those things as time goes on. It may not be a problem in the next year or two, but the risk of not getting it right increases with time. The risk of them getting it wrong is clearly growing. I truly hope they don’t get it wrong. But if they ever do, people may finally look back and wonder how we could have been so foolish to hand total control of our economy over to an unelected committee of bureaucrats with a mediocre track record… and then expect them to get it right forever. It’s pretty insane when you think about it."

As Einstein quipped at the height of World War I in 1917, “What a pity we don’t live on Mars so that we could observe the futile activities of human beings only through a telescope…”
"It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone - that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge."
- H. L. Mencken, 1929
Freely download "Ideas And Opinions", by Albert Einstein, here:

The Daily "Near You?"

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

Jeremiah Babe,"Don't Buy Meat At Walmart, It Could Be Deadly; Tyson Foods Is A Toxic Waste Dump; Zombies Are Real"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/5/24
"Don't Buy Meat At Walmart, It Could Be Deadly;
 Tyson Foods Is A Toxic Waste Dump; Zombies Are Real"
Comments here:

"Alea Iacta Est"

"Alea Iacta Est"
by Alexander Macris

"In the closing days of 50 BC, the Roman Senate declared that Julius Caesar’s term as a provincial governor was finished. Roman law afforded its magistrates immunity to prosecution, but this immunity would end with Caesar’s term. As the leader of the populares faction, Caesar had many enemies among the elite optimates, and as soon as he left office, these enemies planned to bury him in litigation. Caesar knew he would lose everything: property, liberty, even his life.

Caesar decided it was better to fight for victory than accept certain defeat. In January 49 BC, he crossed the Rubicon River with his army, in violation of sacred Roman law, and began a civil war. “Alea iacta est,” said Caesar: The die is cast."
"Roll the Dice" by Charles Bukowski 
(read by Tom O'Bedlam)

"No Ways Tired in A Sea of Lies"

"No Ways Tired in A Sea of Lies"
by Chris Floyd

"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies. One of the hardest things to accept is that the reality of our world is buried under so many layers of official deception and well-cultivated public ignorance about our history and our political system. Even if you break through somehow, momentarily, and hold up a fragment of the truth, most people have no context for dealing with it. It's like a bolt from the blue, they can't process the information. And so the sea of lies closes over us again, and again, and again. And yet the reality of our future appears on the horizon, denial be damned, an irresistible tsunami of destruction, changing all our lives forever.

These are the facts, and they can't be altered. But how to respond to this catastrophe? Shall we weep, moan, rend our garments, cover ourselves with sackcloth and ashes? Shall we sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of republics? Shall we cower in the shadows and sing glamorous dirges for the Lost Cause, for vanished glories and broken dreams?

Or shall we come out fighting, unbowed, heads high, laughing fools to scorn, rejecting at every turn the moral authority of murderers and thieves to rule our lives, determine our reality, act in our name? Let's dispense with lamentation - give not a single moment to that emotional indulgence - and get right back to work, more determined than ever to bear down harder, dig deeper and excavate the radioactive nuggets of truth still glowing beneath the slag-heap of ruin.

Let's fight, let's reject, let's resist - without violence, the weapon of the stupid, the hormonal secretion of evolutionary backsliders in thrall to the chemical soup in their heads, dull primitives dressing up their ape-lust for power with scraps of religion, philosophy and cant. Let's fight these pathetic, malfunctioning wretches who lay their hands on our world and rape it like beasts in a mindless rut. Fight them with the truths we find, exposing their crimes and deadly hypocrisies to the people they've suckered, perverted and betrayed.

This is not an insurmountable task, no matter how impervious the Machine - that monstrous conglomeration of judicial bagmen, Congressional rubber stamps, psychopathic media moguls, dopehead radio ranters, sex-crazed theocrats, war profiteers, think-tank bleaters, Wall Street sharks, oilmen, Moonies, and woman-haters - might appear at the moment.

I don't know what else we can do, except to keep on telling as much of the truth as we can find, to anyone who will listen: reclaiming reality, fragment by fragment, one person at a time. It's an endless task- maybe a hopeless task- but the alternative is a surrender to the worst elements in our society- and in ourselves. It's worth the fight. Let's take it on. In the words of the old spiritual, let us be in no ways tired. The road back to sanity starts now."

"Ground Crickets Commonly Added to Foods Under the Name 'Acheta Powder'?"

"Ground Crickets Commonly Added to Foods 
Under the Name 'Acheta Powder'?"
According to some social media posts, 
it's in various chips, protein bars and bread, among others.
by Jack Iz

"Cricket powder or cricket flour, made of ground up crickets, is commonly sold under the name Acheta powder or Acheta protein and some brands do make food with Acheta powder in it. Snopes is actively investigating exactly how common that practice is. Although insects are not generally considered a staple of American diets, eating them is quite common worldwide.

In recent years, social media posts have attempted to raise the alarm on Americans supposedly eating them - crickets, in particular - without knowing it. Among such posts is an image of a cricket with the caption:
"IT'S NOT CRICKET: If you don't want to eat crickets, cricket flour or powder, read all labels. It's known as Acheta protein and is now included as an ingredient in many foods, eg., chips, biscuits, grain and protein bars, some breads and pastas. Just do a search for Acheta powder... there's lots online about it and it's being promoted as a good thing. You decide."

This post makes three claims: 1.) Cricket powder, or cricket flour, is sold and marketed as "Acheta protein"; 2.) Cricket powder is commonly used in "many foods," generally breads and other carbohydrates; 3.) Cricket powder is being promoted as a good thing.

First off, yes, cricket powder, sometimes called cricket flour, does exist and can be found in some foods like "chips, biscuits, grain and protein bars, some breads and pastas," as the viral image alleges. It is also sometimes named Acheta powder, or Acheta protein, since the genus of the house cricket is Acheta domesticus.

The viral post did not name specific brands of food supposedly containing the powder. Snopes found several examples of companies that make products containing crickets or cricket powder, including Chirps and EXO protein. These companies openly advertise that their products are made of crickets or Acheta protein - although EXO exclusively describes its protein bars as containing "Acheta protein" without explaining its origin.

Snopes has reached out to several larger U.S. manufacturers of snack foods and breads to ask if they included the ingredient in products. We will update the story if we hear back from them.

As the text in the image suggests, edible crickets in different forms have grown in popularity in recent years. Several factors explain the trend, all of which are backed by peer-reviewed scientific studies, though research into the area is still relatively new. Among the positives often cited, crickets are high in protein, fiber, healthy fats and other nutrients. Cricket powder has also been found to be a good source of protein. Crickets are environmentally friendly because farming crickets doesn't require a lot of food or fancy equipment. Even more, crickets have a type of fiber in their exoskeleton called chitin that has anti-inflammatory properties and can improve gut health.

In the U.S., there is no explicit law governing the production of edible insects, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued guidelines on safety and health standards. Per our understanding of those guidelines, whole crickets used for food must be raised for that purpose. In other words, in the U.S., edible insects like crickets must explicitly be raised to be eaten, just like a cow or a chicken would be. But the FDA does not necessarily regulate cricket powder (i.e., Acheta powder) in the same way as whole crickets. According to the FDA, cricket powder is considered a protein powder - added to foods to increase protein content - and thus can be classified as a dietary supplement, which have slightly looser requirements.

Snopes contacted the FDA for additional clarification about these requirements and received the following information from an FDA spokesperson: "Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), food must be safe and may not bear any added poisonous or added deleterious substance that is unsafe. Food may not be prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions, and must be produced in accordance with Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations for manufacturing/processing, packing, or holding human food.  Therefore, insects that are used as food or food ingredient must comply with the FD&C Act.
The FD&C Act also includes requirements that pertain to the labeling of food and preventive controls, as applicable.  The ingredients in food must be declared in the ingredient statement on the label of the food by their common or usual names. Manufacturers have a responsibility to ensure that the food they produce for the United States market is safe and complies with the FD&C Act and the FDA's implementing regulations."

As far as the powder found in foods, there's a key reason why some companies aren't using it: allergies. The exoskeletons in crickets are similar to those found in shellfish, including shrimp, crabs and lobsters. In fact, people with shellfish allergies are more likely to be allergic to crickets and other edible insects like cicadas. This fact makes adding crickets into various foods without advertising it as such quite risky. Mistakes in labeling could lead to a lawsuit.

But apart from the possibility of an allergic reaction, eating crickets doesn't appear to be harmful. However, if you are truly concerned about whether your snack foods have been supplemented with cricket protein, we recommend following the advice shared on social media: Look at the ingredients."
Hmmm... thank you, NO!

"How It Really Is"

 

Different Russia, "Easter 2024 in a Small Russian Town"

Meanwhile, in a sane, civilized society...
Full screen recommended.
Different Russia, 
"Easter 2024 in a Small Russian Town"
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead: The System Is Running Out Of Cash"

Gregory Mannarino, 5/5/24
"Markets, A Look Ahead: 
The System Is Running Out Of Cash"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "How Dangerous is This? Are YOU at Risk?"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly 5/5/24
"How Dangerous is This? Are YOU at Risk?"
"Today's episode is nothing short of jaw-dropping. We're unpacking the dangerous and deceitful practices of a Wichita-based car dealership that's been slapped with a hefty $418,000 fine. Why? They sold cars without airbags, posing serious risks to unsuspecting buyers. Think driving a go-kart at 80 mph with no safety gear- yeah, that dangerous!"
Comments here:

"Russia's New Laser Aircraft Shocks The Entire World!"

Full screen recommended.
Tech Beat 5/5/24
"Russia's New Laser Aircraft Shocks The Entire World!"

"In this ground-breaking video, we explore the incredible possibilities of Russia's most recent technical marvel: the New Laser Aircraft. Prepare to be astounded as we explore the groundbreaking advances that have left the globe in awe.

Russia's cutting edge Laser Aircraft offers a significant advancement in military technology, demonstrating the country's unwavering pursuit of innovation and superiority in the aerospace domain. With its cutting-edge laser weapons, this aircraft has the potential to change the face of modern combat. Powered by cutting-edge laser technology, this aircraft has unrivalled precision and destructive potential, providing a glimpse into the future of aerial battle. From precise accuracy to quick target acquisition, Russia's New Laser Aircraft pushes the frontiers of what is possible in military aviation.

However, the shockwaves go beyond the sheer might of its weapons. The New Laser Aircraft also features unprecedented advances in stealth and manoeuvrability, allowing it to easily elude detection and outmanoeuvre opponent defences.

Join us as we delve into the inner workings of this game-changing aircraft, discovering the intricate engineering and technological mastery that went into its construction. From its powerful propulsion systems to its complex targeting algorithms, the New Laser Aircraft is designed to be as effective as possible on the battlefield. But, perhaps most crucially, we look at the geopolitical consequences of Russia's latest breakthrough. As tensions rise on the global stage, the appearance of this fearsome aircraft sends a clear message to both opponents and allies: Russia is at the forefront of military innovation, ready to defend its interests with unrivalled strength and precision.

Don't miss this unique look at Russia's new laser aircraft and the seismic impact it's poised to have on the global stage. Join us as we investigate the mysteries of this game-changing technology and learn about its extraordinary capabilities."
Comments here:

"Alert! NATO Prepares Major Attacks On Russia, F-16s Armed; Mining Borders; Zelensky Assassination?"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 5/5/24
"Alert! NATO Prepares Major Attacks On Russia, 
F-16s Armed; Mining Borders; Zelensky Assassination?"
Comments here:

These psychopaths are determined to get us all killed...

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Jeremiah Babe, "You're Running Out Of Time And Money; Taxing You Into Poverty And Stealing Your Wealth"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/4/24
"You're Running Out Of Time And Money; 
Taxing You Into Poverty And Stealing Your Wealth"
Comments here:

A Fun Musical Interlude: Willie Nelson, "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly" (Fond Of Each Other)

Full screen very blurry.
Willie Nelson, 
"Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly" (Fond Of Each Other)
Willie had a good laugh when he released this, right before
 a concert tour of... west Texas. Some were not amused! LOL

Musical Interlude: "Space Ambient Music, Pure Cosmic Relaxation, Mind Relaxation"

Full screen recommended.
"Space Ambient Music, 
Pure Cosmic Relaxation, Mind Relaxation"
Relaxation Ambient Music presents prefect Space Ambient Music. It was made for dreamers, also for persons which like to meditate, to imagine deep space with its nebulas and exoplanets. Fly between galaxies, nebulas and planets with our relaxing ambient space music. This music video will help you relax your mind, stop thinking and have a rest."

"A Look to the Heavens:

“Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own galaxy practices galactic cannibalism, absorbing small galaxies that get too close and are captured by the Milky Way's gravity. In fact, the practice is common in the universe and illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies from the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus, The River.
Located over 50 million light years away, the large, distorted spiral NGC 1532 is seen locked in a gravitational struggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531 (right of center), a struggle the smaller galaxy will eventually lose. Seen edge-on, spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000 light-years. Nicely detailed in this sharp image, the NGC 1532/1531 pair is thought to be similar to the well-studied system of face-on spiral and small companion known as M51.”

The Poet: David Whyte, “Sometimes"

“Sometimes": Poet and Philosopher David Whyte’s
Stunning Meditation on Walking into the Questions of Our Becoming”
by Maria Popova

“The role of the artist, James Baldwin believed, is “to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are.” This, too, is the role of the forest, it occurs to me as I walk the ferned, mossed woods daily to lose my self and find myself between the trees; to “live the questions,” in Rilke’s lovely phrase – to let the rustling of the leaves beckon forth the stirrings and murmurings on the edge of the psyche, which we so often brush away in order to go on being the smaller version of ourselves we have grown accustomed to being out of the unfaced fear that the grandeur of life, the grandeur of our own untrammeled nature, might require of us more than we are ready to give.

Those disquieting, transformative stirrings are what the poet and philosopher David Whyte explores with surefooted subtlety in his poem “Sometimes,” found in his altogether life-enlarging collection “Everything Is Waiting for You” and read here by the poet himself as part of a wonderful short course of poem-driven practices for neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris’s “Waking Up” meditation toolkit (which I can’t recommend enough and which operates under an inspired, honorable model of granting free subscriptions to those who need this invaluable mental health aid but don’t have the means).
“Sometimes”

“Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest,
breathing
like the ones
in the old stories,
who could cross
a shimmering bed of leaves
without a sound,
you come to a place
whose only task
is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests,
conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.
Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and
to stop what you
are becoming
while you do it,
questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,
questions
that have patiently
waited for you,
questions
that have no right
to go away.”

- David Whyte

Chet Raymo, "In the Cave"

"In the Cave"
by Chet Raymo

"I have mentioned here before the ospreys that patrol our beach - or "fish hawks," as they call them here - generally in the afternoon at about the time I take my long walk to the palm point. Magnificent birds with broad wings that glide seemingly effortlessly on the wind. And here's the thing: As often as not I am startled by a bird's shadow before I see the bird itself. That wide-winged shadow, sweeping across the white sand, sometimes across me. That flicker of chill as the osprey blocks the sun.

And generally when it happens I think of Plato's allegory of the cave. Prisoners in a cave are constrained to look only at a blank wall. Somewhere behind them there is a fire, and people come and go in front of the fire, casting shadows on the wall. The shadows are the only reality the prisoners know. They have no idea of the flesh-and-blood people behind them or the blazing fire. The prisoners know only what presents itself to their senses.

Forget for the moment Plato's point, which has to do with the duty of the philosopher to enlighten the benighted. There is a humbling moral to the story for all of us: We can only know what our senses - directly or indirectly - can perceive.

Who, a century ago, could have imagined the universe of the galaxies, or the marvelous dance of the DNA in every cell of our bodies? By cleverly extending our senses - limited as they are - with technological enhancements a whole new universe has opened up to us. Who can imagine what we might know a century from now? Plato's "real" world is like a shadow compared to the universe we inhabit today. Our own universe may be a shadow of a reality vastly more wonderful than anything we have so far dreamed.

Never mind. We live in the world we have. Even the osprey's shadow is magnificent in its own way. I am privileged to lift my eyes and see the feathered bird. And I have an intuition that there is more - much more - yet to see.”