Bill Bonner, "Nonna Sense"

"Nonna Sense"

In the boom, low-cost imports held down US consumer prices. 

Now, immigrants - legal and illegal - have poured across the 

border and are willing to work for less, thus holding down wages and inflation.

by Bill Bonner

Paris, France - "Here’s the headline news. The Washington Examiner: "The federal budget deficit will be nearly $2 trillion in fiscal 2024, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday."

CNBC: "A blockbuster May jobs report showed the U.S. economy added 272,000 jobs last month, well above the Dow Jones’ forecast of 190,000. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that consumer prices in May remained unchanged, and even fell slightly on an annual basis. This dynamic - a heating job market and cooling inflation - is in part the result of increased inflows of immigrants. The May jobs report found that the health care, government, and leisure and hospitality sectors saw the most growth."

Isn’t it great, dear reader? More jobs. Lower wages. Less inflation. And a bigger deficit; who cares about that?

We recall a remarkably dumb story in the Economist magazine a few years ago. It lamented Italy’s low growth rate... They blamed it on the ‘nonnas’ [grandmothers]. Rather than move to the go-go centers of commerce... get jobs... and put the kids in daycare, which would raise GDP growth numbers, the benighted Italians preferred to stay near home so the grandparents could look after the children.

You might wonder... maybe the children were better off with their grandmothers than in a day care center. Maybe parents had more confidence in their own families than in commercial, or government-run, child warehouses. Maybe the children themselves would be happier... under the careful eyes of their grandmothers... or maybe the grandmothers might appreciate their new roles - as guardians of the next generation... rather than just getting their hair done and watching daytime TV. Italian society might be more stable. Better anchored. Healthier.

None of those maybes had a place in the statistics. The nonnas were standing in the way of GDP growth... that was all there was to it. But numbers often tell a tall tale. Credit-based ‘growth’ is often fraudulent. And the wealth it produces can be largely fictitious.

Human Happiness: An example... Of 3.5 million veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan two thirds say the wars were not worth fighting. 1.8 million came home with a ‘permanent disability.’ Total veterans’ disability costs will reach as much as $2.5 trillion by 2050. Those disability payments increase GDP. Do they also increase human happiness?

The financial cost is a statistic. But what about the real cost... the effect of missing legs and arms on a real person... where is that number? Or...US retirees get an inflation adjustment in January. Monthly payments went up 3.2%. GDP went up! More money for farmers... more for ‘Green Tech’ hustlers... and chipmakers, too... whatever... GDP up! We are lost in a whirlwind of statistics. But the numbers are often empty... misleading... or just plain false.

In the boom years, low-cost imports held down US consumer prices. Now, immigrants - legal and illegal - have poured across the border... and are willing to work for less, thus holding down labor rates (wages) and inflation. What part of this story is true? What part is statistical gibberish? How about the jobs themselves? Are they real?

According to FXHedge the Bureau of Labor Statistics overestimated job growth in the fourth quarter of last year by half a million. That’s 500,000 jobs that never existed. Yes, you can add ‘phantom’ jobs to the long list of frauds, fictions and statistical ghosts in the US economy. But there’s more...

On a discussion platform, we found this comment: "That BLS data is as bad as I have ever seen it. The cynic in me says... election year shenanigans. The jobs data is a mess... not merely labor market weakness, but a prelude to recession. Another set of faulty data are the GDP numbers, which are increasing[ly] showing negative revisions. After 3.1% GDP growth in 2023, the initial Q1-24 print was 1.6%, only to be revised down a month later to 1.3%... hardly a “robust” economy...if you are a democrat, the economy looks relatively great... however, republicans and independents have an altogether different view..."

The fake money regime - post-1971 - changed America’s economy. From exporting finished products, at a profit, we shifted to exporting dollars. The good jobs went abroad with them. Economists and the financial press looked at the statistics and proclaimed the system a great success. But it was really an abject failure... replacing real wealth - earned by making things - with fake wealth, based on credit rather than real output.

The credit-based dollar fostered credit-funded consumption and credit-backed asset prices. Now we have nearly $100 trillion of public and private debt. How much of that debt will go bad? How much of the stock and bond markets depends on it? We don’t know. But as much as $50 trillion in US fraudulent wealth could disappear - in defaults, bankruptcies, write-downs, mark-downs, and inflation - as the Primary Trend continues.

Research Note, by Dan Denning: The details on the CBO’s update to the budget for the next ten years are worse than the $2 trillion headline suggests, and that’s saying something, given that the new deficit projection for 2024 is $400 billion HIGHER (27%) than the figure released in February. The culprits? Higher interest rates, $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and the $100 billion in student loans ‘forgiven’ by President Biden.

CBO projects $22 trillion in NEW debt over the next ten years (see the table below). This will drive interest expense on the debt to $1.7 trillion by 2034 - nearly double what it is this year and equal to annual spending on Medicare. Annual deficits will be almost $3 trillion in 2033 and 2034 and debt held by the public will be over 122% (it’s currently 99%, but even this figure is higher because it excludes debt which the government ‘owes to itself’).

The problem is not a decade away. It’s a problem right now. The Trump tax cuts expire in 2025. So does the agreement which suspended the statutory debt ceiling (it expires in January of next year). Whomever is elected in November will face an immediate fight over tax cuts, spending, and the debt ceiling. The total national debt will be over $36 trillion by then, and $56 trillion by 2034, according to CBO projections."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Wheat Ridge, Colorado, USA. for stopping by!

"Then You're Trapped..."

"You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you."

- Chuck Palahniuk, "Fight Club"

"The Denial of Death"

"The Denial of Death"

by Ernest Becker

“The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity - designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man... the irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we shrink from being fully alive.

Yet, at the same time, as the Eastern sages also knew, man is a worm and food for worms. This is the paradox: he is out of nature and hopelessly in it; he is dual, up in the stars and yet housed in a heart-pumping, breath-gasping body that once belonged to a fish and still carries the gill-marks to prove it. His body is a material fleshy casing that is alien to him in many ways—the strangest and most repugnant way being that it aches and bleeds and will decay and die. Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order to blindly and dumbly rot and disappear forever. It is a terrifying dilemma to be in and to have to live with. 

The lower animals are, of course, spared this painful contradiction, as they lack a symbolic identity and the self-consciousness that goes with it. They merely act and move reflexively as they are driven by their instincts. If they pause at all, it is only a physical pause; inside they are anonymous, and even their faces have no name. They live in a world without time, pulsating, as it were, in a state of dumb being. This is what has made it so simple to shoot down whole herds of buffalo or elephants. The animals don't know that death is happening and continue grazing placidly while others drop alongside them. The knowledge of death is reflective and conceptual, and animals are spared it. They live and they disappear with the same thoughtlessness: a few minutes of fear, a few seconds of anguish, and it is over. But to live a whole lifetime with the fate of death haunting one's dreams and even the most sun-filled days—that's something else.

If you get rid of the four-layered neurotic shield, the armor that covers the characterological lie about life, how can you talk about “enjoying” this Pyrrhic victory? The person gives up something restricting and illusory, it is true, but only to come face to face with something even more awful: genuine despair. Full humanness means full fear and trembling, at least some of the waking day. When you get a person to emerge into life, away from his dependencies, his automatic safety in the cloak of someone else's power, what joy can you promise him with the burden of his aloneness? When you get a person to look at the sun as it bakes down on the daily carnage taking place on earth, the ridiculous accidents, the utter fragility of life, the powerlessness of those he thought most powerful—what comfort can you give him?

Luis Buimel likes to introduce a mad dog into his films as counterpoint to the secure daily routine of repressed living. The meaning of his symbolism is that no matter what men pretend, they are only one accidental bite away from utter fallibility. The artist disguises the incongruity that is the pulse-beat of madness but he is aware of it. What would the average man do with a full consciousness of absurdity? He has fashioned his character for the precise purpose of putting it between himself and the facts of life; it is his special tour-de-force that allows him to ignore incongruities, to nourish himself on impossibilities, to thrive on blindness. He accomplishes thereby a peculiarly human victory: the ability to be smug about terror. Sartre has called man a "useless passion" because he is so hopelessly bungled, so deluded about his true condition. He wants to be a god with only the equipment of an animal, and so he thrives on fantasies. As Ortega so well put it, man uses his ideas for the defense of his existence, to frighten away reality. This is a serious game, the defense of one's existence—how do you take it away from people and leave them joyous?"

- Ernest Becker, "The Denial of Death"

•

Freely download "The Denial Of Death", by Ernest Becker, here:

- https://archive.org/details/thedenialofdeath

•

"Learn more at the Ernest Becker Foundation. The EBF seeks to illuminate how the unconscious denial of mortality profoundly influences human behavior, giving rise to acts of hate and violence as well as noble, altruistic striving."

- https://www.ernestbecker.org/

"Destiny..."

"You are what your deep driving desire is;
As your deep driving desire is, so is your will;
As your will is so is your deed;
As your deed is so is your destiny."

- Maitri Upanishads

Paulo Coelho, “Dreams: The 12 Steps”

“Dreams: The 12 Steps”
by Paulo Coelho

"When Joseph Campbell created the expression “follow your blessing,” he was reflecting an idea that seems to be very appropriate right now. In “The Alchemist,” this same idea is called “Personal Legend.” Alan Cohen, a therapist who lives in Hawaii, is also working on this theme. He says that in his lectures he asks those who are dissatisfied with their work and seventy-five percent of the audience raise their hands. Cohen has created a system of twelve steps to help people to rediscover their “blessing” (he is a follower of Campbell):

1. Tell yourself the truth: Draw two columns on a sheet of paper and in the left column write down what you would love to do. Then write down on the other side everything you’re doing without any enthusiasm. Write as if nobody were ever going to read what is there, don’t censure or judge your answers.
 

2. Start slowly, but start: Call your travel agent, look for something that fits your budget; go and see the movie that you’ve been putting off; buy the book that you’ve been wanting to buy. Be generous to yourself and you’ll see that even these small steps will make you feel more alive.
 

3. Stop slowly, but stop: Some things use up all your energy. Do you really need to go that committee meeting? Do you need to help those who do not want to be helped? Does your boss have the right to demand that in addition to your work you have to go to all the same parties that he goes to? When you stop doing what you’re not interested in doing, you’ll realize that you were making more demands of yourself than others were really asking.
 

4. Discover your small talents: What do your friends tell you that you do well? What do you do with relish, even if it’s not perfectly well done? These small talents are hidden messages of your large occult talents.
 

5. Begin to choose: If something gives you pleasure, don’t hesitate. If you’re in doubt, close your eyes, imagine that you’ve made decision A and see all that it will bring you. Now do the same with decision B. The decision that makes you feel more connected to life is the right one – even if it’s not the easiest to make.

6. Don’t base your decisions on financial gain: The gain will come if you really do it with enthusiasm. The same vase, made by a potter who loves what he does and by a man who hates his job, has a soul. It will be quickly sold (in the first case) or will stay on the shelves (in the second case).
 

7. Follow your intuition: The most interesting work is the one where you allow yourself to be creative. Einstein said: “I did not reach my understanding of the Universe using just mathematics.” Descartes, the father of logic, developed his method based on a dream he had.
 

8. Don’t be afraid to change your mind: If you put a decision aside and this bothers you, think again about what you chose. Don’t struggle against what gives you pleasure.
 

9. Learn how to rest: One day a week without thinking about work lets the subconscious help you, and many problems (but not all) are solved without any help from reason.
 

10. Let things show you a happier path: If you are struggling too much for something, without any results appearing, be more flexible and follow the paths that life offers. This does not mean giving up the struggle, growing lazy or leaving things in the hands of others – it means understanding that work with love brings us strength, never despair.
 

11. Read the signs: This is an individual language joined to intuition that appears at the right moments. Even if the signs point in the opposite direction from what you planned, follow them. Sometimes you can go wrong, but this is the best way to learn this new language.
 

12. Finally, take risks! The men who have changed the world set out on their paths through an act of faith. Believe in the force of your dreams. God is fair, He wouldn’t put in your heart a desire that couldn’t come true.”

- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

"‘Cry ‘Havoc!’ And Let Slip The Dogs Of War’"

Full screen recommended.

"If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

If you prick us, do we not bleed?

And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war!"

"‘Cry ‘Havoc!’ And Let Slip The Dogs Of War’"

"The context of Marc Antony’s famous line comes when Julius Caesar lies dead, having been assassinated by a group of conspiratorial senators. Marc Antony, another army general, is allowed to approach the body, and negotiates with the conspirators to allow him to make a speech to the people – as long as he promises not to say anything negative about them. While the conspirators are outside, addressing the people, Marc Antony is left alone with Caesar’s body. He swears that he is going to get his revenge against the conspirators. He says that there is going to be a war the likes of which no-one has ever seen. He then invokes the image of a general crying havoc and releasing the dogs of war."

William Shakespeare, "Julius Caesar"

'Cry Havoc’ speech, spoken by Antony, Act 3 Scene 1:

"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,

That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever livèd in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy -

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips

To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue -

A curse shall light upon the limbs of men.

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife

Shall cumber all the parts of Italy.

Blood and destruction shall be so in use,

And dreadful objects so familiar,

That mothers shall but smile when they behold

Their infants quartered with the hands of war,

All pity choked with custom of fell deeds,

And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,

With Ate by his side come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice

Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial."

"The image conjured in the line ‘Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war’ is one of Shakespeare’s finest poetic moments. Not only does it have Marc Antony find the precise way of expressing what he wants to say, but the combination of crying havoc and the visual image of attack dogs straining at their collars is just a perfect image, and it is no wonder that the line has taken its place as one of the top idioms in the English language.

The word ‘havoc’ would probably be lost to us today if it hadn’t been for Shakespeare’s use of it – in fact, several times in his plays. However, as it is, its meaning hasn’t changed from Mediaeval times. It means a combination of disruptive forces – chaos, confusion, disorder, devastation, turmoil, turbulence, lawlessness. And we still use it in that way today.

Crying havoc was the act of shouting an instruction by a military commander. It was customary for soldiers to remain in their disciplined state throughout a battle, and do everything to win in that way. And then, once victory had been achieved, the commander would shout ‘Havoc!’ That was the signal for the soldiers to break ranks and rush in to plunder, rape and pillage in the defeated territory.

The ‘dogs of war’ are the soldiers. Shakespeare uses the metaphor of attack dogs. Letting slip introduces another word – ‘slip’ – which is an action in training attack dogs. The term ‘slip collar’ is still used in connection with the training of dogs, where the slip collar tightens around the dog’s neck and, controlled by the handler, restrains it from its natural desire to run freely. The collar can be released and thrown off by using a trigger device, allowing the dog to charge forward. That is known as ‘slipping’ the dog.

So we have the image here of soldiers, having won a battle, raring to go into the city or town and loot, but not being able to do so until given the order. When the commander is ready he shouts the order: ‘Havoc!!!!’ and the soldiers rush forward like attack dogs with their slip collars thrown off. This is Shakespeare at his best, finding the perfect image for the situation."

- https://nosweatshakespeare.com/

"Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits and

Are melted into air, into thin air:

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep."

William Shakespeare, "The Tempest", Act 4 Scene 1

"Maybe..."

“We’ve all heard the warnings and we’ve ignored them. We push our luck. We roll the dice. It’s human nature. When we’re told not to touch something we usually do even if we know better. Maybe because deep down, we’re just asking for trouble.”

- “Meredith Grey”, “Gray’s Anatomy”

Dan, I Allegedly, "The Retail Sales Lies - Don't Fall for This"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 6/19/24

"The Retail Sales Lies - Don't Fall for This"

"The retail sales numbers are in. What a letdown. 

Plus, the numbers from April were revised downward. No one is surprised."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

"Mass Formation Psychosis, Or... Mass Hypnosis - The Madness Of Crowds"

"Mass Formation Psychosis,

Or... Mass Hypnosis - The Madness Of Crowds"

by Robert W Malone MD, MS

"As many of you know, I have spent time researching and speaking about mass psychosis theory. Most of what I have learned has come from Dr. Mattias Desmet, who realized that this form of mass hypnosis, of the madness of crowds, can account for the strange phenomenon of about 20-30% of the population in the western world becoming entranced with the Noble Lies and dominant narrative concerning the safety and effectiveness of the genetic vaccines, and both propagated and enforced by politicians, science bureaucrats, pharmaceutical companies and legacy media.

What one observes with the mass hypnosis is that a large fraction of the population is completely unable to process new scientific data and facts demonstrating that they have been misled about the effectiveness and adverse impacts of mandatory mask use, lockdowns, and genetic vaccines that cause people’s bodies to make large amounts of biologically active coronavirus Spike protein.

These hypnotized by this process are unable to recognize the lies and misrepresentations they are being bombarded with on a daily basis, and actively attack anyone who has the temerity to share information with them which contradicts the propaganda that they have come to embrace. And for those whose families and social networks have been torn apart by this process, and who find that close relatives and friends have ghosted them because they question the officially endorsed “truth” and are actually following the scientific literature, this can be a source of deep anguish, sorrow and psychological pain.

It is with those souls in mind that I included a discussion of the mass formation theory of Dr. Mattias Desmet during a recent talk I gave in Tampa, Florida to an audience of about 2,000. As I looked out into the audience and spoke, I could see relief on many faces, and even tears running from the eyes of stoic men.

"What Is Mass Formation Psychosis?"

An overview of Mass Formation, which was developed by Dr. Mattias Desmet. He is a psychologist and a statistician. He is at the University of Ghent in Belgium. I think Dr. Mattias is onto something about what is happening and he calls this phenomena:

Mass Formation Psychosis: So, when he says “mass” formation, you can think of this as equivalent to “crowd” formation. One can think of this as: crowd psychosis. The conditions to set up mass formation psychosis include lack of social connectedness and sensemaking as well as large amounts of latent anxiety and passive aggression. When people are inundated with a narrative that presents a plausible "object of anxiety" and strategy for coping with it, then many individuals group together to battle the object with a collective singlemindedness. This allows people to stop focusing on their own problems, avoiding personal mental anguish. Instead, they focus all their thought and energy on this new object.

As mass formation progresses, the group becomes increasingly bonded and connected. Their field of attention is narrowed and they become unable to consider alternative points of view. Leaders of the movement are revered, unable to do no wrong.

Left unabated, a society under the spell of mass formation will support a totalitarian governance structure capable of otherwise unthinkable atrocities in order to maintain compliance. A note: mass formation is different from group think. There are easy ways to fix group think by just bringing in dissenting voices and making sure you give them platforms. It isn’t so easy with mass formation. Even when the narrative falls apart, cracks in the strategy clearly aren’t solving the issue, the hypnotized crowd can’t break free of the narrative. The solution for those in control of the narrative is to produce bigger and bigger lies to prop up the solution. Those being controlled by mass formation no longer are able to use reason to break free of the group narrative.

Of course, the obvious example of mass formation is Germany in the 1930s and 40s. How could the German people who were highly educated, very liberal in the classic sense; western thinking people… how could they go so crazy and do what they did to the Jews? How could this happen? To a civilized people? A leader of a mass formation movement will use the platform to continue to pump the group with new information to focus on. In the case of COVID-19, I like to use the term “fear porn.” Leaders, through main stream media and government channels continuously feed the “beast” with more messaging that focus and further hypnotize their adherents. We're seeing the exact same process with Ukraine now.

Studies suggest that mass formation follows a general distribution:

● 30% are brainwashed, hypnotized, indoctrinated by the group narrative.

● 40% in the middle are persuadable and may follow if no worthy alternative is perceived.

● 30% fight against the narrative.

Those that rebel and fight against the narrative, become the enemy of the brainwashed and a primary target of aggression. One of the the best ways to counter mass formation is for those against the narrative to continue to speak out against it, which serves to help break the hypnosis of some in the brainwashed group as well as persuade the persuadable middle to choose reason over mindlessness."

- https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/

○

Related:

• "Mattias Desmet on Our Grave Situation"

"Hamas War Wreaks Brutal Toll On Israel: 70,000+ Soldiers Disabled; Thousands Wounded In Gaza War"

Full screen recommended.

Times Of India, 6/19/24

"Hamas War Wreaks Brutal Toll On Israel: 

70,000+ Soldiers Disabled; Thousands Wounded In Gaza War"

"Israel's Ministry of Military Affairs reports over 70,000 soldiers disabled, with recent hostilities in Gaza adding 8,663 to rehabilitation programs, primarily for mental health conditions and physical injuries."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

This is the toll for slaughtering 37,500 defenseless men, women and 16,000 CHILDREN?!

Wait until they see what Hezbollah does to them...

Stipendium peccati mors est, Israel, and it's coming...

o

Full screen recommended.

Times Of India, 6/19/24

"‘Hamas War Cost Israel Brutally’:

 Israel Defense Minister Regrets Failure In Gaza"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Oh, you murderously psychopathic monsters haven't seen "high cost" yet...

But you will... So be it!

The Poet: W.B. Yeats, "The Second Coming"

"The Second Coming"

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"

- William Butler Yeats, January 1919

"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world," indeed...

"The West Is Lighting the Fuse of War"

"There are a multitude of fuses affixed to dozens of powder-kegs and little kids with matches are on the loose. I don’t know which of the fuses will be lit and which powder-keg will blow, but someone is bound to do something stupid, and then all hell will break loose. It could happen at any time. One military miscue. One assassination. One violent act that stirs the world. And the dominoes will topple, setting off fireworks not seen on this planet since 1939 – 1945. I can see it all very clearly." - Jim Quinn

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

"War Games", 1984

"The West Is Lighting the Fuse of War"

by Paul Craig Roberts

"The Western media is a lie machine. Western governments live in a make-believe world of their own impunity. Consequently, the Western peoples lack awareness of the dangerous situation that Washington has created with Russia.

The so-called “peace conference” in Switzerland was a fraud. Russia was not included, so how was it a peace conference? It was a propaganda event to rally support around Washington’s puppet, Zelensky, whose term has expired and who is ruling illegitimately as a dictator. Many of the attendees refused to sign the statement.

Here is a true description of the situation. The West is acting in behalf of the war continuing and expanding. The puppet’s term has expired and Zelensky continues in office despite not being reelected. The Western trained and equipped Ukrainian military has been defeated. At any time Russia can increase the offensive and clear Ukrainian forces from the Russian populated areas that have been reincorporated into Russia.

The West’s response to its lost war consists of two reckless and irresponsible actions. One is to send NATO troops, with the French being the opening wedge, to replace the depleted Ukrainian troops. The other is to further provoke the Kremlin by firing longer range missiles into Russia.

Putin and important members of the Russian government have indicated that if necessary Russian troops will move into areas beyond the reestablished border of Russia, stating that the longer the range of the missiles the deeper into Ukraine the buffer region will be.

It is unclear why Washington provoked the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as it was obvious that Ukraine had no chance of winning and as the war was certain to unite the Russian people behind Putin and to destroy any trust of the West in the Kremlin. Most importantly, the West ignored that it was forcing an existential threat upon Russia. The Kremlin is convinced that the West intends Russia’s destruction.

Putin’s intention after his deception by the West with the Minsk Agreement, was only to drive Ukrainian forces out of the Russian areas that have now been reincorporated into Russia. Apparently Putin did not realize the extent to which the West would involve itself and expand the war. Now that Putin faces an outbreak of a larger war, he clearly stated the conditions for ending the conflict.

He said that Russian military action will cease when the remaining Ukrainian forces are withdrawn from the Russian populated areas that have been reunited with Russia and when Ukraine agrees that the country will not become a member of NATO or have foreign bases and missiles on its territory. These are reasonable and generous terms. If these terms are refused, Ukraine faces further conquest and harsher future conditions for ending the conflict.

When Ukraine was broken off from Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian provinces which Soviet leaders had attached to Ukraine should have been left in Russia. Whether or not this was a failure of foresight or malicious intent, it was a mistake that resulted in a conflict that has the potential of engulfing the world.

The difference between the 20th century Cold War and the 21st century hot war is that in the Cold War era the US and Soviet leadership, understanding the fatal nature of nuclear weapons, were committed to reducing tensions and building trust, whereas in the 21st century only Russia has sought mutual understanding and mutual security. Washington has fomented conflict and raised an existential threat to Russia by expanding NATO to Russia’s borders and overthrowing governments of former Russian provinces.

To avoid war Putin has accepted continuing provocations and insults. But now faced with such reckless and irresponsible proposals as NATO troops in Ukraine and missiles hitting deep into Russia, Putin has made one last effort to state conditions for ending the conflict. The conditions are immensely better than the outbreak of conflict that would destroy Europe and the United States.

The danger today is much worse than the Cuban Missile Crisis. In those days Washington recognized the danger. Today Washington does not. President John F. Kennedy realized that the US had provoked Soviet missiles in Cuba by placing US missiles in Turkey. Kennedy and Khrushchev made a mutual security agreement and both removed the missiles.

Putin’s diplomatic effort during December 2021 and February 2022 for a mutual security agreement was cold-shouldered by Washington, NATO, and the EU. With the outbreak of major war looming, Biden has still not met with Putin. Instead, Biden has provoked animosity by calling Putin the new Hitler. This is an unprecedented level or reckless irresponsibility.

The question before us is: Will Putin continue to accept provocations in hope that a change in the Washington regime in the November election will permit the West to come to its senses, or is Serbian President Vucic correct that the train has left the station?

As the Western world lacks a truthful media, the people might be indoctrinated with the “Russian threat.” Even if the people realize that the threat is Washington’s pressure on Russia, the people are impotent to affect government policy. Among the Western governments, public opinion is something to be manipulated, not something to which to listen.

I believe the West has convinced Putin that the West intends war. Not even Putin has an endless amount of patience. Instead of recognizing the dangerous situation and sitting down with Putin to defuse the situation, the West is lighting the fuse."

- https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/

And of course someone, the US, as always, has done

 something astonishingly stupid and provocative...

"Sullivan Greenlights Ukraine Cross-Border 

Attacks Beyond Kharkiv Region With US Arms"

And here's how they're doing it...

"Nuclear War Ahead?

Ukrainian Deep Strikes and Russia’s (non) Responses"

"WTF Alert! Russia Changes Nuclear Doctrine! Israel Approves War Plans! N. Korea Moves Troops!"

Canadian Prepper, 6/18/24

"WTF Alert! Russia Changes Nuclear Doctrine! 

Israel Approves War Plans! N. Korea Moves Troops!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "The Fall Of America"

Very strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, 6/18/24

"The Fall Of America"

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.

- https://trendsjournal.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Warning! The Financial Dominos Fall Gradually Then Suddenly - You Will Own Nothing"

Jeremiah Babe, 6/18/24

"Warning! The Financial Dominos Fall Gradually 

Then Suddenly - You Will Own Nothing"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"All Hell Is About To Break Loose In 

The World Financial System"

Egon von Greyerz, 6/17/24

Judge Napolitano, "Col. Karen Kwiatkowski: US Empire’s Impending Suicide"

Full screen recommended.

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 6/18/24

"Col. Karen Kwiatkowski:

 US Empire’s Impending Suicide"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "Moment of Grace Part 1"

Full screen recommended.

Liquid Mind, "Moment of Grace Part 1"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"This fantastic skyscape lies near the edge of NGC 2174 a star forming region about 6,400 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation of Orion. It follows mountainous clouds of gas and dust carved by winds and radiation from the region's newborn stars, now found scattered in open star clusters embedded around the center of NGC 2174, off the top of the frame.

Though star formation continues within these dusty cosmic clouds they will likely be dispersed by the energetic newborn stars within a few million years. Recorded at infrared wavelengths by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014, the interstellar scene spans about 6 light-years. Scheduled for launch in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope is optimized for exploring the Universe at infrared wavelengths."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Chet Raymo, “When The Morning Stars Sing Together”

“When The Morning Stars Sing Together”

by Chet Raymo

“A Chinese proverb: A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Which might be an acceptable epigraph for this blog. I can’t imagine anyone coming here looking for answers. Certainly, providing answers is the last thing on my mind. I would like to think you come for song.

We are, I think, by and large, a community who distrusts answers, at least answers that are vehemently held. We are made uncomfortable by stridency. By dogma. By the desire to proselytize. We wear our truths lightly, gaily, as a song bird wears its feathers. We are grateful to those who push back the clouds of ignorance and hold the reins of passion. With Blake, we sing their praises, a song we have spent a lifetime learning. We sing to celebrate. We sing because we have a song.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: Wendell Berry, “Leavings”

“Leavings”

“In time a man disappears

from his lifelong fields, from

the streams he has walked beside,

from the woods where he sat and waited.

Thinking of this, he seems to

miss himself in those places

as if always he has been there.

But first he must disappear,

and this he foresees with hope,

with thanks. Let others come.”

- Wendell Berry

○

“Perhaps as he was lying awake then, his life may have passed before him - his early hopeful struggles, his manly successes and prosperity, his downfall in his declining years, and his present helpless condition – no chance of revenge against Fortune, which had had the better of him - neither name nor money to bequeath - a spent-out, bootless life of defeat and disappointment, and the end here! Which, I wonder, brother reader, is the better lot, to die prosperous and famous, or poor and disappointed? To have, and to be forced to yield; or to sink out of life, having played and lost the game? That must be a strange feeling, when a day of our life comes and we say, “Tomorrow, success or failure won’t matter much, and the sun will rise, and all the myriads of mankind go to their work or their pleasure as usual, but I shall be out of the turmoil.”

- William Makepeace Thackeray, “Vanity Fair”

"In A Word..."

“In a word, there are many thorns, but the roses are there too.”

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Best known for this classic...

Full screen recommended.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, "1812 Overture"

"The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture, is a concert overture in E♭ major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The piece commemorates Russia's successful defense against the French invasion of the country by Napoleon in 1812."

"On 7 September 1812, at Borodino, 120 km (75 mi) west of Moscow, Napoleon's forces met those of General Mikhail Kutuzov in a concerted stand made by Russia against the seemingly invincible French Army. The Battle of Borodino saw casualties estimated as high as 100,000 and the French were masters of the field. It was, however, ultimately a pyrrhic victory for the French invasion.

With resources depleted and supply lines overextended, Napoleon's weakened forces moved into Moscow, which they occupied with no delegation to receive the conquerors. Expecting a capitulation from Tsar Alexander I, the French instead found themselves in a barren and desolate city. To make things worse, 48 hours after Napoleon's entry to the Russian city on 14 September 1812, three quarters of Moscow was burned to the ground.

Deprived of winter stores, Napoleon had to retreat. Beginning on 19 October and lasting well into December, the French Army faced several overwhelming obstacles on its long retreat: famine, typhus, freezing temperatures, harassing Cossacks, and Russian forces barring the way out of the country. Abandoned by Napoleon in November, the Grande Armée was reduced to one-tenth of its original size by the time it reached Poland and relative safety."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia

"Permanent Adolescence: The Epidemic That Will Destroy America"

"Permanent Adolescence:

The Epidemic That Will Destroy America"

by Dr. Paul Kindlon

"As a Humanities professor I have had the opportunity to teach psychology and social psychology for more than 25 years. Occasionally the knowledge obtained in these areas allows me to analyze and understand social behavior and certain cultural trends. This is one those occasions.

If one is able to observe American society in an objective manner (granted no easy task) it becomes clear that the country is suffering from an epidemic of arrested emotional development (AED). This particular illness is characterized by some combination of: addiction, greed, immaturity, fear, blame, shame, resentments, anger, confusion and suffering. What it means is that the vast majority of Americans are stuck in adolescence exhibiting behavior like lying, negative attitudes, disobedience and disrespect, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and issues of sexuality.

One has only to watch American movies or television shows to get a snapshot of juvenile, puerile, and base comedy characteristic of adolescent humor. It’s no accident that 48 year old Jimmy Fallon is essentially the “eternal teenager” performing comedy that mostly includes bathroom humor and gags that are based on and appeal to a silly sense of immaturity. The other darling of late-night shows in America is Stephen Colbert, age 58, who specializes in insulting public figues in an overtly adolescent display of negative attitude and disrespect.

Another hallmark of AED is to evade responsibility and blame others for failure. One had only to observe the millions of Hillary supporters to understand this phenomenon. Also common for AED sufferers is to show disrespect in sophomoric ways usually by damaging property as we see with monuments being defaced and destroyed.

Teenagers, of course, tend to have identity issues often involving sexuality which is another phenomenon all too apparent in contemporary America. It’s almost uncool not to be LGBT or confused about your gender nowadays. Soon there will be as many genders as ice-cream flavors for it’s all just a matter of taste!

In terms of cognitive activity AED is characterized by exaggeration and over-simplification. If you are angry with one of your parents you might refer to them as a Nazi or Fascist.

This negative attitude now is extended to anyone who disagrees with you and can be seen in slogans such as “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA”. Adults are an endangered species. The cognitive effect of exaggeration and over-simplification leads to irrationality and confusion. Witness the millions of people who think they are being anti-racist by opposing “White Supremacy”. No anthropologist on earth would claim that “White” is a race (although a Neo- Nazi would) It’s not even a primary color. The Irish were discriminated against for more than a hundred years in America due to Anglo-Saxon racism yet the Irish are considered “white”. There are millions of Americans of German, Polish, and Scandinavian extraction who have been working-class and lower for a very long time. Are these “white people” guilty of supremacy? Against whom? Themselves?

Of course, what the protestors should be focusing on is class and not race which is really an arbitrary term. Unfortunately. the progressive movement in America has gone from “Occupy Wall street” to “occupy the public bathroom”. Lenin would be turning over in his grave – if he had one. With regard to alcohol and drug addiction in America, the statistics are startling. Opiod addiction alone is becoming a national health issue as is depression. Alcohol abuse, of course, is also quite high. Lying is also becoming commonplace. It used to be just politicians and lawyers who were known to “play with the truth”. Nowadays the mainstream media is widely seen as a mainstream of lies with CNN now wearing the title of FAKE NEWS.

The teenage attempt to rebel and show disobedience is often manifested through the use of profanity intended to shock the older generation. Gratuitous profanity is pervasive in American culture and has replaced the imagination as a form of creativity. It is not an accident that Pussy Riot – a group of “performance artists” using profanity in a Cathedral considered sacred to “shock” the Russian public and “disobey” authorities – has found a home in the United States and been befriended by Madonna, another symbol of eternal adolescence. Her AED was on full display when she publicly offered all men fellatio if they voted for Hillary Clinton. And as any rebellious teenager attempting to shock the “older generation” she had to announce that she “swallows”. Stay classy, Madonna. Keep in mind we’re talking about a 63 year old mother of six.

You see…if everyone is a teenager there is no adult supervision. That is the problem. After an autopsy is conducted years from now to ascertain how and why the American Empire expired, the obituary will include multiple causes of death and AED will be listed prominently. Perhaps a precocious teenager will be allowed to write the epitaph that will read…”When extended, the bridge between adolescence and adulthood can take a heavy toll”.

- https://www.lewrockwell.com/

○

“Most people don’t grow up. It’s too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older. That’s the truth of it. They honor their credit cards, they find parking spaces, they marry, they have the nerve to have children, but they don’t grow up. Not really. They get older. But to grow up costs the earth, the earth. It means you take responsibility for the time you take up, for the space you occupy. It’s serious business. And you find out what it costs us to love and to lose, to dare and to fail. And maybe even more, to succeed."

- Maya Angelou

"Why Not Despair? "

"Why Not Despair?"

"To view our times as decadent and dangerous, to mistrust the government, to imagine that those in power as not concerned with our best interests is not paranoid but perceptive; to be depressed, angry or confused about such things is not delusional but a sign of consciousness. Yet our culture suggests otherwise. But if all this is true, then why not despair? The simple answer is this: despair is the suicide of imagination. Whatever reality presses upon us, there still remains the possibility of imagining something better, and in this dream remains the frontier of our humanity and its possibilities To despair is to voluntarily close a door that has not yet shut. The task is to bear knowledge without it destroying ourselves, to challenge the wrong without ending up on its casualty list. You don't have to change the world, the writer Colman McCarthy has argued. Just keep the world from changing you.

Oddly, those who instinctively understand this best are often those who seem to have the least reason to do so, survivors of abuse, oppression, and isolation who somehow discover not so much how to beat the odds, but how to wriggle around them. They have, without formal instruction, learned two of the most fundamental lessons of psychiatry, philosophy, and religion:

You are not responsible for that into which you were born..

You are responsible for doing something about it.

These individuals move through life like a skilled mariner in a storm rather than as a victim at a sacrifice. Relatively unburdened by pointless and debilitating guilt about the past, uninterested in the endless regurgitation of the unalterable, they free themselves to concentrate upon the present and the future. They face the gale as a sturdy combatant rather than as cowering supplicant."

- Sam Smith

The Daily "Near You?"

Burnley, Lancashire, United Kingdom. Thanks for stopping by!

"If..."

“If Man were relieved of all superstition, and all prejudice, and had replaced these with a keen sensitivity to his real environment, and moreover had achieved a level of communication so simplified that one syllable could express his every thought, then he would have achieved the level of intelligence already achieved by his dog.”

~ Robert Brault

Epic Economist, "15 Signs China Is Economically Devastating America"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 6/18/24

"15 Signs China Is Economically Devastating America"

"China's meteoric rise over the past few decades has positioned it as a formidable competitor to the United States in various sectors. From economic growth and technological innovation to infrastructure development and international influence, China's strategic investments and policy initiatives have enabled it to grow faster than the U.S. in several critical areas.

Though America is still the leading superpower of the world when it comes to geopolitics, and economic development, the eastern nation is a close second, and it has been surpassing the U.S. in many aspects. Today, we explore 15 ways in which China is outpacing America, highlighting the implications for global dynamics and future trends. Without any further ado, let's check out this list!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "This Is The Endgame, Be Ready for World-Wide Pandemonium!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 6/18/24

"This Is The Endgame, Be Ready for 

World-Wide Pandemonium! Are You Ready?"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"The Sane Who Know..."

“Human beings are, necessarily, actors who cannot become something before they have first pretended to be it; and they can be divided, not into the hypocritical and the sincere, but into the sane who know they are acting and the mad who do not.”

- W.H Auden

"A dog might feel as majestic as a lion, might bark as loud as a roar, might have a heart as mighty and brave as a Lion's heart, but at the end of the day, a dog is a dog and a lion is a lion."

 - Charlyn Khatero