"Now What?"

"Now What?"

by Brian Maher

"The American people spoke on Election Day. But what did they say? We tune out the ambient noise, cup our ear... and lean in for a closer listen. Yet two days later their message remains garbled, jumbled, indecipherable. The static may not clear for days… or potentially weeks.

Four “battleground” states have yet to declare a definitive winner - Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia - and North Carolina. Certain media outlets placed Wisconsin and Michigan in Biden’s pocket yesterday. But the incumbent stands defiant on his rock, shaking his fists and yelling his war shouts. He has, for example, demanded a recount in the Dairy State of Wisconsin. Why? Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager: "There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results."

As Josef Stalin probably never said… “It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes!” We allege no impropriety in Wisconsin or any other united state of course. We retain the truest faith in the pristinity of American democracy… and the saintly virtue of its election officials. Do not dare mention Chicago and its former Mayor Daley - we will not listen!

The president has also filed suit against Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia for counting “illegal votes.” He further retains faith that Arizona is not yet lost. Results released today in fact reveal he has closed in on the challenger.

Can he chase him down ultimately? We do not pretend to know. This we do know: The winner must collar 270 electoral votes. Mr. Biden has 264 by the scruff - at least to our understanding. That is, he is six votes short of the grail. The president - at 217 electoral votes - requires something approaching a royal flush to retain it. Thus the challenger enjoys a drastically shorter route to victory… assuming present results withstand legal challenge.

A winner has yet to be announced, it is true. Yet we can announce a definitive election loser - or losers: Pollsters. Many had Mr. Biden trouncing the president by high single-digits. Trump stood only a 10% chance of victory, some suggested. He may lose yet. The election nonetheless turned out being a nail-chomper, a near-run thing.

For months Jim Rickards argued these polls to pieces, insisting they gave false positives for Biden. He stands vindicated in the overall. It is true, Jim predicted a slender Trump victory. Yet he did grant the authentic possibility of a Biden win: "My models project that Trump will win, but I'd be the first to admit that the uncertainty factor is high, and a Biden victory is certainly possible. Too many variables are involved this year to draw a decisive conclusion. I was more confident of a Trump win in 2016 than in this election."

A cowardly hedge, an artful dodge, a craven attempt to have it both ways? In our telling, no. Jim had to navigate hair-thin margins in key states. A nudge here, a jostle there could swing the entire vote. To anticipate them all is to anticipate the course changes of a flitting fly, numbers issuing from a random number generator, the precise number of lies emerging from Congress any given day. It cannot be done. Yet Jim came nearer than most. And he may yet hit bullseye. But now the all-important question: What next? Jim gives his answer below. Read on."

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"Where Do We Go From Here?"

by Jim Rickards

"We're in the wake of one of the closest elections in U.S. history, at least in the Electoral College count. Joe Biden will win the popular vote count by 3 to 4 million votes. That was totally expected and is irrelevant. Presidents are elected by the Electoral College, not by the popular vote. So, let's turn our attention to that and see where things stand.

Despite the drama and anticipation, the 2020 electoral vote was playing out very much as the 2016 electoral vote played out through the late hours of Election Day and into the early morning on November 4. It’s still playing out today, two days after the election.

Tuesday night a key state evidently flipped. Arizona, which Trump won in 2016, was declared for Joe Biden. That put 11 electoral votes in Biden's column and subtracted 11 from Trump's 2016 total. That wasn’t fatal for Trump in itself, but it made his path to victory far more difficult. Arizona was called prematurely. There were too many outstanding votes to call it for Biden. Biden may end up winning Arizona, but it’s likely to be very close when all votes are counted. Trump may even win.

Alaska goes to Trump. Wisconsin and Michigan have been declared for Biden, although the Trump campaign has issued legal challenges in both states, as well as Pennsylvania. Putting the remaining undecided states to one side, that leaves the Electoral College at Biden 264 - Trump 217 as of noon today. That includes putting Alaska in Trump's column. That call is not official, but no one doubts Trump will get Alaska.

It takes 270 to win. Biden needs six electoral votes to reach 270, assuming the results stand. Trump needs 53. Here are the remaining undecided states as of now and their electoral votes: Georgia (16), North Carolina (15), Pennsylvania (20), and Nevada (6). If Biden wins Nevada alone, it would bring him to 270 electoral votes, even if he loses Arizona and Pennsylvania.

So, the math and the map are pretty simple. Assuming Biden’s victories in Michigan and Wisconsin stand, one more state gets him to 270 electoral votes and is the next president. Game over. If Trump wins Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania he gets to 268 electoral votes and still needs to pick up either Arizona or Nevada.

Trump is clinging to small leads in Georgia and North Carolina and has a more substantial lead in Pennsylvania. Biden is clinging to a small lead in Nevada. The problem is that all of those states have districts that have either not reported yet or have uncounted ballots from a combination of mail-in ballots that have to be counted by hand. Excuses vary from a burst water pipe in the counting center (Atlanta, Georgia) to a public employee day off (Nevada), to small districts just not doing their job (Wisconsin).

Some of these results may be finalized today, but some will not. We may not know results from Nevada or Pennsylvania until Friday. Here are the two critical scenarios:

• Biden holds Arizona and wins Nevada. Result: Biden wins.

• Trump gets Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Nevada or Arizona: Result: Trump wins.

Events are changing in real-time. Of course, other paths are possible, but the above scenarios are the key outlooks.

I'm not aware of any forecaster who said the presidential race would come down to Arizona or Nevada, but there we are. Now we need to recall Yogi Berra's immortal advice: "It ain't over 'till it's over."

The electoral vote scenarios would only apply if there's no litigation, fraud or theft. Unfortunately, all three are in play. When you are stuffing the ballot box, you first wait to see what the "regular" vote is so that you know how many votes you "need" to push your candidate over the top. That seems to have happened. In Wisconsin, over 100,000 Biden votes appeared seemingly out of nowhere on a flash drive delivered by hand from a Democratic district. That put Biden ahead in Wisconsin, but litigation will follow.

Likewise, a huge "absentee ballot" dump appeared in Michigan that heavily favored Biden. The absentee ballot level greatly exceeded past elections raising suspicions of fraud. (Absentee ballots are different from "mail-in" ballots in the sense that they are handled directly by town clerks rather than mass counting centers making them more subject to litigation). Again, litigation is in the works.

Numerous irregularities have been claimed in Pennsylvania. Of course, Philadelphia is notorious for electoral shenanigans, so challenges there cannot be ruled out. Possible legal claims on mail-in ballots in all of these open states include: late postmarks, late receipt, missing postage, missing signatures, non-matching signatures, illegible ballots and more.

Even if all of the ballots are finally counted, some states are likely to be so close that state law will allow for a recount. Wisconsin, for example, will have a recount. Other states will likely follow. Remember Florida in 2000 and the infamous "hanging chads?" Get ready for that times six.

This is just the beginning of a new and more uncertain phase that could go on for weeks. Meanwhile, there are some things we know with much higher certainty. The Republicans have retained control of the U.S. Senate, and Mitch McConnell will remain Majority Leader. That's important. McConnell will act as a wall to prevent adding Puerto Rico and Washington DC as states (giving Democrats four more Senators) and will put an end to packing the Supreme Court and abolishing the Electoral College.

It also means the end of progressive ideas such as the New Green Deal and free everything. Republicans had a lot of Senate seats to defend this year and will have far fewer to defend in 2022. The Republican majority in the Senate may hold until the 2024 election. So, even if Biden wins, his agenda does not.

Similarly, the Republicans picked up at least six seats in the House of Representatives. That's not enough to regain the majority, but it is enough to improve cooperation with the Senate. Democrats lost a number of seats they expected to hold, especially among so-called "moderate" Democrats. The remaining moderate Democrats will not want to lose their seats in the 2022 midterm elections.

That may be enough to nudge some Democrats to work with Republicans and form a moderate working consensus on key issues. The bottom line is that the Republicans have strengthened their hand in the Congress. If Biden wins the White House, the Congress will act as a brake on the progressive, radical agenda. Checks and balances work after all.

There are lots of other presidential scenarios that are more extreme than those described above. Here's a sample that we'll update once the open states are declared:

• Some states may not be able to certify any electors by the statutory December 8, 2020 "safe harbor" date. If that happens, those states could lose their electoral votes. This radically changes the 270 vote threshold.

• Some states may certify two slates of electors; one from a Democratic governor and one from a Republican legislature in the same state. This happened in 1876. This type of dispute could easily go to the Supreme Court.

• So-called "faithless electors" could switch sides in the December 14 Electoral College vote. That's rare but has happened before. Again, a Supreme Court challenge seems likely.

• In an extreme case, if the Electoral College cannot choose a president, there will be a "provisional election" in the Congress in early January. The Senate picks the Vice President and could choose Mike Pence. The House picks the President, and it votes according to delegations, not individual members. Right now, Republicans have a majority of the state delegations even though Democrats have a majority of the members. In this scenario, the House could choose Donald Trump even if Trump loses the popular vote and trails Biden in the electoral vote. This happened in 1824. Remember, as Yogi said, "It ain't over 'till it's over.”

- dailyreckoning.com

"I Would Rather..."

"When a bull is being lead to the slaughter, it still hopes to break loose and trample its butchers. Other bulls have not been able to pass on the knowledge that this never happens and that from the slaughterhouse there is no way back to the herd. But in human society there is a continuous exchange of experience. I have never heard of a man who broke away and fled while being led to his execution. It is even thought to be a special form of courage if a man about to be executed refuses to be blindfolded and dies with his eyes open. But I would rather have the bull with his blind rage, the stubborn beast who doesn't weigh his chances of survival with the prudent dull-wittedness of man, and doesn't know the despicable feeling of despair."

- Nadezhda Mandelstam

"The Motive..."

"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."

- Blaise Pascal

The Daily "Near You?"

 

Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Market Fantasy Updates 11/5/20"

"Market Fantasy Updates 11/5/20"

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

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"The more I see of the monied classes, 

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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Gregory Mannarino, 

AM 11/5/20: 

"Markets and More:

Hump And The Cretin... Stay Distracted America!"

 - https://traderschoice.net/

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Updated live.

- https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/marketsummary

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- https://markets.businessinsider.com/

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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Daily Update (Nov. 5th to 6th)

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

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Insanity... 

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And now... The End Game...

"Only One Question..."

"There's only one question that matters, and it's the one you never get around to asking. People are capable of varying degrees of truth. The majority spend their entire lives fabricating an elaborate skein of lies, immersing themselves in the faith of bad faith, doing whatever it takes to feel safe. The person who truly lives has precious few moments of safety, learns to thrive in any kind of storm. It's the truth you can stare down stone-cold that makes you what you are. Weak or strong. Live or die. Prove yourself. How much truth can you take?"

- Karen Marie Moning

"Business As Usual"

"Business As Usual"

By Bill Bonner

"When you stop building, you die."

– Old Chinese proverb

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – "On the hill behind the house, we have begun building a tiny, family chapel. Almost all the farms in the area have a church. Ours has none… at least, not on this side of the river.

Chapel under construction.

Why would we want a chapel? The world is a busy place. The busy-ness of it can distract… mislead… and distort your life. If you watch the news today, for example, you will come away thinking that the U.S. presidential election is the most important thing happening in the world… that the future of the nation depends on it… and that we must turn our thoughts and emotions towards it as if our favorite dog were dying in the corner of the room. (As we explain below, as the election dust settles, it looks more and more like the world has not changed at all.)

In any case, it doesn’t hurt to have a place set aside for non-busy-ness… where the hustle and bustle of the outside world can be tuned out… with no internet, no TV, and no radio… a quiet, solemn, cool place… to wonder about what really matters… to admit our weaknesses and vanities… to strengthen our soul, steel our spirit, and prepare our mind for the vicious indignities…in the news! More about our building project in a moment…

Another Grievance: First… Yes, we will suffer through the latest headlines… The Dow rose again yesterday – by another 367 points. The futures market tells us it will rise again today. What are investors thinking? Aren’t they worried about a hung election? People are already on edge. Many think their happiness has been stolen by the Chinese, the Democrats… transgenders, etc. And now, they have another grievance – the election has been “stolen!’’

“It’s no secret that the Democrats will try to steal this election,” said a Trump fundraiser yesterday. About a third of the population believes that if the votes had been counted honestly, their man would be secure in the White House and ready to do everything that he promised to do four years ago. But all of it – the election campaigning… the voting… the two candidates… the platforms – all of it is like a dust storm. In the middle of it, you can see nothing else. And when it is over, everything is just the same.

And underneath all the flying dirt, a huge sewer runs its course… flowing day by day… carrying the effluent of our public policies… the mail-in ballots that went down the drain… the commentaries that no one read… the lies, the balderdash… the claptrap… And all of us, too – rudderless, clueless, helpless, hopeless… drifting along… headed for the treatment plant, which is where – to use the colloquial expression – the sh*t hits the fan!

Business as Usual: Investors figure that no big change is coming. Instead… with the election out of the way, it will be back to business as usual. And more and more, it looks like they are right. Here at the Diary, we always look at the bright side. And we held out hope that Trumpism would be demolished and that Republicans, sweeping up the debris and reflecting on what went wrong, might be reborn as genuine conservatives.

Alas, the voters repudiated neither the socialism of the Left (Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, etc.) nor the socialism of the Right (Trumpism). The headlines are reporting that “gridlock” may be coming – with the Supreme Court and the Senate in Republican hands… and the House and the presidency under Democrat control. The Financial Times suggests that, if elected, Joe Biden may be a “lame duck” president. But no matter which bird ends up sitting in the Oval Office, the one grid that won’t be locked is the one that keeps all of them large and in charge.

Yes, the one thing they all agree on is that the money-printing, interest rate suppressing, power-grabbing jackassery must continue. And we know where that leads – to the aforementioned sewage treatment plant.

Self Protection: So, what do we do to protect ourselves? First, our colleague Dan Denning suggests having a “bolthole,” a safe and agreeable place where you can wait it out. You can find out how to get his report on the subject here. Another colleague, Tom Dyson, suggests – more by actions than words – a more fluid approach. He has anchored his wealth in gold… so that it won’t be blown away. But as for his family, he goes about under full sail… ready to tack to starboard or to port to dodge the foul weather when it comes his way. You can follow Tom’s story here.

Second, though Tom has pointed out the safest, simplest, most reliable way to protect your money – just put it in gold – it falls to your editor to try to do even better. This we attempt to do in our Trade of the Decade… about which, more tomorrow.

Faith and Courage: Today, let us finish telling you about our chapel. For nearly 50 years, we’ve almost always had some building project underway. Not only were they fun to do, they were also ways of engaging our children in meaningful work. Restoring our old family farmhouse in Maryland. Fixing stone walls in France. Scraping off wallpaper… and painting rooms in an old wreck of a château. Building barns. Putting up fences.

And then, there were the “experimental” projects. One of them was particularly difficult. It was down here in Argentina eight years ago. The altitude made breathing difficult. The sun was so intense, we erected a sunscreen so that we could work in partial shade. The rocks were heavy. The flies were biting. And we worked alongside a local crew from dawn to dusk; the last thing we wanted was to show ourselves up as weak or incapable. “If you can do this,” we told our two boys, “the rest of life will seem easy.” The boys didn’t forget. That experience stuck with them… giving them faith in themselves and courage to tackle whatever comes their way. At least… that’s what we’d like to think.

Sticky Mud: Now, we are alone. The children have their own lives. But the building continues. Here in San Martín, the techniques are basic. We buy no materials, save for a few bags of cement. Everything else comes from the ground… and nearby trees. The only real expense is the labor… currently running about $1 an hour.

With a small team of locals, led by a friendly giant named Monzon, we mix up mud, just as it has been done for the last 3,000 years. A pool is shaped… dirt shoveled in… some straw added… and then, one of the changos (boys) stomps around in it until it is the consistency of, well, sticky mud. The mud is then shoveled into brick molds and left to dry in the sun. These bricks are about three times the size of the common, oven-fired red brick used in the U.S. Once dry, they are laid up with more mud, on a foundation of stone and concrete… up to about 6 and a half feet high.

Mud bricks.

In the eastern wall, we have embedded a cross. It is made by taking our empty wine bottles – of which we have many – cutting them in half, and then putting two bottom ends together with duct tape. This gives us glass tubes that transmit the morning light over where the altar will stand.

Cross made from wine bottles.

Roof Plans: The difficult part is the roof. It would be easy to stretch some barras from wall to wall, lay on some sheathing of cane stalks, and cover it with more mud. That is the usual way of making a roof in this area. But what would be the fun of that? Where’s the challenge? And then, gazing up at the ceiling in a moment of solemn prayer, where would we find inspiration? Great churches – and humble ones, too – typically have soaring roofs, braced and buttressed, reaching up to the heavens. Here, without rafters, cross-bracing, or sheathing… we will build a roof of mud bricks in the form of two intersecting vaults, following an ancient model.

Years ago, we came across a book – Roman Era Construction Techniques. We will use it to guide our roofing effort. Then, if all goes well, in moments of quiet reflection, we will look up and admire our handiwork.

Home for Thanksgiving: But the finale will have to wait until next year. In the next two weeks, we will complete the walls. And then, we hope to go home to the U.S. for Thanksgiving. Argentina opens up this week. Airlines are back in business – on a much-reduced scale. With a little luck, we should be able to make our escape, flying from Salta to Buenos Aires and then on to Miami. But if we are able to get away, the chapel will remain unroofed… until our next visit here… in 2021. (Fortunately, it almost never rains here.) As always… stay tuned."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"How It Really Should Be"

 

X22 Report 2.0: "Coup d’etat, Trump Sets Trap To Expose It All"

X22 Report 2.0: "Coup d’etat, 

Trump Sets Trap To Expose It All"

November 5, 2020 by IWB: "TRAP SET: Dept of Homeland Security controlled “official ballots” production. Dems print extras, not knowing about non-radioactive isotope watermarks on “official ballots”."

NOV 5, 2020 12:30 PM: "Biden's Lead Expands In Nevada As Vote Count Drags On; Philly Dems Move To Stop Trump Observers" Trump: "All of the recent Biden claimed States will be legally challenged by us for Voter Fraud and State Election Fraud..."

November 5, 2020 by IWB: "If there’s one tweet to sum up the voter fraud, this is it!"

11/05/2020 - 09:58: "USPS Inspector General Contacts Project Veritas Over Backdated Ballot Allegation In Michigan"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 11/5/20"

 by David Leonhardt

11/5/20: • The U.S. recorded more than 100,000 new virus cases for the first time yesterday. Hospitalizations have topped 50,000 for the first time since early August.

• The country’s supply of protective gear - particularly N95 face masks - is being strained again, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• New Jersey released more than 2,200 inmates to reduce the risks of infection in crowded prisons.

• Italy imposed a nationwide 10 p.m. curfew and closed museums and high schools. In six hard-hit regions, including Sicily and the city of Milan, the government will shutter restaurants and limit travel.

Nov. 5, 2020 9:00 AM ET: 

 Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak 

The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 48,256,700 

people, according to official counts, including 9,976,594Americans.

      Nov. 5, 2020 9:00 AM ET: 

Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

NOV 5, 2020 9:51 AM: "World Sees Most Daily COVID-19 Deaths Yet As Greece Imposes National Lockdown:Live Updates" More than 10,000 deaths in a single day.

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Updated 11/7/20, 6:25 AM ET

Click image for larger size.

- https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

• "CDC Admits: No Conclusive Evidence Cloth Masks Work Against COVID"

• "COVID19 PCR Tests are Scientifically Meaningless"

A "Must Read":

• "These 12 Graphs Show Mask Mandates Do Nothing To Stop COVID"

"COVID Testing: We've Been Duped"

"COVID Testing: We've Been Duped"

by A.Castellitto

"Lost in this whole pandemic hysteria are some key considerations that when carefully analyzed place the whole COVID-19 narrative in a highly questionable light. The gatekeepers of information dissimulation are manufacturing consent at an alarming rate, but their fatigue is setting in, and their masks are falling off. What better, albeit unlikely, source to go for some much needed illumination than the New York Times? 

During a considerably quieter time, back in 2007, the New York Times featured a very interesting exposé on molecular diagnostic testing - specifically, the inadequacy of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in achieving reliable results. The most significant concern highlighted in the Times report is how molecular tests, most notably the PCR, are highly sensitive and prone to false positives. At the center of the controversy was a potential outbreak in a hospital in New Hampshire that proved to be nothing more than "ordinary respiratory diseases like the common cold." Unfortunately, the results wrought by the PCR told a different story. 

Thankfully, a faux epidemic was avoided but not before thousands of workers were furloughed and given antibiotics and ultimately a vaccine, and hospital beds (including some in intensive care) were taken out of commission. Eight months later, what was thought to be an epidemic was deemed a non-malicious hoax. The culprit? According to "epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists, too much faith in a quick and highly sensitive molecular test led them astray." At the time, such tests were "coming into increasing use" as maybe "the only way to get a quick answer in diagnosing diseases like SARS, and deciding whether an epidemic is under way."

Nevertheless, today, the PCR test is considered the gold standard of molecular diagnostics, most notably in the diagnosis of COVID-19. However, a closer analysis reveals that the PCR has actually been pretty spotty and that false positives abound. Thankfully, the New York Times is once again on the case. 

"Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive; Maybe It Shouldn't Be," according to NYT reporter Apoorva Mandavilli. Essentially, positive results are getting tossed around way too frequently. Rather, they should probably be reserved for individuals with "greater viral load." So how have they've been doing it all this time you ask?  "The PCR test amplifies genetic matter from the virus in cycles; the fewer cycles required, the greater the amount of virus, or viral load, in the sample, the more likely the patient is to be contagious."

Unfortunately, the "cycle threshold" has been ramped up. What happens when it's ramped up? Basically, "huge numbers of people who may be carrying relatively insignificant amounts of the virus" are deemed infected. However, the severity of the infection is never quantified, which essentially amounts to a false positive. Their level of contagion is essentially nil. 

How are they determining the cycle threshold? If I didn't suspect that it was based on maximizing the amount of "cases," I would find the determination pretty arbitrary. More than a few of the professionals on record for Times report appear pretty perplexed on this vital detail which is essentially driving "clinical diagnostics, for public health and policy decision-making." Considering all that's at stake and everything that hinges on positive vs negative case tallies, it's outrageous that these tests would be tweaked in a way that would inflate the positive rate totals and percentages. 

According to one virologist, "any test with a cycle threshold above 35 is too sensitive." She went on to to say, "I'm shocked that people would think that 40 could represent a positive." Personally, I think the science is just about settled on COVID-19. The conclusion? We've been duped!"

- https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Memory of the Sky"

2002, "Memory of the Sky"

Full screen mode highly recommended.

"There Are Some Oddities..."

"There are some oddities in the perspective with which we see the world. The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."

- Douglas Adams

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. Its more familiar outlines are seen in the brighter central region of the nebula in this impressive wide-angle view. But the composite image combines many short and long exposures to also reveal an extremely faint outer halo. At an estimated distance of 3,000 light-years, the faint outer halo is over 5 light-years across. 

Planetary nebulae have long been appreciated as a final phase in the life of a sun-like star. More recently, some planetary nebulae are found to have halos like this one, likely formed of material shrugged off during earlier episodes in the star's evolution. While the planetary nebula phase is thought to last for around 10,000 years, astronomers estimate the age of the outer filamentary portions of this halo to be 50,000 to 90,000 years. Visible on the left, some 50 million light-years beyond the watchful planetary nebula, lies spiral galaxy NGC 6552.”

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

"It Is Being Predicted That More Than 1 Of 3 Americans Will Face Starvation By The End Of This Year"

"It Is Being Predicted That More Than 1 Of 3 Americans 

Will Face Starvation By The End Of This Year"

by Epic Economist

"Washington DC is now considered the most affected by food insecurity amid the 2020 economic collapse, with staggering famine rates that are likely to increase as winter approaches, potentially leading 1 out of 3 Washington residents to experience acute food insecurity by early 2021.

Some households amongst minority groups have been disproportionately affected by the hunger crisis, driving a substantial share of Washington's children and adolescents to experience severe disruptions in their eating habits. Doctors are warning this could mark the physical and intellectual development of a considerable part of the next generation of Americans. In this video, we bring updated data to expose this harsh reality that has been dangerously spreading across the country.

Since the beginning of the current economic meltdown, a disturbing increase in the number of Washington state residents facing food insecurity doesn't stop to scale up. Projections indicate that Washington State’s food insecure population will quadruplicate as a result of the 2020 economic downturn. 

Considering that 80 percent of jobs are currently at risk and another surge in viral cases is now unfolding, 2.2 million people could experience food insecurity in Washington State. This year nearly 500,000 individuals were newly affected. 

The three largest counties in Washington - King, Pierce, and Snohomish - represent over 50 percent of the total food-insecure population in the State. While nine counties out of 39 are home to roughly 80 percent of all food-insecure households.

Right now, one out of 10 residents of the metropolitan D.C. region is food insecure, but by January 2021, approximately 1 in 3 individuals could face the same instability in their eating habits. Some groups had their lives critically afflicted throughout this turbulent time. For instance, research showed that people of color and low-income, vulnerable communities, and populations, such as seniors, children, people experiencing homelessness, and undocumented immigrants have been disproportionately affected by the hunger crisis.

Furthermore, D.C. has 6.5 square miles of food deserts overall, which is about 11 percent of D.C.’s total area. The massive unemployment rates, plus the absence of enhanced government aid, and the intensification of longstanding racial and economic inequities are also factors of influence when it comes to disruptions in eating habits.

Washingtons’s food pantries have been overwhelmed by demand and now they’re set to face further challenges as the holiday season is right at the corner. Food banks used to receive donations from retailers. However, this year, retailers donations have dropped since Americans have been buying their food from grocery stores more than they have in the past, and due to supply chain disruptions witnessed so far, many retailers don't have any surplus inventory to give away.

In March, after consumers started to panic-buy and hoard food products, within the span of one week, the donations fell by 75 percent since grocery stores started to stock up and hold inventory for shoppers.

More concerningly, 28.6 percent or nearly one-third of all-state residents facing meal instability are teenagers and children. The shocking increase of roughly 10% compared to last year emphasizes how the tragic hunger crisis can influence the physical and intellectual development of the next generation.

Doctors have been warning that the lack of nutritious meals in developing-ages can have lasting effects, both physically and psychologically, which implicates that food-insecure children may not be able to evolve as others who have access to proper diets even after their situation improves.

This isn't only a hunger crisis, as it is a housing and an income crisis, raising concerns about how an economic recovery can take place while 11% of the American population is on the brink of famine. The Food Research and Action Center published a report announcing that the number of people in the US experiencing a persistent lack of food sometimes or often skyrocketed to above 29 million people in July. 

In times when social and economic misery continuously grows, budgets get tight and it becomes harder to escape food insecurity. Since our leaders and those in privileged positions seem to insist on keep looking the other way, the cost of inaction will be very high."

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Doug Casey on the End of Western Civilization"

"Doug Casey on the End of Western Civilization"

by International Man

"International Man: The decline of Western Civilization is on a lot of people’s minds. Let’s talk about this trend.

Doug Casey: Western Civilization has its origins in ancient Greece. It’s unique among the world’s civilizations in putting the individual - as opposed to the collective - in a central position. It enshrined logic and rational thought - as opposed to mysticism and superstition - as the way to deal with the world. It’s because of this that we have science, technology, great literature and art, capitalism, personal freedom, the concept of progress, and much, much more. In fact, almost everything worth having in the material world is due to Western Civilization.

Ayn Rand once said "East minus West equals zero." I think she went a bit too far, as a rhetorical device, but she was essentially right. When you look at what the world’s other civilizations have brought to the party, at least over the last 2,500 years, it’s trivial.

I lived in the Orient for years. There are many things I love about it - martial arts, yoga, and the cuisine among them. But all the progress they’ve made is due to adopting the fruits of the West.

International Man: There are so many things degrading Western Civilization. Where do we begin?

Doug Casey: It’s been said, correctly, that a civilization always collapses from within. World War 1, in 1914, signaled the start of the long collapse of Western Civilization. Of course, termites were already eating away at the foundations, with the writings of people like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx. It’s been on an accelerating downward path ever since, even though technology and science have been improving at a quantum pace. They are, however, like delayed action flywheels, operating on stored energy and accumulated capital. Without capital, intellectual freedom, and entrepreneurialism, science and technology will slow down. I’m optimistic we’ll make it to Kurzweil’s Singularity, but there are no guarantees.

Things also changed with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. Before that, the US used gold coinage for money. "The dollar" was just a name for 1/20th of an ounce of gold. That is what the dollar was. Paper dollars were just receipts for gold on deposit in the Treasury. The income tax, enacted the same year, threw more sand in the gears of civilization. The world was much freer before the events of 1913 and 1914, which acted to put the State at the center of everything.

The Fed and the income tax are both disastrous and unnecessary things, enemies of the common man in every way. Unfortunately, people have come to believe they’re fixtures in the cosmic firmament. They’re the main reasons - there are many other reasons, though, unfortunately - why the average American’s standard of living has been dropping since the early 1970s. In fact, were it not for these things, and the immense amount of capital destroyed during the numerous wars of the last 100 years, I expect we’d have already colonized the moon and Mars. Among many other things…

But I want to re-emphasize that the science, the technology, and all the wonderful toys we have are not the essence of Western Civilization. They’re consequences of individualism, capitalism, rational thought, and personal freedom. It’s critical not to confuse cause and effect.

International Man: You mentioned that the average American’s standard of living has dropped since the early 1970s. This is directly related to the US government abandoning the dollar’s last link to gold in 1971. Since then, the Federal Reserve has been able to debase the US dollar without limit. I think the dollar’s transformation into a purely fiat currency has eroded the rule of law and morality in the US. It’s similar to what happened in the Roman Empire after it started debasing its currency. What do you think, Doug?

Doug Casey: All the world’s governments and central banks share a common philosophy, which drives these policies. They believe that you create economic activity by stimulating demand, and you stimulate demand by printing money. And, of course, it’s true, in a way. Roughly the same way a counterfeiter can stimulate a local economy.

Unfortunately, they ignore that, and completely ignore that the way a person or a society becomes wealthy is by producing more than they consume and saving the difference. That difference, savings, is how you create capital. Without capital you’re reduced to subsistence, scratching at the earth with a stick. These people think that by inflating - which is to say destroying - the currency, they can create prosperity. But what they’re really doing, is destroying capital: When you destroy the value of the currency, that discourages people from saving it. And when people don’t save, they can’t build capital, and the vicious cycle goes on.

This is destructive for civilization itself, in both the long term and the short term. The more paper money, the more credit, they create, the more society focuses on finance, as opposed to production. It’s why there are many times more people studying finance than science. The focus is increasingly on speculation, not production. Financial engineering, not mechanical, electrical, or chemical engineering. And lots of laws and regulations to keep the unstable structure from collapsing.

What keeps a truly civil society together isn’t laws, regulations, and police. It’s peer pressure, social opprobrium, moral approbation, and your reputation. These are the four elements that keep things together. Western Civilization is built on voluntarism. But, as the State grows, that’s being replaced by coercion in every aspect of society. There are regulations on the most obscure areas of life. As Harvey Silverglate pointed out in his book, the average American commits three felonies a day. Whether he’s caught and prosecuted is a subject of luck and the arbitrary will of some functionary. That’s antithetical to the core values of Western Civilization.

International Man: Speaking of ancient civilizations like Rome, interest rates are about the lowest they’ve been in 5,000 years of recorded history. Trillions of dollars’ worth of government bonds trade at negative yields. Of course, this couldn’t happen in a free market. It’s only possible because of central bank manipulation. How will artificially low interest rates affect the collapse of Western Civilization?

Doug Casey: It’s really, really serious. I previously thought it was metaphysically impossible to have negative interest rates but, in the Bizarro World central banks have created, it’s happened.

Negative interest rates discourage saving. Once again, saving is what builds capital. Without capital you wind up as an empty shell - Rome in 450 A.D., or Detroit today - lots of wonderful but empty buildings and no economic activity. Worse, it forces people to desperately put their money in all manner of idiotic speculations in an effort to stay ahead of inflation. They wind up chasing the bubbles the funny money creates.

Let me re-emphasize something: in order for science and technology to advance you need capital. Where does capital come from? It comes from people producing more than they consume and saving the difference. Debt, on the other hand, means you’re living above your means. You’re either consuming the capital others have saved, or you’re mortgaging your future.

Zero and negative interest rate policies, and the creation of money out of nowhere, are actually destructive of civilization itself. It makes the average guy feel that he’s not in control of his own destiny. He starts believing that the State, or luck, or Allah will provide for him. That attitude is typical of people from backward parts of the world - not Western Civilization.

International Man: What does it say about the economy and society that people work so hard to interpret what officials from the Federal Reserve and other central banks say?

Doug Casey: It’s a shameful waste of time. They remind me of primitives seeking the counsel of witch doctors. One hundred years ago, the richest people in the country - the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, and such - made their money creating industries that actually made stuff. Now, the richest people in the country just shuffle money around. They get rich because they’re close to the government and the hydrant of currency materialized by the Federal Reserve. I’d say it’s a sign that society in the US has become quite degraded. The world revolves much less around actual production, but around guessing the direction of financial markets. Negative interest rates are creating bubbles, and will eventually result in an economic collapse.

International Man: Negative interest rates are essentially a tax on savings. A lot of people would rather pull their money out of the bank and stuff it under a mattress than suffer that sting. The economic central planners know this. It’s why they’re using negative interest rates to ramp up the War on Cash - the push to eliminate paper currency and create a cashless society.

The banking system is very fragile. Banks don’t hold much paper cash. It’s mostly digital bytes on a computer. If people start withdrawing paper money en masse, it won’t take much to bring the whole system down. Their solution is to make accessing cash harder, and in some cases, illegal. That’s why the economic witch doctors at Harvard are pounding the table to get rid of the $100 bill.

Take France, for example. It’s now illegal to make cash transactions over €1,000 without documenting them properly. Negative interest rates have turbocharged the War on Cash. If the central planners win this war, it would be the final deathblow to financial privacy. How does this all relate to the collapse of Western Civilization?

Doug Casey: I believe the next step in their idiotic plan is to abolish cash. Decades ago they got rid of gold coinage, which used to circulate day to day in people’s pockets. Then they got rid of silver coinage. Now, they’re planning to get rid of cash altogether. So you won’t even have euros or dollars or pounds in your wallet anymore, or if you do, it will only be very small denominations. Everything else is going to have to be done through electronic payment processing.

This is a huge disaster for the average person: absolutely everything that you buy or sell, other than perhaps a candy bar or a hamburger, is going to have to go through the banking system. Thus, the government will be able to monitor every transaction and payment. Financial privacy, even what’s left of it today, will literally cease to exist.

Privacy is one of the big differences between a civilized society and a primitive society. In a primitive society, in your little dirt hut village, anybody can look through your window or pull back the flap on your tent. You have no privacy. Everybody can hear everything; see anything. This was one of the marvelous things about Western Civilization- privacy was valued, and respected. But that concept, like so many others, is on its way out…

International Man: You’ve mentioned before that language and words provide important clues to the collapse of Western Civilization. How so?

Doug Casey: Many of the words you hear, especially on television and other media, are confused, conflated, or completely misused. Many recent changes in the way words are used are corrupting the language. As George Orwell liked to point out, to control language is to control thought. The corruption of language is adding to the corruption of civilization itself. This is not a trivial factor in the degradation of Western Civilization.

Words - their exact meanings, and how they’re used - are critically important. If you don’t mean what you say and say what you mean, then it’s impossible to communicate accurately. Forget about transmitting philosophical concepts.

Take for example shareholders and stakeholders. We all know that a shareholder actually owns a share in a company, but have you noticed that over the last generation shareholders have become less important than stakeholders? Even though stakeholders are just hangers-on, employees, or people who are looking to get in on a shakedown. But everybody slavishly acknowledges, "Yes, we’ve got to look out for the stakeholders."

Where did that concept come from? It’s a recent creation, but Boobus americanus seems to think it was carved in stone at the country’s founding. We’re told to protect them, as if they were a valuable and endangered species. I say, "A pox upon stakeholders." If they want a vote in what a company does, then they ought to become shareholders. Stakeholders are a class of being created out of nothing by Cultural Marxists for the purpose of shaking down shareholders.

Right now, the US is the most polarized it has been since the Civil War. The next couple of weeks could be the most chaotic period in US history. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been in living memory. The consequences of this could be crippling to the average person."

- internationalman.com

The Universe

“Believe me, I know all about it. I know the stress. I know the frustration. I know the temptations of time and space. We worked this out ahead of time. They're part of the plan. We knew this stuff might happen. Actually, you insisted they be triggered whenever you were ready to begin thinking thoughts you've never thought before. New thinking is always the answer.”

“Good on you,”

The Universe

“Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!”

- www.tut.com

"The Heart of Humanity"

"The Heart of Humanity"

by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"Sitting with our sadness takes the courage to believe that we can bear the pain and we will come out the other side. The last thing most of us want to hear or think about when we are dealing with profound feelings of sadness is that deep learning can be found in this place. In the midst of our pain, we often feel picked on by life, or overwhelmed by the enormity of some loss, or simply too exhausted to try and examine the situation. We may feel far too disappointed and angry to look for anything resembling a bright side to our suffering. Still, somewhere in our hearts, we know that we will eventually emerge from the depths into the light of greater awareness. Remembering this truth, no matter how elusive it seems, can help.

The other thing we often would rather not hear when we are dealing with intense sadness is that the only way out of it is through it. Sitting with our sadness takes the courage to believe that we can bear the pain and the faith that we will come out the other side. With courage, we can allow ourselves to cycle through the grieving process with full inner permission to experience it. This is a powerful teaching that sadness has to offer us—the ability to surrender and the acceptance of change go hand in hand.

Another teaching of sadness is compassion for others who are in pain, because it is only in feeling our own pain that we can really understand and allow for someone else’s. Sadness is something we all go through, and we all learn from it and are deepened by its presence in our lives. While our own individual experiences of sadness carry with them unique lessons, the implications of what we learn are universal. The wisdom we gain from going through the process of feeling loss, heartbreak, or deep disappointment gives us access to the heart of humanity."

- http://www.dailyom.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

 
Addis Ababa, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia. Thanks for stopping by!

"I Enjoy Talking To You..."

- George Orwell

The Poet: Rolf Jacobsen, "When They Sleep"

"When They Sleep"

"All people are children when they sleep.

There's no war in them then.

They open their hands and breathe

in that quiet rhythm heaven has given them.

They pucker their lips like small children

and open their hands halfway,

soldiers and statesmen, servants and masters.

The stars stand guard

and a haze veils the sky,

a few hours when no one will do anybody harm.

If only we could speak to one another then

when our hearts are half-open flowers.

Words like golden bees

would drift in.

God, teach me the language of sleep."

- Rolf Jacobsen,

"The Roads Have Come to an End Now"

"Could Be Worse..."

"I'd been in hairier situations than this one. Actually, it's sort of depressing, thinking how many times I'd been in them. But if experience had taught me anything, it was this: No matter how screwed up things are, they can get a whole lot worse."

- Jim Butcher

Dig your way out, they said...

"America After The Election: A Few Hard Truths About The Things That Won't Change"

"America After The Election: 

A Few Hard Truths About The Things That Won't Change"

by John Whitehead

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right

 to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

- George Orwell

"The American people remain eager to be persuaded that a new president in the White House can solve the problems that plague us. Yet no matter who wins this presidential election, you can rest assured that the new boss will be the same as the old boss, and we - the permanent underclass in America - will continue to be forced to march in lockstep with the police state in all matters, public and private. Indeed, it really doesn’t matter what you call them - the Deep State, the 1%, the elite, the controllers, the masterminds, the shadow government, the police state, the surveillance state, the military industrial complex - so long as you understand that no matter which party occupies the White House in 2021, the unelected bureaucracy that actually calls the shots will continue to do so.

In the interest of liberty and truth, here are a few hard truths about life in the American police state that will persist no matter who wins the 2020 presidential election. Indeed, these issues persisted - and in many cases flourished - under both Republican and Democratic administrations in recent years."

 Please read this complete article here:

- https://www.rutherford.org/

○

Musical Interlude: The Moody Blues, "The Voice"

The Moody Blues, "The Voice"

"How It Really Is"

Mission: Impossible...

"The National Nightmare Begins"

"The National Nightmare Begins"

by Bill Bonner

"Well, the people have spoken… the bastards."

– Dick Tuck, candidate for California Senate, 1966

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – "Yippee! A third of the nation is on the edge of joy. Another third is on the edge of a high window – ready to leap. And the other third – the smartest of the lot – doesn’t give a damn. Here’s the bad news: Like it or not, someone will be named the winner in yesterday’s presidential election. As of this morning, we still don’t know who. Either way… the national nightmare begins.

That’s why the Dow rose 552 points yesterday. Investors figured that after the election – no matter which way it went – the coast would be clear for more bi-partisan giveaways. More fake money, in other words, with more fake “growth”… more fake stock market gains… and more fake wealth.

More Debt: And they’re probably right. Democrats are eager to put their man in office so they can wreck the economy with more federal spending and more debt. But they hardly need to bother. Donald Trump is doing a swell job already. Federal spending increased at a rate of $9 billion per month during the Obama years. Donald Trump increased it to $65 billion per month. And not even counting the first half of 2020 – in which COVID-19 caused a huge increase in government borrowing – federal debt rose at an average of $90 billion per month under Trump, compared to $76 billion per month under Obama. And once the election issue is resolved, one way or the other, debt will surely go up even faster.

Well-Worn Template: Here at the Diary, we are sanguine. Zen. Que sera, sera. There is nothing we can do about it. The country is run by an elite of politicians, economists, grifters, poseurs, bureaucrats, Deep State apparatchiks, Swamp scum, academics, media influencers, and Wall Street insiders, who have become predatory. They get their power and wealth by counterfeiting money and giving most of it – besides the pittance to voters – to their friends, their clients, and themselves. The counterfeit money then destroys the real economy, which the vast majority of people in the country depend on, leading to many long faces and short tempers.

This road is well traveled… and well paved, with good intentions and bad. The deciders are corrupted by power and money… They spend too much… They print money to cover their excess spending… The economy goes to Hell… The natives get restless. One generation learns; the next forgets. Empires rise and fall. And life goes on.

Extended Slump: And since there’s nothing we can do to stop it, we have to find a way to enjoy it. But that won’t be easy. Coming down the pike is one of the roughest, most dangerous periods in U.S. history.

First, stocks will crash… when investors realize that the economy is in an extended slump. Then, the feds will fight the downturn with the only thing they have – more fake money. That is, they will inflate the money supply to make us all feel richer. Once underway, that train goes only in one direction – towards more and more money-printing, which eventually leads to rising consumer prices.

Already, in the 49 years since the pure paper dollar was invented, it has lost 96% of its value, measured in gold. The rest is bound to go, too… in the years ahead. Inflation, stagnation, depression – the elite will get richer as the Federal Reserve pumps up the stock market… and Zoom Towns will become Boom Towns as those who can get away move as far away as possible from the danger zones.

Deep Resentment: The rest – the 90% who are left – will scrounge for jobs… for income… and for a little justice in a collapsing society. This will lead to a deep feeling of resentment… that the “social contract” has been broken… and a belief that violence is justified – either to set things right… or to keep them from changing. Already, many people feel that looting is protected by the First Amendment… Others feel they are “owed” because of an injustice committed more than 150 years ago. Many think that climate change… COVID-19… racism… and transgender rights… are no-compromise issues. They’re ready to overturn the Constitution to get what they want.

What Comes Next? We have no way of knowing what will happen. But even a casual reading of history suggests that when the great unwashed masses of a nation begin to feel they’ve been cheated… the result is not very nice. And of course, they’re right. The counterfeit money system cheats them. It’s cheated them for the last 30 years… or more. But they don’t understand how it works. So instead, they blame the Mexicans. Or the Democrats. Or the Blue State governors. Or China. Or greedy capitalists. Or Donald Trump. And it’s going to get worse over the next four years.

What can you do? How do you protect your money and your family? By tomorrow, we’ll have the election results… and we’ll look at what to do next."

- www.rogueeconomics.com