"The Grand Inevitability of Unavoidable Endings"

"The Grand Inevitability of Unavoidable Endings"

by Doug “Uncola” Lynn

"It is true people are known by their actions. We are what we do. Or, more specifically, we are what we do and not what we say we’ll do. Actions speak louder than words. It means if the swamp were to be truly drained, there would have been a steady progression of media revelations indicating genuine results during the Trump administration. Therefore, to quantify any progress of swamp draining, I collated headlines in a series of articles posted in the spring and summer of 2018. The objective at that time was to identify actual trends prior to the midterm elections based upon reported news, instead of political spin, empty promises, smoke and mirrors.

The final compilation of the series of articles was posted on September 1, 2018 and was entitled “Destination in Sight”. It summarized specific trends in accordance with previous monthly postings and there were two prominent progressions identified: 

1.) The advancement of Socialism and
2.) The technological ascendency of Orwell’s Big Brother.

Accordingly, over the past few years, we have witnessed corrupt manifestations of sheer political power, seemingly, crashing in waves – each one higher than the last as measured by historical consequence: Russiagate, the Mueller investigation, impeachment, Covid, and, now, a stolen election paired to a propagandic media narrative which has warped reality for millions of Americans.

At this point, it no longer matters whether President Trump is a real swamp fighter, a naïve dupe, or a symbol of (misplaced?) hope to his supporters. In truth, the tsunamis of trends were formed decades ago in America and have since grown larger than any campaign platform or presidential administration.

In an article from March of 2018 entitled “Destiny Looms: Choose Your Way or it Drags You”, three responses to the New World Order were explored which could be summarized as follows:

1.) Fight the empire.
2.) Sell out.
3.) Or choose one’s battles carefully and deliberately.

At the end of that piece, these words were posted: In any scenario, the civil divorce will be ugly and America’s children will suffer.

Looking back, could there have been any other outcome? Given human nature, perhaps it was always inevitable. Maybe it’s just time. Even if one wanted to fight, how can they know they’re not fighting against destiny or something bigger; battling against that which was unavoidable anyway? What if America’s seemingly psychotic breakdown is more spiritual in nature? Because, right now, it does seem as if the Perception Puppets are dreaming a new reality; like an incantation.

Another one of my articles considered the phrase “It is what it is” as representing either resignation or acceptance in the face of circumstances beyond one’s control; with acceptance defined NOT as surrender, per se, but, instead, as honest realism. And, at the end of that piece, these words were posted:

"Whether Trump wins another term or a convenient stock market crash installs a socialist president and secures a blue wave in 2020, the current administration will have served the bleeding of the nation’s brake lines before the Big Stop. And, undoubtedly, this blogger and those reading these words have defiantly distinct digital footprints. So when the final votes are counted on the inevitable day, the new sheriffs will be in town. They’re coming for us all and all we thought we ever had."

Like a flower, a nation was planted onto the fertile ground. It grew and blossomed under the midday sun but now wilts and dies. The seasons come and go. The sun rises and sets. We are born, we flourish and fade. Everything turns.

The truth is, no matter who is president, vaccinations will be, at the very least, strongly encouraged by means of economic pressure; and, at most, submission to medical tyranny will be mandated in order to travel, work, shop, buy, or sell.

In his four-act drama “Man and Superman”, the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw penned the following quote: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

And has that not been the Story of Man since the first campfire? But what kind of progress? Isn’t that a most important consideration?

In the 1974 film “The Godfather Part II”, a conversation occurred between the mafia boss, Michael Corleone, and the Jewish gangster, Hyman Roth, amidst the backdrop of the Communist revolution in Cuba:

(Michael Corleone): I saw a strange thing today. A rebel was being arrested by the military police. And rather than be taken alive he exploded a grenade he had hidden in his jacket. He killed himself and took a captain of the command with him. Now, soldiers are paid to fight; the rebels aren’t.

(Hyman Roth): What does that tell you?

(Michael Corleone): They could win.

That exchange adequately summarizes why fanatical revolutionaries have overturned societies throughout history: because they are true believers and fully committed to victory.

William Butler Yeats in his poem “The Second Coming”, wrote:

"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."

And so many other times throughout history has the road to hell been paved by utopian dreams as honest men with common sense succumbed to silent normalcy-bias while being restrained with unjust rules applied specifically on them.

The Covid pandemic was unleashed by psychopaths who now demand the plebeians to submit for reasons of safety. The irony is ridiculous. And, now, an American presidential election is in the process of being illegally stolen by the same psychopaths who will soon issue despotic edicts on a citizenry expected to acquiesce and obey.

This is tyranny.

There is a reason why America floundered as the neo-Bolshevists rose. It was because half the country tried to play by the rules in order to save the country while the other half had long-desired the nation to dissolve so a One World Order could coagulate as a phoenix rising from the ashes.

It’s like that old story where two women were fighting over a baby and the judge told them to cut it in two so each woman could keep half. The evil woman was fine with that proposition because she would rather the child die than lose custody to the other woman. But when the good woman chose to rescind her claim so the baby could live, the judge knew then who was the real mother.

America was the baby, Dear Reader, but now the republic is dead; torn in half by bad actors. The result will be a war with many fronts turning neighbor against neighbor, friend into foe, and as families are irredeemably divided. The line has been crossed so there’s no going back. And, sadly, the momentum is on the wrong side. For those who understand that battles cannot be won simply by playing defense, a question remains: What can be won?

The nation was lulled to sleep through prosperity; and those waking up now will soon realize it is far too late to save the republic. The people have perished by the wrong vision as faux-conservative leaders have surrendered to the enemies gathered at the gate.

All politics are, indeed, truly local – now more than ever. And much can still be done as the sun sets. For some, relocating to a red state may be a priority. For others, it may be to seek out like-minded dissidents in their area. And, still, for others, it may be to close the circle on their preps including acquisitions of food as well as supplies for energy/power, first-aid, and defense.

Entire red regions, and counties possessing constitutionally-committed law enforcement agents, could, potentially, be fortified in a balkanized America, and primarily through the coordination and cooperation of existing civil administrations. But the heads of select institutions and agencies will need to work together quickly and decisively for any micro-constitutional republics to achieve self-sufficiency before Mordor swallows all.

The answers are not in the problem. The answers are in the answer. It means compromise is a strategy for failure. Now is the time to rise; to shine like stars at midnight."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

The Universe

“There are no accidents. If it's appeared on your life radar, this is why: to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have the power to fix what's broken and heal what hurts; to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you're already the person you dreamed you'd become. There are no accidents. And believe me, that was one heck of a dream.”

“Tallyho,”

The Universe

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

- www.tut.com

"The First Shall Be Last"

"The First Shall Be Last"

by Bill Bonner

WEST RIVER, MARYLAND – "The new Biden bunch will be full of meaningless “firsts.” Kamala Harris will be the first female vice president. She will also be the first “Woman of Color” in that post. And the first person of South Asian descent. Janet Yellen will be the first woman to head the Treasury Department. Another first will likely be a woman as Secretary of Defense.

Since the origin of the species, men have done almost all the fighting. They might be better at it; they are bigger, stronger, faster… And those who were bad at fighting may have been killed, or perhaps denied the right to mate. In some primitive societies, a man had to prove himself in combat before he was allowed to take a wife. So it almost seems natural to have a man at the head of a group of fighters.

New Era: But this is a new era. If you’ve been following our Diary for very long, you know that nature has her cycles… her patterns… her birth announcements and obituaries. Great empires come and go, just like the rest of us. The newspapers report these comings and goings as the work of men. But men cannot defy nature… or the gods. And it appears to us that at the end of the 20th century, the gods decided to take the U.S. empire down a peg. Bush, Obama, Trump – all have played their parts, each with his cockamamie projects and foolish ideas. Biden must continue the work. How better than to appoint the last people as the firsts?

Limiting Diversity: Janet Yellen is one of the last people we’d have in charge of our money. So has Biden selected one of the last people who should be in charge of the armed forces. Today, there is no reason to think that a woman can’t do the top Pentagon job just as well as – or better than – a man. After all, it mostly consists of bullying small countries and lobbying for more money for the arms suppliers of Northern Virginia. God forbid that any real “defense” comes into play. If it does, America – with its gold-plated, lard-butt military – will probably be in big trouble.

Besides, diversity is the most important thing now, not national defense. And diversity seems to be becoming more popular everywhere. Like “stimulus” and fake money, diversity is another delusional desideratum for the 21st century.

Here’s CEO News: "The growing drumbeat on ESG [Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance] in corporate America sounded louder than ever Tuesday, as Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman announced a new effort to require the boards of all Nasdaq-listed companies to have at least one female director and one director who is an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ – or explain publicly why they have not."

But the call for “diversity” is not aimed at increasing variety, but limiting it… to a few “acceptable” categories. No, “diversity” is not really about diversity… It’s about sameness – having the same opinions… the same ideas… and the same people, worshipping the same ersatz gods. You put them on your corporate board – or in your cabinet – not to promote a variety of points of view, but to limit them to a few, faddish ones.

Same, Same, But Different: Speaking of underrepresented minorities… how many polygamists are there in the nation? For obvious reasons, it’s hard to say for sure… But you will score no “diversity” points by putting a man with six wives on your board. And what could be rarer than a man who had murdered every one of them? Though “off the charts” on diversity, no one would want him on their board of directors… or in the presidential cabinet.

But at the Defense Department, how about a woman with the blood of thousands of men on her hands? Biden might have chosen Hillary Clinton for the job. But in Michèle Flournoy, he gets his Deep State martinet… his warmonger… without the political baggage. Is this a breath of fresh air? A new direction? Shall we say goodbye to the Bush/Obama/Trump forever wars? Will the gods be thwarted?

Oh, Dear Reader, don’t be so naïve. You know as well as we do that Joe Biden is not going to shake things up. He won’t even stand up to the teachers’ unions, let alone the armed wing of the Deep State. He’s been one of its major supporters for the last four decades. And both Flournoy and his choice for Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, are democratic hacks… Swamp critters, who swim back and forth between the government and the arms industry. When their party is in power, they promote war. When it is out of power, they advise defense suppliers on how to cash in.

This from The Grayzone: "Since the 1990s, Flournoy and Blinken have steadily risen through the ranks of the military-industrial complex, shuffling back and forth between the Pentagon and hawkish think-tanks funded by the U.S. government, weapons companies, and oil giants. Under Bill Clinton, Flournoy was the principal author of the 1996 Quadrennial Defense Review, the document that outlined the U.S. military’s doctrine of permanent war – what it called “full spectrum dominance.” Flournoy called for “unilateral use of military power” to ensure “uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies, and strategic resources.”

As Bush administration officials lied to the world about Saddam Hussein’s supposed WMD’s, Flournoy remarked that “In some cases, preemptive strikes against an adversary’s [weapons of mass destruction] capabilities may be the best or only option we have to avert a catastrophic attack against the United States.”

Was Iraq about to launch a “catastrophic attack” against the U.S.? Of course not. Instead, the U.S. launched a catastrophic attack against Iraq! The Grayzone continues: "As Iraq was plunged into chaos and bloodshed, Flournoy was among the authors of a paper titled “Progressive Internationalism” that called for a “smarter and better” style of permanent war. The paper chastised the anti-war left and stated that “Democrats will maintain the world’s most capable and technologically advanced military, and we will not flinch from using it to defend our interests anywhere in the world.”

Full Spectrum Dominance: What do you do if you want to keep America on track towards its own destruction? You just need to make sure the trillion-dollar forever wars continue… along with the money-printing to support them. Biden has both of those imperatives covered. With Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary, he is assured that the fake cash will continue to come hot off the presses. And with Michèle Flournoy as secretary of defense and Tony Blinken as secretary of state, he’s found his “full spectrum dominance” jackasses. Now, he can be sure that the country will continue its costly, clumsy misadventures overseas.

The gods smile."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

The Daily "Near You?"

 
Bayonne, New Jersey, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"There Was A Tale He Had Read Once..."

“There was a tale he had read once, long ago, as a small boy: the story of a traveler who had slipped down a cliff, with man-eating tigers above him and a lethal fall below him, who managed to stop his fall halfway down the side of the cliff, holding on for dear life. There was a clump of strawberries beside him, and certain death above him and below. What should he do? went the question. And the reply was, Eat the strawberries. The story had never made sense to him as a boy. It did now.”

- Neil Gaiman

"A Deep Attentiveness..."

“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”

- Scott Russell Sanders

"The Economic Collapse Hits Home: Feeding America Says 1 Out Of 4 U.S. Children Could Suffer From Hunger By The End Of 2020"

"The Economic Collapse Hits Home: Feeding America Says 1 Out Of 4 

U.S. Children Could Suffer From Hunger By The End Of 2020"

by Michael Snyder

"There are approximately 74 million children in the United States, and right now millions upon millions of them do not have enough to eat. The economic collapse that has started in 2020 has been brutal for most of the nation, but it has hit children particularly hard. If their parents lose their jobs, there is nothing that they can do except hope that government handouts and the kindness of others will be enough. Unfortunately, way too often they are not enough, and at this point Feeding America is projecting that one out of every four children in America could suffer from hunger by the end of this calendar year:

"By the end of this year, more than 50 million people could experience food insecurity, according to Feeding America, the country’s largest hunger-relief organization. That’s one in six Americans and one in four children - nearly a 50 percent increase from 2019. A Northwestern University study in June found that food needs had doubled nationally, and tripled for households with children. The pandemic has laid bare how many people are one paycheck or medical bill away from hunger."

Prior to the pandemic, more than 20 million children were at least getting free or reduced price lunches at school. When lockdowns force the closing of schools, that just makes the hunger crisis even worse: “There are 22 million children who even before this pandemic relied upon free and reduced lunch,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, the CEO of Feeding America. “When you hear that schools are closed, not only does that mean that there are challenges for children with an education, but it also means lost meals.”

The good news is that the U.S. has a vast network of food banks all over the country, and they have been able to help more people than ever this year. According to Feeding America, their food banks have “seen a 60 percent increase in demand” compared to last year. But the bad news is that there simply is not going to be enough food if demand continues to soar in the months ahead. In Alabama, demand at one food pantry has risen 20 percent just since last month:

"In central Alabama, demand at the Grace Klein food pantry is up 20% since last month. “It could be the rumors of civil unrest or the rise in Covid cases driving demand, but people are living off this food,” said director Jenny Waltman. The pantry is currently serving about 12,000 people each week, compared with 2,500 a week before the pandemic. The 200 volunteers and staff are exhausted, said Waltman."

At one of Chicago’s most important food pantries, the amount of food given out is up 237 percent compared to last year, and the CEO of that facility says that the new lockdowns are causing demand to start to surge once again: "In Chicago, the Lakeview pantry has provided groceries for 237% more people so far this year compared to 2019, with demand “ramping up again” after leveling off slightly over the summer, according to CEO Kellie O’Connell. “The pandemic has brought to light how normal wasn’t working for so many people, especially black and brown communities.”

And in California, the head of the Tulare County food bank says that “a food cliff is looming” because demand is becoming so intense: "In rural California at least one food bank braced for a “food cliff” that could leave it unable to serve clients heading into the new year. “The food cliff is looming,” said Nicole Celaya, executive director of Tulare County FoodLink. “The food system hasn’t done a very good job of meeting the increased need. As COVID numbers continue to rise, it’s going to get worse.”

All over America people have been sleeping in their vehicles and waiting for hours just to get handouts from their local food banks. If economic conditions continue to get even worse, many food banks will soon not have any hope of meeting the crushing demand. Unfortunately, the truth is that economic conditions are getting worse with each passing day. This new wave of lockdowns is causing more businesses to fail and forcing more layoffs, and that is going to mean that a whole lot more people will soon fall into poverty.

I don’t know why the politicians would want to institute more lockdowns after the immense damage that the first wave of lockdowns created. Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed down for an extended period of time, and a significant percentage of them have never reopened: "Other data from the University of California Santa Cruz shows the number of closures could be even higher, with more than 316,000 businesses closed between February and September, which puts the number of daily closures at 1,500 a day."

Meanwhile, the New York Post recently reported that Harvard-run database TrackTheRecovery.org showed 27.8% of small businesses in New York haven’t reopened their doors since January. In New Jersey, 31.2% remain closed. The national average, according to the database, is 29.8%.

Instead of heading for some sort of a “recovery”, now we are heading into a “dark winter” in which countless more businesses will be shuttered. It is hard to imagine that the lines at the food banks could get even longer, but that appears to be exactly what we could be facing.

In fact, one recent survey found that over half of all U.S. households with children are “not very confident” that they will be able to buy the food that they need in the weeks ahead: "Looking ahead to the next four weeks, 56% of households with children nationwide are “not very confident” they will be able to afford needed food. Nine percent said they are “not at all confident.” In Pennsylvania, 52% of households are “not very confident”; in New Jersey, the number is 55%.

This is what an economic collapse looks like, and what we have experienced so far is just the beginning. We are entering a time when there is going to be such widespread economic despair, and we are all going to have to take care of one another if we hope to make it through this storm. Decades of incredibly foolish decisions are catching up with our nation, and most Americans are completely and utterly unprepared for the very painful times which have now commenced."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

"Do You Really Think the Empire Will Sacrifice the Dollar to Further Enrich Billionaires?"

"Do You Really Think the Empire Will Sacrifice 

the Dollar to Further Enrich Billionaires?"

by Charles Hugh Smith

"Let's keep it simple: US dollar up, stocks down. US dollar down, stocks up. Stocks up, billionaires get richer. Since that spot of bother in March 2020 when the US dollar (USD) soared and stocks cratered, the USD has been in a free-fall, boosting the wealth of America's Robber Barons and various other skimmers, scammers and other undeserving scoundrels. Chief among the undeserving scoundrels feasting on the decline of the USD are global stock markets which have soared not because revenues and profits are soaring but because the USD has plummeted.

The Federal Reserve is widely worshiped as the Ultimate Power in the Universe, a kind of financial Death Star. The Fed has seen fit to crush the USD to further boost the wealth of billionaires and save global stock markets from their well-deserved ruin. Saving the world, ho-hum, just another day for the god-like Fed.

But something doesn't quite add up here, for as the all-powerful Fed devalues the US dollar, it destroys the exorbitant privilege of America's reserve currency. What's the exorbitant privilege? Simply this: the owner of a reserve currency can create "money" (USD) out of thin air and trade it for autos, oil, semiconductors - real-world goods that were not created out of thin air. Rather, all these real-world goods required tremendous investment and significant costs to be produced and transported.

The exorbitant privilege is something for nothing - a remarkably good deal. And yet the universal expectation is the Fed is going to throw that privilege in the dumpster by pushing the USD into the ground, first by devaluing it relative other currencies and then by letting hyper-inflation destroy what's left of its purchasing power.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the ability to create "money" out of thin air and trade it for real-world goods is the foundation of America's global power, what I call the Imperial Project. The same can be said for the other reserve currencies, the euro and the yen. (Since China's currency is pegged to the US dollar, it is not a true reserve currency; it is only a derivative of the USD.)

So let me get this straight: the Fed is consciously choosing to undermine and then lay waste to the foundation of American power - just to boost Robber Barons and zombie global stock markets? I don't think so. That the Fed would pursue a suicidal destruction of the purchasing power of the dollar just to boost stock markets and billionaires - that beggars belief.

The Fed is not the Empire, it is the handmaiden of the Empire. The Fed's dual mandate - for PR purposes, stable employment and prices - is actually balancing the conflicting demands of a global and domestic currency - Triffin's Paradox writ large.

The inherent problem with a reserve currency is that it must meet global economic needs and domestic needs, and these are intrinsically in conflict. America's billionaires and pension funds want the US stock market to loft higher on the back of a declining USD, but that diminishes the global purchasing power of the USD -a  trend heading for economic ruin.

The Fed has had numerous reasons to weaken the dollar since March: a desperate need to "save" global stock markets from well-deserved collapse, and an equally desperate need to keep the dollar weak so global debtors with loans denominated in dollars can manage to service their trillions in USD-denominated debts. But drawing a line extending this short-term necessity all the way to hyper-inflationary oblivion is a grave misreading of the Empire's need for the exorbitant privilege of a strong dollar.

The Fed is about done with its "rescue" of billionaires and global markets and debtors. Against virtually all expectations of seers, pundits, gurus, etc. the USD is about to start serving the Empire in its foundational role. As for stock markets - the devil take the hindmost."

- https://www.oftwominds.com/

○

Related:

"House Hearing: Wall Street Gets Bailed Out by Fed; 

Main Street Gets Sold Out"

Musical Interlude: Grateful Dead, "A Touch Of Gray"

Grateful Dead, "A Touch Of Gray"

"We will get by,

We will survive..."

"How It Really Is"

Little did we know how good we really had it, and took for granted...

Gregory Mannarino, AM 12/3/20: "The US Dollar Is CRATERING, Economy In FREEFALL"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 12/3/20:

"The US Dollar Is CRATERING, Economy In FREEFALL"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 12/3/20"

Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 12/3/20"

DEC 3, 2020 3:38 PM: "Newsom Places California Under 3-Week Stay At Home Order, CDC Chief Says COVID Worst Health Crisis In A Century: Live Updates"

DEC 3, 2020 7:16 AM: "US Suffers Record Daily COVID Cases As Hospitalizations Pass 100K; Global Death Toll Tops 1.5MM: Live Updates"

DEC 3, 2020 6:18 AM: "LA Imposes Toughest Lockdown Yet To Avoid "Devastating Tipping Point" As COVID Hospitalizations Soar"

○

Dec. 3, 2020 8:19 AM ET: 

 Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak 

The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 64,689,500 

people, according to official counts, including 13,999,385 Americans.

At least 1,496,200 have died.

  Dec. 3, 2020 8:19 AM ET: 

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

- www.nytimes.com

"How to Handle the Beast"

"How to Handle the Beast"

by David Cain

"The Beast showed up around Christmas last year, and stayed till April. During those months it was difficult to get anything done, or believe getting things done was a thing I could still do. You might know the Beast too. It has many forms. The Doom-Anxiety Beast. The Regret Beast. The Despair Beast. The Shame Beast. Psychologists have names for some of them.

Whatever the form, the Beast has certain characteristics. It saps your sense of agency and forward motion. It robs you of what might feel like your birthright: the basic ability to function to society’s standards. You lose the sense that you can steer the boat. The Beast may stay away for weeks or months or years. Then one Thursday afternoon, when one too many things goes wrong, it darkens your doorway again and you know that life might be different for a while.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s a good thing. Many of you do though. For what it’s worth, I’ll share what I’ve learned about tangling with the Beast.

As you already know, the Beast especially likes to visit during the holidays, or sometimes just after. It takes advantage of stress, isolation, and any sense of non-belonging you already feel. It wants to reduce you to a robotic pattern of habits and appetites. However, it can never quite steal that last bit of agency from you. There is always enough wriggle-space beneath it to do small, defiant things. This bit of space is what we will use to handle the Beast.

Assume your full height: Physically, I mean. The Beast can’t stop you from standing up straight, but it sure doesn’t want you to. It wants you to lower your head and drop your shoulders forward, especially in public – otherwise you might start to consider the possibility that you are in some way worthy, or even formidable. Upright posture doesn’t just symbolize resilience in the face of suffering, it creates the resilience. Be your full height. Return to it again and again.

Remember that the Beast is survivable: The Beast’s presence feels like you’ve been evicted from normal life, at least for now. Nothing is stable, and you can’t do what you need to do. It feels like you can’t possibly live at all until the Beast is gone.

Human history proves this is false. While the Beast can’t be ignored or destroyed, it can be lived with, and it has been. Human beings have cohabited with Beasts forever, often for years at a time. Life still happens during those years. Choices are still made, and good things are still accomplished.

What I’m trying to say is that taking action and finding meaning are possible even while the Beast is present. The conditions are different, but you still have agency. Life is still happening, and it still counts.

Discover the power of small acts of defiance: Whenever you feel the Beast sapping your will, do something – anything – that will improve your situation in even the smallest way. Straighten a crooked picture. Put all your stray pencils into a cup. The point isn’t so much to get things done, it’s to exercise the small bit agency you do have. One little act of defiance proves to both you and the Beast that it cannot clamp down on you completely. The earlier you do this in a day, the greater the effect.

Anything you do get done can weaken the Beast in a different way. By changing the state of things around you, you may be removing one of the Beast’s handholds, such as the laundry on your floor or the call you are not returning.

Lift things and clean: Physical exertion and cleaning up are the closest thing I’ve found to kryptonite for the Beast. A little of either can change a day’s trajectory, and remove more handholds.

Do a daily movement routine, even if it’s really easy. Even if it’s the equivalent of three pushups. Each one weakens the Beast, because it is an act against gravity. You are exercising your agency indirect opposition to the Beast’s inertia.

Get the house to a tidyish state if you can - a single room if you can’t - and keep it that way the best you’re able. Clutter is madness congealed.

Talk to people who know the Beast: Nothing has been as helpful for me as getting to know other people who know the Beast and are willing talk about it. There is tremendous relief to be found just describing your experience to someone:

“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.”

- C.S. Lewis

The goal of talking is not to problem-solve, but to break the illusion that something has gone uniquely wrong for you.

Our species knows the Beast well, but we don’t talk about it much. I suppose that’s because it’s hard to win at the rat race and other public-facing status games when you admit you are suffering. But suffering less is more important."

- https://www.raptitude.com/

"Tequila Bar In England Registers To Become A Church So It Can Re-Open"

"Tequila Bar In England Registers To 

Become A Church So It Can Re-Open"

by Tyler Durden

"It was just a couple days ago we wrote about one Staten Island bar finding a "creative" solution to the government shutdown by declaring itself an autonomous zone. Now, another bar in England is following suit with another "creative" solution: registering itself as a church. 400 Rabbits Tequila and Mezcal Cocktail Bar in Nottingham, England has rebranded itself as "The Church Of the Four Hundred Rabbits" and has officially filed a formal application for the bar to be used as a place of worship, according to the NY Post.

The owner, James Aspell, now needs people to sign up as his congregation in order for the application to go through.

Aspell wrote on Twitter: “With places of worship allowed to open in all tiers we thought f–k it let’s start a religion! Can’t be that hard can it! Congregation daily till late.” He said that despite the cynical tone of what he's doing, his business is truly struggling and that the hypocrisy of shutting down small businesses is disproportionately hurting bars. “This time of year it’s usually all guns blazing but instead I’m sat at home putting my Christmas decorations up,” he said.

Future customers - err - congregation members seem to love the idea. “The only reason I’d take up a religion. I’m in,” one wrote on Facebook. “The only religion I would get on board with,” another said. Of course, to truly curb all this nonsense, governments could just allow small businesses to open up with precautions. But given government's expertise in misuse of time, money and resources, we're sure that won't happen. "

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

“Homes Become ATMS; Banks Steal From You; Massive Job Cuts; Americans Addicted to Debt”

Jeremiah Babe,

“Homes Become ATMS; Banks Steal From You;

 Massive Job Cuts; Americans Addicted to Debt”

"Panic Buying Sweeps Across America As Fears Of Food Shortage Continues To Rise"

"Panic Buying Sweeps Across America As 

Fears Of Food Shortage Continues To Rise"

by Epic Economist

"The stockpiling tendency is intensifying as more than 40 states recorded a substantial spike in confirmed viral cases last week, lockdowns are looming, and a tough winter approaches. Store shelves in several states have been affected, and it appears that a "March 2.0" has just begun. A recent study has shown that over 80 million U.S. citizens already started to panic buy paper and cleaning products, as well as canned goods, and breakfast food.

Fearing a supply chain break flashback, people have been rushing into the grocery shops to avoid suffering from shortages during the holiday season. Giant food retailers that have previously affirmed to have prepared in advance for another wave of panicked consumer activity, now say that demand has been so high their chains are inevitably stressed. In this video, we report the effects of the stockpiling trend that has been clearing shelves all across the country and turning everyday essentials into cherishable commodities. 

All over the nation, people have been filling grocery carts to the brim in another round of panic buying boosted by the consequences of the latest surge in confirmed viral cases that led states to order the partial or total freeze of their economic activities. "Defensive purchasing" as some may define, is wiping everything out from the stores. Toilet paper, disinfectant, and groceries are flying off the shelves everywhere. 

When state governors threatened to enforce strict measures to control the virus, people started stockpiling a wide range of products. However, what was a threat before, now became a reality. As more than 40 states registered daily increases in viral cases this month, several governors acted to restrict social gatherings and non-essential business activity, and while the orders were being put into effect, many reports about panic buying started to pop on the news.

A Seattle worker disclosed to The Daily Beast that "people are stockpiling now not just because they're afraid of being stuck at home, but because they've seen everyone else buying it up and are afraid they won't be able to get any when they need it later”. He's right. That's how any behavior drove by fear works. While some impulsively react to the threat of harder days, the panic spreads to the observant others. Alarmed and frightened, they shortly start to react in order to protect themselves as well. And this damaging loop will likely to continue to extend, as case rates keep increasing and restrictions are being confirmed pretty much everywhere. 

Despite the efforts made by authorities and supply chain representatives to highlight that this second run is likely to be less severe because stores are more prepared, shoppers only believe in what they can see. Even though their attitude may cause the disruption they're fearing, consumers another imminent wave of shortages could come regardless of their increasingly defensive tendencies. 

When Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer started to report shortages in high-demand items, such as cleaning supplies, breakfast foods – and the most important commodity in any bathroom: toilet paper, warning signs were triggered amongst frightened customers. 

Target also communicated it would enforce purchase limits if consumers resume hoarding behavior. According to Anna Nagurney, shortages are a possibility if the sanitary outbreak “adversely affect the labor supply chain. Plus, winter weather can bring additional supply chain disruptions in terms of transportation,” she added.

All in all, panic purchases are understandable considering consumers remember the frustrations of going from store to store in the early months of the health crisis, looking for essentials that suddenly become scarce. "And that pattern will only intensify as the number of virus cases increase and the holidays approach," Nagurney said. 

A LendingTree survey has found that 86.7 million U.S. consumers have already begun stockpiling supplies for a potential winter wave of viral cases, with an additional 35% that affirmed to have plans to stockpile but haven't done so yet. 

In contrast, the effects of those massive purchases are seen not only on store shelves but on consumers' wallets - 27% of them have been accumulating credit card debt related to these purchasings, and most of them have been laid off or furloughed to the economic recession. Moreover, a recent analysis described how hoarding behavior might result in food waste.

Concerned about the dark winter ahead consumers might be unconsciously setting the stage for much more economic deterioration, as they spend more and increase their debt, rush into the unnecessary purchase of several products, which consequently creates a shortage, lead prices to skyrocket, while perpetuating a disruptive cycle of panic-driven purchases that don’t hurt anyone but themselves." 

- https://www.epiceconomist.com

"The Stasi Comes to America"

"The Stasi Comes to America"

by Brian Maher

"IS the tattle-tale the new American patriot? This Thanksgiving weekend, we hosted family members. One afternoon - having explored fully our own hamlet -a spirit of wanderlust seized them. Washington, D.C., some 25 miles distant, was the destination selected. We stepped into our waders, plugged our nostrils... and trekked into the foul, treacherous swamp.

Our travels concluded in upscale Georgetown and the splendid settings of its eponymous university… where we lolled among the “dreaming spires” of academia. Being Thanksgiving weekend, the snoozing campus was nearly as vacant as a congressman’s cranium… or a Joe Biden campaign rally.

All was silence. All was peace. We never passed within 100 feet of strangers. All, incidentally, wore surgical masks upon their faces. Your lawless editor did not. He had flouted the orders posted at the entranceway to cover his face. That is because the odds of catching or spreading the virus outdoors, in a thinly populated open space... likely approach zero. Do we speculate? No.

No Outdoor Transmission: Only one study... of over 7,000 studies... identified one solitary case of outdoor transmission. That study concluded: "There were virtually no cases that we could identify that took place in sort of everyday life outdoors."

Another group of German, British and American scientists arrived at this conclusion: "While it is not impossible, there is no evidence that COVID-19 has been transmitted when people walk past each other outdoors." Again, we did not pass within 100 feet of a stranger… much less walk past one.

But to proceed… After a long and healthy roam we had the exit in mind. We lit out in that direction, pausing to read a plaque nailed to a wall. That was when a sudden blast directly astern of us shattered the silence, the peaceful silence: “Sir, you are required to wear a mask at all times on this campus!”

If Only Looks Could Kill: We wheeled around... There stood a woman - masked, flummoxed, incensed - eyes blazing with the heat of a hundred suns, a thousand suns. We would be six feet under sod if eyes could murder. Hers had homicide in them. A moment or two of silence passed. Then, having stood up to evil, she resumed course and heading, building to flank speed.

Some 50-75 feet beyond our pathogenic influence, the schoolmarm glanced rearward. Did we heed orders? We had not. Of course… she risked greater odds of infection by stopping to accost the barbarian within the gates, the barefaced devil besieging Georgetown University. She might have simply passed on by.

We eventually executed a casual exit... and proceeded to menace the neighborhood beyond... maskless, reckless, Jack the Ripper running at large. (We cannot confirm it - but we believe we subsequently spotted her rolling around in her auto, alone, the mask still shielding her face. Against what we cannot say. But again, we cannot confirm the sighting). We were half-surprised the scold didn’t yell for the police. These days a fellow cannot be certain…

The Stasi Comes To America: Jim Rickards warns that the Stasi has descended upon American shores. The Stasi was former East Germany’s dreaded internal security force. These goons were constantly on the hunt for renegades. That is, dissidents who dared question Communist authority… who would not march in step. These dissidents were watched, bugged, trailed, harangued, questioned, drugged, slugged, clubbed and jugged.

The Stasi also relied upon snitches, snoops and tattle-tales - rats - to finger suspects. Jim: "The Stasi was notorious for running a ubiquitous surveillance network in which neighbor spied upon neighbor and co-workers spied on each other. There were rewards for reporting dissidents to the police and severe punishments for those who did not toe the party line."

If you do not believe it can happen in these United States, Jim says have another guess. Look to the Great Northwest: "If this kind of activity seems long ago and far away, think again. The policies of the Stasi are now being used in the United States. The State of Oregon is now under an extreme form of lockdown order imposed by Governor Kate Brown…

When some citizens refused to go along with her senseless plans, she said neighbors should spy on neighbors and call the police if they observe any behavior that does not conform to her orders. Apart from being bad public health policy, her orders are probably unconstitutional. Fortunately, many local sheriffs are refusing to enforce her orders and many citizens are ignoring them also. East Germans could not ignore the Stasi without grave consequences. Governor Kate Brown and her neo-Stasi approach are easier to ignore - so far."

“So far”... Will there come a time when the neo-Stasi approach is far more difficult to ignore? We must be alert to the possibility. But does the greater terror spring from our own fellow citizens?

“Delusional Psychosis”: Dr. Mark McDonald practices psychiatry within the state of California. From whom: "We don’t need a police force. We don’t need a secret Stasi to go after the neighbor that isn’t wearing his mask on a park bench. We have families who are willing to do that. We have office workers who will come by and mace you if you are not wearing a mask, and no one will come to your rescue. In fact, they’ll probably applaud it."

A “delusional psychosis” he labels it, grounded in a quaking fear that has: "Grown and become so entrenched that it has reached a state of what I would call delusional psychosis. A delusion is a fixed false belief that is contrary to reality."

Reality, Dr. McDonald? Less than one percent of the population accounts for over 90 percent of all the deaths, “which occur in people” over age 70, mostly over age 80, with at least two and a half to three comorbidities, according to the CDC. Other than that group of people, we really are not at risk of hospitalization or death in any meaningful way from this virus…

Yet Dr. McDonald’s greatest concern is that the hysteria is: "Going beyond fear, going beyond the crazy itself, to what I would call group control... What appears to me is a country which is using its own citizens as a de facto police force, very similar to communist China, that has a social point system in place where neighbor informs on neighbor, family informs on family."

A Citizen Stasi: America’s framers wrote in the First Amendment to wall off speech from government invasion. Yet today, “Big Tech” is the censor that polices speech. Facebook or Twitter cannot clap you into prison or stretch you out upon the rack. (Blogger can and will delete your blog. - CP) Yet they can tape your electronic mouth if they dislike your speech. Free speech under the First Amendment, yes. But free speech?

Similarly, do we need a Stasi if our own fellow citizens will knock us over the head for failing to wear a mask outdoors? Meantime, our neighbors can eye us through peepholes as diligently as any undercover agent. We have located an excellent candidate for this Stasi militia of citizens. You can find her prowling the grounds of Georgetown University...

Unmasked and Unrepentant,"

- dailyreckoning.com

○

Gregory Mannarino, "Get Ready! The FED Us About To Open The Flood Gates"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 12/2/20:

"Get Ready! The FED Us About To Open The Flood Gates"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Sound of Invisible Waters"

Deuter, "Sound of Invisible Waters"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Large galaxies and faint nebulae highlight this deep image of the M81 Group of galaxies. First and foremost in the wide-angle 12-hour exposure is the grand design spiral galaxy M81, the largest galaxy visible in the image. M81 is gravitationally interacting with M82 just below it, a big galaxy with an unusual halo of filamentary red-glowing gas. 

Around the image many other galaxies from the M81 Group of galaxies can be seen. Together with other galaxy congregates including our Local Group of galaxies and the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, the M81 Group is part of the expansive Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies. This whole galaxy menagerie is seen through the faint glow of an Integrated Flux Nebula, a little studied complex of diffuse gas and dust clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy."

- http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080512.html

"Humanity Today..."

"Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. The mind seeks but cannot find the precise place and hour. We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology. We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and to the rest of life."

- Edward O. Wilson

Chet Raymo, "Away Above The Chimney Pots "

"Away Above The Chimney Pots"

by Chet Raymo

"So Oz finally became home; the imagined world became the actual world, as it does for us all, because the truth is that once we have left our childhood places and started out to make up our lives, armed only with what we have and are, we understand that the real secret of the ruby slippers is not that "there's no place like home", but rather that there is no longer any such place as home: except, of course, for the home we make, or the homes that are made for us, in Oz: which is anywhere, and everywhere, except the place from which we began. 

In the last paragraph of his delightful meditation on the film "The Wizard of Oz", Salman Rushdie, himself an immigrant to another land, takes gentle issue with the concluding cliche: "There's no place like home." If the net result of Dorothy's technicolor adventure is to end up where she began, in gray old Kansas, then what was the point? asks Rushdie.

Poor Dorothy, waking up in bed with Auntie Em and the others clustered around her, born again, so to speak, into the same old life. "It wasn't a dream, it was a place," she cries, piteously. "A real, truly live place! Doesn't anyone believe me?" She must begin her rebellion all over again.

Visitors here will have observed that I have reached a stage in life where I am prone to look back on the journey, reflect somewhat nostalgically upon the place I came from, and try to ascertain where it is I have ended up. It is clear that the destination was in part determined by where I began, as is true, I suppose, for all of us. We are armed, after all, only with "what we have and who we are." But it is clear too that having experienced the technicolor universe of the galaxies and the DNA, there is no going back to the dusty, gray dogmas of my youth. 

The Emerald City may indeed be over the rainbow, but it is still in the here and now. The Wizard's powers may not be supernatural, but his translucently turreted city sure beats Kansas. Science was my Yellow Brick Road. I'm still a "Kansas" boy, so to speak, but with no desire to be born again. For better or worse, home is here, now, in a universe of a grandeur of which I had no idea at the beginning, at a place along a Yellow Brick Road that reaches tantalizingly into the future, with no foreseeable terminus in an ultimate Oz." 

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: James Baldwin, "Amen"

"Amen" 

 "No, I don't feel death coming.

I feel death going:

having thrown up his hands,

for the moment.

I feel like I know him

better than I did.

Those arms held me,

for a while,

and, when we meet again,

there will be that secret knowledge

between us." 

- James Baldwin

The Daily "Near You?

Collinsville, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"The Ironic, The Tragic Thing..."

“One can fight evil but against stupidity one is helpless… I have accepted the fact, hard as it may be, that human beings are inclined to behave in ways that would make animals blush. The ironic, the tragic thing is that we often behave in ignoble fashion from what we consider the highest motives. The animal makes no excuse for killing his prey; the human animal, on the other hand, can invoke God’s blessing when massacring his fellow men. He forgets that God is not on his side but at his side.”

“There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy.”

- Henry Miller

"Doug Casey on America's Ideological Divide and What Comes Next"

"Doug Casey on America's Ideological Divide and What Comes Next"

by Internationalman.com

"International Man: Throughout his presidential campaign, Joe Biden said that this would be a "dark winter" in the US. What would a Biden/Harris administration do next?

Doug Casey: When Joe Biden was in his basement, he must’ve watched Game of Thrones again and again. Biden thinks he’s John Snow saying, "Winter is coming." He’s right about that. But he’s no John Snow.

The government can definitely make it into a dark winter, indeed, so it’s interesting that he said that. The government can create huge economic destruction just by continuing their foolish lockdowns. But, as they say, "we can do more!" Biden wants more regulations. He wants more money printing. He’s said that he wants much higher taxes.

We can expect the economy to get a lot worse. Joe’s prediction about a dark winter is absolutely right from an economic point of view. And, even more important, from a personal freedom point of view. We’re going to have a lot more State control and less personal freedom. The COVID hysteria is a godsend for them.

What will Biden do if and when he’s sworn in? In addition to the things I just mentioned, he’ll try to clamp down on gun ownership. That, however, would likely be the red line. It could really set things off. Especially since something like 75% of Republicans, and even 25% of Democrats, think the election was rigged. It would serve to delegitimize the whole political process.

What will happen if he tries to confiscate people’s guns? Will members of the police and military actually do as they’re told? Most of them will, for lots of reasons, but mainly because they’re paid to do what they’re told, whether they agree with it or not. The chain of command still exists. And no cop wants to lose his job in today’s economic environment.

What will the gun owners do? Will they resist violently? Some will. And then what happens? Gun confiscation could be the spark that lights the flame in this country. That’s especially the case if they make Beto O’Rourke the gun czar.

International Man: Ideologically, the US is split. Half of Americans believe exactly what the politicians, media, and the "experts" tell them. On the other hand, there is a growing number of Americans that are skeptical and distrustful of the mainstream COVID narrative and the restrictions. How do you see this playing out in the months ahead?

Doug Casey: The temperature is rising in the pressure cooker. I’ve said before; it makes no sense at all to have two or more groups with radically different views of ethics - what’s right and wrong, and what should or shouldn’t be done - in the same political entity. One group or another is going to get control of the central government and will use it to make the other group as mad as hell. This is why countries split up.

Ideally, the US will split up peacefully the way Czechoslovakia did into two countries, or Yugoslavia into six countries, or the Soviet Union into 15 countries. But the last time we had a serious secession movement in the US was from 1861 to 1865. It didn’t end well.

Click image for larger size.

"The 11 Nations Of The United States"

Let me repeat what I said since March about COVID. This virus is no more serious than the bird flu, swine flu, Asian flu, or the Hong Kong flu. It’s not even remotely as serious as the Spanish flu. It basically only affects people over 70 or those who have a major illness. And even then, the survival rate is very high. The average age of death from COVID is 78. Contracting it is no more than a trivial inconvenience for younger people. It’s perhaps the greatest mass hysteria in world history. There’s much more to say about this hysteria, and it all reflects badly on the authorities and the media. As well as the average American for acting like a sheep. The situation is accentuated by the fact that we have entered the Greater Depression. When the economic times get really tough, people feel they have little to lose, and, as Gerald Celente says, they "lose it."

A big near-term problem is that the forbearance of payment of rent and mortgage payments is slated to end about Jan 1. There will be a lot of people - about 12 million renters and four million homeowners - who aren't going to be able to make those payments. In addition to the fact that a lot of landlords and lenders are already under pressure because of the forbearance.

Although consequences will likely be pushed forward by another round of money from the Fed.

International Man: Is it possible that in an attempt to regulate and restrict the movement and lives of the population that the "masters of the universe" will overplay their hand?

Doug Casey: It’s very possible. They’re playing with a lit stick of dynamite. But when the "cadres" get control of the government, they’re extremely hard to dislodge. They’ll have not only the government’s moral force but its physical force - the army, the police, and the judicial system. 

Remember, the Bolsheviks were a tiny number of people, but once they captured the apparatus of the Russian State in 1917, it was all over. If the Marxist factions of the Democrat Party take over, they’ll prove very hard to evict from power. Here’s the question: is the average American who dislikes the collectivist Democrat Party willing to go into the streets the way BLM and Antifa did, and get violent?

I don't know. This is a witch's brew. It's much more serious than the average person thinks or even wants to think. The possibility isn’t mentioned in the media. I really don't see any way out of this, however. Serious violence is likely.

If there's going to be a confrontation, however, it's better that one occurs sooner rather than later from the point of view of the cultural conservatives. The longer it’s put off, the more people indoctrinated with every college and high school graduating class in what the Biden-Harris team are promoting.

And every year that goes by, there are more people recruited to work for the government who align against pro-freedom forces. Inevitably, the pot's going to boil over. It’s better to get it over with sooner rather than later. The only thing that can defuse the situation is a major war, probably with China, but that would be an even greater disaster."

- internationalman.com

"That's All We've Ever Had..."

 
- George Carlin