"A Great Depression For The 21st Century: 1930s Was Bad, But What We Are Facing Now Is Worse!"

Full screen recommended.

"A Great Depression For The 21st Century: 

1930s Was Bad, But What We Are Facing Now Is Worse!"

by Epic Economist

"Ever since the health crisis burst, plunging the world's economy with it, financial gurus have been warning of another great depression. While the United States struggles to avert yet another economic collapse, those warnings sounds have become louder than ever. They say the next Great Depression will be far greater than the one of 1929 to 1933. This time, the impacts will likely persist for much longer than before and they will be much more acute, considering our economy is now plagued by a massive national debt that only grows bigger and bigger with each passing day. At this point, most experts already know the current monetary policy is driving off the country to a financial cliff as it inflates asset bubbles to dangerously high levels, threatening to bring about unexpected disasters that will only aggravate our economic hardships even further.

There are so many determinants weighting upon our financial markets that it just takes one single failure to trigger a major meltdown, and when that happens, we will find ourselves into the early stages of the first great depression of our lifetime. Our economy is on very shaky ground already but that doesn't seem to bother our leaders, who intend to keep on spending trillions of dollars regardless of the consequences. However, by doing so, they are destroying the very foundations that have been keeping the country afloat. In other words, the only thing preventing America from descending into utter chaos is the dollar's leading position as the world's reserve currency. The vast majority of international business transactions are conducted in dollars, so pretty much all countries and international corporations around the planet have to buy dollars in order to trade their goods.

So, the more money the Federal Reserve creates, the more it dilutes the value of every existing dollar. And in face of rampant inflation and the formation of overblown market bubbles, international partners, traders, and investors are questioning if it's still worth it to hold on to their dollars and Treasury bonds. If they lose confidence in our nation and decide to massively dump their dollars, we will not only see the entire house of cards crashing down but also be doomed to decades of steep financial pain.

Once we hit that stage, our leaders cannot say they did not see it coming, because every day a new series of signs, alerts, and warnings continue to emerge, highlighting the dangers of our reckless monetary decisions. When policymakers insist nothing serious is going on, alleging that our economy can support high debt levels and affirming inflation will be a "transitory" thing, what they are actually saying is that they will not make any preventive changes and they will continue to rely on the misconception that the world will support holding onto a lot more US debt, which would supposedly allow our government to borrow and spend even more. Needless to say, in a time where most of the world's economies are completely exhausted from the recessions they have been facing on their own, this is definitely not a good strategy.

The big question is: for how much longer will they be able to get away with this spending binge before it turns into a major national crisis that will not only bring the US economy down but send the entire world into a global financial nightmare? One thing is certain, once the US goes down, no one will come to bail us out. Partner countries are also seeing their economic conditions sharply deteriorate, and after a financial collapse hits, they will be solely focused on healing their own wounds.

Just as during the Great Depression and the last housing bubble burst, when the entire world was affected by the financial troubles generated here in the US, our economic partners will try to bail themselves out, thanks to us and to our leaders' choice to overlook the dimension of our own problems. That's why we can't simply expect external help to rescue our nation from the mess we created ourselves. And with the certainty that another great depression is fast approaching, we need to prepare for the worst. For that reason, we listed a few simple measures you can take not to be caught by surprise by a financial catastrophe and risk losing your home or seeing your family go hungry. These are the very basics of disaster preparedness and as things are quickly spiraling out of control, you should start getting ready as soon as you can."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

Musical Interlude: 2002, "An Ocean Apart"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "An Ocean Apart"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Like delicate cosmic petals, these clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile star fields of the constellation Cepheus. Sometimes called the Iris Nebula and dutifully cataloged as NGC 7023 this is not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this remarkable image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries in impressive detail. Within the Iris, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star.

The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the dusty clouds glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula may contain complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The bright blue portion of the Iris Nebula is about six light-years across.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120929.html

"I Don't Pretend..."

  

“I don't pretend we have all the answers,

but the questions are certainly worth thinking about.”

- Arthur C. Clarke

The Daily "Near You?"

Hackney, United Kingdom. Thanks for stopping by!

"When the Money Supply Dries Up"

"When the Money Supply Dries Up"

by Jeff Thomas

"In 1944, the US had been the primary supplier for arms for the allies during World War II and, as such, exited the war with more wealth than any of the other nations that had entered the war earlier, draining their treasuries of money. Since payment was largely demanded in gold, the US held three-quarters of the world’s gold and therefore was in a position to call the shots with regard to the free world’s economic future.

At Bretton Woods, the US took advantage of this situation, setting up the World Bank and the IMF and declaring the dollar to be the default currency for all countries concerned. From that point on, the US was in the catbird seat, able to dictate economic terms to other countries and even to behave irresponsibly, eventually creating previously unheard-of levels of debt, thereby inspiring other nations to do their best to create their own debt in order to keep pace as best they could. Eventually, of course, such irresponsible economics will cause any country, no matter how powerful, to collapse economically, no matter how many Keynesian economists such as Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, and Larry Summers declare otherwise.

Beginning in 1944, the US became the world’s foremost empire, for the strongest of reasons—it held the world’s wealth. This advantage led to a period of great power and, in the latter years, as the empire began to stumble economically under its own great weight, led to the creation of organizations and legislation designed to bring in new revenue, as the old forms of revenue declined.

In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of the extraordinary assumption that "money laundering" (the practice of protecting one’s wealth from rapacious governments), should be regarded as a crime. As such, "tax havens"—those jurisdictions that provide freedom from governmental usurpation—have also been vilified as being somehow criminal because they recognize the basic right of freedom to prosper.

Along the way, we’ve witnessed the creation of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a euphemistic appellation that might rightfully be termed the "Organization for Forced Compliance with Arbitrary Taxation Diktat by Powerful Nations." This US-led organization has served to periodically threaten freer nations to comply with the less free nations, so that citizens in the latter group cannot escape being stripped of the fruit of their labors. In addition, the US has created the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which is ostensibly intended to enforce taxation of US citizens abroad, but which has been used almost entirely to bilk foreign banks that have US citizens as clients. (Again, the rules are arbitrary and ever-changing, and banks that fail to satisfy the US are fined enormous sums in a rather colossal Mafia-style shakedown.)

Along the way, the US has increasingly created legislation restricting the international movement of money by its people in addition to such a patchwork quilt of laws that every citizen is likely to break several laws each day, simply by existing normally.

All of this is taken for granted as a "given" by both Americans and those of us who view the US from afar. However, we rarely, if ever, take the time to reflect on the fact that, historically, this is nothing new. This is, in fact, quite the norm for an empire in decline. From the latter days of the Roman Empire, such practices (if in a less sophisticated form) have been implemented in order to have a last squeeze of the lemon before economic collapse takes place.

So, what then, in these many instances, has been the deciding factor that ends such draconian usurping of private wealth? Well, in fact, what tends to occur is that enforcement increases serially, right up until the moment when such enforcement can no longer be funded. Sooner or later, the amount that’s being bilked from those who are productive is insufficient to force them to continue to be bilked.

In ancient Rome, once the system had deteriorated to the point that the military was almost entirely mercenary, all that was needed was for the government to fail to provide full, regular payment to the troops. Once "the cheques began to bounce," the military turned on their former benefactors. In addition to the cessation of enforcement, the military itself was now a threat to the leadership.

And of course, we have seen this in other empires since that time. Even with all the gold that Spain was pulling out of the New World in the 16th century, it wasn’t sufficient to pay for the excessive foreign military adventures of Philip II and eventually the coffers ran dry, collapsing his ability to even maintain control at home. When even the interest on the debt could not be serviced, the ability to maintain control not only ceased to advance—it went into reverse.

Whenever the ability to enforce draconian legislation goes into decline, the people of a nation suddenly realize that they’ve been living in fear of a paper tiger. It doesn’t take long before some people choose to defy the system. When they’re seen to succeed, others follow in droves. So, what does this say of the US and its power? Well, as Doug Casey has been known to say, "Countries fall from grace with remarkable speed." Quite so.

On an international level, this means that international leaders will be watching the economic decline of the US closely. Countries such as China and Russia have been loading up on precious metals in preparation for a collapse in fiat currency. In addition, they’ve created their own version of the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and have been hard at work inking deals with other nations for international settlement in currencies other than the dollar.

Most people in the world today cannot remember a time before Bretton Woods, yet they may soon witness the Bretton Woods agreement becoming a dead duck. But, if we extend this premise, we also should be questioning the other constructs of the postwar period that have become dinosaurs. What of the United Nations? This organization was once meant to be a body for arbitration and world planning, but has in latter decades become a quagmire of bickering and gainsaying—with its decisions rarely being adopted by the nations in question. And yet the US alone pays some $8 billion annually to keep the UN afloat. Surely, when the world at large ceases its willingness to carry further US debt, the US government will jettison the expense for the UN before it cuts either its military spending or its entitlement programmes.

Similarly, NATO (with only 11 of its 30 members currently meeting the recommended payments) would experience a similar fate. With the above entities heading south, the Wolfowitz Doctrine, which has since 1992 been the basis of US aggression policy, would become unachievable.

In addition to the decline or cessation of the above international adventurism, enforcement of revenue pursuit in the guise of FATCA and OECD schemes would equally suffer from a loss of funding. It would not be a question of whether the empire still wished to squeeze the lemon more than ever before—it would. But once the funds to do so dried up, the US and EU would find themselves in the situation that we currently observe in Venezuela: The money to pay for the enforcement is simply not there anymore. The decline would begin with bounced cheques, followed by massive layoffs in the enforcement departments, followed by a decline in receipts, necessitating further layoffs, and continuing in a downward spiral.

At present, countless people live in fear of the present empires and their ever-increasing efforts at usurpation. However, as history shows, once debt has reached its nadir and begins its rapid fall, so does the empire’s ability to enforce draconian confiscations."

- internationalman.com

"True Knowledge..."

“There is a difference between a question and a wonder. I would prefer to answer only questions that will be useful to you. A child looks up at the starry sky at night and wonders. He is filled with the joy of the mystery of creation. Why should I explain everything to you and take away that joy? I will not. The purpose of my words is to create silence, to create joy. I am not here to stuff your head full of knowledge. A child starts out innocent. You ask him something and he says, “I don’t know.” Then that child grows up and thinks he knows everything. I’ll teach you something. I’ll teach you to say, “I don’t know,” and be glad. That is true knowledge.”

- Christopher Pike

"The Social Decay That Is Eating Away At America Like A Cancer Is Visible All Around Us "

"The Social Decay That Is Eating Away At America

 Like A Cancer Is Visible All Around Us"

by Michael Snyder

"You probably don’t need me to tell you that society is coming apart at the seams all around us. If you live in a major city, you can just walk outside and watch it happen right in front of you. Prior to 2020, social decay was steadily eating away at our society, but once the pandemic hit many of our societal problems greatly accelerated. Even while the Federal Reserve was making sure that wealthy Wall Street investors were being taken care of well, poverty and homelessness were absolutely exploding in major cities all over the nation. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Americans have been turning to drugs to cope with their problems, and this has particularly been true in our urban areas.

At one time, Washington Square Park in Lower Manhattan was quite lovely, but now it is being described as “lawless” and “drug-infested” because of the hordes of drug addicts that constantly hang out there… "A lawless, drug-infested Washington Square Park is horrifying even famously free-spirited Greenwich Village residents. “We may be liberal but this has gone too far,” lamented Steven Hill, who has called the neighborhood home since 1980. “There have always been drugs in the park, mostly pot, but what’s emerged this spring is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

Just like so many other public spaces in major cities across the country, Washington Square Park is no longer a safe place for families. These days, local residents are kept awake “until the wee hours” by the drug-fueled parties that take place night after night around the central fountain… "Washington Square Park’s northwest corner was overtaken in recent months by a crack-and-heroin-filled “drug den,” while boisterous, booze-soaked raves around the central fountain have kept neighbors up until the wee hours and left the historic green space trashed each morning."

Of course this sort of activity can be found all over New York City these days. In fact, at this point even Times Square has been virtually taken over by drug addicts and homeless people… "Andy Hort, who runs a printing company in Times Square, said he now avoid the area whenever he can. ‘There’s a lot more crime and a lot more drug addicts and vagrants everywhere,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘In the last three months, I’ve seen three or four people shooting up right in front of me.’

What would you do if you started to see people regularly do heroin right in front of you? Would you move? That is what hundreds of thousands of New York residents have done, but even though so many people have moved out, crime rates in the Big Apple just continue to rise.

The days when NYC was one of our safest major cities seem so far away now. According to the latest NYPD data, crime in the city is up 30 percent so far in 2021… "In 2021, almost every type of violent crime is on the rise in New York City. According to recent figures from Compstat, the NYPD’s data gathering unit, crime is up 30 percent city wide."

At this stage, I don’t know why anyone would still want to live in New York. If you can believe it, even New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is publicly admitting that the city has a “major crime problem”… ‘New Yorkers don’t feel safe and they don’t feel safe because the crime rate is up. It’s not that they are being neurotic or overly sensitive – they are right,’ Governor Andrew Cuomo declared on Wednesday. ‘We have a major crime problem in New York City. Everything we just talked about, with the economy coming back, you know what the first step is? People have to feel safe.’

I write a lot about New York, but city after city all over the country is dealing with the exact same thing. Crime rates are way up from coast to coast, and there is a new mass shooting in the news almost every single day now. The latest one comes to us from Miami… "Miami-Dade police are investigating a deadly mass shooting that left two people dead and 20 others injured in what detectives described as a “targeted act of violence.”

“This is a despicable act of gun violence,” said Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez. “A cowardly act. According to police, the shooting took place after a birthday party for a local rapper known as ABMG Spitta, birth name Courtney Paul Wilson. The killers were specifically waiting for people to leave that birthday party. It is being reported that “several gunmen sat in a white Nissan Pathfinder SUV in the parking lot for up to 40 minutes”, and when people started to pour out of the banquet hall they jumped into action…

Cellphone video shows the chaotic moments after the bullets stopped flying outside El Mula Banquet Hall. Up to 25 people were hit, and two were killed on the scene. People who live nearby heard the barrage of gunfire about 12:30 a.m. near NW 67 Avenue on Miami Gardens Drive. “It was like, ‘Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,’ and just kept going and then it stopped for a little bit, then it went a little bit more then it stopped,” explained neighbor Gianna Donoso."

This is what our nation has become. Our streets are soaked with the blood of the innocent, and millions of our young people are completely and totally out of control.

These days, it seems like kids are becoming violent at younger and younger ages. Earlier today, I was shocked as I read a news story about a 14-year-old that had stabbed a 13-year-old cheerleader 114 times… "Chilling new details have emerged about the fatal stabbing of a 13-year-old cheerleader who was found dead in a wooded area in Northeast Florida on Mother’s Day. On Thursday, State Attorney for the 7th Circuit R.J. Larizza announced during a news conference that Tristyn Bailey was stabbed 114 times while fighting off her killer. He said at least 49 of the stab wounds were to her hands, arms and head and that they were “defensive in nature,” according to local media reports."

Nobody can deny that our society is deeply sick, and just about every sort of evil that you can possibly imagine is exploding all around us. If we stay on the path that we are currently on, there is no way that our story is going to end well. As a society, we need to turn around and reverse course immediately. But that isn’t going to happen, is it?

We are like the drug addicts in Washington Square Park that just keep coming back for yet another hit. We know that we are literally destroying ourselves, but we are so far gone that most of us don’t even care anymore."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

"You Could Wait...."

“You get that one chance; and damn it, you’ve got to take it! If there’s one lesson I know I will take with me for eternity, its that there are those things that might happen only once, those chances that come walking down the street, strolling out of a café; if you don’t let go and take them, they really could get away! We can get so washed out with a mindset of entitlement – the universe will do everything for us to ensure our happiness – that we forget why we came here! We came here to grab, to take, to give, to have! Not to wait! Nobody came here to wait! So, what makes anyone think that destiny will keep on knocking over and over again? It could, but what if it doesn’t? You go and you take the chance that you get; even if it makes you look stupid, insane, or whorish! Because it just might not come back again. You could wait a lifetime to see if it will… but I don’t think you should.”

- C. JoyBell C.

Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/31/21: "Markets, A Look Ahead"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/31/21:

"Markets, A Look Ahead"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"How It Really Is"

 

"The Three Rivers of Angst"

"The Three Rivers of Angst"

by Jim Kunstler

"Does Memorial Day 2021 seem an unusually grim lull between spring and summer this year? Here in the northeast, rain pounded the lakes, ballfields, and barbeque circles all weekend with the additional insult of a steady fifty-degree chill that hardly changed from noon to midnight all weekend. Anyway, the holiday is always freighted with that hush of battlefields strewn with the dead - no smiling Santa Claus, no pastel Easter eggs, and the skeletons aren’t in the mood for dancing.

Even the military looked tarnished this year with a battle royale raging over the new imposed strictures of Critical Race Theory poisoning the ranks, and the fishy spectacle of Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, an exemplary officer, getting drummed out of his post as Commander of the new Space Force for publishing a book about all that. His firing provoked the consciences of retired generals and admirals who denounced the Pentagon’s new tilt into Marxist political activism as an existential threat to the nation - and that didn’t seem like such an exaggeration, either, considering how an America led by transsexual gunnery sergeants might meet its future foes on the fields of war.

Memorial Day also marks one year since the sacred transfiguration of George Floyd from repeat felon to patron saint of social justice, but the remembrance of all that seemed a bit wan now that officer Derek Chauvin stands convicted of murder and the Floyd family has been elevated into the financial one-percent with a $27-million settlement for the loss of George’s earnest existence. Meanwhile, America could not fail to note the 36-percent increase in the national homicide rate since that mournful afternoon in Minneapolis.

Three rivers of angst flow out of Memorial Day 2021, and it is possible to imagine how they will meet later this year and join in a mighty flood of woe over the country. The first is the toxic stream of Wokery saturating just about every institution in the USA from the armed services, to the DOJ, to education both public and private, to organized sports, to the corporate C suites and, of course, to the transmission of current events in news and social media.

Despite the torrents of mendacious narratives and fogs of gaslight deployed in this campaign, a substantial chunk of the public resists suffocation and has finally begun to fight back, especially at the grass roots local level against the dogma-driven school boards out to cancel Western Civ. Expect this to ramp up as the spring semester closes out and the schools must set the terms for resuming classes in the fall. The kids themselves are bucking the mask mandates while the parents tangle with the more vexing problems of Woke racist curricula and insane sexual propaganda. It’s going to get ugly.

Another stream of angst is the River of Covid-19. The tide has just turned on the question of where it came from, namely, the Wuhan Lab, but it’s hard to game-out both what we might do about that concerning the CCP’s role in it - plus, the roles of Dr. Fauci and our own National Institutes of Health ­- and whether the depraved administration of China Joe Biden can even acknowledge the facts. That is to say: the whole sorry episode looks like an act-of-war but carried out with America’s foolish willing collaboration.

But then a whole raft of really deadly additional questions overrides even the quandary of who’s responsible, and I refer to the future course of the disease itself, whether another wave comes back, what new variants might emerge, and the extremely spooky issue of what the long-term effects of the experimental vaccines might be. Since the news media is so untrustworthy, and these are such troubling threats, it will be very hard to locate the truth about the medical concerns.

There’s a ton of rogue commentary on the Internet about all this, and a lot of it comes from legitimate and credible doctors. But the highest official US medical authorities are crippled for now and the public is left to sort out what’s real and what’s not on our own. An aggravating factor is that so many people have been roped into taking the vaxes that they might not want to even hear about any serious problems discovered with them. One extremely worrying narrative lately surfaced is the idea that Covid-19 itself wasn’t the prime bio-weapon deployed against the world, but rather the vaccines will deliver more death than the disease. Not saying I subscribe to that theory, but it’s out there to chew on.

The third stream of angst is the big muddy river of economy-and-finance. For the moment, it’s the one drawing the least attention because the equity markets continue levering up-up-up reassuringly on ZIRP and the gold market goes mostly sideways, and Bitcoin dances up and down like the jester it is. The unemployment numbers are still grim, along with the perverse effect of jobs going unfilled due to federal relief packages. A lot of businesses wiped out by the lockdowns just aren’t coming back, and despite all the “liquidity” sloshing around stocks and bonds, there isn’t much capital really available for people who went bankrupt and need it to start up anything again. Lurking in the background to all this is the surreal government spending of “money” created from up the Federal Reserve’s wazoo, a Ponzi scheme for the ages that shows signs of ending as all Ponzis due: in ruin. Only in this case for an entire nation. We’ll end up either with no money or plenty of worthless money. Take your pick.

For the moment one can only observe that that the fiscal management of the Biden admin looks like just about the most reckless and clueless of any regime in US history. All of a sudden, a $10-trillion annual budget, including all the special “rescue” plans? Come on, man… The deluge from this river of angst might easily overtake the rising waters of the other two as we stand watching on the levee of summertime. Just offstage of all this is the quirky playing-out of 2020 election audits. Gawd knows what the nation will do when faced with genuine proof that Mr. Biden is in office less than legitimately. That’ll bring on the equivalent of a five-hundred-year flood, fer sure, when angst turns to real misery."

- https://kunstler.com/

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

Memorial Day 2021; "Veterans Speak About Memorial Day: 'It's Not About Us'"

 

"Veterans Speak About Memorial Day: 'It's Not About Us'"

by Patricia Tolson 

"On Monday, May 31, Americans from sea to shining sea will observe Memorial Day. However, veterans are quick to remind you: “It’s not about us.” “Monday is not about us,” Sergeant J.O. Batten, Commander of VFW Post 8713 in Brooksville, Florida told The Epoch Times.

“It’s about the men on that wall out there. A lot of people don’t realize that.” Batten, a United States Marine, served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. “The wall” is a granite monument, which stands guard at the front door of VFW. It bears the names of a group of men known as “The Brooksville Eight,” men who were killed in action during the Vietnam War.

They are: Capt. Denver Colburn, Lance Corporals Hercules Moore and Charles Keathly, Private First Class Danny Overton, and First Lieutenant Denis Vacenovsky of the United States Marine Corps; Sergeants Virgil Hamilton and Larry Kinder and Specialist Washington Langley of the United States Army.

“Memorial Day is not about veterans who are still alive,” Ron McCombs told The Epoch Times, standing at attention before the wall as he looked at the names engraved into the stone. “It’s about those men, the ones who didn’t make it.” McCombs, now 73-years-old, was an E5 in the U.S. Army. He also served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. Batten said there aren’t many veterans left from the Vietnam war at his post, and those members who served in World War II and Korea have all passed away. “Ron and I are the only ones left here from the Vietnam era,” Batten said.

Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day originated in the years following the Civil War. However, it didn’t become an official federal holiday until 1971. Still, in the 50 years that have passed, veterans have observed how the sacred meaning of Memorial Day is becoming diluted and lost.

Batten lamented how even the hallowed ritual of lowering the American flag to half-mast has been diminished by politics and political correctness. While events like school shootings are tragic, these events do not meet the guidelines for lowering the flag, as set forth by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. According to Public Law 94-344, known as the Federal Flag Code (pdf) the American flag should be flown on Memorial Day and lowered to half-mast until noon. The code further dictates it “may be flown at half-staff to honor a newly deceased federal or state government official by order of the president or the governor, respectively.”

Billy Butts served his country as a soldier in the U.S. Army. His tours included such places as Iraq and Afghanistan. He noted a similar lessening in the meaning of medals, such as the Bronze Star. While Butts personally received one, he believes this medal is little more than a participation trophy. “It doesn’t have the ‘V Device,’” Butts clarified, leaning forward as he held up two fingers in the shape of the letter. “That’s the difference.” As Butts explained, a regular Bronze Star can be awarded to someone for something like administrative excellence, which is little more than “doing their job.” However, a Bronze Star with a “V Device” is earned only for committing an act of valor during the heat of combat.

Timothy Zarbo, who served six months in the Gulf War as a member of the United States Air Force, believes this era was the peak of America’s military prowess. While the war in Vietnam dragged on for nearly 20 years, Operation Desert Storm, was over in three days. Still, Zarbo is still humbled by those who fought in Vietnam. “We were part of the era of volunteer military service,” Zarbo asserted. “Those who served in Vietnam didn’t have a choice. They were drafted. Those who fought in the Gulf War were called heroes, and welcomed back with yellow ribbons and parades. Those who served in Vietnam were spit on and called baby killers.”

As with the others, Zarbo made it clear that Memorial Day isn’t about him. “Veterans Day is for those who survived and retired,” Zarbo explained. “Armed Forces Day is for those who are still serving. Memorial Day is reserved for those who never got to take off their uniform.” Because of this, the act of stolen valor is a particular point of contention for most veterans.

“If I could speak for all veterans, I would say: “We don’t care if you didn’t serve,” McCombs said. “Just don’t say you did. It’s a slap in the face to all who did, especially to those that never came home. We see it all the time.”

Batten spoke of how many who served in war returned home with the crippling effect of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Morgan Schmitz of the U.S. Air Force spoke of the deadly diseases that are slowly claiming the lives of many who served with him in the Gulf Wars because they were exposed to the smoke from burn pits.

Burn pits were used by the United States and military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of metal, rubber, chemicals, paint, medical waste, munitions and unexploded ordnance, petroleum products, human waste, plastics, and various other forms of waste. Many who were exposed to the toxic fumes from these burn pits have been diagnosed with such diseases as Leukemia, Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy, Intestinal Cancers, and Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

But even with all of the things America’s veterans suffered, the men kept returning to one important message: “Memorial day isn’t about us.” It’s about the ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

But there was one last thing Batten wanted to share with his fellow Americans to think about on Memorial Day, particularly with the younger generation, who either don’t know or don’t seem to care about the sacrifices made by the generations who went before them in order to defend the freedoms they have today. He iterated the sacred vow they all took when they were inducted into their respective branches of the military, how they raised their right hands and swore to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same… so help me God.”

“Just because we left the military,” Batten said as his eyes glistened with emotion, “we were not relieved of that vow. I don’t care if we’ve been retired for five years, ten years or twenty, once we take that oath as a member of the military, we are forever obligated to defend the United States, and its Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, with up to and including our lives. For us, that promise we made to you never ends.”

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

- https://www.theepochtimes.com/

"Don't Get Hoodwinked, Get Real; Chaotic Volatility Ahead; Middle Class Fades Away"

Jeremiah Babe,

"Don't Get Hoodwinked, Get Real; 

Chaotic Volatility Ahead; Middle Class Fades Away"

"World Renowned Doctor Blows The Lid Off Of Covid"

"World Renowned Doctor Blows The Lid Off Of Covid"

by Fleccas Talks

"Dr. Peter McCullough discusses the dangers of the novel COVID vaccine and it's roll out. This is a product that had minimal testing but is being pushed on the masses. Must we all get the shot for things to "go back to normal"? Are you going to get the shot?

Dr. Peter McCullough has been the world's most prominent and vocal advocate for early outpatient treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection in order to prevent hospitalization and death. On May 19, 2021, he was interviewed regarding his efforts as a treating physician and researcher. From his unique vantage point, he has observed and documented a PROFOUNDLY DISTURBING POLICY RESPONSE to the pandemic - a policy response that may prove to be the greatest malpractice and malfeasance in the history of medicine and public health.

Google Blogger will not embed this video, please watch it in full on Rumble here:

- https://rumble.com/

Dr. McCullough is an internist, cardiologist, epidemiologist, and Professor of Medicine at Texas A & M College of Medicine, Dallas, TX USA. Since the outset of the pandemic, Dr. McCullough has been a leader in the medical response to the COVID-19 disaster and has published “Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection” the first synthesis of sequenced multidrug treatment of ambulatory patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the American Journal of Medicine and subsequently updated in Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has 40 peer-reviewed publications on the infection and has commented extensively on the medical response to the COVID-19 crisis in TheHill and on FOX NEWS Channel. On November 19, 2020, Dr. McCullough testified in the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and throughout 2021 in the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, Colorado General Assembly, and New Hampshire Senate concerning many aspects of the pandemic response.

For more information about Dr. McCullough, please visit: 

heartplace.com/dr-peter-a-mccullough.

Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH, FACP, FACC, FAHA, FCRSA, FCCP, FNKF, FNLA

Professor of Medicine, Texas A & M College of Medicine

Board Certified Internist and Cardiologist

President Cardiorenal Society of America

Editor-in-Chief, Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine

Editor-in-Chief, Cardiorenal Medicine

Senior Associate Editor, American Journal of Cardiology

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Related:

"Italian Doctor Seeks To Warn The World About Covid Vaccines"

"5 Looming Catastrophes You Should Prepare Yourself For In 2021: Not Just Economic Collapse!"

Full screen recommended.

"5 Looming Catastrophes You Should Prepare 

Yourself For In 2021: Not Just Economic Collapse!"

by Epic Economist

"Since the burst of the sanitary outbreak early last year mixed with an economic collapse, people have been saying 2020 was "the worst year ever," but just by analyzing the first six months of 2021, we already have plenty of reason to disagree with those affirmations. Most people are firmly believing that, once vaccinations roll out across the globe, this will be all over and they will be able to promptly resume their life plans. But realistically speaking, this economic and health crisis won't be over anytime soon. First, because the health crisis has significantly aggravated a number of other crises that will simply not go away, including unemployment, a homelessness outbreak, food riots, social turbulence, supply chain disruptions, and widespread shortages and economic collapse. Hundreds of economies have been facing historical recessions that just started to unfold. Extreme weather, crop failures, and a series of other looming natural disasters will keep things just as bad, if not worse than they are right now. Second, - and we really don't want to crush your hopes, but maybe readjust your expectations - it would be just naive to believe the elites would let this whole chaos stop.

While the whole world started to fall apart last year, the wealthy managed to exponentially grow their fortunes and to profit from every single disruption that affected our lives. The number of millionaires has exploded, and the number of billionaires has considerably risen since then. On the other hand, the number of middle-class workers that have fallen into poverty has increased by the millions. The unprecedented government spending in response to the crisis accomplished a single thing: to make the rich even richer. Millions of Americans believed stimulus checks were an act of generosity, a fortunate aid during such difficult times. But while this part of society remains in debt, threatened to face eviction or already homeless, experiencing unemployment or sharp wage cuts, and feeling acute financial pain regardless of the "help" provided by the government, markets have been booming - loaded with trillions of printed money handed by our politicians and policymakers.

The population is just now realizing how their purchasing power has been deteriorated as inflation is sending the price of everything to sky-highs. In other words, while millions of people continue to struggle to have enough to feed their families, the wealthy have been expanding their gains by establishing speculative commodity prices; making their profits hit astronomical highs by entering market bubbles - and quite sadistically, the reduction of the world's population fits their agenda. So... No. This economic crisis will not be over soon. This is the perfect cue the establishment needed to put their plans into action, and in that process, the rain of money funded by the ones we call "our leaders" has just put the rich in a state of perpetual bonanza, so why would they let this all go? At the moment, knowing that all we have on hand to avoid falling into utter disorder is hope, we strongly advise you not to wait until things have turned upside down to start acting. As no one else seems to be bringing these issues to light, today we decided to expose the most probable crises you all need to prepare for in 2021. Get ready for the next phase of our economic collapse, because it is fast approaching."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Land of Forever"

Full screen recommended. Exquisitely beautiful...

2002, "Land of Forever"

"Among the Celtic legends is the epic story of the mystical land of Tír Na nÓg, (Land of Eternal Youth). It's a land that knows no sorrow and where nobody ever ages. The beautiful Princess Niamh lives there. If a traveler should find their way there and stay for a few days, they may find when they return to their own land that hundreds of years have passed."

"A Look to the Heavens"

“What makes this spiral galaxy so long? Measuring over 700,000 light years across from top to bottom, NGC 6872, also known as the Condor galaxy, is one of the most elongated barred spiral galaxies known.

The galaxy’s protracted shape likely results from its continuing collision with the smaller galaxy IC 4970, visible just above center. Of particular interest is NGC 6872′s spiral arm on the upper left, as pictured here, which exhibits an unusually high amount of blue star forming regions. The light we see today left these colliding giants before the days of the dinosaurs, about 300 million years ago. NGC 6872 is visible with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Peacock (Pavo).”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160426.html

“10 Things You Should Know About Life’s Most Important Questions”

“10 Things You Should Know 

About Life’s Most Important Questions”

by Marc Chernoff

“It’s a harsh fact that every one of us is ignorant in some way. Although we tend to pretend otherwise, it’s impossible to know it all. Ignorance is our biggest collective secret. And it’s one of the scariest and most damaging realities of life, because those of us who are most ignorant – and thus most likely to spread ignorance – are also the ones who often don’t know it.

Here’s a quick test: If you have never changed your mind about one of your learned beliefs, if you have never questioned the fundamentals of your opinions, and if you have no inclination to do so, then you are likely ignorant about something you think you know.

What’s the quickest solution? Get outside and find someone who, in your opinion, believes, behaves, and handles certain aspects of life very differently from you, and just have a simple, honest conversation with them. I promise, some of life’s most important questions will become clearer by doing so. And it will do both of you lots of good. Once you’ve done that, here are some key things to remember:

1. Many of the biggest misunderstandings in life could be avoided if we would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?”

2. An expert is not a person who gives all the right answers; she’s the one who asks the right questions.

3. Very few of us actively seek new knowledge in this world on a daily basis. We get comfortable with what we know, and we stop questioning things. On the contrary, we try to squeeze from the unknown the answers we have already shaped in our own minds – judgments, justifications, validations, forms of consolation without which we might feel incomplete or off-center. To really ask something new is to open the door to the storm.  And the answer just may blow us away.

4. If someone can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about how they answer you.

5. Monsters do exist in the real world, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous in the long run. More dangerous are the common people with good intentions who are instantly ready to believe and act without asking questions.

6. At the end of the day, the questions you ask of yourself determine the type of person you will become.

7. Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life. 

8. When it comes to your relationships: Does he/she treat you with respect at all times? That’s the first question. The second question is: If he/she remains the exact same person ten years from now, would you still want to be in a relationship with him/her? And finally, does he/she inspire to be a better human being? When you find someone that you can answer yes to all three questions, you know you’ve found yourself a relationship worth having.

9. Regardless of how much you know, or how many incredible questions you ask, you can never know it all. To believe that you do, is proof of the contrary. The wilderness around us always holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask. And that’s a beautiful thing.

10. Although life will always be filled with unanswered questions, it’s the courage to seek the answers that counts – this journey is what gives life meaning.  Ultimately, you can spend your life wallowing in frustration and misery, wondering why you were the one who was chosen to deal with your problems, or you can be grateful that you are strong enough and smart enough to grow from them. 

Your turn: Be present and have patience with everything that remains unexplained in your heart and mind. Try to love life’s questions. Like locked doors or like good books written in foreign languages, respect their nature. Don’t expect all the answers to come easy. They cannot be given to you right now because your present understanding isn’t ready yet. It’s a question of experiencing everything first. Right now you need to hold on to the questions – explore, learn, and live your life. Perhaps, as you do, you will gradually find yourself experiencing the answers you always wanted.

So with that said, which of the reminders above hit home the most? Why? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts and insights with us.”

- http://www.marcandangel.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Manatee Springs, Chiefland

Chiefland, Florida, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"There Are Always Two Voices..."

“At the approach of danger there are always two voices that speak with equal force in the heart of man: one very reasonably tells the man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of avoiding it; the other, even more reasonable, says that it is too painful and harassing to think of the danger, since it is not a man’s power to provide for everything and escape from the general march of events; and that it is therefore better to turn aside from the painful subject till it has come, and to think of what is pleasant. In solitude a man generally yields to the first voice; in society to the second.”

- Leo Tolstoy, “War and Peace”

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“All our mortal lives are set in danger and perplexity: one day to prosper,

and the next – who knows? When all is well, then look for rocks ahead.”

- Sophoclese, “Philoctetes”

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Free Download:

A little light reading from Tolstoy…

Freely download “War and Peace”, by Leo Tolstoy, here:

- https://planetpdf.com/planetpdf/

"Restricting Freedom Didn't Defeat COVID"

"Restricting Freedom Didn't Defeat COVID"

by John Tamny

"Let’s travel back in time to March of 2020, when predictions of mass death related to the new coronavirus started to gain currency. One study, conducted by Imperial College’s Neil Ferguson, indicated that U.S. deaths alone would exceed 2 million. The above number is often used, even by conservatives and libertarians, as justification for the initial lockdowns. “We knew so little” is the excuse, and with so many deaths expected, can anyone blame local, state, and national politicians for panicking?

The answer is a resounding yes. To see why, imagine if Ferguson had predicted 30 million American deaths. Imagine the fear among the American people then - which is precisely the point: The more threatening a virus is presumed to be, the more superfluous government force is. Really, who needs to be told to be careful if a failure to take precautions could reasonably result in death?

Death predictions aside, the other justification bruited in March of 2020 was that brief lockdowns (two weeks was the number often thrown around) would flatten the hospitalization curve. In this case, the taking of freedom allegedly made sense as a way of protecting hospitals from a massive inflow of sick patients that they wouldn’t have been able to handle, and that would have resulted in a public health catastrophe.

Such a view similarly vandalizes reason. Think about it. Who needs to be forced to avoid behavior that might result in hospitalization? Better yet, who needs to be forced to avoid behavior that might result in hospitalization at a time when doctors and hospitals would be so short-staffed as to not be able to take care of admitted patients? Translated for those who need it, the dire predictions made over a year ago about the corona-horrors that awaited us don’t justify the lockdowns; rather they should remind the mildly sentient among us of how cruel and pointless they were. The common sense that we are to varying degrees born with, along with our genetic predisposition to survive, dictates that a fear of hospitalization or death would have caused Americans to take virus-avoidance precautions that would have well exceeded any rules foisted on them by politicians.

To which some will reply with something along the lines of “Not everyone has common sense. In truth, there are lots of dumb, low-information types out there who would have disregarded all the warnings. Lockdowns weren’t necessary for the wise among us; rather they were essential precisely because there are so many who aren’t wise.”

Actually, such a response is the best argument of all against lockdowns. Indeed, it cannot be stressed enough that “low information” types are the most crucial people of all during periods of uncertainty. Precisely because they’ll be unaware of, misunderstand, or reject the warnings of the experts, their actions will produce essential information that the rule-followers never could. In not doing what the allegedly wise among us will, low information citizens will, by their contrarian actions, teach us what behavior is most associated with avoidance of sickness and death, and more important, what behavior is associated with it.

One-size-fits-all decrees from politicians don’t enhance health outcomes as much as they blind us to the actions (or lack thereof) that would protect us the most - or not. Freedom on its own is a virtue, and it produces crucial information. But wait, some will say, “how elitist to let some people act as Guinea Pigs for the rest of us.” Such a statement is naïve. Heroin and cocaine are illegal, but people still use both. Thank goodness they do. How could we know what threatens us, and what doesn’t, without the rebellious?

Still, there’s the question of “elitism.” The lockdowns were the cruelest form of elitism, by far. The implication of the lockdowns was that those who had the temerity to have jobs that were destinations - like restaurants and shops - would have to lose them. The lockdowns destroyed tens of millions of destination jobs, destroyed or severely impaired millions of businesses, not to mention the hundreds of millions around the world who were rushed into starvation, poverty, or both as a consequence of nail-biting politicians in countries like the U.S. that chose to take a break from reality. Talk about elitist actions. The very idea of wrecking the economy as a virus-mitigation strategy will go down in history as one of the most abjectly stupid policy responses the world has ever endured.

That’s the case because economic growth is easily the biggest enemy death and disease have ever known, while poverty is easily the biggest killer. Economic growth produces the resources necessary so that doctors and scientists can come up with answers to what needlessly sickens us, or shortens our lives altogether.

In the 19th century, a broken femur brought with it a 1 out of 3 chance of death, while those lucky enough to survive the break had only one option: amputation. A child born in the 19th century had as good a chance of dying as living. A broken hip was a death sentence, cancer most certainly was, but most didn’t die of cancer because tuberculosis and pneumonia got them first.

So what happened? Why don’t we get sick or die as easily as we used to? The answer is economic growth. Business titans like Johns Hopkins and John D. Rockefeller created enormous wealth, only to direct a lot of it toward medical science. What used to kill us became yesterday’s news.

Even though freedom is its own wondrous virtue, even though freedom produces essential information that protects us, and even though free people produce the resources without which diseases kill with sickening rapidity, panicky politicians erased it in 2020 on the supposition that personal and economic desperation was the best solution for a spreading virus. Historians will marvel at the abject stupidity of the political class in 2020."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

"No Longer A 'Conspiracy Theory' - Our Revelation 16 Months Ago Now Widely Accepted"

"No Longer A 'Conspiracy Theory' - 

Our Revelation 16 Months Ago Now Widely Accepted"

by Dohmen Capital Research

"On December 30th, 2019, a 34-year old doctor in China, Li Wenliang, wrote his colleagues on the website Weibo that he had found a new virus infection that was very contagious. He warned in a chat group with some of his colleagues to wear protective clothing to avoid infection. He had noticed seven cases of a virus that he thought looked like SARS – the virus that led to a global epidemic in 2003.

Four days later, he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter. In the letter he was accused of “making false comments” that had “severely disturbed the social order”. Some days later it was reported he died of a virus infection. Many say he was killed by the Chinese police. Apparently, the Chinese did not want the world to know about this new virus before it had spread and infected the world. China protected its two biggest cities, Beijing and Shanghai, but allowed Chinese citizens to fly out of the country to other countries. What was the goal and motive?

In mid-January 2020, the virus became a major concern in the media. We did research in the foreign press, not U.S. sources, and we found some revealing news. The official story circulating within the U.S. was that the virus came from the live food market in Wuhan. That was a diversion to distract from the real source. Here is what we wrote in  an excerpt from our Wellington Letter Special Bulletin January 26th, 2020: “The coronavirus sickness is advancing strongly. Macau’s government says casinos may close if the coronavirus outbreak worsens. That would be very negative for the gaming companies, especially the ones that rely primarily on Macau for most of the profits. The number of deaths keeps rising.”

It was obvious that China’s government was hiding the true effects of this new disease. The origin was in the city of Wuhan, where a lab was established in 2018 to investigate some deadly pathogens, such as the SARS virus. According to the Hindustan Times, “the lab was built precisely to look into dangerous pathogens like the novel Coronavirus, conduct research on them and find a cure for them.” The most dangerous pathogens are classified as BSL-4.

We went on to explain the significance of this in that same Wellington Letter, “A ‘BSL-4’ lab like this one researches the most dangerous pathogens and have to follow the maximum safety or ‘bio-containment’ levels. Could the lab also have had the mission to weaponize such a virus and this is the result of a test gone haywire? Or were they testing the effect on the population and now have trouble controlling the outbreak?

We believe the numbers of afflicted from China is intentionally kept low. Twelve cities are being quarantined now, double the number from yesterday. That’s 35 million people. Imagine that happening in the U.S. with people is Los Angeles and NYC not allowed to leave their cities!"

A few days ago, May 25 2021, the Daily Mail of the UK wrote this: "US liberal media's Covid U-turn: A year after TRASHING theory that COVID originated from a Wuhan lab because Trump supported the suggestion - America's woke mainstream news outlets suddenly start asking if it's true!”

The first reported fatality from COVID-19 was in Wuhan, China, on January 11, 2020 By January 21 the virus was in the U.S.; a week later The Washington Times speculated about a 'lab leak'. The suggestion, picked up by Trump and embraced by China hawks, was ridiculed by the left-wing media. A year later, a growing acceptance of the possibility of a 'lab leak' has formed - ignoring past skepticism. Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top public health official, now says that he believes it is possible.” The liberal media have finally conceded that COVID-19 may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory - after a year spent ridiculing the suggestion.”

Our January 26, 2020 Wellington Letter reported the origin of the virus from the Wuhan Lab and other information that has just been emerging now, over one year later. Now we know that the virus was made to be very infectious in the Wuhan BioLab. That’s exactly what we wrote one year ago, based on articles in the foreign press which is not under the control of the U.S. media. It is a process known as “gain of function.” Now we also know that the Wuhan Biolab work on the virus was paid for by the U.S. NIH subsidiary, headed by Fauci. One report says $3.75 million was sent to Wuhan. Another stated that number was $81 million.

The Latest: Everywhere someone in government is urging us to get “the vaccine.” When someone is so pushy to give us something “for our health and safety” for “free,” we get suspicious. The mRNA technology used for the most popular COVID drugs was never actually approved to be widely used in vaccines. Therefore, long-term effects are not known.

By definition, it is NOT a vaccine, but a gene therapy. It does not cause the typical antibody reaction of a vaccine in the body.

The widely used therapies for COVID, Hydroxychloroquine with zinc, or Ivermectin, are inexpensive but very effective when taken early. These were suddenly “unapproved” by the FDA when the vaccine companies entered the picture. These vaccines have cost the taxpayer over $10 billion. Hydroxychloroquine costs around $8 for a prescription. There are no side effects in over 60 years of use. Is it possible that this therapy was removed to make room for something billions of times more expensive?"

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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Related:

"Virologists Say Genetic "Fingerprints" Prove 

COVID-19 Man-Made, 'No Credible Natural Ancestor'"

"How It Really Is"

 

The Poet: Anne Sexton, "Courage"

"Courage"

"It is in the small things we see it.

The child's first step,

as awesome as an earthquake.

The first time you rode a bike,

wallowing up the sidewalk.

The first spanking when your heart

went on a journey all alone.

When they called you crybaby

or poor or fatty or crazy

and made you into an alien,

you drank their acid

and concealed it.

Later,

if you faced the death of bombs and bullets

you did not do it with a banner,

you did it with only a hat to

cover your heart.

You did not fondle the weakness inside you

though it was there.

Your courage was a small coal

that you kept swallowing.

If your buddy saved you

and died himself in so doing,

then his courage was not courage,

it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.

Later,

if you have endured a great despair,

then you did it alone,

getting a transfusion from the fire,

picking the scabs off your heart,

then wringing it out like a sock.

Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,

you gave it a back rub

and then you covered it with a blanket

and after it had slept a while

it woke to the wings of the roses

and was transformed.

Later,

when you face old age and its natural conclusion

your courage will still be shown in the little ways,

each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,

those you love will live in a fever of love,

and you'll bargain with the calendar

and at the last moment

when death opens the back door

you'll put on your carpet slippers

and stride out."

~ Anne Sexton

Memorial Day 2021