"A Look to the Heavens"

"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, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers, though. Still, this deep telescopic view 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 pretty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years."

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140802.html

Paulo Coelho, "Heaven and Hell"

"Heaven and Hell"

by Paulo Coelho

"A man, his horse and his dog were traveling down a road. When they were passing by a gigantic tree, a bolt of lightning struck and they all fell dead on the spot. But the man did not realize that he had already left this world, so he went on walking with his two animals; sometimes the dead take time to understand their new condition…

The journey was very long, uphill, the sun was strong and they were covered in sweat and very thirsty. They were desperately in need of water. At a bend in the road they spotted a magnificent gateway, all in marble, which led to a square paved with blocks of gold and with a fountain in the center that spouted forth crystalline water. The traveler went up to the man guarding the gate.

“Good morning. What is this beautiful place?” “This is heaven.” “How good to have reached heaven, we’re ever so thirsty.” “You can come in and drink all you want.” “My horse and my dog are thirsty too.” “So sorry, but animals aren’t allowed in here.”

The man was very disappointed because his thirst was great, but he could not drink alone; he thanked the man and went on his way. After traveling a lot, they arrived exhausted at a farm whose entrance was marked with an old doorway that opened onto a tree-lined dirt road.

A man was lying down in the shadow of one of the trees, his head covered with a hat, perhaps asleep. “Good morning,” said the traveler. “We are very thirsty – me, my horse and my dog.” “There is a spring over in those stones,” said the man, pointing to the spot. “Drink as much as you like.” The man, the horse and the dog went to the spring and quenched their thirst. Then the traveler went back to thank the man.

“By the way, what’s this place called?” “Heaven.” “Heaven? But the guard at the marble gate back there said that was heaven!” “That’s not heaven, that’s hell.” The traveler was puzzled. “You’ve got to stop this! All this false information must cause enormous confusion!” The man smiled: “Not at all. As a matter of fact they do us a great favor. Because over there stay all those who are even capable of abandoning their best friends…”

- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

"We Like To Think..."

"We like to think that we are rational beings; humane, conscientious, civilized, thoughtful. But when things fall apart, even just a little, it becomes clear we are not better than animals. We have opposable thumbs, we think, we walk erect, we speak, we dream, but deep down we are still routing around in the primordial ooze; biting, clawing, scratching out an existence in the cold, dark world like the rest of the tree-toads and sloths."

- "Grey's Anatomy"

The Poet: Paul Fisher, "The Boat"

"The Boat"

"Maybe the eyes of a dragon or goddess

glare from its prow.

More likely it leaks, loses an oar,

and reeks of rainbows awash on a sheen

of gutted salmon and gasoline.

If it’s a liner, we lash ourselves

to whatever will float or sell.

No matter which. We choose. We’re aboard,

icebergs or no, as we plow

through the songs of the siren stars-

one boat, black water, dark whispering below."

- Paul Fisher,

"Rumors of Shore"

The Daily "Near You?"

New Braunfels, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Economic Market Snapshot PM 8/10/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot PM 8/10/21"

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"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will

do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."

- John Maynard Keynes

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

Only the consequences are real - to you!

Your guide:

Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/10/21:

"Super-Hyperinflating Global Debt"

- https://traderschoice.net/

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"The more I see of the monied classes,

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

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

CNN Market Data:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/markets/

CNN Fear And Greed Index:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/fear-and-greed/

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A comprehensive, essential daily read.

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

August 9th to 11th, Updated Daily

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Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."

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Daily Job Cuts

- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

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Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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And now, the End Game...

○

Oh yeah...

"Poverty Is the New Wealth"

"Poverty Is the New Wealth"

by Bill Bonner

POITOU, FRANCE – "We check the financial news… Both the $1 trillion “infrastructure bill” and the $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” budget moved along in Congress… And stocks hit new record highs on Friday… after what was reported as a “blowout” jobs report. That is to say, we are making progress. The delusions grow more extreme. The bubble gets bigger. And the day that it will all blow up comes closer.

When will that day come? We don’t know. But next month comes the “benefits cliff.” Soon after, the moratorium on evictions expires. So do the feds’ unemployment boosters… And U.S. debt now stands at $28.43 trillion. That leaves just $0.07 trillion of spending before it bumps into the new debt ceiling – $28.5 trillion – put in place on August 2. From Business Insider: "Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday warned congressional leaders that a failure to raise the federal debt ceiling will cause “irreparable harm” to the economy as Congress barrels towards the deadline to fund the government and a potential spending battle."

The easiest way to ruin a man is to give him money. And with so much money headed their way from the feds, millions (perhaps the majority) of Americans now depend on it just to make ends meet. Where this leads is the subject of today’s commentary.

How to Be Anti-Fragile: Yes, we are still looking at the Brave New World ahead… and trying to find the connection between owning nothing… and just-in-time transactions…and the old home place.

Owning something outright gives you a margin of safety. You don’t get “put out” of your own house when you can’t pay the rent. When you lose your job, a romance goes sour, the economy goes into recession, inflation gets out of control, the president goes nuts, Congress goes AWOL, and your business goes bust – a mortgage-free home gives you a place to lick your wounds before starting again. You can spend long hours sitting in front of an open fire… raking the coals… and puzzling it out…“What went wrong?”

Savings make you anti-fragile, too. They give you the most precious thing of all – time. Time to think. Time to recover. Time to wait out a crisis… and figure out what to do next. When you have savings and a roof over your head, you are not desperate. You don’t need to sell your time, hour by hour, as unemployment climbs. You don’t need to refinance your mortgage at higher rates. You don’t need a bailout from the government when a crisis hits. In other words, “just-in-time” financing may be fine when everything is going well. But it’s a good idea to have some assets of your own, just in case.

Who Needs Wealth? As for wealth… Who needs it? “People come to think what they need to think when they need to think it,” is one of our old dicta here at the Diary. So we assume that people whose real incomes are falling need to believe that they didn’t really need to own anything anyway. They can get a job… and depend on the feds to maintain full employment. And if they need a house… a car… or a vacation, they can borrow… rent… lease… or share it. The geniuses at the Federal Reserve will always keep interest rates low, won’t they?

It’s the new “subscription economy,” where everything becomes a “service” and only the elites have real assets. You don’t really want a home, do you, Dear Reader? You just want someone to provide you with a place to live. A service, not an asset.

You don’t really want to own a car either, do you, Dear Reader? You just want a service that will take you where you want to go. And, of course, you don’t want to own a share in a company; you can gamble on “stonks” at Robinhood. Watch baseball games on your barn-size TV screen… vote in national elections – what else do you need?

Poverty Is the New Wealth: Besides, poverty is becoming the new wealth. A man who eats a Beyond Meat burger feels superior to one who eats a real steak. A fellow who rides a bicycle looks down his nose at the guy in his big, fossil-fuel-burning automobile. And everybody with a double-wide can now feel he’s got one up on Elon Musk’s tiny new house. Having a small carbon footprint will be more important than a big bank account.

Pucker Up: And socially, a vaccination may be a better point-scorer than a wine cellar. In the news recently was this gem: "Actor Jennifer Aniston is defending her decision to drop friends and acquaintances who won’t say if they are vaccinated against COVID-19 after questions on social media about the move. The “Friends” and “The Morning Show” star said in an InStyle magazine interview published this week that there was still a “large group of people who are anti-vaxxers or just don’t listen to the facts.”

We don’t know what facts Ms. Aniston is talking about. There are scientists who think everyone should be vaccinated. Others think it is a mistake. Both are reasonable opinions. Neither is a fact. But if we want to stay on Ms. Aniston’s good side, we will take the jab.

And if we want to sign on to the “new normal,” we will have to go along with the whole poverty-is-good, just-do-what-they-tell-you program. We will select our personal pronoun… take the knee… park our old gas guzzler… get vaccinated every six months… sell the house… strip down…and pucker up whenever the elite bends over."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

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Related:

"T Is for Tyranny: How Freedom Dies from A to Z"

 by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead

'How It Really Should Be"

 

"If You're Lonely..."

"If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company."

- John Rivero

"You'll Never Walk Alone"

Barry Manilow, Cilla Black

"7 Ways to Support Others During Tough Times"

"7 Ways to Support Others During Tough Times"

by Lexi Behrndt

"Life is fragile. Hard times are inevitable. At one time or another, we will all go through a difficult time, whether we deal with sickness, catastrophe, crisis, or relational breakdown. In those times, we need each other more than ever, but it's not just enough to be surrounded by people. We, as supporters, need to be educated in the best way to love our friends and family through tough times.

1. Silence speaks louder than words misspoken. Don't ignore them. Plain and simple. If you don't know what to say, don't avoid them. Say something. Ninety nine percent of what you could say is better than saying nothing at all. Instead, if you had a relationship with them, even if it was 10 years ago, a simple, "I'm so sorry," or "I'm thinking of you," or "I'm praying for you."

2. Don't make them ask you for help. Do they need help? Absolutely. Do they want to ask? Absolutely not. There is nothing more humbling than having to admit that you don't have your life under control, and for all the people pleasers out there, asking people for something as simple as meals or free babysitting is something we'd rather avoid. We'd rather tough it out than beg. Instead, offer your help, and offer specific ways that you would like to help.

3. Don't rush them through their pain. Saying things like "I know exactly how you feel" or telling me a story of your cousin's boyfriend's aunt's struggle and how she made it through. While we may say things with good intentions, it can also serve to minimize their issues and urge them to stifle their pain. Yes, what they are going through has probably been faced before. Yes, people do survive. Yes, things might get better. Yes, to all the things.

People need to know that the pain they feel is real and they need to move through it. They need to get a little messy and be a little more honest and feel a little more, because if they move through it too quickly or try to avoid their feelings, they might not heal just the right way. A doctor doesn't just give a sling with no cast to someone who has severely broken their arm. The doctor gives a cast. The doctor prescribes time for healing, because they know that if the healing is rushed, the bone may also not heal properly. In the same way, we need to give time for others to move through their pain rather than rush them. Instead, sit with them. Listen. Let them be honest when life is hard. Let them be angry. Let them be whatever they need to be, and resist the urge to fix them, heal them, or placate them. Just be with them.

4. Don't give unsolicited advice. Even if you have been in the situation before, support, but don't preach. This includes all cliche and trite phrases and platitudes. You may have heard them said before, but that doesn't mean they are helpful. Instead, listen, love, give. Give time, energy, resources... give yourself. Just don't give advice when they haven't asked.

5. Don't give them magic formulas. If they stand on their head, count to 30, twice and backwards, confess everything they have ever done, change their past mistakes, then this tough situation would no longer be happening to them. There is no magic formula. Life is hard and messy and it doesn't negate the goodness in this world, but it does assign blame and guilt to the situation, one of the last things that someone who is suffering needs is to be shamed. Instead, let them know you are thinking of them, praying for them, loving them, and cheering them on.

6. Don't make it about yourself. Essentially, don't complain about how your friend's tough time makes you feel. If you are close, you will be affected, but if they are closer to the problem than you, then they are not the person to whom you should vent. Instead, you should offer them support. Check on them. Love them. Let someone else support you. Instead, focus on supporting them. For more on this, do yourself a favor and read this article by Susan Silk and Barry Goldman for the LA Times.

7. Don't forget the person. With all of the above tips, don't just follow them like a black-and-white guide. The beauty in each of us is that we are unique individuals with different backgrounds, personalities, experiences, and circumstances. Instead, consider the recipient. Some people want hugs. Some people aren't touchy-feely. Some people want company. Some people prefer to sit alone. Some people want you to do things without asking, some people want you to run it past them first. Some people want someone to cry with and talk to, some people reserve that trust for a select few. Consider who they are before you act, and support them accordingly.

The bottom line? Love them selflessly and support them unconditionally, or as I remind myself... Say a little less. Love a little more. Life can be messy, but with love, we can help each other survive even the toughest times.”

- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

"It's The Way..."

"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."

- Lena Horne

Gregory Mannarino, "The Fed. Is Playing A Dangerous Game"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/10/21:

"The Fed. Is Playing A Dangerous Game - 

Here Is How To Play It, And What To Look Out For"

- https://traderschoice.net/

“'It’s just…' – Why I Won’t Submit"

“'It’s just…' – Why I Won’t Submit"

by Addison Reeves

"It’s just two weeks. It’s just staying three feet apart. It’s just staying six feet apart. It’s just not going outside. It’s just not giving handshakes. It’s just working from home. It is just non-essential businesses that are closed.

It’s just bars. It’s just restaurants. It’s just theaters. It’s just concerts. It’s just dancing. It’s just intramural sports. It’s just choir.

It’s just non-essential medical services that you have to give up. It is just non-essential items that you are not allowed to buy. It’s just not being able to exercise. It’s just gyms. It is just the closure of your business for a while. It is just not making money for a while. It is just not being able to pay your bills for a little while.

It’s just a minor inconvenience. It’s just not being allowed to carpool. It’s just not socializing for a while. It’s just a mask. It’s just not traveling for a while. It’s just not hugging people for a while. It’s just missionary sex that is risky.

It is just not seeing your family and friends for a while. It’s just not visiting your grandparents temporarily. It’s just your grandparents not having visitors for their safety. It’s just one birthday you have to sacrifice. It’s just one Thanksgiving alone. It’s just one Christmas without your family. It’s just two birthdays you had to sacrifice. It is just not celebrating any milestones for a year and a half.

It’s just temporary. It’s just a safety measure. It is just your ability to pay cash. It is just contact tracing. It is just a health screening. It is just a temperature check. It is just a scan of your face. It’s just a minor loss of privacy.

It is just one semester. It is just two semesters. It is just one year out of your child’s life. It is just one more semester. It is just a high school graduation.

It’s just the birth of your grandchild that you missed. It is just not being able to be there for your relatives when they are ill or dying. It is just not having a funeral. It is just in person that you cannot grieve with your loved ones. It is just not getting to attend religious service. It is just not getting to practice some parts of your religion.

It is just misinformation that is being censored. It is just conservatives that are being censored. It is just some of the science that is being censored. It is just the people who have the opposing opinions that are banned online. It is just the opposition that the White House is targeting for censorship. It is just bad opinions that are being censored.

It’s just the economy. It is just small business owners who are suffering financially. It is just poor people who are suffering financially. It is just people of color who are suffering financially. It is just financial suffering. It is just a few small businesses that had to close permanently. It is just a few big businesses that closed.

It is just not going farther than a few kilometers from your house. It is just a curfew. It is just a permission slip. It is just being alone for two weeks. It is just being socially isolated for one year.

It is just one vaccine. It is just one set of booster shots. It is just regular booster shots every six months. It is just another two weeks. It is just one more lock-down. It is just once a week - twice tops - that you will have to prove that you are fit to participate in society. It is just the unvaccinated that will be segregated from society. It is just a medical test.

Pretty simple, no?

Just f***ing do it.

But when you add up all the “justs,” it amounts to our entire lives. For over a year and a half and counting, we have been robbed of the ability to live our lives fully, to make meaningful choices for ourselves, and to express our values the way we see fit.

It is “just” the inability to express our humanity and the total negation of our very selves. All of these measures have served as a prohibition of expressing outwardly one’s valid and complex internal reality. This kind of suppression of self does violence to one’s very soul.

All of these supposedly little and supposedly short-lived “justs” have transformed us into totalitarian states from which there appears to be no endpoint. In New York City, California, Australia, etc., the people have permitted government such control over our daily lives that we have to ask it for permission to control our bodies, to move freely, to practice religion, to educate our children ourselves, to protest, etc.

Soon Biden, Trudeau, and other world leaders are going to clamp down on our ability to express ourselves and to associate with each other online so that we can no longer question, object to, or organize against government action. It is the destruction of democracy.

It astounds me that my Progressive friends - the same ones who claim to support “social justice” - are welcoming a fascist society in which government crushes any opposition and individuals cannot make choices about their own lives.

I will not comply because I do not want to live in the society that is being created by extraordinary submissiveness to government. I do not want to be complicit in this era’s atrocities.

What is the point of living if one merely exists to obey the elite to one’s own detriment? Is it even living if one lacks the agency to direct one’s life? I’ve already submitted in contradiction of my values to a shameful extent. One might say, “Well, what’s one more compromise,” but it won’t be just one more compromise. It will be just the next cut in a slow death by a thousand cuts.

Submitting only validates tyrannical displays of power and ensures that there will be more such displays in the future. And what does one get for compromising? Merely your continued membership in a society that will only have you if you immolate yourself and become nothing more than a reflection of the desires of the ruling class.

If you cannot be truly yourself in a society, is that society worth clinging to? I think not. As much as leaving the stability of my comfort zone terrifies me, staying in it means continuing to silence and shrink myself for a disingenuous feeling of acceptance. In that way, it is more of a discomfort zone.

Each time I expressed my fears about the future direction of society, my friends said “it won’t happen.” Each time it did happen, they shrugged their shoulders and reminded me that compliance was an option.

At this point, if the government were to cart me away to an internment camp (which is not a completely far-fetched notion and which has happened in the past) for being a dangerous dissident I am certain that my friends and family would watch it happen and say it was my fault for not complying. They are no longer capable of recognizing the humanity of the opposition or of questioning government.

I will not submit because I don’t want to live in a world in which my supposed allies would happily see me persecuted by the government.

I will not comply because the political climate has become so censorial, authoritarian, and generally toxic that my viewpoints will never be represented in the political process here. Without representation, my values and beliefs will be violated again and again by a polity that sees any deviation from itself as invalid. Thus, my compliance will provide zero assurance of any better treatment in the future.

I will not bend because I am not a conformist.

I will not give in because I do not want to reward government manipulation and coercion.

I will not surrender because I could die at any moment, and I do not want my final memories to be ones of craven submission to tyranny and the resultant misery and self-loathing.

I will not comply because it is not the government’s first intrusion on my body, mind, and spirit; and if we comply, it will definitely not be the last. All I will accomplish by my compliance is validating the government’s claim on my body and life.

I am not submitting because this is war, and I am not handing the enemy its victories.

I will not comply because the reward for compliance will still be being treated as a second class-citizen by society.

I won’t acquiesce because I am a conscientious objector.

I will not cede because the measures are unnecessary and the only practical effect will be to increase government power.

I don’t comply because I do not want to be a mere slave in the future version of the world they are creating, doing only what I am told to do and having to beg for access to the necessities of life that I am entitled to as a living being on this earth.

I will not yield because their religion is not my religion, and I refuse to worship a false idol.

I will not capitulate because I do not want to betray my ancestors and predecessors who fought for me to be free.

I will not surrender because freedom is more important than convenience and ease.

I will not comply because if I did I would be filled with rage against society, resentment towards my friends and family, and self-loathing that would eat me alive. I would become bitter and closed-hearted, and I don’t want that for myself.

All of this is why I won’t “just f***ing do it.”.

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

- https://off-guardian.org/

"2021 Is 1984 – Our Liberties And Freedoms Are Being Ripped Away From Us And America Is Almost Gone"

"2021 Is 1984 – Our Liberties And Freedoms Are Being 

Ripped Away From Us And America Is Almost Gone"

by Michael Snyder

"If only George Orwell could see what we have become. Today I am writing this article in the midst of a deep state of sadness. I have to admit, I haven’t been this sad in a very long time. In fact, I don’t even know if I am going to be able to complete this article. What they are doing to this country that I love is really starting to get to me emotionally. America is supposed to be a beacon of liberty and freedom for the entire world, but now we are on the cutting edge of the global trend toward authoritarianism. I know that a lot of people have been leaving the United States in recent years in an attempt to escape the madness, but at this point we see authoritarianism on the rise just about everywhere. Just look at New Zealand. Just look at Australia. Just look at the Philippines. At one time people were fleeing to those countries, but now they have become some of the most authoritarian regimes of all.

I feel so frustrated because I feel like I have been banging my head against a brick wall. Over the past decade, I have written countless articles warning that we were losing our liberties and our freedoms, and very large numbers of people all over the globe read those articles. But did they do any good? Here are just a few examples of what I am talking about…

– “Thoughts On The ‘New Normal’ And The Things That We Are Losing As A Society…”

– “Without Freedom Of Speech, What Is Going To Happen To America?”

– “Less Government. More Freedom.”

– “The Police State Is Coming For ‘Religious Extremists’, ‘Evangelical Christians’, ‘Pro-Life’ Activists And ‘Libertarians'”

– “12 Signs That Americans Who Love Liberty And Freedom Should Watch Their Backs”

I warned that this day was coming, and now it is here. For a while, they were content to whittle away our liberties and freedoms on the periphery, but now we are facing a full-fledged frontal assault on our most basic liberties and freedoms. And what makes it even more frightening is the fact that millions of completely brain-washed Americans are cheering them on as they do it. If our founders could see us today, they would be absolutely horrified at what we have become.

Because I am often so critical of what has happened to us, a lot of people out there assume that I must hate this country. But of course that is not true at all. I deeply love America. I deeply love our history, I deeply love our traditions, and I deeply love the values that this nation is supposed to represent. That is why it deeply grieves me that these things are now being ripped away from us.

We are the generation that is witnessing the end of America. For whatever period of time the political entity known as “the United States” is allowed to continue, it won’t be “America” anymore. Sure, the U.S. Constitution will still be on public display somewhere, and the politicians will still pay lip service to it. But for all practical purposes, the dream of what “America” was supposed to be will be dead.

Sometimes people say that we have too many complainers and not enough people taking action, but I am one of those people that did try to take action. I spent nearly an entire year of my life running for office, and me and my campaign manager traveled thousands upon thousands of miles so that we could personally talk to as many voters as possible. Everywhere I went I warned that unless emergency action was taken there wasn’t going to be a future for America. I begged, I pleaded, I delivered passionate speech after passionate speech, but in the end it wasn’t good enough. Ultimately, I was beat by the very definition of a “seat filler”. The guy who beat me couldn’t be more inactive even if he suddenly turned into a door handle.

Why can’t we have extremely passionate politicians that have fire in their bellies? Just look at what happened today. My father was in the U.S. Navy, and so to see this happen literally made me sick. So why aren’t liberty-loving members of Congress speaking up about this? Rand Paul has chosen to make a bold stand. Where in the world is everyone else?

I am so sick and tired of these “do nothing” politicians. They are standing aside as our Republic is literally being destroyed.A lot of people out there still think that the changes that we are witnessing are just temporary. They think that eventually this pandemic will fade away and everything will return to “normal” somehow. But what they don’t realize is that the elite will always find another excuse to move even further down the road toward authoritarianism.

Two decades ago, it was 9/11. Then it was “the war on terror”, which has now evolved into “the war on domestic extremism”. For the past couple of years, the pandemic has given them the cover that they needed to greatly accelerate their program.

In 2021, the federal government is working hand in hand with big corporations and the mainstream media to advance the “Big Brother” agenda. At this point things have gotten so bad that we can’t even criticize certain specific points of their agenda anymore because if we do we will immediately get censored.

For a long time, the Internet allowed ordinary citizens like you and me to communicate on a mass scale outside of their control. But now those days are over, because they are clamping down really hard. Just like in George Orwell’s novel, they want to control what we say, what we think, what we believe and what we feel. Having an independent opinion is “dangerous”, and thinking for yourself is “dangerous”.

We have literally become a “1984 society”, and most Americans are just standing by and watching it happen.And as I have been saying for years, if we stay on our current course there is no future for America. Even Joe Rogan is using the word “dictatorship” to describe the direction that our country is headed. Many are putting their heads in the sand and are assuming that our system will correct itself eventually. But every single day, things are getting even worse. If you love liberty, now is the time to stand up and say something. Time is rapidly running out, and authoritarianism is on the march."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"Is Our Monetary System Broken? It's An International Crisis"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly PM 8/9/21:

"Is Our Monetary System Broken? It's An International Crisis"

"Everything points to our Monetary System being completely broken. It’s not really a problem just here, but a problem internationally as well. Other countries are having the same problems with their money that we’re having here. I am in Monterey CA."

Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, "Choros"

Full screen recommended.

Ludovico Einaudi, "Choros"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This tall telescopic field of view looks out along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the nebula rich constellation Cygnus the Swan. Popularly called the Tulip Nebula, the brightest glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust above center is also found in the 1959 catalog by astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101. Nearly 70 light-years across the complex and beautiful Tulip Nebula blossoms about 8,000 light-years away, shown in a Hubble palette image that maps the glow of the nebula's sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen ions into red, green, and blue colors. 

Ultraviolet radiation from young energetic stars at the edge of the Cygnus OB3 association, including O star HDE 227018, ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula. Also in the field of view is microquasar Cygnus X-1, one of the strongest X-ray sources in planet Earth's sky. Driven by powerful jets from a black hole accretion disk, its fainter bluish curved shock front is only just visible though, directly above the cosmic Tulip's petals near the top of the frame.”

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210729.html

"Rising Mortgage Rates & Rental Market Apocalypse Trigger A Brutal Housing Market Crash!"

Full screen recommended.

"Rising Mortgage Rates & Rental Market Apocalypse 

Trigger A Brutal Housing Market Crash!"

by Epic Economist

"Fears of a sooner-than-expected housing market crash continue to grow on Wall Street, as investors closely watch the dangerous rise in inflation. Despite having assured the latest inflation spike will be proven temporary, the Federal Reserve is being increasingly pressured to initiate tampering plans as the cost of home and rents spiral out of control. With home prices nearly 24 percent higher than a year ago, and rents surging at almost triple their normal rate in just the first six months of 2021, concerns that housing costs could push inflation even higher are mounting. Given that shelter makes up about one-third of a key inflation measure, that could undermine the Fed’s statements that recent price increases, which have shown up in everything from food to appliances to cars, will slow.

The price of a home has skyrocketed over the last year, with some local markets registering a 37 percent increase year-over-year. That has triggered an enormous pent-up demand, as millennials started to reach home-buying age. On the other hand, the Fed's easy-money policies have suppressed mortgage rates to rock-bottom lows at the same time a massive population of young adults left urban centers seeking safer, spacier homes in the suburbs. However, with such inflated prices, would-be homebuyers are becoming unable to afford a new house, which in turn is leading to an even more dramatic increase in rents. In essence, the younger generations are being left behind as they cannot compete with boomers, who past years adding to their savings, and wealthy investors, who have been buying entire neighborhoods to turn into rental units.

Meanwhile, the number of people between the ages of 18 and 34 living with their parents has doubled, so demand is also high for rental units. “This disconnect between supply and demand has been underway for a long time,” said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. “We’re finally seeing it flow into some of the inflation numbers.” Many housing experts have been warning of threatening parallels between the Great Recession and today’s housing market. Recently, the developer of the Case-Shiller index, Robert Shiller, said that another housing market crash seems to be emerging on the horizon. He stated that the market has several “aspects of a bubble". However, as opposed to the stock market, the housing market is less volatile, meaning that it doesn't collapse overnight. Instead, it starts by gradually losing steam, and then, the bubble finally bursts. "You can see that we’re seeing price increases now that haven’t quite been realized since those years just before the financial crisis,” Shiller said.

Even though the fundamentals are different this time around, the same factors are at play. In 2007, a housing bubble fueled by shaky mortgages burst, sparking a financial crisis that cratered the global economy. The circumstances pushing prices up are different now, but there is still ample debate over whether the soaring prices could lead to another crash or whether the Fed will take aggressive steps to prevent one. In 2008, the foreclosure crisis that followed the housing crash was so severe that tens of millions of strained homeowners had no alternative but foreclosure. Today, the central bank has to make a tough choice: rising interest rates to fight inflation, which would result in a housing crash, or letting inflation run, which will effectively make the population poorer and the economy weaker.

In face of all of these imbalances, even Federal Reserve officials revealed to be concerned that the housing boom might be headed to a burst. Robert Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said he was becoming "nervous" about the conditions of the housing market. With home prices rising at a double-digit pace, some Fed officials feel that the central bank's big purchases of mortgage bonds "could be helping to inflate" the market by keeping mortgages cheap, "inspiring people to borrow more and buy bigger", a situation not that different from what was seen just before the 2008 housing crash. All evidence is signaling that the market is going down that same path. There's only so much the Fed can do to keep delaying the coming crash, but no matter what choice it ultimately makes, whether we gradually fall into another economic recession or we face a brutal financial collapse, a disaster is ahead."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

"Prepare To Lose Your Job; Get Your Money Out Of The Bank; Dangerous Bubbles, Ominous Times"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 8/9/21:

"Prepare To Lose Your Job; Get Your Money Out Of The Bank; 

Dangerous Bubbles, Ominous Times"

"Get Your Stuff Together..."

"We all got problems. But there's a great book out called "Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart". Did you see that? That book says the statute of limitations has expired on all childhood traumas. Get your stuff together and get on with your life, man. Stop whinin'about what's wrong, because everybody's had a rough time, in one way or another."

- Quincy Jones

The Poet: James Kavanaugh, “Searchers”

“Searchers”

“Some people do not have to search -

they find their niche early in life and rest there,

seemingly contented and resigned.

They do not seem to ask much of life,

sometimes they do not seem to take it seriously.

At times I envy them,

but usually I do not understand them -

seldom do they understand me.

I am one of the searchers.

There are, I believe, millions of us.

We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content.

We continue to explore life,

hoping to uncover its ultimate secret.

We continue to explore ourselves,

hoping to understand.

We like to walk along the beach -

we are drawn by the ocean,

taken by its power, its unceasing motion,

its mystery and unspeakable beauty.

We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers,

and the lonely cities as well.

Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter.

To share our sadness with the one we love is

perhaps as great a joy as we can know -

unless it is to share our laughter.

We searchers are ambitious only for life itself,

for everything beautiful it can provide.

Most of all we want to love and be loved.

We want to live in a relationship that will not impede

our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls.

We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

We are wanderers, dreamers and lovers,

lonely souls who dare ask of life everything good and beautiful.”

- James Kavanaugh

"We Deserve Better..."

"We are the world. We are the people and we deserve better, 

not because we're worth it, but because no worth 

can be put on the incalculable, on the infinite, on life."

- Nick Mancuso

"All The Money..."

“All the money you make will never buy back your soul. ”

- Bob Dylan

The Daily "Near You?"

Camberwell, Southwark, United Kingdom. Thanks for stopping by!

"I Know Why You Did It..."

"There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the government. They promised you order, they promised you peace, and all they demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent."

- "V For Vendetta", slightly modified.

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But nothing can stop the inevitable...

"We've All Heard The Warnings..."

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

- “Meredith Grey”, “Gray’s Anatomy”

If so, we've certainly got all the trouble we want...

and as they say, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"