Thursday, November 18, 2021

"All Of A Sudden, Things Are Starting To Get Really Weird As We Approach The End Of 2021"

"All Of A Sudden, Things Are Starting To Get Really 
Weird As We Approach The End Of 2021"
by Michael Snyder

"I hope that you are sitting down, because I am going to share some things with you in this article that are deeply alarming. I am going to try to cover everything as quickly as I can, but I want to warn you in advance that this is not going to be a short piece. Now that we have entered the second half of November, things appear to be breaking loose all over the globe. I don’t know if every single item that I will share with you in this article will become a crisis, but every single one of them is definitely worth monitoring.

But before I get to the specifics, let me tell you about something really strange that is happening with the moon. Very early on Friday morning, a nearly total lunar eclipse will turn the moon red for up to three and a half hours…The longest partial lunar eclipse of the century will take place on Friday morning, making the moon appear red for up to 3.5 hours. It will darken the moon for most of the planet on November 19, with up to 97 per cent of the moon slipping into Earth’s shadow. The best place to view the eclipse will be North America, where almost all of the 3.5 hours will be visible, as it will be nighttime when the eclipse begins. This will be the longest such eclipse for this entire century.

Needless to say, this “blood moon” is generating a lot of speculation, because “blood moons” are often associated with death and destruction. Those living in Europe will not have a good view of the eclipse at all, but the entire population of North America will be ideally positioned to see it as long as the weather cooperates.

Meanwhile, all sorts of very strange health-related stories have started to pop up in the news. For example, authorities just informed us that there is a confirmed case of the monkeypox in the United States… “The Maryland Department of Health, in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), today confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in a Maryland resident who recently returned from Nigeria.”

As I write this article, the only thing that we know about the victim is that he or she has been hospitalized…"The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) says the patient has been hospitalized and is currently recovering in isolation with mild symptoms. No details are available regarding the resident’s name, age, sex, where he or she lives, and where he or she traveled to in Nigeria."

Hopefully this individual has been isolated in time, because monkeypox causes grotesque sores on the skin, and it can be quite deadly. The following comes from the official CDC website…"Monkeypox is a rare disease that is caused by infection with monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae. The Orthopoxvirus genus also includes variola virus (the cause of smallpox), vaccinia virus (used in the smallpox vaccine), and cowpox virus.

Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research, hence the name ‘monkeypox.’ The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox. Since then, monkeypox has been reported in humans in other central and western African countries. Human monkeypox infections have only been documented six times outside of Africa; in the United States in 2003 (47 cases), in both the United Kingdom (3 cases) and Israel (1 case) in 2018, in Singapore in 2019 (1 case) and in both the United Kingdom (3 cases) and the United States (1 case) in 2021."

The CDC admits that “there is no proven, safe treatment” for monkeypox, and so let us hope that it is successfully contained.

On Wednesday, we also learned that law enforcement authorities have recovered “questionable vials” that were labeled “smallpox” from a facility near Philadelphia…"The FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating “questionable vials” labeled “smallpox” and found in a freezer last night at a Merck facility outside Philadelphia, according to an alert sent to Department of Homeland Security leadership on Tuesday night.

There were reportedly a total of 15 questionable vials, according to the unclassified “For Official Use Only” alert, a copy of which was obtained by Yahoo News. Five of the vials were labeled as “smallpox” and 10 were labeled as “vaccinia.” The vials were secured immediately."

We definitely do not want to see a smallpox outbreak. Like monkeypox, it can cause horrifying sores on the skin, and the death rate for smallpox is very high. The following comes from the official CDC website…"Before smallpox was eradicated, it was a serious infectious disease caused by the variola virus. It was contagious—meaning, it spread from one person to another. People who had smallpox had a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash. Most people with smallpox recovered, but about 3 out of every 10 people with the disease died. Many smallpox survivors have permanent scars over large areas of their body, especially their faces. Some are left blind."

The good news is that there is no indication that anyone was exposed to whatever these vials contain… “There is no indication that anyone has been exposed to the small number of frozen vials. The frozen vials labeled “Smallpox” were incidentally discovered by a laboratory worker while cleaning out a freezer in a facility that conducts vaccine research in Pennsylvania,” the CDC said in a statement to Yahoo News. “CDC, its Administration partners, and law enforcement are investigating the matter and the vials’ contents appear intact. The laboratory worker who discovered the vials was wearing gloves and a face mask. We will provide further details as they are available.”

For years, health experts have been mentioning a return of smallpox as a very serious potential threat. And it is interesting to note that Bill Gates was talking about smallpox just a few weeks ago…"Bill Gates has called on governments to give billions in research and development funding to prevent future pandemics and ‘bio-terrorism’. The billionaire founder of Microsoft warned that world leaders must prepare for disasters like ‘smallpox terror attacks’ whatever the cost, and called for the formation of a new billion-dollar World Health Organisation Pandemic Task Force."

Meanwhile, we are starting to see horrifying bird flu outbreaks all over the globe. For now, humans are not being affected, but large numbers of chickens have been culled in an attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.

According to Forbes, Europe and Asia are being hit the hardest so far…"Here’s some fowl news. Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have recently been occurring in various parts of Europe and Asia. Highly pathogenic avian influenza ain’t just your run-of-the-mill bird flu. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “pathogenic” as “causing or capable of causing disease.” Therefore, being called “highly pathogenic” by your friends would not be a compliment. Similarly, highly pathogenic avian influenza is essentially bird flu that is either highly capable of causing disease or can cause severe disease. Or both. That’s why these outbreaks have been a bit of an “oh cluck” problem for poultry and poultry farmers."

At the same time, a very alarming new strain of COVID has been identified in France…"A new Covid strain with unprecedented changes in its spike protein has reportedly been discovered in the northwestern French region of Brittany, according to local media. The new strain was reportedly detected in people who contracted the virus back in mid-October. It infected a total of 24 people in France, including 18 children attending the same school and six adults who had contact with them, French media reported."

Scientists don’t know if this new strain is more dangerous than other strains, but what we do know is that it appears to be very different from anything seen previously…"Analysis of this strain “did not correspond to anything” previously known, the official said, adding that it resembled neither the profile of the widespread Delta variant, nor those of other Covid-19 strains of concern. The variant, which has since been called B.1.640, is reportedly missing part of its spike protein. This protein is normally used by the virus to enter human cells and spread the infection through the body. It is unclear if this mutation makes the virus more or less contagious."

Of course this comes at a time when a “new wave” of COVID is starting to hammer Europe really hard. In fact, Angela Merkel says that the virus is hitting her nation with “full force” right now…"Germany’s Angela Merkel has described the Covid-19 situation in her country as “dramatic,” as the outgoing chancellor considers how to deal with an infection rate that has hit a record. “The fourth wave is hitting our country with full force,” Merkel told an event for the Association of German Cities, according to a translation by Deutsche Welle and several other media outlets."

As I discussed in my most recent book, I believe that we have entered an era of great pestilences. So many labs are monkeying around with extremely virulent diseases these days, and it is way too easy for mistakes to happen. In addition, it is only a matter of time before we start seeing major terror organizations use biological weapons to further their goals.

If a relatively minor pandemic like COVID can cause so much chaos, what is going to happen to our world once something far worse is unleashed? You may want to think about that, because the next great pandemic may get here a lot sooner than most people expect."

Gregory Mannarino, "You Are Being Lied To On A Massive Scale - Here's What You Must Know"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/18/21:
"You Are Being Lied To On A Massive Scale - 
Here's What You Must Know"

"Truth..."

"No one today likes truth: utility and self interest have long ago been substituted for truth. We live in a nightmare of falsehoods, and there are few who are sufficiently awake and aware to see things as they are. Our first duty is to clear away illusions and recover a sense of reality."
- Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev

“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.” 
- Oscar Wilde

"How It Really Is"

 

"Welcome To The 'New Normal': This Is Going To Be A Holiday Season That None Of Us Will Ever Forget"

"Welcome To The 'New Normal': This Is Going To Be 
A Holiday Season That None Of Us Will Ever Forget"
by Michael Snyder

"We seem to have entered a nightmare that does not appear to have an ending. Earlier this year, many of the “experts” assured us that the U.S. economy would be “booming” by the end of 2021, but that didn’t turn out to be true at all. Instead, we are dealing with widespread shortages, the worst inflation since the 1970s, and the most epic supply chain crisis in the history of the United States. So this year, we are all going to have a “new normal” holiday season. The upcoming holidays may not be quite what you have become accustomed to, but the elite are still trying to put a positive spin on things.

For example, CNN is encouraging us to look on the bright side by assuring us that we “won’t have to cancel Thanksgiving” even though store shelves are increasingly bare…"If you’ve been noticing emptier shelves when shopping for Thanksgiving, you’re not alone. But you won’t have to cancel Thanksgiving."

The shortages of 2020 were supposed to be long gone by now, but instead the shortages of 2021 are far worse. If you doubt this, just check out these availability numbers for some of our most important Thanksgiving staples… "During that first week of November, whole bird frozen, fixed-weight turkeys were in stock at a rate of 64% on average across national retailers, IRI found. This time last year, that figure was around 86%. IRI data didn’t include seasonal fresh turkey. Last week, many Americans who were buying turkey early were buying frozen birds.

Availability of packaged pie was roughly 68% that week, compared to 78% in 2020. Liquid gravy, with an in-stock rate of 73%, is down about 12 percentage points compared to last year. Cranberry sauce, with 79% availability, is down from 89% in that same period."

I still remember the “good old days” when every store had turkeys and pies. Will we ever see such days again?
There is a shortage of Christmas trees too. It is being reported that the U.S. is now facing a significant shortage of both real and fake Christmas trees… "Anyone planning on purchasing a Christmas tree this year should act fast, according to experts. Extreme weather and supply chain issues caused by the ongoing pandemic have led to shortages in both real and faux trees, according to the American Christmas Tree Association."

A shortage of fake Christmas trees? Oh the humanity! How will we possibly survive?

In addition to a lack of trees, CBS News is telling us that a number of other things will also be in very short supply over the next couple of months…

- Clothing and accessories
- Apple iPhone 13
- Sportswear
- L.O.L. Surprise! toys
- Alcohol
- Jewelry
- PS5 and Xbox gaming consoles
- Christmas lights

Of course these shortages shouldn’t really surprise anyone, because it seems like there are shortages of just about everything these days. For instance, the shortage of garage doors has become so severe that builders in Sacramento are now being permitted to board up the garages of newly built homes…"The city of Sacramento will now allow garages to be boarded up in new homes, if the garage doors are not delivered in time. It's a response to the shortage of garage doors caused by rampant supply chain problems."

Sadly, a lot of other things will be getting boarded up in the months ahead as our economy continues to crumble. A little over a year ago, Joe Biden promised voters that prices would go down and our standard of living would go up if he won the election. Apparently he must have been campaigning in “Bizarro World” at the time, because what we have actually gotten has been the exact opposite. And things aren’t going to be getting better any time soon.

At this point, even Goldman Sachs is publicly admitting that inflation “will get worse this winter”… “The current inflation surge will get worse this winter before it gets better,” Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research warns clients in a “2022 U.S. Economic Outlook.”

This is the weirdest economy that I have ever seen in the entire time that I have been writing, and the American people are becoming increasingly restless. In fact, the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll found that 70 percent of all Americans now rate the economy negatively.

So there is certainly a lot of bad news out there right now. But I am going to end this article with some good news. We just learned that implementation and enforcement of the OSHA mandate has been officially suspended. The following comes from the official OSHA website

"On November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, published on November 5, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 61402) (“ETS”). The court ordered that OSHA “take no steps to implement or enforce” the ETS “until further court order.” While OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation."

As litigation proceeds, things could still change. But for now, this deeply insidious unconstitutional mandate has officially been put on hold. And that is something that all of us should be truly thankful for, because the OSHA mandate could have forced millions of hard working Americans out of their jobs early next year. So despite the widespread shortages we are witnessing, the painful inflation we are enduring and the supply chain problems that never seem to end, we have a great deal to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. At least for now, millions of jobs have been saved, and the U.S. economy has avoided an absolutely devastating blow."

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

"Could Get Worse..."

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

"Banks Will Seize Your Cash To Survive; Pensions Take Big Risks"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 11/17/21:
"Banks Will Seize Your Cash To Survive; 
Pensions Take Big Risks"

"This Is How They Intend To Get Us To 'You Will Own Nothing And Be Happy'”

Full screen recommended.
"This Is How They Intend To Get Us To 
'You Will Own Nothing And Be Happy'”
by Epic Economist

"Anyone that couldn't tell this before has realized, after the eruption of the health crisis, that the global elites are behind everything that upholds the current system. They influence every major decision in our society. They have control of every mainstream media narrative, they can decide the fate of every new crisis, but their main goal is to find a way to rule all of us without making people realize what they're actually doing. The elites are coming up with a plan for a new way of life, in which everyone will have everything, but people will own nothing. In their dirty little utopia, we won't be able to make our own decisions, we will be constantly surveilled, and the worst part is that they will try to make it look as if this is our own choice.

With each new crisis, they find subtle ways to make this transition without us noticing. The elites know it is counter-productive to just attack us and take all we have. They need the people to keep the system running. And it's safe to say that the world population would react and bring about a lot of chaos and unrest once people realized their liberties were being stolen. But the elites are tricky, and they are incredibly smart. To overcome that obstacle they actually don't have to do much. They don't even need to take anything from us to implement their goals. At this point, all they have to do is watch our incompetent governments destroying our currency and collapsing the value of our money -- and do nothing.

If our money becomes some worthless paper, people will start falling into poverty, and that would be enough to bend us over and make us accept their 'new, generous, and revolutionary' rescue plan. Without money and personal wealth, we lose our independence. We will need help. And the elites will appear as martyrs trying to save us from the mess our leaders created. Eventually, people will own virtually nothing, and they will be okay with that. Well... at least until they realize they have fallen victim to a tyrannical system. But that's a whole other discussion. For now, we will focus on the tools the elites currently use to achieve their utopia. And if you think inflation talk is boring, just wait until you see how higher prices and a debased currency will become the gateway for an authoritarian system.

Today, inflation is the main issue plaguing most economies around the planet. And this crisis will likely linger for several years, some say we will see the worst out of it in 2022. By now, there is nothing politicians can say to deny what's going on. The truth is that the Federal Reserve has lost control over its own policies, and 2022 will be a very chaotic year from an economic standpoint. Just imagine what will happen when gasoline prices soar above $5 per gallon all across the country. Already, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in some states, such as California, is nearing this mark.

Over the weekend, gas prices hit an average of $4.676 in California, beating its previous record average price of $4.671 for regular gasoline set in October 2012, according to AAA. In some areas, including Northern California's Humboldt County, prices are pushing $5. Industry specialists say that this upward trend will persist well into 2022, and that's really bad news given that pretty much everything we buy has to be transported, and increased transportation costs are translated into higher inflation. Unfortunately, those at the bottom of the economic food chain will suffer the most. With food prices jumping to record levels, food banks are receiving considerably fewer donations, and many of them are already reportedly struggling to purchase enough food because price hikes have been sharper than expected.

According to Katie Fitzgerald, the COO of Feeding America, a nonprofit organization that operates more than 200 food banks across the country, her network of food banks is "already stretched thin due to the unprecedented demand spurred by the [health-crisis-induced] downturn in the economy last year". She warned that "it has become more difficult for the organization to absorb food inflation, resulting in fewer families being fed this holiday season". Many problems are converging and simultaneously aggravating right now. That's why so many people use the term "perfect storm" to describe the current state of affairs. We wish we could tell you that life will get better from now on. But that's simply unrealistic. Every time a major systemic change started to happen in the world, things always ended in disaster. And it seems that now it is our turn."

Gregory Mannarino, "Watch For A False Flag Event To Occur- When Crude Falls, People Die"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 11/17/21:
"Watch For A False Flag Event To Occur- 
When Crude Falls, People Die"

“Your Diatribe Against the Vaccines Is Most Unfortunate”

“Your Diatribe Against the Vaccines Is Most Unfortunate”
by Brian Maher

"The unvaccinated anywhere… evidently threaten the vaccinated everywhere. Thus reader Bruce reads us a sharp lesson in citizenship… and recalls us to our civic duties: Your diatribe against the vaccines is most unfortunate. As a concerned citizen, I participated in a Novavax Phase 3 trial of a vaccine that will probably be approved shortly. When we started, none had been approved, but I seriously felt something was needed and wanted to help. Those who refuse to be vaccinated are a threat to the rest of society, no matter how you phrase "Freedom," which is only socially acceptable if it is based on Responsibility!

Here is Bruce’s message, reduced to essentials: The renegade must lay aside his individuality. He must become a member of the regiment. He must march in step. That is: He must submit to the bodily invasion of alien genetic material. Society’s good requires it.

We admire Bruce’s elevation of others above self. We admire his courageous guinea-pigging. We admire his civic spirit. He is the ideal citizen, the model citizen, the copybook virtues in flesh. And it is our heart’s yearning that Bruce escapes his drug trial with a whole skin. It is, after all, an experiment.

The Civic Spirit of a Skunk: Your editor - unlike Bruce - embodies the civic spirit of a skunk. He instinctively grazes against the grain of popular opinion. He distrusts crowds… and navigates invariably around them. Perhaps the business is not entirely rational. It is more a reflex, as when a patient kicks the doctor hard when his knee is karate-chopped. Yet rarely has your editor discovered crowds to be repositories of wisdom or intelligence. They push along on passion, under hormonal steam. That is why you will often find us on our lonesome own.

And when we believe a crowd is under the spell of rogues, rascals, rapscallions… of brickheads, bandicoots and blackguards… of cads, clodpates and corruptos… of liars, lickspittles and lunks? That is, under the spell of a Dr. Fauci and his goons? We strike out on a line... 180 degrees the other way from that crowd... fast as two legs can deliver a man. This we have done. We have run the other way.

For we believe Dr. Fauci, the public health authorities and government officials heeding their counsel have taken the crowd for a sleigh ride. They have told us the one thing originally. They have then proceeded to tell us the opposite thing. Their rules have proven arbitrary, their rules have proven capricious. They often war with logic itself. Here is one personal example in point…

Lunacy: Your editor recently attended a company outing at a Baltimore drinkhouse. He stood primarily off to one side, aloof - as befits his temperament. But colleagues gathered in tight huddles, each formation throbbing with conversation, each formation throbbing with laughter. Yet this mandate was in force: To acquire a beverage from the bar, one had to place a surgical mask upon the face before lighting out. One was likewise required to remain in this masked state for the homeward journey. Only when the round trip was concluded, once he was back among his fellows, could he expose his naked face.

That is, no mask was required to assemble in bunches… inches from colleagues… blowing germ-filled gales into one another’s faces… and likely spitting saliva into one another’s faces... in the course of conversation. Yet when transiting to and from the bar in 100% solitude, in 100% silence, wordless and spitless... the mask had to go on. We filed a sharp grievance with the barman, attempting an appeal to his reason. But he informed us that the rules were the rules and that that was that. Thus it was - that.

But was it logic? If it was logic... it was a logic far beyond our comprehension. We hazard it is likewise a logic that would stymie and stupefy Aristotle. It would wobble the poor fellow dreadfully. Yet it is the logic of Baltimore City. And it is the logic of the establishments under its velveted, jackbooted heel.

Next we turn to the vaccines...

Vaccines Don’t Stop the Virus. Get Vaccinated Anyway: Alas, the weight of evidence sinks Bruce and his altruistic civics. That is because vaccination does not block a man from acquiring the virus. Nor does it block him from disseminating the virus. The unvaccinated therefore form no greater menace than the vaccinated.

Even the vaccine-drummers presently concede this point. They claim rather that it slashes hospitalizations and dyings - not that it meaningfully inhibits the travel. A question of course arises: Why mandate a vaccine if it fails to jail the virus in, if the microscopic felon slips so easily through the dragnet?

We have yet to hear one answer that appeals to the logic centers. The answers generally reduce to this: “Yes, you can still catch and spread the virus, which is why you must still wear a mask, even if fully vaccinated. But it is essential that you be fully vaccinated if we want to stop the spread.” Yet the literature reveals the most vaccinated peoples of Earth are enduring the greatest caseloads. The least vaccinated, meantime, are experiencing the lightest caseloads. The reasons may be complex. They likely are complex. Yet the facts are the facts. We were told the facts would be otherwise.

More Head-Scratchers: Another question: If the vaccinated must live in dread fear of the unvaccinated, what sort of vaccines are these? A man inoculated against measles - for example - does not cower from his uninoculated neighbor. He has his immunity, he does not feel menaced. Let the neighbor take his chance. Yet Bruce and others believe the unvaccinated are murderers-in-waiting - even the unvaccinated with natural immunity.

Meantime, the Centers for Disease Control cannot cite one solitary instance of the naturally immunized sickening anyone. Not one instance. Our minions have further shown us medical literature indicating that the immune... who undergo vaccination… are 56% more likely to acquire the virus. Why then must they endure vaccination?

Besides, it is now known these potions lose their oomph within months. The magic dissipates. Another dose is then required. It too will fade. Even Dr. Fauci acknowledges this fact. Even Mr. William Gates - vaccine kingpin - acknowledges this fact. Yet they insist upon universal vaccination.

A 60-fold Increase in Adverse Events: Once again, we wish Bruce every success in his vaccine trial. We hope sincerely that it does not sicken him - or worse. For the evidence of grave vaccine aftereffects continues to pile and pile…

For example: Thoroughbred professional athletes have endured a 60-fold increase in incidents such as heart attacks in 2021. Sixty-fold! Any professional athlete to endure such a calamity invariably rates mention in the sporting news. Thus the 60-fold increase in 2021 cannot owe to statistical cherry-plucking. Meantime, subversives within the medical field report that the hospitals are bulging with the fully vaccinated. Many are down with rare and confounding conditions.

“The Most Dangerous Vaccines in Human History”: Mr. Steve Kirsch cites evidence from data crackerjack and VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System) authority, Albert Benavides: "As of Nov. 1, 2021, there have been more adverse events reported for the COVID vaccines than for all 70-plus vaccines combined since they started tracking adverse events 30 years ago. That’s a stunning statistic, nobody can deny it, but nobody in the mainstream medical community (or mainstream media) seems to care much...

Here’s what the evidence shows: "The COVID vaccines are the most dangerous vaccines in human history. They are 800 times more deadly than the smallpox vaccine, which was the previous record holder. The vaccines have killed over 150,000 Americans and permanently disabled even more… For kids, it is estimated that we kill 117 kids for every COVID death we prevent."

The Pfizer six-month trial showed the drug can save one life for every 22,000 people vaccinated. It also appeared from the trial that the drug killed more people than it saved (there were 20 deaths in the treatment group versus 14 in placebo after unblinding). So we are “saving” fewer than 10,000 lives at the expense of over 150,000 deaths. In short, we kill 15 people to save one...

They can’t admit that they missed the signals now because that would be an admission they missed them before. So they will try to discredit this article with ad hominem attacks (this is a technique used to win an argument when you cannot win on the evidence). Thus one wag - a certain Anthony Vera - quips on Twitter: “What we really have now is a pandemic of people who can’t admit they were wrong.”

Are these naysayers correct? If so… why do the American people continue to heed the “experts”... and take aboard their medical advice? Answer tomorrow…"
Must read:

Musical Interlude: The Alan Parsons Project, "Sirius", "Eye In The Sky"

The Alan Parsons Project, "Sirius", "Eye In The Sky"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Why doesn't the nearby galaxy create a gravitational lensing effect on the background galaxy? It does, but since both galaxies are so nearby, the angular shift is much smaller than the angular sizes of the galaxies themselves. The featured Hubble image of NGC 3314 shows two large spiral galaxies which happen to line up exactly. The foreground spiral NGC 3314a appears nearly face-on with its pinwheel shape defined by young bright star clusters. Against the glow of the background galaxy NGC 3314b, though, dark swirling lanes of interstellar dust can also be seen tracing the nearer spiral's structure. Both galaxies appear on the edge of the Hydra Cluster of Galaxies, a cluster that is about 200 million light years away. 
Gravitational lens distortions are much easier to see when the lensing galaxy is smaller and further away. Then, the background galaxy may even be distorted into a ring around the nearer. Fast gravitational lens flashes due to stars in the foreground galaxy momentarily magnifying the light from stars in the background galaxy might one day be visible in future observing campaigns with high-resolution telescopes."

"What Are The Facts?"

“What are the facts? Again and again and again – what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the un-guessable “verdict of history” – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!”
- Robert A. Heinlein
“It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones.”
- Carl Sagan
And always remember...
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the truth."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "Sherlock Holmes"

The Poet: John Jefferson, “Wounded But Not Slain”

“Wounded But Not Slain”

“I am wounded but I am not slain.
I’m bruised and faint they say…
I shall lay me down and bleed a while,
then I shall rise and fight again.
Just let me lie and bleed awhile;
I’ll not be long this way.

My Spirit’s low and my eyes flow.
My heart is sad and sore;
But when my pen’ent tears are gone,
I’ll stand and fight some more.

I’ll bind these wounds; I’ll dry these tears;
I’ll close this bleeding vein;
I’ll not lie here and weep and die:
I’ll rise and fight again.

‘Twas yesterday I bowed so low,
Was weak from tears and pain;
Today I’m strong; my fears are gone;
Today I fight again.”

- John Jefferson

"The Most Damned Of All..."

“Damned is the soul that dies while the evil it committed lives on. And the most damned of all are those who see the evil coming for others and refuse to confront it. For it is not out of fear that heroes are born, but rather out of their selfless love that will not allow them safety bought from the torture, death, and degradation of others. It is better to die in defense of another than to live with the knowledge that you could have saved them but chose to do nothing. And to those who think that one person cannot make a difference, I say this… the deadliest tidal wave begins as an unseen ripple in a vast ocean. Live your life so that your integrity will motivate others to strive for excellence long after you’ve passed on, and know that no good deed or sacrifice, or offer of sincere friendship or love, is ever forgotten by the one who receives it.”
- Sherrilyn Kenyon

“Nine Meals from Anarchy”

Nine Meals from Anarchy
by Jeff Thomas

“In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Since then, his observation has been echoed by people as disparate as Robert Heinlein and Leon Trotsky. The key here is that, unlike all other commodities, food is the one essential that cannot be postponed. If there were a shortage of, say, shoes, we could make do for months or even years. A shortage of gasoline would be worse, but we could survive it, through mass transport, or even walking, if necessary.

But food is different. If there were an interruption in the supply of food, fear would set in immediately. And, if the resumption of the food supply were uncertain, the fear would become pronounced. After only nine missed meals, it’s not unlikely that we’d panic and be prepared to commit a crime to acquire food. If we were to see our neighbor with a loaf of bread, and we owned a gun, we might well say, “I’m sorry, you’re a good neighbor and we’ve been friends for years, but my children haven’t eaten today – I have to have that bread – even if I have to shoot you.”

So, let’s have a closer look at the actual food distribution industry, compare it to the present direction of the economy and see whether there might be reason for concern.

The food industry typically operates on very small margins – often below 2%. Traditionally wholesalers and retailers have relied on a two-week turnaround of supply and anywhere up to a 30-day payment plan. But an increasing tightening of the economic system for the last eight years has resulted in a turnaround time of just three days for both supply and payment for many in the industry. This is a system that’s already under sever pressure, and has no further wiggle room should it take significant further hits.

If there were a month where significant inflation took place (say, 3%), all profits would be lost for the month, for both suppliers and retailers, but goods could still be replaced and sold for a higher price next month. But, if there were three or more consecutive months of inflation, the industry would be unable to bridge the gap, even if better conditions were expected to develop in future months. A failure to pay in full for several months would mean smaller orders by those who could not pay. That would mean fewer goods on the shelves. The longer the inflationary trend continued, the more quickly prices would rise to hopefully offset the inflation. And ever-fewer items on the shelves.

From Germany in 1922, to Argentina in 2000, to Venezuela in 2016, this has been the pattern, whenever inflation has become systemic, rather than sporadic. Each month, some stores close, beginning with those that are the most poorly-capitalized. In good economic times, this would mean more business for those stores that were still solvent, but, in an inflationary situation, they would be in no position to take on more unprofitable business. The result is that the volume of food on offer at retailers would decrease at a pace with the severity of the inflation.

However, the demand for food would not decrease by a single loaf of bread. Store closings would be felt most immediately in inner cities, when one closing would send customers to the next neighborhood, seeking food. The real danger would come when that store had also closed and both neighborhoods descended on a third store in yet another neighborhood. That’s when one loaf of bread for every three potential purchasers would become worth killing over. Virtually no one would long tolerate seeing his children go without food because others had “invaded” his local supermarket.

In addition to retailers, the entire industry would be impacted and, as retailers disappeared, so would suppliers, and so on, up the food chain. This would not occur in an orderly fashion, or in one specific area. The problem would be a national one. Closures would be all over the map, seemingly at random, affecting all areas. Food riots would take place, first in the inner cities, then spread to other communities. Buyers, fearful of shortages, would clean out the shelves.

Importantly, it’s the very unpredictability of food delivery that increases fear, creating panic and violence. And, again, none of the above is speculation; it’s an historical pattern – a reaction based upon human nature whenever systemic inflation occurs.

Then… unfortunately… the cavalry arrives. At that point it would be very likely that the central government would step in and issue controls to the food industry that served political needs, rather than business needs, greatly exacerbating the problem. Suppliers would be ordered to deliver to those neighborhoods where the riots were the worst, even if those retailers were unable to pay. This would increase the number of closings of suppliers. Along the way, truckers would begin to refuse to enter troubled neighborhoods and the military might well be brought in to force deliveries to take place.

So what would it take for the above to occur? Well, historically, it has always begun with excessive debt. We know that the debt level is now the highest it has ever been in world history. In addition, the stock and bond markets are in bubbles of historic proportions. They are most certainly popping.

With a crash in the markets, deflation always follows, as people try to unload assets to cover for their losses. The Federal Reserve (and other central banks) has stated that it will unquestionably print as much money as it takes to counter deflation. Unfortunately, inflation has a far greater effect on the price of commodities than assets. Therefore, the prices of commodities will rise dramatically, further squeezing the purchasing power of the consumer, thereby decreasing the likelihood that he will buy assets, even if they’re bargain-priced. Therefore, asset-holders will drop their prices repeatedly, as they become more desperate. The Fed then prints more to counter the deeper deflation and we enter a period when deflation and inflation are increasing concurrently.

Historically, when this point has been reached, no government has ever done the right thing. They have, instead, done the very opposite – keep printing. Food still exists, but retailers shut down because they cannot pay for goods. Suppliers shut down because they’re not receiving payments from retailers. Producers cut production because sales are plummeting.

In every country that has passed through such a period, the government has eventually gotten out of the way, and the free market has prevailed, re-energizing the industry and creating a return to normal. The question is not whether civilization will come to an end. (It will not.) The question is the liveability of a society that is experiencing a food crisis, as even the best of people are likely to panic and become a potential threat to anyone who is known to store a case of soup in his cellar.

Fear of starvation is fundamentally different from other fears of shortages. Even good people panic. In such times, it’s advantageous to be living in a rural setting, as far from the centre of panic as possible. It’s also advantageous to store food in advance that will last for several months, if necessary. However, even these measures are no guarantee, as, today, modern highways and efficient cars make it easy for anyone to travel quickly to where the goods are. The ideal is to be prepared to sit out the crisis in a country that will be less likely to be impacted by dramatic inflation – where the likelihood of a food crisis is low and basic safety is more assured.”
“It is well enough that the people of the nation do not
understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did,
I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
- Henry Ford

"You Can’t Borrow Your Way To Riches - Never Ending Inflation is Here"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, PM 11/17/21:
"You Can’t Borrow Your Way To Riches - 
Never Ending Inflation is Here"

The Daily "Near You?"

Blue River, Wisconsin, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Gregory Mannarino, "Risk In This Market Continues To Rise - This Is What You Should Do Now"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/17/21:
"Risk In This Market Continues To Rise - 
This Is What You Should Do Now"

"How Fanatics Took Over the World"

"How Fanatics Took Over the World"
by Jeffrey A. Tucker

"The closer the crash of the empire, the crazier its laws are."
- Marcus Tulius Cicero

"Early in the pandemic, I had been furiously writing articles about lockdowns. My phone rang with a call from a man named Dr. Rajeev Venkayya. He is the head of a vaccine company but introduced himself as former head of pandemic policy for the Gates Foundation. Now I was listening.

I did not know it then, but I’ve since learned from Michael Lewis’s (mostly terrible) book "The Premonition" that Venkayya was, in fact, the founding father of lockdowns. While working for George W. Bush’s White House in 2005, he headed a bioterrorism study group. From his perch of influence - serving an apocalyptic president - he was the driving force for a dramatic change in U.S. policy during pandemics. He literally unleashed hell.

That was 15 years ago. At the time, I wrote about the changes I was witnessing, worrying that new White House guidelines (never voted on by Congress) allowed the government to put Americans in quarantine while closing their schools, businesses, and churches shuttered, all in the name of disease containment. I never believed it would happen in real life; surely there would be public revolt. Little did I know, we were in for a wild ride…

Last year, Venkayya and I had a 30-minute conversation; actually, it was mostly an argument. He was convinced that lockdown was the only way to deal with a virus. I countered that it was wrecking rights, destroying businesses, and disturbing public health. He said it was our only choice because we had to wait for a vaccine. I spoke about natural immunity, which he called immoral. So on it went.

The more interesting question I had at the time was why this certified Big Shot was wasting his time trying to convince a poor scribbler like me. What possible reason could there be? The answer, I now realized, is that from February to April 2020, I was one of the few people (along with a team of researchers) who openly and aggressively opposed what was happening.

There was a hint of insecurity and even fear in Venkayya’s voice. He saw the awesome thing he had unleashed all over the world and was anxious to tamp down any hint of opposition. He was trying to silence me. He and others were determined to crush all dissent. Fat chance. His greatest fears have been realized. The movement against what he did is now global, ferocious, and insuppressible. It’s not going away. It is only going to grow, despite his best efforts.

This is how it has been for the better part of the last 21 months, with social media and YouTube deleting videos that dissent from lockdowns. It’s been censorship from the beginning. Now we see what happens: the lockdowns have birthed a new movement plus a new way of communicating plus new platforms that are threatening monopoly control the world over. Not only that: political and economic upheaval seem inevitable.

For all the problems with Lewis’s book, and there are plenty, he gets this whole backstory right. Bush came to his bioterrorism people and demanded some huge plan to deal with some imagined calamity. When Bush saw the conventional plan - make a threat assessment, distribute therapeutics, work toward a vaccine - he was furious. “This is bulls**t,” the president yelled. “We need a whole-of-society plan. What are you going to do about foreign borders? And travel? And commerce?”

Hey, if the president wants a plan, he’ll get a plan. “We want to use all instruments of national power to confront this threat,” Venkayya reports having told colleagues. “We were going to invent pandemic planning.” This was October 2005, the birth of the lockdown idea.

Dr. Venkayya began to fish around for people who could come up with the domestic equivalent of Operation Desert Storm to deal with a new virus. He found no serious epidemiologists to help. They were too smart to buy into it. He eventually bumped into the real lockdown innovator working at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. His name was Robert Glass, a computer scientist with no medical training, much less knowledge, about viruses. Glass, in turn, was inspired by a science fair project that his 14-year-old daughter was working on.

She theorized (like the cooties game from grade school) that if school kids could space themselves out more or even not be at school at all, they would stop making each other sick. Glass ran with the idea and banged out a model of disease control based on stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, business closures, and forced human separation. Crazy right? No one in public health agreed with him but like any classic crank, this convinced Glass even more.

I asked myself, “Why didn’t these epidemiologists figure it out?” They didn’t figure it out because they didn’t have tools that were focused on the problem. They had tools to understand the movement of infectious diseases without the purpose of trying to stop them. Genius, right? Glass imagined himself to be smarter than 100 years of experience in public health. One guy with a fancy computer would solve everything! Well, he managed to convince some people, including another person hanging around the White House named Carter Mecher, who became Glass’s apostle.

Please consider the following quotation from Dr. Mecher in Lewis’s book: “If you got everyone and locked each of them in their own room and didn’t let them talk to anyone, you would not have any disease.” At last, an intellectual has a plan to abolish disease - and human life as we know it too! As preposterous and terrifying as this is - a whole society not only in jail but solitary confinement - it sums up the whole of Mecher’s view of disease. It’s also completely wrong.

Pathogens are part of our world; they are not generated by human contact. We pass them onto each other as the price for civilization, but we also evolved immune systems to deal with them. That’s 9th-grade biology, but Mecher didn’t have a clue.

Jump forward to March 12, 2020. Who exercised the major influence over the decision to close schools, even though it was known at that time that SARS-CoV-2 posed almost no risk to people under the age of 20? There was even evidence that they did not spread COVID-19 to adults in any serious way.

Didn’t matter. Mecher’s models - developed with Glass and others - kept spitting out a conclusion that shutting down schools would drop virus transmission by 80%. I’ve read his memos from this period - some of them still not public - and what you observe is not science but ideological fanaticism in play.

Based on the timestamp and length of the emails, Mecher was clearly not sleeping much. Essentially he was Lenin on the eve of the Bolshevik Revolution. How did he get his way? There were three key elements: public fear, media and expert acquiescence, and the baked-in reality that school closures had been part of “pandemic planning” for the better part of 15 years. The lockdowners, over the course of 15 years, had worn out the opposition. Lavish funding, attrition of wisdom within public health, and ideological fanaticism prevailed.

Figuring out how our expectations for normal life were so violently foiled, how our happy lives were brutally crushed, will consume serious intellectuals for many years. But at least we now have a first draft of history. As with almost every revolution in history, a small minority of crazy people with a cause prevailed over the humane rationality of multitudes. When people catch on, the fires of vengeance will burn very hot.

The task now is to rebuild a civilized life that is no longer so fragile as to allow insane people to lay waste to all that humanity has worked so hard to build."
"The corrupt establishment will do anything to suppress sites like the Burning Platform from revealing the truth. The corporate media does this by demonetizing sites like mine by blackballing the site from advertising revenue. If you get value from this site, please keep it running with a donation. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
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"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”

"It Has Begun – Get Ready To Pay Much Higher Prices For Meat From Now On"

"It Has Begun – Get Ready To Pay Much 
Higher Prices For Meat From Now On"
by Michael Snyder

"The era of cheap meat is over. For those that are carnivores, that is really bad news. For decades, Americans have been able to count on the fact that there would always be mountains of very inexpensive meat at the local grocery store, but now those days are gone and they aren’t coming back. As I was writing this introductory paragraph, it struck me that what is happening to meat prices actually parallels what I wrote about yesterday. Just as the left doesn’t want us to use traditional forms of energy because they believe that doing so is “bad” for the climate, so they also detest that a lot of us like to eat a lot of meat because the production of meat causes levels of certain greenhouse gases to rise. Sometimes we joke about the methane that comes from “cow farts”, but radicals on the left take this stuff deadly seriously. And at the same time that gasoline prices are soaring into the stratosphere, the exact same thing is happening to meat prices. In fact, we just learned that the price of beef in the U.S. has risen more than 20 percent since last October…

"Behind unleaded gasoline, beef prices have risen the most on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since October 2020, rising 20.1% in the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics." An increase of over 20 percent in one year is deeply alarming.

Unfortunately, it isn’t just the price of beef that is soaring. Tyson Foods just released some new numbers which show that beef, pork and chicken prices are all rising dramatically…"The biggest meat company by sales in the United States has announced significant price rises for the fourth quarter, as the impact of the highest inflation for 30 years continues to be felt. Tyson Foods, based in Springdale, Arkansas, announced on Monday that chicken prices rose 19 percent during its fiscal fourth quarter, while beef and pork prices jumped 33 percent and 38 percent, respectively."

During the early portion of this crisis, Tyson Foods was reluctant to pass increasing costs along to consumers, but now we are being informed that they don’t intend to make the same mistake again…"Stewart Glendinning, the chief financial officer of Tyson Foods, said that they have been slow to increase their prices, in line with inflation, but are now making up for the delay. ‘We expect to take continued pricing actions to ensure that any inflationary cost increases that our business incurs are passed along,’ he said, on the company’s quarterly earnings call."

Sadly, this is just the beginning. The price of meat is only going to go higher from here, and eventually it will get to a point where meat prices become exceedingly painful. Of course there are many that would argue that we are already there. As food prices continue to climb, those that help the needy are going to have a much more difficult time trying to do so.

For example, the Salvation Army is projecting that it will need 50 percent more funding than last year as it feeds more Americans than ever before…"The Salvation Army is planning to serve more meals than in 2020’s record year, and will need around 50% more funding to meet the buoyed demand, Hodder said. He expects rental and utilities assistance to lead the pack of requested aid. “We’re fearful of what we’re calling ‘pandemic poverty,’” Hodder said."

The price of gasoline continues to shoot up as well. On Tuesday, the average price of gasoline in California set a new record high for the third day in a row…"Gas prices in California have broken a new record with an average price tag of $4.687 for a regular gallon as of Tuesday morning, according to the American Automobile Association. It was the third day in a row the state has recorded record breaking prices as Monday’s average gas price was $4.682 and Sunday’s was $4.676 which broke the previous state record of $4.671 in October 2012."

Needless to say, the price of gasoline is quite a bit higher than that in certain urban areas. In downtown Los Angeles, one unfortunate motorist ended up paying more than six dollars a gallon on Monday…"Brian Sproule squinted against the sun on Monday as he examined the price board at a Chevron station in downtown Los Angeles, where a regular gallon of gas was $6.05. Sproule, 37, is a mobile notary who spends much of his time in his car. He said he’s used to spending about $40 to fill his tank, but by the time he capped off his Hyundai Elantra, the meter displayed a whopping $71.59."

Can you imagine paying that much for gasoline? Don’t think that it can’t happen where you live. Eventually, everyone in the entire country will be seeing such prices.

As “Bidenflation” makes headlines day after day, U.S. consumers are becoming increasingly pessimistic. Just check out the latest consumer confidence number released by the University of Michigan…"The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 66.8 in November – down sharply from the October reading of 71.7 and well below economists’ forecast for a reading of 72.4. “Consumer sentiment fell in early November to its lowest level in a decade due to an escalating inflation rate and the growing belief among consumers that no effective policies have yet been developed to reduce the damage from surging inflation,” Richard Curtin, the survey’s chief economist, said in a statement."

Americans haven’t been this negative about the economy in a really long time. And it is becoming increasingly clear that things are going to get even worse in the months ahead. Our leaders continue to promise that they will make progress on the problems that we are facing, but those problems just keep on escalating. In fact, the number of giant container ships waiting off the coast of southern California just hit another new record high…"On Friday and Monday, yet another record was set for the number of container ships stuck at anchor or in holding patterns off the ports: 83. The average wait time at anchor for ships arriving in Los Angeles hit yet another fresh peak on Tuesday: 16.9 days."

That really surprises me. Despite all of the national attention, and despite the fact that the Biden administration has gotten directly involved, the nightmare at the ports in southern California just continues to intensify. If we can’t even figure out how to get stuff unloaded and moved across the country in a timely manner, what hope do we have of properly addressing our more complex economic problems?

As our economy is shaken by crisis after crisis, millions upon millions of families all over the nation are deeply suffering. But of course not everyone is doing badly these days. It turns out that the vaccine manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank…"The People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA), an international non-profit working to close the global vaccine disparity, analyzed the earnings reports of Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna and found that the companies will make a combined $34 billion in profit this year. When broken down, that is $93.5 million a day, $65,000 a minute and more than $1,000 every second of profit."

When I look at those numbers, they literally make me want to vomit. The greed that we are witnessing has reached a level that is absolutely breathtaking. But this is what happens when the moral foundation of a society completely collapses. In about a month and a half, 2021 will be over and 2022 will be here. 2021 has been bad, but I believe that 2022 will be even worse. So I would encourage you to make preparations for a very rough year, because the days ahead are not going to be pretty.

"How It Really Is"

 

"Pilot Flies "FJB" And Middle Finger Pattern Over Arizona Skies "

"Pilot Flies "FJB" And Middle Finger 
Pattern Over Arizona Skies "
by Tyler Durden

"What began as an NBC reporter's attempt to suggest NASCAR fans shouting "F@ck Joe Biden" were actually saying "Let's go Brandon!" - has been a viral sensation for a month and a half. Fans at football stadiums across the country have chanted "F@ck Joe Biden" to voice their discontent with the president.

The speed at which "Let's Go Brandon," a coded vulgar insult towards the president, has spread throughout stadiums and social media has been astonishing. One can buy "Let's Go Brandon" t-shirts, Christmas ornaments, stickers, and other merchandise to express how they feel about Biden. Even a "Let's Go Brandon" rap recently made it to the number 1 rap song on iTunes.

"F@ck Joe Biden" or "FJB" for short has also made it to the sky. On Nov. 10, a pilot operating a Cessna commuter plane with the tail number "N23508" was recorded by flight-tracking website FlightAware. What's unique about this plane's flight route is that the pilot drew FJB and a middle finger.
The pilot was at an altitude of 2,500 to 3,500 feet near Phoenix, flying around 85-100 mph for 37 minutes last week while they created their masterpiece in the sky. Here's a playback of the flight.
Vulgar insults directed at the president show an ultra-polarized country ahead of next year's midterms. So how long until the FAA interviews this pilot?"
Loza Alexander, "Lets Go Brandon"