"A Look to the Heavens"

 "In 2003, the Hubble Space Telescope took the image of a millenium, an image that shows our place in the universe. Anyone who understands what this image represents, is forever changed by it."- YouTube/NASA

Full screen recommended.

"It helps to put things in perspective here on our frenetic little planet with a look at this extraordinarily powerful and moving video of the Hubble Space Telescope mapping of the Universe, whose known size is 78 billion light years across. The video of the images is the equivalent of using a "time machine" to look into the past to witness the early formation of galaxies, perhaps less than one billion years after the universe's birth in the Big Bang.

The video includes mankind's deepest, most detailed optical view of the universe called the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). One of the stunning images was assembled from 342 separate exposures taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) for ten consecutive days. Representing a narrow "keyhole" view stretching to the visible horizon of the universe, the HDF image covers a speck of the sky only about the width of a dime located 75 feet away. Though the field is a very small sample of the heavens, it is considered representative of the typical distribution of galaxies in space because the universe, statistically, looks largely the same in all directions. Gazing into this small field, Hubble uncovered a bewildering assortment of at least 1,500 galaxies at various stages of evolution.

Most of the galaxies are so faint (nearly 30th magnitude or about four-billion times fainter than can be seen by the human eye) they have never before been seen by even the largest telescopes. Some fraction of the galaxies in this menagerie probably date back to nearly the beginning of the universe. "The variety of galaxies we see is amazing. In time these Hubble data could turn out to be the double helix of galaxy formation. We are clearly seeing some of the galaxies as they were more than ten billion years ago, in the process of formation," said Robert Williams, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland. "As the images have come up on our screens, we have not been able to keep from wondering if we might somehow be seeing our own origins in all of this."

- http://www.dailygalaxy.com/

•
"When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged
in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams,
to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where
he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars."
- Walt Whitman

The Poet: Mary Oliver, "Mysteries, Yes"

"Mysteries, Yes"

"Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous

to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the

mouths of the lambs.

How rivers and stones are forever

in allegiance with gravity

while we ourselves dream of rising.

How two hands touch and the bonds

will never be broken.

How people come, from delight or the

scars of damage,

to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those

who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say

"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,

and bow their heads."

~ Mary Oliver

"What's He To Do Then?"

"You've seed how things goes in the world o' men. You've knowed men to be low-down and mean. You've seed ol' Death at his tricks... Ever' man wants life to be a fine thing, and a easy. 'Tis fine, boy, powerful fine, but 'tain't easy. Life knocks a man down and he gits up and it knocks him down agin. I've been uneasy all my life... I've wanted life to be easy for you. Easier'n 'twas for me. A man's heart aches, seein' his young uns face the world. Knowin' they got to get their guts tore out, the way his was tore. I wanted to spare you, long as I could. I wanted you to frolic with your yearlin'. I knowed the lonesomeness he eased for you. But ever' man's lonesome. What's he to do then? What's he to do when he gits knocked down? Why, take it for his share and go on.”

- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

○

"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' 

I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"

- Sydney J. Harris

"A Well-Packaged Web Of Lies..."

“A truth’s initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed… When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker, a raving lunatic.”

– Dresden James

"Anything Can Be..."

"The Economic Bubble Bath"

"The Economic Bubble Bath"

by Jeff Thomas

"At the end of a long, tiring day, we may choose to treat ourselves to a soothing bubble bath. Surrounded by steaming water and a froth of sweet-smelling bubbles, it’s easy to forget the cares of everyday life.

This fact is equally true of economic bubbles. When the markets are up, we’re inclined to feel as though life is rosy. Unfortunately, it does seem to be the norm that investors fail to recognize when a healthy up-market transforms into a dangerous bubble. We tend to be soothed into overlooking the fact that we’re in hot water, and economically, that’s not an advantageous situation to be in.

Periodically, any economy will experience bubbles. It’s bound to happen. Human nature dictates that, if the value of an asset is on the rise, the more success it experiences, the more we want to get in on the success.

Sadly, the great majority of investors have a tendency to fail to educate themselves on how markets work. It’s easier to just trust their broker. Unfortunately, our broker doesn’t make his living through our success; he makes it through brokering transactions. The more buys he can encourage us to make, the more commissions he enjoys.

It’s been said that a broker is "someone who invests your money until it’s gone," and there’s a great deal of truth in that assessment. And so, we can expect to continue to witness periodic bubbles in the markets. They’ll occur roughly as often as it takes for us to forget the devastation of the last one and we once again dive in, only to be sheared once again. But we’re presently seeing an economic anomaly – a host of bubbles, inflating dramatically at the same time.

The Stock Market Bubble: Only a decade ago, stocks plummeted and billions were lost by investors. But then, before the system could be cleansed of the detritus, more money was artificially pumped into the system and stocks began to rise again.

Margin debt is now at an all-time high and complacency is at a maximum. The present condition looks quite a bit more like 1929 than 2008, and the stock market is overdue for a crash. This time, it promises to be much greater than before, as the debt that’s fueling the bull market is at a level that’s historically unprecedented.

Back in 1929, communications were poor and stock market trades were recorded in handwritten ledgers. Today, the recording is entirely electronic, and in addition, in order to minimize losses, the investor may have his broker set electronic stops that will ensure that a given stock is offered on the market automatically, if it drops below the stop price. This works quite well as long as times are good, but, if there were to be a crash, what it means is that, even if a crash were to be triggered in the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep, the market would awake in the morning to a sudden collapse, as prices blew through the stops of countless investors. Therefore, the collapse would be much swifter and much more severe than in 1929.

The Bond Market Bubble: This bubble could just as easily be termed a "debt bubble," as bonds are simply a promise to pay a debt at a future date. (It’s important to note that the bond market consists of a far higher level of investment than the stock market and therefore has the potential to do far more damage in a crash.)

Bonds may be issued by companies, municipalities or central governments. By far, the largest portion of the bond market is that of Treasuries, or government-issued bonds. Since 1944, the US has been in the catbird seat in the world, as its dollar has been the world’s default currency. But, as the US has, in recent decades, increasingly abused that privilege, the rest of the world has been looking for ways to extricate itself from this economic stranglehold.

With the introduction of new central banks in Asia, plus the new CIPS system (an alternative to the monopolistic SWIFT), it’s become increasingly possible for the East to wean itself from the dollar. Increasingly, this has meant dumping US Treasuries back into the system. Bonds are presently in a bubble of epic proportions, and with every month, the foundation underneath them is crumbling more, due to ever-increasing dumping. Even the perma-conservative Alan Greenspan now states that, "We are in a bond market bubble… Prices are too high… The bond market bubble will eventually be the critical issue."

The Real Estate Bubble: In 1999, the Fed, then under Alan Greenspan, convinced the US president to repeal the Glass Steagall Act, freeing the banks to create the types of loans that helped cause the Great Depression. This, of course, led to the real estate crash of 2007, but instead of the banks going belly-up, they were rewarded for their misdeeds through bailouts that were paid for by taxpayers. Consequently, although there was a significant correction in real estate prices, this didn’t result in prices dropping to fair value.

They have once again risen and, at this point, are overdue for a major correction. That correction is now well under way. Since it has begun at a time when other markets are also in peril, the level of bailout required for all of them at the same time is impossible to achieve.

Had each of these markets been allowed to collapse in the normal manner, as would occur in a free-market system, they would have done so at levels below the present ones and would have done less damage when they burst. Additionally, each bubble would have burst at its own, logical time. Instead, all are being propped up artificially, far beyond their natural sell-by date.

For this reason, they’re so over-inflated that, when one bubble is popped, it’s all but certain that they’ll all go down together. And so, effectively, the financial world is in a bubble bath. The investor is surrounded by soothing bubbles, each of which is rising, reassuring him that his investments are growing. Although it should be clear to him that he’s in hot water, the majority of investors are holding on to their bonds, rubbing their hands over the rising sale prices of homes in their neighborhood and considering taking out a loan to buy more stocks on margin. The collapse will therefore come to most as a complete surprise.

Economic bubbles are normal. They’re created by the lack of forethought that’s common to human nature. But the present bubble bath is an anomaly without precedent and, as such, promises to result in a crash of unprecedented proportions."

- internationalman.com

"Night..."

“The day has been so full of fret and care, and our hearts have been so full of evil and of bitter thoughts, and the world has seemed so hard and wrong to us. Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand upon our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained faces up to hers, and smiles; and though she does not speak, we know what she would say, and lay our hot flushed cheek against her bosom, and the pain is gone. Sometimes, our pain is very deep and real, and we stand before her very silent, because there is no language for our pain, only a moan. Night’s heart is full of pity for us: she cannot ease our aching; she takes our hand in hers, and the little world grows very small and very far away beneath us, and, borne on her dark wings, we pass for a moment into a mightier Presence than her own, and in the wondrous light of that great Presence, all human life lies like a book before us, and we know that Pain and Sorrow are but angels of God.”

- Jerome K. Jerome

"Boondoggle Back Better"

"Boondoggle Back Better"

by Bill Bonner

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "Sit down. Remain calm. Let’s try to figure this out…The big news on Friday was that the House got together and passed Joe Biden’s social spending program. Nancy Pelosi congratulated herself: "[The package] is a spectacular agenda for the future, with transformational action on health care, family care and climate that will make a significant difference in the lives of millions of Americans."

Here at the Diary, we don’t care much for numbers. We don’t trust them. We’re talking about numbers used in public policy discussions – which tend to be confected on multiple levels of legerdemain and statistical fuzz. But the numbers connected to the Build Back Better Boondoggle are especially shifty. How much in tax increases? What’s the final tab? Darned if we know.

Fuzzy Numbers: The numbers are all over the place, depending on which lies you believe. The Hill elaborates: "That Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessment, released Thursday evening, flew in the face of Biden’s promise that the legislation would be fully paid for. It has sparked some debate – and plenty of confusion – over how much the bill will cost overall.

The CBO found that, in total, the package allocates $1.64 trillion in new federal spending over ten years. But unlike the White House, the budget office does not include the tax credits as part of that top-line number. If those credits are added to the CBO’s spending tally, the figure would jump into the $2.4 trillion range – well above Biden’s initial $1.75 trillion framework."

The Wall Street Journal tries to explain further: "The current $10,000 limit on the state-and-local tax (SALT) deduction increases to $80,000 through 2030. In 2031 it would return to $10,000. Penn Wharton says this gimmick would lead to $65 billion in additional tax revenue through 2031 though it would cost about $300 billion through 2025." Well… we’re glad that’s cleared up!

High-Cost Boondoggle: The Penn Wharton Budget model “scored” Biden’s new Build Back Better Boondoggle at $4.6 trillion over 10 years. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (which sounds oxymoronic to us) says the cost will go to $4.9 trillion when the feds finally admit that the sun will never actually set on their “temporary” provisions. But for today’s purpose, let us assume that the Great Cause – whatever it is – will end up taking $5 trillion out of the public purse.

Are you sitting down? Are you aware that this proposal comes on top of the $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” boondoggle… which came on top of the $2.77 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2021… which is 12% of GDP, considerably more than Argentina’s 8.5% deficit/GDP ratio?

And are you aware that every penny in the public purse must come from the public, in one form or another? And that the purse now holds nearly $29 trillion worth of I.O.U.s that the public will eventually have to pay – most likely, in the form of higher consumer prices? Are you aware, too, that inflation is on the move… rising at the fastest pace in 31 years? And that the average working stiff is getting poorer (his wages are going up, but about 2% more slowly than prices)?

Elizabeth reported yesterday that her trip to the grocery store cost $100 more than it usually does. She thought the clerk had made a mistake. But it was no mistake; prices are rising. “Think of those poor families living paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “It must be awfully depressing.”

Almost every penny of the federal deficit is now covered by “printing press” money. So isn’t adding another $5 trillion to federal spending likely to make the situation worse? And won’t this put voters in a foul mood, in which they will most likely throw out the Democrats in the next election? So, why on Earth would the feds do such a thing?

Obvious Cause: We turn to a Democratic senator for a dumb answer. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) believes that additional spending is good for the economy. Newsweek reports: "I disagree… that Build Back Better is going to add to inflation. In fact, economists rarely agree about anything, but 12 Nobel science economists say that Build Back Better is actually going to not add to inflation and will be anti-inflationary over the long term. So we need to get on and pass the Build Back Better to lower costs for families and to address climate change and all of the other parts of the bill that will actually strengthen our families and our economy."

So, let’s see if we have this straight…Inflation is rising in almost all sectors. The rather obvious cause is that the Federal Reserve added nearly $5 trillion to the nation’s monetary base since August 2019. As we elaborated Friday, fish gotta swim… and money gotta buy something. Buying things caused ships to back up, shelves to empty out, and prices to rise. And now, there are those among us – including 12 Nobel Prize-winning economists! – who believe that another $5 trillion down the drain will “strengthen our economy.”

How so? Tomorrow… it might be worth looking at these 12 Nobel Prize-winners – or at least one of them – more closely."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

The Daily "Near You?"

Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal. Thanks for stopping by!

"The Future Is Here, And It Will Be Filled With Endless Looting, Rioting And Civil Unrest"

"The Future Is Here, And It Will Be Filled 

With Endless Looting, Rioting And Civil Unrest"

by Michael Snyder

"Our civilization is crumbling right in front of our eyes. We have become accustomed to soaring murder rates, mass shootings, extreme degeneracy throughout the entire entertainment industry, violent rioting in our streets and severe corruption on all levels of government. To a certain extent, a lot of these things seem “normal” to many of us at this point. But the truth is that what we are experiencing is not even close to “normal”. We are literally watching our entire society slowly but surely go down the tubes, and it is heartbreaking to watch.

If you think that I am being overly dramatic, just consider what happened in northern California on Saturday night. A mob of more than 80 thieves wearing ski masks and armed with crowbars suddenly descended upon a Nordstrom store, and they ransacked the entire place in just minutes…"More than 80 people stormed and robbed a Nordstrom in California on Saturday night, according to a police report from the Walnut Creek Police Department. The robbery was over within minutes as thieves armed with crowbars and wearing ski masks streamed out of the Nordstrom into the dozens of cars lining the block."

Needless to say, Nordstrom workers were caught entirely off guard, and several individuals received injuries during the melee…"During the theft, two Nordstrom workers were punched and kicked, while another was sprayed with pepper spray. All three individuals were treated for their injuries on scene."

This sort of “organized crime” is becoming increasingly common, but the size and scale of this particular attack was particularly alarming. #Breaking About 25 cars just blocked the street and rushed into the Walnut Creek Nordstrom making off with goods before getting in cars snd speeding away. At least two people arrested at gunpoint. pic.twitter.com/AG3R94M9L3

— Jodi Hernandez (@JodiHernandezTV) November 21, 2021

This happened in one of the most prosperous areas of northern California, and one eyewitness described it as “like a scene out of a movie”… Brett Barrette is one of the managers of P.F. Chang’s restaurant across from the Nordstrom store. He watched as the bedlam unfolded. “I probably saw 50-80 people in like ski masks with crowbars, a bunch of weapons,” he said. “They were looting the Nordstrom.” “There was a mob of people,” he continued. “The police were flying in. It was like a scene out of a movie. It was insane.”

Meanwhile, the Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco was also hit by organized looters this weekend. "The Louis Vuitton in San Francisco union square just got emptied out 😳 pic.twitter.com/Imi6qbL0i1" — Yealenne (@Yealenne) November 20, 2021 Many of the looters got away, but police were able to nail a few of them.

"Louis Vuitton San Francisco, Union square got cleared out!!"

pic.twitter.com/7Sz6rlRo8n — Da Juan (@CARLITOSGUEY) November 20, 2021

Even though this sort of thing is taking place so frequently now, I am still shocked whenever I see these sorts of videos. For even more examples, please see my recent article entitled “In Some Parts Of America, Looting Has Become A Way Of Life”.

Over in Portland, approximately 150 rioters started fires and smashed things up following the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. At one point, about a dozen police officers were forced back into a garage by an extremely unruly mob…"Video captured the moment protesters in Portland cornered police in a garage during riots over the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. The footage shows a crowd of angry protesters aggressively yelling at the police dressed in full riot gear. The group of nearly a dozen officers are seen backing up into a garage. The door of the garage slowly closes as the protesters continue to confront the police, with one demonstrator even trying to push open the garage door."

Way too often, the bad guys are starting to get the upper hand in situations like this. And I think that does not bode well for the troubled times ahead.

For years, I have been warning that this sort of civil unrest would be coming in the future. Now the future is here, and the chaos in our streets is only going to be getting even more intense.

On the other side of the globe, rioting of a completely different nature is happening. As authoritarian measures become increasingly extreme, vast numbers of people are standing up and saying that enough is enough…"Violent protests have broken out against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and lockdowns across Europe amid new tough rules to curb winter waves of the virus. Demonstrators angry about the new measures gathered in Austria, Croatia, Italy, Northern Ireland, the French territory of Guadeloupe and the Netherlands to protest the moves."

In Belgium, approximately 40,000 protesters descended upon the capital, and police fired water cannons and tear gas to try to control the crowds…"Nearly 40,000 people descended on the capital Brussels to protest against new anti-Covid measures banning the unvaccinated from entering restaurants and bars. Some protesters were seen throwing projectiles at riot police and in response, officers fired water cannon and tear gas at the group. Police have made some arrests, but it is not immediately clear how many."

Next door in the Netherlands, the violence was even worse. At one point, police officers actually opened fire on one group of “rampaging rioters”…"Dutch police have arrested more than 30 people during unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands that followed an “ orgy of violence ” the previous night at a protest against coronavirus restrictions. The violence by groups of youths in The Hague and elsewhere Saturday night wasn’t as serious as Friday night in Rotterdam, where police opened fire on rampaging rioters and arrested 51 people."

By imposing such harsh authoritarian measures during this pandemic, governments in Europe and elsewhere are losing their legitimacy. And responding to protests with such violence will also result in a loss of legitimacy.

Part of living in a civilized society is being able to trust the government to do the right thing most of the time. But now we have gotten to a point where large numbers of people in industrialized nations all over the globe do not trust their own governments. And once that trust erodes far enough, it may get to a point where entire nations become virtually ungovernable by anyone.

Like I said at this beginning of this article, we are watching civilization crumble all around us, and that should make all of us very sad. We are rapidly plummeting into an abyss of anarchy, madness and chaos, and the days ahead are not going to be pleasant."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"When Everything Is Artifice and PR, Collapse Beckons"

"When Everything Is Artifice and PR, Collapse Beckons"

by Charles Hugh Smith

"The consequences of the drip-drip-drip of moral decay is difficult to discern in day-to-day life. It's easy to dismiss the ubiquity of artifice, PR, spin, corruption, racketeering, fraud, collusion and narrative manipulation (a.k.a. propaganda) as nothing more than human nature, but this dismissal of moral decay is nothing more than rationalizing the rot to protect insiders from the sobering reality that the entire system is unraveling and heading for its final reckoning: collapse.

We've become so accustomed to the excesses of marketing that we've lost the ability to recognize the difference between "science" that's been carefully designed to reach a pre-planned conclusion and science that accepts the outcome, even if it harms well-funded interests.

The vast expanses of ignorance greatly aid this artifice. Even though high school physics, chemistry and biology are sufficient to tease apart the vast majority of rigged experiments, trials and studies, few Americans have the interest or fortitude to read Phase III trial results, etc. critically, and so the corporate media can trumpet bogus results without fear of exposure: all the statistical tricks and gimmicks are passed off as "science" to the distracted and gullible.

And if someone dares to examine the results critically, then those benefiting from the ignorance make the results "secret" until the year 2929. And that's the entire game in a nutshell: maximizing private gain from artifice, PR, spin, corruption, racketeering, fraud, collusion and narrative manipulation, all masked by an putrid spew of virtue-signaling and PR.

Every institution that was once trustworthy has been debauched to maximize private gain: higher education, science, medicine, national defense - the list includes virtually every sector and industry in America. Nothing can be trusted because somebody behind the scenes is spinning the story and data to mask their self-interest, their immense gains and the carefully contrived structure of diverting investigation and eliminating transparency, competition and accountability.

Our technocratic obsession denies the existence of the moral universe, reducing the world to techno-gimmicks (electric air taxis for everyone!), techno-fantasies (fusion reactors on every corner!) and techno-distractions (which billionaire will be the first on Mars?), as if a nation and society hurtling toward moral, social, civic and economic collapse can be saved by some "innovation" that beneath the surface is nothing more than another profiteering monopoly or cartel.

Many people fear collapse, but quality, service and reliability have already collapsed. The washing machine that two generations ago was designed and built to last 25 years now breaks down after a few years - so sorry, the motherboard failed. That will cost you almost as much as new washer, and so the manufacturer, bank and retailer win because the weary, clueless consumer will do the easy thing and buy a new, expensive appliance on credit. The "old" appliance (brand-new by previous standards) is hauled off to the landfill, the ultimate destination of everything in our Landfill Economy of poorly made junk.

Service would be hauled to the landfill as well if it was tangible. Alas, it is simply maddening, as nothing works and Kafkaesque bureaucracies have so much power that they are immune to transparency, competition and accountability. their websites don't work, they botch the most basic transactions and they perpetuate incorrect information, but too bad - there is no recourse.

Big Tech is equally impervious to transparency, competition and accountability. Your "crime" is never explained, and there is no recourse, for the Machine has no judiciary or human contact: you query the Machine knowing full well that you will never extract anything remotely fair or just from its algorithmic monstrosity.

Technology doesn't extinguish moral decay or eliminate the stench of self-serving artifice, PR, spin, corruption, racketeering, fraud, collusion and narrative manipulation. Technology only enhances the potential for profiteering under the tissue-thin guise of "innovation," "technological advance" and the threadbare delusions of a populace that has watched too many contrived narratives in which technology saves the day.

The moral buffers have already thinned; there is nothing left to tap. There is nothing left in what actually matters: social cohesion, moral legitimacy, civic virtue - all stripped, depleted, gone.

Drones and robots won't save us from collapse. Neither will fusion reactors, electric air taxis, billionaires in space, missions to Mars, algae-based meat or any of the other thousand "innovations" those profiting from moral rot promote in the hopes that the banquet of consequences being served can be swept away by more gimmicks, more artifice, more delusions, more fantasies, more PR, more spin and more narrative control.

Collapse can't be gimmicked away. The notion that consequence can be as easily managed as PR is the ultimate artifice and the ultimate delusion."

- https://www.oftwominds.com/

"Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave, Day and Night"

Nov. 19, 2021; Full screen recommended.

"Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave, Day and Night"

"Violent crime and drug abuse in Philadelphia as a whole is a major problem. The city’s violent crime rate is higher than the national average and other similarly sized metropolitan areas.1 Also alarming is Philadelphia’s drug overdose rate. The number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50% from 2013 to 2015, with more than twice as many deaths from drug overdoses as deaths from homicides in 2015.2 A big part of Philadelphia’s problems stem from the crime rate and drug abuse in Kensington.

Because of the high number of drugs in Kensington, the neighborhood has a drug crime rate of 3.57, the third-highest rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia.3 Like a lot of the country, a big part of this issue is a result of the opioid epidemic. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed over the last two decades in the United States and Philadelphia is no exception. Along with having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% percent of Philadelphia’s overdose deaths involved opioids2 and Kensington is a big contributor to this number. This Philly neighborhood is purportedly the largest open-air narcotics market for heroin on the East Coast with many neighboring residents flocking to the area for heroin and other opioids.4 With such a high number of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have zoned in on this area to try and tackle Philadelphia’s problem."

○

Full screen recommended.

Bruce Springsteen, "Streets of Philadelphia"

"A Lot Of People..."

"When science discovers the center of the universe,

a lot of people will be disappointed to find they are not it."

- Bernard Baily

"The Real Hopeless Victims..."

 

"It is no measure of health to be well

adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

"Venice Beach is Still a Mess Just Like Our Economy"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly AM 11/22/21:

"Venice Beach is Still a Mess Just Like Our Economy"

"A Big Flip?"

"A Big Flip?"

by Jim Kunstler

"Proposing a hypothetical: What if “Joe Biden” has worsening symptoms of an adverse reaction to his late September Covid booster shot? Does that account for the sudden flurry of interest in how his handlers might manage the problem of Kamala Harris? And what, is the problem with Kamala Harris? That she is Vice-president and next-in-line for Commander-in-chief in the (adverse) event that “JB” has to step aside. And why is that a problem? Because she is widely loathed and distrusted among those who know her in Washington.

That’s what bubbled up last week as “Joe Biden” went into Walter Reed Hospital for a checkup, including an alleged colonoscopy. What if that was not the test he had? What if they ran him through a CT scan or an MRI to detect neurological damage or vascular irregularities in his brain? (In 1988, “JB” did have a couple of brain aneurysms and endured a four-and-a-half-hour microsurgical craniotomy.) Briefly during this exam, Veep Kamala Harris carried the nuclear football, gaining no yardage in the process, but curdling the spinal fluxes of many casual observers in our nation’s capital. Later, the president’s doctors issued a detailed report that portrayed an elderly gentleman “fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency...”

And so, for the next three days “Joe Biden” proceeded in his august duties. Late Friday, after the checkup ordeal, he successfully pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey (convicted of mis-gendering a capon). On Saturday, he successfully attended evening mass at a church in Wilmington. And on Sunday he did nothing, with apparent success. Today, he flies to Fort Bragg for a “Friendsgiving dinner” with soldiers. One must imagine that Kamala Harris could keep up with a schedule like that, though perhaps without successfully easing the woes and travails of the American people in this time of Covid, Climate Change, inflation, and white supremacist terrorism.

Of course, if it turned out that “Joe Biden” presented symptoms of an adverse reaction to his Covid booster shot, that might flip the government’s claim that the mRNA vaccines are harmless. It might actually blow away the entire rationale for pushing the American people around over all things Covid. It would drive a stake through the heart of the CDC and end the career of Dr. Anthony Fauci. It would end all the efforts to destroy small business and public school in the USA. It would also prompt severe reactions from the citizens in other advanced nations - especially among what is called the West - and put a stop to their lockdowns, health passports, and proposals for mandatory vaccinations.

So, you see, whatever might be going on with “Joe Biden” health-wise has got to be a national security matter. And so, considering that our government lies liberally about thousands of other matters of lesser importance, one can see that they would be motivated to not tell the truth about “JB’s” checkup.

Also, of course, getting rid of Ms. Harris would be another extremely touchy matter, starting from the basic proposition of declaring a woman-of-color not sufficiently competent to lead the nation. Say, what…?!? Don’t even think about it! But then imagine our Veep elevated to the highest office: all a’giggle when meeting other heads-of-state, trying out amusing foreign accents on visits abroad (our own Inspector Clouseau), attending to the “root causes” of illegal immigration by remote viewing, perhaps declining to pardon next year’s Thanksgiving turkey, but rather persuading AG Merrick Garland to bring additional charges.

Who might the Democratic Party scrounge up to replace poor Kamala Harris, anyway? Surely it would have to be another woman-of-color. In terms of sheer seniority, the nod ought to go to Maxine Waters. Wouldn’t that be a helluva ride? I’d like to see her duke it out with Uncle Xi and head-fake nasty old Vlad Putin. For sheer liberal sadomasochism, though, I’d have to put my money on Rashida Tlaib, a born punisher if ever there was one. She’d have all those white supremacist enemies-of-the-state duck-walking through the federal courts like so many cattle through the slaughterhouse. And then capitalism will go on trial, ensuring that no one will ever work for a living again in this land as the government is anointed Breadwinner-in-chief.

Following this year’s great celebration of thankful prayer, gluttony, football, and napping, we can look forward to the battle over raising the national debt ceiling. There will be much remonstrating and rending of garments, and then Congress will cave and boost it. Enjoy the histrionics between your own Black Friday battles in the chain store aisles over the vanishing inventory of Christmas schwag and the vanishing purchasing power of your dollars. Or else just drive up to a Nordstrom’s with eighty of your close friends and enjoy the new style of shopping: bum-rush the clerks, grab everything you can get your hands on, and dash back to the car. Just keep it under $950 and you’ll be fine. Happy holidays everyone!"

- https://kunstler.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 11/22/21"

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

Only the consequences are real - to you!

Your guide:

Gregory Mannarino

Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/22/63

"The Entire System Is Corrupt"

- https://traderschoice.net/

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Gregory Mannarino, PM 11/22/21:

"Need To Know Alert: 

The Market Is Ignoring Increasing Risk"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"How It Really Is"

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 11/22/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 11/22/21"

"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

○

"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/

 Nov. 21st to 23rd, 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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- https://www.freightwaves.com/

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Daily Job Cuts

- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://www.investmentwatchblog.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...

○

"Seeds Of Economic Crisis Have Been Sown; Real Estate Feeding Frenzy; Financial Foundation Cracking"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 11/21/21:

"Seeds Of Economic Crisis Have Been Sown; 

Real Estate Feeding Frenzy; Financial Foundation Cracking"

"This Is Like Nothing I've Seen Before: Supermarkets Use Decoys To Fill Gaps Left By Shortages"

Full screen recommended.

"This Is Like Nothing I've Seen Before: 

Supermarkets Use Decoys To Fill Gaps Left By Shortages"

by Epic Economist

"Chaos has become commonplace in America's supply chains. Executives say that almost every day a new disruption emerges, making it harder and harder to find a way out of this crisis. Here in the US, and pretty much everywhere in the world, grocers are having a hard time keeping store shelves full. Given that conditions worsen by the day at ports, where congestion is creating gigantic piles of containers to the point some of them are overflowing into city streets, crushing cars and provoking accidents, billions of dollars worth of goods are stuck and out of reach. Shipping delays mean that some stores are only going to get their products after almost a month of waiting. That situation is aggravating local and nationwide shortages and making consumers extremely worried.

Unfortunately, industry experts argue this is going to be the new normal for the foreseeable future. And there's only so much store owners can do to cope with shrinking inventories and empty shelves. Many of them are having to come up with creative ways of making the store appealing and seemingly organized for customers. That includes placing products in unlikely places across the store.

Consumers reportedly said on social media that they have witnessed large beer boxes piled into aisles previously reserved for prepackaged meals. Others revealed that they have seen several boxes of chocolate filling placed next to fresh fish and produce. One of them posted a picture of refrigerated displays stocked with shelf-stable products, such as sauces and salad dressings. In essence, grocers are doing all sorts of unexpected things just for consumers to walk in and not see empty shelves.

Some of them are having to take quite desperate measures such as filling up a whole aisle with items that would normally have a small space on one shelf. Others are hiding the gaps with empty product packagings, such as sandwich boxes, or even cardboard “dummies” -- a strategy that always existed, but now consumers are not only noticing but also finding it quite problematic because it is happening so frequently.

On Twitter, thousands of users compiled in a recent thread, photos of depleted supermarket shelves and other funny and odd solutions store owners have been finding to cope with the situation. Many have been making fun of shelves displaying photos of food instead of the real thing and calling out retailers for faking it so shamelessly.

The thread began when one used posted pictures of rows of fake asparagus at Tesco. The post called the attention of many other users who started to show what they were seeing at their local stores and their recent shopping experiences. At this point, even big supermarket brands that have their own shipping systems are not escaping from product shortages despite having a wide network of suppliers, capital, and space for extra inventory. The shopping experience continues to be disrupted as the crisis intensifies.

That has led some larger chains to try to secure additional warehouse space to store extra inventory ahead of the holidays. Some will be cutting back on discounts to ease consumer demand. Kroger Co., the largest grocery chain in the U.S., recently announced that it increased its safety stock of items in more than 70 categories, sourced additional warehouse space to house the extra products, and spread out the ports it uses for imports. Walmart also revealed that it has diverted ships to less congested ports, while hiring 20,000 supply chain workers and automated warehouse operations wherever possible.

Sadly, the vast majority of small grocery retailers have way less flexibility and continue to struggle to restock inventories. They're having to plan what items will show up on shelves on any given day.“I’ve had over a decade of retail experience and this is like nothing I’ve experienced or seen before,” highlighted I’Talia McCarthy, general manager of the Dill Pickle Food Co-op in Chicago., which she said is dealing daily with deliveries arriving incomplete or not at all. “We have made a huge effort in making sure we’re not having these huge gaps.”

Those who have ignored economists' warnings over the past few months will probably start to regret that decision right now. It's probably too late to start stockpiling food and other goods given that shortages are becoming more widespread with each passing week. However, what we're currently experiencing is not the worst of this crisis just yet. Problems are compounding and another ravaging winter threatens to aggravate congestion at ports and lead to further disruptions in food production. We will have some extremely troubled times ahead of us and the coming challenges are going to be much harder than most people think."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com

Musical Interlude: Ocarina, "Song Of Ocarina"

Ocarina, "Song Of Ocarina"

"'Song of Ocarina' is the name of a 1991 song recorded by the musicians Jean-Philippe Audin and Diego Modena. It is entirely instrumental and is played on ocarina by Modena and cello by Audin. Released as first single from the album Ocarina, it achieved a huge success in France, topping the chart, and becoming in this country the first instrumental number-one hit."

"A Look to the Heavens"

“What will become of these galaxies? Spiral galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are passing dangerously close to each other, but each is likely to survive this collision. Typically when galaxies collide, a large galaxy eats a much smaller galaxy. In this case, however, the two galaxies are quite similar, each being a sprawling spiral with expansive arms and a compact core. As the galaxies advance over the next tens of millions of years, their component stars are unlikely to collide, although new stars will form in the bunching of gas caused by gravitational tides.

 

Close inspection of the above image taken by the 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile shows a bridge of material momentarily connecting the two giants. Known collectively as Arp 271, the interacting pair spans about 130,000 light years and lies about 90 million light-years away toward the constellation of Virgo. Recent predictions hold that our Milky Way Galaxy will undergo a similar collision with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130825.html

Paulo Coelho, "The Water Pitcher"

"The Water Pitcher"

by Paulo Coelho

"A legend tells of a man who used to carry water every day to his village, using two large pitchers tied on either end of a piece of wood, which he placed across his shoulders. One of the pitchers was older than the other and was full of small cracks; every time the man came back along the path to his house, half of the water was lost. For two years, the man made the same journey. The younger pitcher was always very proud of the way it did its work and was sure that it was up to the task for which it had been created, while the other pitcher was mortally ashamed that it could carry out only half its task, even though it knew that the cracks were the result of long years of work.

So ashamed was the old pitcher that, one day, while the man was preparing to fill it up with water from the well, it decided to speak to him. "I wish to apologize because, due to my age, you only manage to take home half the water you fill me with, and thus quench only half the thirst awaiting you in your house."

The man smiled and said: "When we go back, be sure to take a careful look at the path." The pitcher did as the man asked and noticed many flowers and plants growing along one side of the path. "Do you see how much more beautiful nature is on your side of the road?" the man remarked. "I knew you had cracks, but I decided to take advantage of them. I sowed vegetables and flowers there, and you always watered them. I've picked dozens of roses to decorate my house, and my children have had lettuce, cabbage and onions to eat. If you were not the way you are, I could never have done this. We all, at some point, grow old and acquire other qualities, and these can always be turned to good advantage."

- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

The Poet: Kuroda Saburo, "I Am Completely Different"

"I Am Completely Different"

"I am completely different.

Though I am wearing the same tie as yesterday,

am as poor as yesterday,

as good for nothing as yesterday,

today

I am completely different.

Though I am wearing the same clothes,

am as drunk as yesterday,

living as clumsily as yesterday, nevertheless

today

I am completely different.

Ahh...

I patiently close my eyes

on all the grins and smirks,

on all the twisted smiles and horse laughs -

and glimpse then, inside me

one beautiful white butterfly

fluttering towards tomorrow."

- Kuroda Saburo

"An End In Itself..."

"Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether

it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it." 

- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

"I Wish You Enough"

"I Wish You Enough"

by Bob Perks

"I never really thought that I'd spend as much time in airports as I do. I don't know why. I always wanted to be famous and that would mean lots of travel. But I'm not famous, yet I do see more than my share of airports. I love them and I hate them. I love them because of the people I get to watch. But they are also the same reason why I hate airports. It all comes down to "hello" and "goodbye." I must have mentioned this a few times while writing my stories for you.

I have great difficulties with saying goodbye. Even as I write this I am experiencing that pounding sensation in my heart. If I am watching such a scene in a movie I am affected so much that I need to sit up and take a few deep breaths. So when faced with a challenge in my life I have been known to go to our local airport and watch people say goodbye. I figure nothing that is happening to me at the time could be as bad as having to say goodbye. Watching people cling to each other, crying, and holding each other in that last embrace makes me appreciate what I have even more. Seeing them finally pull apart, extending their arms until the tips of their fingers are the last to let go, is an image that stays forefront in my mind throughout the day.

On one of my recent business trips, when I arrived at the counter to check in, the woman said, "How are you today?" I replied, "I am missing my wife already and I haven't even said goodbye." She then looked at my ticket and began to ask, "How long will you... Oh, my God. You will only be gone three days!" We all laughed. My problem was I still had to say goodbye. But I learn from goodbye moments, too.

Recently I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together. They had announced her departure and standing near the security gate, they hugged and he said, "I love you. I wish you enough." She in turn said, "Daddy, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Daddy." They kissed and she left. He walked over toward the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say goodbye to someone knowing it would be forever?" "Yes, I have," I replied. Saying that brought back memories I had of expressing my love and appreciation for all my Dad had done for me. Recognizing that his days were limited, I took the time to tell him face to face how much he meant to me. So I knew what this man was experiencing.

"Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever goodbye?" I asked. "I am old and she lives much too far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is, the next trip back would be for my funeral," he said. "When you were saying goodbye I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?" He began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." He paused for a moment and looking up as if trying to remember it in detail, he smiled even more. "When we said 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them," he continued and then turning toward me he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory...

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Goodbye."

He then began to sob and walked away. My friends, I wish you enough!"

- http://www.gaia.com/quotes/topics/life?page=33

The Daily "Near You?"

Davisburg, Michigan, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead"

Gregory Mannarino, 11/21/21:

"Markets, A Look Ahead; JPM Caught Again 

Rigging Gold/Silver Prices; Protests Across Europe."

- https://traderschoice.net/