Musical Interlude: Sting, "Fields Of Gold"

Full screen recommended.

Sting, "Fields Of Gold"

"A Look to the Heavens"

 “How many arches can you count in the below image? If you count both spans of the Double Arch in the Arches National Park in Utah, USA, then two. But since the above image was taken during a clear dark night, it caught a photogenic third arch far in the distance- that of the overreaching Milky Way Galaxy. Because we are situated in the midst of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, the band of the central disk appears all around us.

The sandstone arches of the Double Arch were formed from the erosion of falling water. The larger arch rises over 30 meters above the surrounding salt bed and spans close to 50 meters across. The dark silhouettes across the image bottom are sandstone monoliths left over from silt-filled crevices in an evaporated 300 million year old salty sea. A dim flow created by light pollution from Moab, Utah can also be seen in the distance.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110524.html

"An Eskimo Saying"

"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in 

heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through

 and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy."

~ An Eskimo saying.

"If The Earth Were Only..."

"If the earth were only a few feet in diameter, floating a few feet above a field somewhere, people would come from everywhere to marvel at it. People would walk around it marveling at its big pools of water, its little pools, and the water flowing between the pools. People would marvel at the bumps on it, and the holes in it, and they would marvel at the very thin layer of gas surrounding it and the water suspended in the gas. The people would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball and at the creatures in the water. The people would declare it sacred because it was the only one, and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt. The ball would be the greatest wonder known, and people would come to pray to it, to be healed, to gain knowledge, to know beauty, and to wonder how it could be. People would love it and defend it with their lives because they would somehow know that their lives, their own roundness, could be nothing without it. If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter..."

- Joe Miller

"Perhaps..."

"One summer night, out on a flat headland, all but surrounded by the waters of the bay, the horizons were remote and distant rims on the edge of space. Millions of stars blazed in darkness, and on the far shore a few lights burned in cottages. Otherwise there was no reminder of human life. My companion and I were alone with the stars: the misty river of the Milky Way flowing across the sky, the patterns of the constellations standing out bright and clear, a blazing planet low on the horizon. It occurred to me that if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century, this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night, perhaps they never will."

- Rachel Carson

"The Banking Crisis is Here - Credit Lines and Bank Accounts Closing"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly, PM 12/4/21:

"The Banking Crisis is Here - 

Credit Lines and Bank Accounts Closing"

"The impending Banking Crisis is here. People are losing their personal lines of credit and credit card lines are being closed and reduced. Banks are closing branches and shutting down accounts."

The Daily "Near You?"

St. James, Michigan, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: Robinson Jeffers, "Love That, Not Man Apart From That"

"Love That, Not Man Apart From That"

"Then what is the answer? Not to be deluded by dreams.

To know that great civilizations have broken down into violence,

and their tyrants come, many times before.

When open violence appears, to avoid it with honor or choose

the least ugly faction; these evils are essential.

To keep one’s own integrity, be merciful and uncorrupted

and not wish for evil; and not be duped

By dreams of universal justice or happiness.

These dreams will not be fulfilled.

To know this, and know that however ugly the parts appear

the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand

Is an ugly thing and man dissevered from the earth and stars

and his history... for contemplation or in fact...

Often appears atrociously ugly.

Integrity is wholeness, the greatest beauty is

Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things,

the divine beauty of the universe.

Love that, not man apart from that,

or else you will share man’s pitiful confusions,

or drown in despair when his days darken."

- Robinson Jeffers

"The Green Frog Skin"

"The Green Frog Skin"

by John (Fire) Lame Deer

"The Green Frog Skin – that’s what I call the dollar bill. In our attitude towards it lies the biggest difference between the Indians and the whites. My grandparents grew up in an Indian world without money. Just before the Custer battle the white soldiers had received their pay. Their pockets were full of green paper and they had no place to spend it. What were their last thoughts as an Indian bullet or arrow hit them? I guess they were thinking of all that money going to waste, of not having had a chance to enjoy it, of a bunch of dumb savages getting their paws on that hard-earned pay. That must have hurt them more than the arrow between their ribs.

The close hand-to-hand fighting, with a thousand horses gally-hooting all over the place, had covered the battlefield with an enormous cloud of dust, and in it the green frog skins of the soldiers were whirling around like snowflakes in a blizzard. Now, what did the Indians do with all that money? They gave it to their children to play with, to fold those strange bits of coloured paper into all kinds of shapes, making into toy buffalo and horses. Somebody was enjoying that money after all.

The books tell of one soldier who survived. He got away, but he went crazy and some women watched him from a distance as he killed himself. The writers always say that he must have been afraid of being captured and tortured, but that’s all wrong. Can’t you see it? There he is, bellied down in a gully, watching what is going on. He sees the kids playing with the money, tearing it up, the women using it to fire up some dried buffalo chips to cook on, the men lighting their pipes with green frog skins, but mostly all those beautiful dollar bills floating away with the dust and the wind. It’s this sight that drove the poor soldier crazy. He’s clutching his head, hollering, ‘Goddam, Jesus Christ Almighty, look at them dumb, stupid, red sons of bitches wasting all that dough!’ He watches till he can’t stand it any longer, and then he blows his brains out with a six-shooter. It would make a great scene in a movie, but it would take an Indian mind to get the point."

- John (Fire) Lame Deer, "Seeker of Visions"

○

Brule, "Stomp Dance"

"Regret..."

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;

it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

~ Sydney J. Harris

"Fear Of Omicron Could Absolutely Crush The Global Economy"

"Fear Of Omicron Could Absolutely 

Crush The Global Economy"

by Michael Snyder

"I never imagined that I would ever write an article containing the words “fear of Omicron”, but here we are. As many have pointed out, “Omicron” sounds like the name of a really bad science fiction villain from the 1980s. Global health authorities conveniently skipped over “Xi” in the Greek alphabet, and so now we have a very scary name for what is apparently a very mild variant. Actually, there was a movie called “Omicron” that was released in 1963 that had an extremely bizarre plot. In the movie, an alien takes over the body of a human “in order to learn about the planet so his race can take it over.” Even more strange, a video game called “Omikron” was put out by Microsoft in 1999 that featured demons harvesting the souls of humans…

The emergence of the Omicron variant has led some nostalgic gamers to revisit "Omikron: The Nomad Soul", a 1999 video game with plenty of alarming visuals that are ideal nightmare fuel. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows and eventually became available on Dreamcast. It was developed by Quantic Dream in partnership with David Bowie and follows players as they try to save their own souls.

David voiced a character named Boz in the game, which also focused on players attempting to hunt down a serial killer, and featured demons that lure humans into Omikron. If a player loses in the game, their actual soul is said to be lost for all eternity. The game stands as the only time that the singer was ever featured in a video game, and now its connection to COVID has some reexamining it.

“Omicron” would certainly be a fitting name if this was the scariest COVID variant so far, but those on the ground in South Africa are telling us that all cases up to this point have been “mild”…"South Africa is seeing an increase in COVID-19 reinfections due to the Omicron variant but symptoms for reinfected patients and those infected after vaccination appear to be mild, a scientist studying the outbreak of the new strain said."

And the same thing is happening in Europe. Of the 44 cases that have been confirmed so far, every single one of them has been “mild”…"The European Union has recorded at least 44 confirmed cases of the omicron variant in 11 countries, but so far all of those are asymptomatic or people with mild symptoms, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control."

So there is no need for all of the hysteria that we are witnessing. Haven’t the last two years taught us anything? Even before Omicron came along, needless restrictions were making it exceedingly difficult to transport goods around the planet in an efficient and timely manner. As a result, we are now dealing with the worst supply chain crisis that any of us have ever experienced by a very wide margin.

If global leaders respond to Omicron by piling on even more needless restrictions, that is going to make the global supply chain crisis a whole lot worse.,Unfortunately, we are already starting to see politicians all over the world opt for the panic button. For example, the U.S. has decided to completely ban travel from a number of African countries, and very strict new testing regulations for all inbound international air travelers will go into effect in just a few days…"All inbound international travelers will be required to test within one day of departure for the United States starting Monday.

All flights departing after 12:01 a.m. ET December 6 will abide by a new CDC testing order, per an administration official. This new testing time frame will apply to everyone, “regardless of nationality or vaccination status,” the plan outlined on the White House website says.

Other nations are considering measures that are even more extreme. Over in Israel, the “coronavirus czar” is saying that making vaccines mandatory for every single citizen should be an option…"Israel’s coronavirus czar Prof. Salman Zarka said Wednesday that Israel should consider making COVID vaccines compulsory, but stressed it was only his opinion and does not reflect any actual government policy. “I think we need to examine all the options, including the option of mandating vaccination in the State of Israel,” Zarka told Radio 103FM in an interview."

The German government has gone even further. According to Angela Merkel, a vaccine mandate for the entire country is likely to go into effect in February as long as it is approved by parliament… “We have understood that the situation is very serious and that we want to take further measures in addition to those already taken,” Merkel told reporters at Thursday’s news conference. “The fourth wave must be broken and this has not yet been achieved,” she added. A nationwide vaccination mandate could come into effect from February 2022 - after it is debated in parliament and following guidance from Germany’s Ethics Council, Merkel said."

Once Germany and a few other nations successfully implement mandates, it is only a matter of time before a lot of other countries start jumping on board. On Thursday, the German government also announced a new strict lockdown for all unvaccinated individuals…"Germany on Thursday announced a nationwide lockdown for the unvaccinated, as its leaders backed plans for mandatory vaccinations in the coming months. Unvaccinated people will be banned from accessing all but the most essential businesses, such as supermarkets and pharmacies, to curb the spread of coronavirus, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel and her successor, Olaf Scholz, announced Thursday, following crisis talks with regional leaders."

So now Germany has taken a very hard turn toward authoritarianism. I believe that we have seen this story before. Ultimately, I believe that we will eventually see vaccine mandates throughout much of Europe, and if that happens it will be truly, truly horrifying for those of us that still love freedom. COVID has provided the perfect opportunity for politicians to start acting like tyrants, and what we are witnessing right now is setting the stage for the exceedingly dark times that are coming.

As it becomes obvious that Omicron is not a serious threat, hopefully governments around the globe will ease up on everyone for a while. Because the damage that has already been done over the past couple of years has been incalculable, and a new wave of needless restrictions could easily push us over the precipice and into an abyss of misery."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com

"How It Really Is"

 

Free Download: Richard Bach, "Illusions: The Adventures of A Reluctant Messiah"

"There is a family of us who have this yearning for a kind of excellence that we can manifest every day of our lives, a family who wants to believe we're not pawns, we're not victims on this planet, that knows we have the power within us here and now to change the world we see around us!"

"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood,

but of respect and joy in each other's life.

Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof."

Freely download Richard Bach,

"Illusions: The Adventures of A Reluctant Messiah", here:

- https://denver-psychic.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Greater Than The Sum"; "Memory of the Sky"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "Greater Than The Sum"

○

Full screen recommended.

2002, "Memory of the Sky"

"Market Will Get Crazier; Stock Market Crash Getting Real; Record Holiday Spending?"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 12/3/21:

"Market Will Get Crazier; Stock Market Crash Getting Real;

 Record Holiday Spending?"

"Millions Of Americans Are Scrambling To Become Independent Of The System As It Collapses Around Them"

Full screen recommended.

"Millions Of Americans Are Scrambling To Become 

Independent Of The System As It Collapses Around Them"

by Epic Economist

"Few Americans can remember the last time our society was running smoothly. Today, we know we cannot rely on the ones we call leaders to support us when we need them. It feels like the good times have been gone for so long that most people are losing their memories of when this was a powerful, strong, and united nation. Now, things are going from bad to worse everywhere you look.

Our industries are collapsing; domestic production is dramatically slowing; we're still in the middle of the worst and most complicated supply chain crisis in history; our markets are alarmingly unstable; people are being forced out of their jobs; the survival of hundreds of thousands of businesses is on the line; inflation is effectively downgrading our living standards; and turbulence and chaos are taking over the streets of our major urban areas. The perspectives for the future aren't looking good. In fact, there were only a few other occasions throughout the history of our country where things looked this bad.

But our population is strong, resourceful, and resilient. And millions of us have already started taking steps towards having more independence from a system that is doomed to fail. In fact, we're seeing a “historic burst in entrepreneurship and self-employment” as millions upon millions of people seek to create jobs for themselves. According to data released by the Census Bureau, a staggering 4.54 million new small businesses have applied for a federal tax identification number this year, an increase of 56% from the same period of 2019, and the largest number on records that date back to 2004.

More and more people are becoming entrepreneurs to have the right of controlling their own fate and finally add some separation from an establishment that preaches standardization and obedience. If you are considering taking such a leap, never forget that it's key to find something that will add value to the lives of others, especially in times like these. In the coming weeks, we are going to see the worsening of some of the crises we're already facing. Some new ones may emerge as well. But one looming threat we will have to face collectively is the global energy crisis that is going to push heating bills to soar amid what will probably be another freezing winter.

In fact, the global energy crisis is another factor that is inciting people to become more independent of the system. As the inflation surge ripples through the U.S. economy and affects thousands of products and services, many have already started to look for alternative sources of energy. And as energy resources become more scarce worldwide, we could see more devastating power shortages like we recently witnessed in China, India and Lebanon. That's why many Americans have decided to take matters into their own hands, and turn to old school ways of getting things done.

Right now, demand for wood burning stoves is rapidly escalating. Of course, demand for firewood has also skyrocketed, and this is driving prices into uncharted territory. According to a recent Bloomberg report, in New River, Arizona, a cord of seasoned firewood with roughly 700 pieces is now selling for $200, a 33% jump from a year ago. In Albuquerque, the price is up 11% since the summer to $250. In in Stone Ridge, a bucolic, small town in the Hudson Valley that’s become popular with the Manhattan set, hardwoods now fetch $475 a cord, a 19% increase from last year.

However, estimates from U.S. Energy Information Administration suggest that only 1% households will be able to use firewood or wood pellets as their primary heating source this winter, and about 8% of the population may use wood as a secondary heating source, according to the EIA. This means that hundreds of millions of households will still be relying on other types of energy to heat up their homes this winter. In some cases, these families will be facing price spikes of up to 80%.

That's why we always say that people should get prepared in advance because we never really know when difficulties like these will hit us, but once they do, the impact is truly ravaging. As our system continues to collapse all around us, we're going to see more and more insanities happening, but we are going to keep facing them head high. The United States is literally starting to come apart at the seams, and many more unpleasant surprises will emerge along the way. So try to find ways to become independent from the system too, because, considering the way things are right now, you're going to need this sooner or later."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

Gregory Mannarino, "Alert! IMF Warns Of Economic Collapse; FED Warns of Inflation Shock; Is Another Civil War Coming?"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 12/3/21:

"Alert! IMF Warns Of Economic Collapse; 

FED Warns of Inflation Shock; Is Another Civil War Coming?"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Be Very Afraid of Omicron!"

“This Is Such Garbage You Guys Print”

by Brian Maher

“This is such garbage you guys print. F*****gunbelievable.” That is the grievance of one reader. This she filed in response to yesterday’s reckoning about the Omicron variant. We cited evidence that universal vaccination may work at cross purposes, that the policy may be 180 degrees wrong. Rather than cure, we raised the possibility that it may harm — and potentially plenty. That is because broad vaccination may spin out additional, potentially more lethal variants.

Here another reader directs us to the straightabout, to correct our erring ways: "I’m afraid Brian needs to look again at the history of medicine if he really believes vaccines are the source of the problem. Since the beginning of time, viruses have mutated and produced a zillion variants, and before Pasteur, I don’t think that vaccines had much to do with them. Nothing wrong with lateral thinking but one should not forget that the emphasis is on the thinking part!!"

Just so. Yet we have never questioned that viruses mutate through time. Nor have the epidemiological crackerjacks we cited. They are aware of it and then some. They nonetheless believe that vaccines may be fanning variants into existence.

For example: Dr. Robert Malone, pioneer of the very mRNA technology in back of these vaccines.

For example: Dr. Luc Montagnier, Nobel Prize winner in medicine.

For example: Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, global authority on the science of vaccination.

These men… highly learned in the strategies and tactics of viruses… have warned it is folly to vaccinate wholesale into the teeth of a pandemic. That is because they claim mass vaccination squeezes the virus into an escape hatch. It facilitates the production of aberrant strains - aberrant strains that outflank and outfox vaccination. Might these gentlemen be mistaken? They may be mistaken, yes. But they present a plausible hypothesis, a hypothesis worthy of investigation… as we see it.

Meantime, Dr. Fauci and his minions are monomaniacal for universal vaccination, come high water, come hell, come what may. But what if it is they who are mistaken? What are the potential consequences if they are mistaken? They nonetheless exercise a monopoly upon the flow of permissible opinion. Dr. Fauci leaps from one mainstream media outlet to the next. There he is given a very, very light handling. We have yet to witness him confront a stumping or hostile question. He is soothed and caressed by fawners and flatterers, by lickspittles and smoochers of backsides. They know the taste of boot polish very well.

You will not see a Dr. Robert Malone offered a mainstream forum. You will not see a Dr. Luc Montagnier offered a mainstream forum. You will not see a Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche offered a mainstream forum - eminentos within their field, each of them. All “respectable” sources deny them - and others like them - an honest hearing.

Dr. Fauci claims to represent “the science.” Let him prove it in free debate with a professional and skillful foe, a rival crackerjack. Should not the American people hear the two opposing sides… in order to decide which is correct? It is The Daily Reckoning’s argument that the American people should hear both sides, in order to decide which is correct. Since they are not, we are put in the position of subversives. We publish what approximates an American form of samizdat.

That was dissident and underground literature in the former Soviet Union that blasted holes in government whoppers and propaganda. We issue no claims of grandeur. Our modest, little, disreputable publication is precisely those - modest, little and disreputable. Yet this somehow delights us. We get to whisper things into your ear you will not hear in boastful, large and respectable outlets… Even if they are occasionally scandalous. Even if they are occasionally “garbage.” And yes, even if they are occasionally true.

As our co-founder Bill Bonner is fond to say: Sometimes right, sometimes wrong, always in doubt… Below, Jeffrey Tucker shows you why he believes the Omicron variant is being used to frighten you and to falsely justify further government power grabs. Please, read on."

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"Be Very Afraid of Omicron!"

By Jeffrey Tucker

"However modern we believe ourselves to be, our lizard brains take over from time to time. This weekend was a classic case. Out of South Africa came the news of a new SARS variant, dubbed Omicron. It is so clever that it outwits our best vaccines! Ban travel! Run like hell!

Amazing. The poor scientists in South Africa - so scrupulous, so transparent - believed they were merely alerting the scientific community of the new mutation. They didn’t know that their announcement would prompt the world to regard their fellow country people, and those of surrounding states, to be disease-ridden lepers and therefore quarantined in their own countries.

Back to Travel Restrictions: Israel is so panicked that it has banned all foreign travel into the country. Japan and many other countries have joined in the panic. You had tickets and hotel reservations? Too bad. No one cares anymore about your freedom and your property. They are contingent privileges today, and we are otherwise entirely living by the whims of the public health bureaucrats. We can’t live this way. It’s utterly ridiculous to find yourself with plane tickets that are entirely unusable simply because some bureaucrat is having a disease panic and happens to have the ear of the head of state.

Finally over the weekend, some calm began to dawn. Omicron has been around for months. It is probably already in most countries. It’s not that deadly. It is likely even to be mild. Who could have known? Actually everyone. The famed tradeoff between prevalence and severity applies especially here. Not that this quelled the hysteria. Anthony Fauci was all over the news on Sunday with vague hints that we could lock down again. The last lockdowns didn’t achieve anything, but that doesn’t matter to these people.

Early indications are that this new variant is outsmarting the vaccines or possibly even incentivized by their existence. Those who have natural immunity via exposure are not likely to have any real issues with Omicron. As for those who depend entirely on the jab for their protection, it’s another matter. The vaccines are structured to deal with one variant at a time - and deal only with symptoms, not infection or spread. That means that there will be no end to this.

More Panic! What a world in which we live! My goodness. It’s like we never really improve as humans, never really get smart. Sure enough, markets crashed all over the world - as they have been waiting to do for a while - not just in response to Omicron, but also in anticipation of a new set of lockdowns and travel restrictions.

Moderna and Pfizer stock rose in response to their promise to make a version of their shot that controls Omicron. They might as well push a subscription plan. They ding your credit card once a month so you can get a jab for every new pathogen. It’s the virus-of-the-month deal.

I’ve usually tended to think of these policies as mistaken, dumb, verging on sadistic, but not so much as part of a plot of the deep state. Of course all politics attract grifters the way trash attracts flies. So sure, there are people and businesses out there who have made a killing throughout this pandemic panic. The mask-makers, the subsidized hospitals, the teachers unions who blackmailed every parent in America and of course the pharmaceutical-makers who enjoyed massive subsidies and liability protections.

The chaos of the last two years has allowed government an environment of chaos to ramp up spending, debt and money creation in ways that we will be paying for over a period of decades — in lost productivity and inflation. Yes, I’m sorry it is grim. Very.

Two Books That Expose the Fraud: I would like to recommend a couple of books. I spent the Thanksgiving holiday immersed in books on economics, politics and public health. The first is "A Plague Upon Our House" by former White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas. It is brilliant. He reveals how Trump was wholly betrayed by his health policy advisers who tricked him into destroying the economy that he was otherwise trying to build. Trump was scared and went along with their advice.

Trump somehow made it through two impeachment attempts but got hornswoggled with the virus. He seems to have figured this out by August of 2020, when he brought Atlas into the mix. Once he realized his error, he faced a real problem. He could have expressed regrets and been truly honest with the country. Or he could have merely entered into denial. He chose the second path. That put him massively out of touch with the terrible reality on the ground through the country. This choice lost him the election. Some people think that this was the whole point of lockdowns at least for a while: to cause Trump to stumble and fall. I don’t know if that’s true but it’s not as crazy as you would think.

The Deep State: Another book that has blown my mind is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s "The Real Anthony Fauci." It is about a lot more than that. He describes a plot at the highest levels of government, as pushed by pharmaceutical companies in league with the deep state of the national security bureaucracies. The thing goes back decades, but most immediately to the period after the end of the Cold War when the deep state was looking for some reason for its existence.

It seized on pandemic control. He proves his point by linking to astonishing documents of “germ games” that the elites were playing even up to the months before the pandemic hit. I’ve seen these documents now for the first time. I’m not exactly “out of touch” on these matters, so that I did not know about them alarms me. No question there was a lot more going on than intellectual error.

Yes, discovering all this absolutely does give you the creeps. What kind of people are willing to give up American leadership in the world, sacrifice two years of children’s education, wreck small and medium-sized businesses, ruin health care, demoralize a whole population into paths of drug and alcohol abuse? It’s all hard to fathom.

One might suppose that the ruling class would finally decide that we’ve been tortured enough. Somehow it is never enough. And their shameless ways surely disorient anyone of goodwill. How can Fauci seriously go on television yet again to proclaim that any incredulity toward him is nothing but opposition to science? I have to conclude that these people have no conscience. At some point, they will go too far. Maybe we are already at that point."

- dailyreckoning.com

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"

Full screen recommended.

Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"

"A Look to the Heavens"

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

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

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

"An Invisible Man..."

"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination - indeed, everything and anything except me."

- Ralph Ellison, "Prologue to Invisible Man"

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The Poet: David Wagoner, "Getting There"

"Getting There"

"You take a final step and, look, suddenly

You're there. You've arrived

At the one place all your drudgery was aimed for:

This common ground

Where you stretch out, pressing your cheek to sandstone.

What did you want to be?

You'll remember soon.

You feel like tinder under a burning glass,

A luminous point of change.

The sky is pulsing against the cracked horizon,

Holding it firm till the arrival of stars

In time with your heartbeats.

Like wind etching rock, you've made a lasting impression

On the self you were,

By having come all this way through all this welter

Under your own power,

Though your traces on a map would make an unpromising

Meandering lifeline.

What have you learned so far? You'll find out later,

Telling it haltingly like a dream,

That lost traveler's dream under the last hill

Where through the night you'll take your time out of mind

To unburden yourself

Of elements along elementary paths

By the break of morning.

You've earned this worn-down, hard, incredible sight

Called Here and Now.

Now, what you make of it means everything,

Means starting over:

The life in your hands is neither here nor there

But getting there,

So you're standing again and breathing, beginning another

Journey without regret

Forever, being your own unpeaceable kingdom,

The end of endings."

~ David Wagoner

"It Becomes Sad..."

"Why does truth carry such a dreadful face? Why does subjugation carry

such a happy mask? It becomes sad when people understand that they

can lead a better life as long as they bow their heads, ignoring the truth."

- Lionel Suggs

“Life Lessons From a Psychiatrist Who’s Been Listening to People’s Problems For Decades”

“Life Lessons From a Psychiatrist Who’s Been

Listening to People’s Problems For Decades”

by Thomas Oppong

“How you approach life says a lot about who you are. As I get deeper into my late 30s I have learned to focus more on experiences that bring meaning and fulfilment to my life. I try to consistently pursue life goals that will make me and my closest relations happy; a trait that many individuals search for their entire lives. Nothing gives a person inner wholeness and peace like a distinct understanding of where they are going, how they can get there, and a sense of control over their actions.

Seneca once said, “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.” “No people can be truly happy if they do not feel that they are choosing the course of their own life,” states the World Happiness Report 2012. The report also found that having this freedom of choice is one of the six factors that explain why some people are happier than others.

In his best-selling first book, “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now”, Dr Gordon Livingston, a psychiatrist who’s been listening to people’s problems for decades, revealed thirty bedrock truths about life, and how best to live it. In his capacity as a psychiatrist, Dr Livingston listened to people talk about their lives and the many ways people induced unhappiness on themselves. In his book, he brings his insight and wisdom to the subjects of happiness, fear and courage.

“Life’s two most important questions are “Why?” and “Why not?” The trick is knowing which one to ask.” Acquiring some understanding of why we do things is often a prerequisite to change. This is especially true when talking about repetitive patterns of behavior that do not serve us well. This is what Socrates meant when he said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” That more of us do not take his advice is testimony to the hard work and potential embarrassment that self-examination implies.”

Most people operate on autopilot, doing the same things today that didn’t work yesterday. They rarely stop to measure the impact of their actions on themselves and others, and how those actions affect their total well-being. They are caught in a cycle. And once you get caught in the loop, it can be difficult to break free and do something meaningful. Past behavior is the most reliable predictor of future behavior.

If your daily actions and choices are making you unhappy, make a deliberate choice to change direction. No matter how bleak or desperate a situation may appear to look, you always have a choice. “People often come to me asking for medication. They are tired of their sad mood, fatigue, and loss of interest in things that previously gave them pleasure. ”…“Their days are routine: unsatisfying jobs, few friends, lots of boredom. They feel cut off from the pleasures enjoyed by others.

Here is what I tell them: The good news is that we have effective treatments for the symptoms of depression; the bad news is that medication will not make you happy. Happiness is not simply the absence of despair. It is an affirmative state in which our lives have both meaning and pleasure.” “In general we get, not what we deserve, but what we expect,” he says.

Most people know what is good for them, they know what will make them feel better. They don’t avoid meaningful life habits because of ignorance of their value, but because they are no longer “motivated” to do them, Dr Livingston found. They are waiting until they feel better. Frequently, it’s a long wait, he says. Life is too short to wait for a great day to invest in better life experiences.

Most unhappiness is self-induced, Dr Livingston found. “The three components of happiness are something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to. Think about it. If we have useful work, sustaining relationships, and the promise of pleasure, it is hard to be unhappy. I use the term “work” to encompass any activity, paid or unpaid, that gives us a feeling of personal significance. If we have a compelling avocation that lends meaning to our lives, that is our work, ” says Dr Livingston.

Many experiences in life that bring happiness are in your control. The more choices you are able to exercise, and control, the happier you are likely to be. “Happiness is an inside job. Don’t assign anyone else that much power over your life,” says Mandy Hale. Many people wait for something to happen or someone to help them live their best lives. They expect others to make them happy. They think they have lost the ability to improve their lives.

The thing that characterizes those who struggle emotionally is that they have lost, or believe they have lost, their ability to choose those behaviors that will make them happy, says Dr Livingston. You are responsible for your own life experiences, whether you are seeking a meaningful life or a happy life. If you expect others to make you happy, you will always be disappointed.

You can consistently choose actions that could become everyday habits. It takes time, but it’s an investment that will be worth your while. “Virtually all the happiness-producing processes in our lives take time, usually a long time: Learning new things, changing old behaviors, building new relationships, raising children. This is why patience and determination are among life’s primary virtues,”

Most people are stuck in life because of fear. Fear of everything outside their safe zones. Your mind has a way of rising to the occasion. Challenge it, and it will reward you. Your determination to overcome fear and discouragement constitutes the only effective antidote to that feeling on unhappiness you don’t want. Dr Livingston explains. “The most secure prisons are those we construct for ourselves. I frequently ask people who are risk-averse, “What is the biggest chance you have ever taken?” People begin to realize what “safe” lives they have chosen to lead.”

“Everything we are afraid to try, all our unfulfilled dreams, constitute a limitation on what we are and could become. Usually it is fear and its close cousin, anxiety, that keep us from doing those things that would make us happy. So much of our lives consists of broken promises to ourselves. The things we long to do — educate ourselves, become successful in our work, fall in love — are goals shared by all. Nor are the means to achieve these things obscure. And yet we often do not do what is necessary to become the people we want to be.”

As you increasingly install experiences of acceptance, gratitude, accomplishment, and feeling that there’s a fullness in your life rather than an emptiness or a scarcity, you will be able to deal with the issues of life better.

Closing thoughts: Dr Livingston’s words feel true and profound. The real secret to a happy life is selective attention, he says. If you choose to focus your awareness and energy on things and people that bring you pleasure and satisfaction, you have a very good chance of being happy in a world full of unhappiness, uncertainty, and fear."

- https://medium.com/

"It’s Going to Be a Long, Cold Winter"

"It’s Going to Be a Long, Cold Winter"

by Bill Bonner

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – We continue our history of America’s Nightmare Winter. By way of prelude, here’s CBS News: "After California became the first U.S. state to ban gas-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers earlier this year, more states, including New York and Illinois, are mulling over similar measures."

And this from The Washington Post: "Roughly 45 percent of households are being hurt by price increases, according to a survey of nearly 1,600 people conducted Nov. 3 to Nov. 16. About 1 in 10 said that hardship was severe enough to affect their standard of living, while 35 percent described the hardship as “moderate.”

The effects were most acute in lower-income households, with 71 percent of those making less than $40,000 a year saying they experienced hardship, compared with 47 percent for middle-income households and 29 percent of those considered upper-income. “Most low-income households are already hurting,” said Mohamed Younis, editor in chief of Gallup. “You can only imagine what that’s going to look like in the next few months if this continues to get worse.”

This winter will bring hardships for the poorest among us. But today, we look at another winter – harder… longer… and further in the future. What are the odds of a staggering economic collapse… political and social chaos… hyperinflation… and revolution? One in two? One in ten? We don’t know. But let us continue the tale of “history” we started yesterday. You decide how likely it is.

Flying Blind: In the 2020s, major governments throughout the world were committed to two remarkably implausible policies, highlighted by the news items above. First, they were “transitioning” to a post-fossil-fuel economy, setting a specific temperature target for the planet.

Second, they were funding their programs with “printing press” money. None of the major powers – Europe, America, Japan, or China – had any real money. The real money – backed by gold – was eliminated in 1971, when Richard Nixon closed the gold window. Thenceforth, the U.S. government would no longer honor its promise to redeem dollars for gold presented by foreign central banks.

Since then, they were all flying blind. And that worked, more or less, for the first three decades. Old habits, principles, and customs prevented politicians and central bankers from running wild. Deficits were mostly contained. “Printing press money” was still a rarity. In the late 1990s, America’s Debt-to-GDP ratio was actually going down. But gradually, time-tested reflexes gave way to empire building, “stimulus” fantasies… and free-money temptations. By 2021, all the world’s major economies were running large deficits and headed for bankruptcy.

Over-Reliance on Renewables: And yet, rather than reverse course and let them recover, policymakers doubled down – especially in the energy sector. Internal combustion engines were penalized. Electric vehicles were subsidized. Power plants were decommissioned. Oil pipelines were shut down. New oil wells weren’t drilled. Storage tanks were abandoned. To make matters worse, inflation hindered investment in all new energy projects. With the political and financial sands shifting beneath their feet, nobody wanted to build new power plants or refineries.

Energy from solar and wind struggled to keep up. Unlike oil-fired generators, they were idle much of the time. At night, for example, the solar panels were worthless. And there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t be idle just when you needed them.

In theory, you could make up for it by increasing capacity, giving yourself a comfortable “margin of error.” But that would mean an even greater “investment” in new power sources. In practice, it was impossible to develop enough generating and storage capacity from renewables to replace the more efficient output of market-driven, tried-and-true, old-fashioned gas, oil, and coal.

Supply Strangled By Bureaucracy: And it was a matter of life and death. After all, the world only used roughly 50 exajoules of energy in 1900 – to support 1.6 billion humans. By 2021, it was using 11 times as much – to support five times as many people. What would happen when the power suddenly went out?

The energy system, 1900 to 2020, was developed in a mostly free economy with – until 1971 – reliable money. It had been built out without subsidies or tax credits… and readily adapted to supply/demand pressures. The post-2020 “transition” system was different. It was directed by bureaucrats, regulators, politicians, and meddlers. It was shaped by government, not private enterprise. But government is very different from the private sector. Businesses earn money by providing goods and services – such as gasoline – at a profit. Government never produces a single gallon of gas. Instead, it regulates… restricts… curbs… and controls. It subtracts, in other words; it doesn’t add.

Systemic Breakdown: On paper, the supply of energy – much of it coming from highly subsidized, inefficient, and centrally controlled new “renewable” sources – was adequate. In practice, the system – like the Soviet economy – was rigid and brittle. Then, one especially cold night… with no sun… and no wind – and temperatures falling below zero in half the country – it failed completely. The power system collapsed. Valves froze up. Fuses blew. Ice-covered wires fell. The dark passage had begun. Stay tuned."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

The Daily "Near You?"

Scottsboro, Alabama. USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Freely Read Online: Gregory David Roberts, “Shantaram”

“Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope.

Sometimes we cry with everything except tears.

In the end that’s all we have – to hold on tight until dawn.”

- Gregory David Roberts, “Shantaram”

“Shantaram”

by Gregory David Roberts

“Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in “Shantaram,” a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel. Shantaram is the name given Mr. Lindsay, or Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero. It means “man of God’s peace,” which is what the Indian people know of Lin. What they do not know is that prior to his arrival in Bombay he escaped from an Australian prison where he had begun serving a 19-year sentence. He served two years and leaped over the wall. He was imprisoned for a string of armed robberies peformed to support his heroin addiction, which started when his marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his daughter. All of that is enough for several lifetimes, but for Greg Roberts, that’s only the beginning.

He arrives in Bombay with little money, an assumed name, false papers, an untellable past, and no plans for the future. Fortunately, he meets Prabaker right away, a sweet, smiling man who is a street guide. He takes to Lin immediately, eventually introducing him to his home village, where they end up living for six months. When they return to Bombay, they take up residence in a sprawling illegal slum of 25,000 people and Linbaba becomes the resident “doctor.” With a prison knowledge of first aid and whatever medicines he can cadge from doing trades with the local Mafia, he sets up a practice and is regarded as heaven-sent by these poor people who have nothing but illness, rat bites, dysentery, and anemia. He also meets Karla, an enigmatic Swiss-American woman, with whom he falls in love. Theirs is a complicated relationship, and Karla’s connections are murky from the outset.

Roberts is not reluctant to wax poetic; in fact, some of his prose is downright embarrassing. Throughout the novel, however, all 944 pages of it, every single sentence rings true. He is a tough guy with a tender heart, one capable of what is judged criminal behavior, but a basically decent, intelligent man who would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially anyone he knew. He is a magnet for trouble, a soldier of fortune, a picaresque hero: the rascal who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. His story is irresistible. Stay tuned for the prequel and the sequel.” 

– Valerie Ryan

Freely read “Shantaram” online, by Gregory David Roberts, here:

- https://www.readanybook.com/online/565858

There is a download option for registered users.

"Even Those Dread And Hated Enemies..."

"The cloak of the past is cut from patches of feeling, and sewn with rebus threads. Most of the time, the best we can do is wrap it around ourselves for comfort or drag it behind us as we struggle to go on. But everything has its cause and its meaning. Every life, every love, every action and feeling and thought has its reason and significance: its beginning, and the part it plays in the end. Sometimes, we do see. Sometimes, we see the past so clearly, and read the legend of its parts with such acuity, that every stitch of time reveals its purpose, and a kind of message is enfolded in it. Nothing in any life, no matter how well or poorly lived, is wiser than failure or clearer than sorrow. And in the tiny, precious wisdom that they give to us, even those dread and hated enemies, suffering and failure, have their reason and their right to be."

- Gregory David Roberts, "Shantaram"

Gregory Mannarino, "The Great Reset Is To A Tyrannical Slave System... GLOBAL Economic Meltdown"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 12/3/21:

"The Great Reset Is To A Tyrannical Slave System...

 GLOBAL Economic Meltdown"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Get Ready for the Foreclosure Festival - It’s About to Begin"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly AM 12/3/21:

"Get Ready for the Foreclosure Festival - It’s About to Begin"

"There are no forbearance programs anymore. People must pay their mortgages. There’s a 67% increase in foreclosure proceedings. It’s really sad that people are in this position. People have kicked the can down the road and not worked on this until right now. It may be too late for them."

"Fury, Rising"

"Fury, Rising"

by Jim Kunstler

"If anything, political pressures may prevent the White House from going far enough, Binghamton University political science professor Olga Shvetsova argued. In order to halt the virus, she said vaccines must not only be mandated but that fully vaccinated people need to be tested regularly to stop the emergence of new variants. “We cannot allow people to be sick but not too sick,” Shvetsova said. “That’s what created delta, and that’s what created omicron. It’s not only about preventing people from being terribly sick. It’s about preventing them from being sick in invisible ways.”

- As reported in the Washington Examiner

"Of course, Ms. Shvetsova is not a medical doctor, and it’s reasonable to doubt that politics represents any kind of science at all, but just a pretense of it in order to affect some academic respectability. Which prompts one to wonder: what shreds of respectability remain in the universities run by Jacobin maniacs? (Answer: almost none, and zero cred, too, lately, and note that having surrendered entirely to this kind of intellectual racketeering, higher ed is just another major institution whirling around the drain.)

There’s a lot to marvel at, though, in the manifold insanity of Ms. Shvetsova’s quoted views, starting with its overall totalitarian gusto. No ambiguity there about the need for coercion, for pushing people around, with no reference to legal niceties. (Note, political science is a field apart from the study of law, which doesn’t pretend to be science.) The bit I love most is: “It’s about preventing [citizens] from being sick in invisible ways.” Huh…? You know what else is invisible? Your thoughts. You could be harboring hostile thoughts about the folks who seek to push you around, which could lead to the accusation that you are an enemy of the state!

Prof. Shvetsova was not the only one out of her lane in the Covid thunderdome this week. Wall Street shill Jim Cramer took a few minutes off of pimping stocks on his CNBC-TV show to declare that the US army should be used to force vaccinations on the vax-resistant. “Acting President” Anthony Fauci and his political advisor, “Joe Biden,” used the hatching of Omicron to beseech the multiply-vaxxed to booster-up - overlooking the perhaps embarrassing reality that the mRNA vaccines do nothing to stop the spread of Covid, though they do have quite a downside in relative harm from adverse reactions.

For instance, a new study and warning from the American Heart Association concluded that mRNA vaccines dramatically increase risk of developing heart disease between 11 and 25 percent. Twitter slapped an “unsafe” warning on anyone attempting to transmit this news on its sacred app. Unsafe to whom, or what? Why, to the sacred narrative, of course, which is that the USA must be kept in a never-ending paranoid uproar over Covid - certainly until at least past the 2022 elections, in order to maintain all the emergency main-in ballot provisions that enable voting fraud.

Meanwhile, the emerging reality of Omicron is that it has a much lower transmission coefficient than its predecessor, the Delta variant, and produces only mild symptoms of illness. Someone should tell Acting President Fauci that Halloween is over and he can stop trying to scare everybody. Anyway, two federal judges rendered decisions striking down Acting President Fauci’s vaccine mandates. The second ruling, penned by U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty of Louisiana’s Western District, featured a particularly lusty and detailed diagnosis of the mandate’s constitutional impropriety, and extended the injunction against vax mandates to all fifty states.

This leaves the USA in a distinctly exceptional position among the other nations within the loose confederation of Western Civ. Thanks to manifestations of sanity on the federal bench, the vax mandates appear DOA here now, while Austria and Germany have rushed into full-blown psychotic fugues over Omicron, announcing harsh punishments for their unvaxxed and, coincidentally, wrecking another Christmas season among people whose Teutonic devotion to the ancient pagan solstice rites runs hot and deep. There is obvious awareness among German vax protesters, as seen on their T-shirts and placards, that 2021 is looking like a nauseating rerun of 1933. Is it not amazing that the German politicians don’t see that in their diktats?

The Covid psychosis is just a reassignment of the Trump derangement, which was provoked by the generalized anxiety about collapsing industrial societies. The reasons for the collapse are not hard to grok: a declining resource base, especially affordable, economically plausible oil, a financial system purposefully detached from on-the-ground material reality, and sets of grossly foolish over-investments in complexity in the techno-narcissistic effort to work-around all that.

The epic Trump and Covid hysterias (with a side-dish of climate neurosis) managed to distract the masses from those essential economic quandaries. But now the breakdown in all the channels of production, trade, and money is roaring in our faces, and just at Christmas time, too, when the sore-beset people seek just a few weeks’ respite from their travail and despair. Don’t be surprised by their rising fury over this in the days ahead."

- https://kunstler.com/

"How It Really Is"