"The Moral of the Story"

"The Moral of the Story"

by Bill Bonner

Dublin, Ireland..."As Mick, our old stone-mason pal, put it, one stone leads to the next one. And it’s always the next stone you have to worry about. Here’s the Washington Post, with the latest news: “Kiara Age moved in less than a year ago and now it’s time to move again: Rent on her two-bedroom apartment in Henderson, Nevada, is rising 23 percent to nearly $1,600 a month, making it impossibly out of reach for the single mother.

Age makes $15 an hour working from home as a medical biller while also caring for her 1-year-old son, because she can’t afford child care. By the time she pays rent - which takes up more than half of her salary - and buys groceries, there’s little left over. “I am trying to figure out what I can do,” said Age, 32, who also has an 8-year-old daughter. “Rent is so high that I can’t afford anything.” Yes, dear reader, as all flesh sooner or later discovers: tomorrow is when the hangovers, bills, and regrets appear.

Double Whammy: And here’s an old Diary Dictum: tomorrow doesn’t always bring the future you want or expect; more often, it brings the future you deserve. Poor Ms. Age is the victim of two bad situations - one, of her own making… the other made by America’s elite. Now, she is trying to lay her stone on a very rough patch of wall. Taking care of children is difficult enough for a well-united couple, working on it together. Trying to take care of two children alone while also working to support them at a $15-an-hour job seems like asking for trouble.

Nowhere does the Post dare to mention that the poor woman was in a tough bind already. Her apartment already cost her about $1,300 a month. $15 an hour is only about $2,500 a month… which meant that the apartment was already taking half her earnings.

So… her lifestyle choices might be considered, ‘mistake #1.’ But wait. They won’t tell you this in the mainstream media; it would be ‘blaming the victim,’ they say; ‘dreadful, middle-class moralizing!’ “Lie down with dogs and you will get up with fleas,” say the old-timers. “Fix the roof when the sun is shining,” is their advice. “Leave a rake, upturned in the yard, and you are bound to step on it,“ they add.

Poor Ms. Age’s foot hurts. Alas, that’s how the world works. There’s always a ‘moral to the story’ and you ignore it at your peril.

Supply, meet Demand: Then, there’s ‘mistake #2’… According to the Washington Post, rents are rising 40% in Austin, Texas, 35% in New York, and 29% in Orlando. Where did that inflation come from? Nowhere? On the supply side… Didn’t the Trump government declare a ‘state of emergency’ in March 2020? Didn’t local governments ‘lock down’ much of their economies? Didn’t health authorities create a panic, in which even young healthy people – who were never in any real danger from the COVID – cowered in their houses?

And on the demand side… During that time – when houses weren’t being built – didn’t the feds also add $5 trillion to the Fed’s balance sheet… and $12 trillion to America’s national debt – sending out ‘stimmie’ checks and PPP giveaway ‘loans?’ And didn’t the money supply – as measured by the Fed’s “M2” – go up 38% since the close of 2019?

And what would you expect? As night follows day… and as politicians betray their voters – what could be more predictable? What might be the moral of this story?

Inflation, of course. The Washington Post continues: Average rents rose 14% last year, to $1,877 a month, with cities like Austin, New York and Miami notching increases of as much as 40%, according to real estate firm Redfin. Nowhere in the article is there a single word about how the feds caused the housing price inflation. Yesterday seems to only exist as a place to showcase evils the old-timers never thought of – inequality and racism.

As for tomorrow, not to worry… the Biden Team is on the case. It will salve the hurts of the homeless with… what else… more of other peoples’ money. And it will divert and distract the public from the real cause: ‘Are you homeless? Of course, it’s not your fault. And it’s not our fault either. It’s the fault of those awful racists!’

Biden has appointed a political hack and racism monger to head up its homelessness initiatives. Bloomberg: "Jeff Olivet will serve as the executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, an office that coordinates the work of 19 federal agencies to address the housing crisis.

Olivet is the cofounder of an anti-racist consultancy, Racial Equity Partners. He is also the former chief executive officer of the Center for Social Innovation (now C4 Innovations), a company that provides training and technical guidance for housing groups and social providers to confront racism and other systemic issues. Olivet has experience working directly with homeless people as a street outreach worker, case manager and housing coordinator."

Will there be consequences? Of course. But maybe not those the Biden administration hoped for."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

"The Government’s Kill Switch for Your Car, Your Freedoms and Your Life"

"The Government’s Kill Switch for Your Car,

 Your Freedoms and Your Life"

by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead

“A psychotic world we live in. The madmen are in power.”

- Philip K. Dick, "The Man in the High Castle"

"If we haven’t learned by now, we should beware of anything the government insists is for our own good. Take the Biden Administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Given the deteriorating state of the nation’s infrastructure (aging highways and bridges, outdated railways and airports, etc.), which have been neglected for years in order to fund America’s endless wars abroad, it would seem like an obvious and long overdue fix.

Yet there’s a catch. There’s always a catch. Tucked into the whopping $1 trillion bipartisan spending bill is a provision requiring automakers to prescribe a “federal motor vehicle safety standard for advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology, and for other purposes.”

As expected, the details are disconcertingly vague, which leaves the government with a wide berth to sow the seeds of mischief and mayhem. For instance, nowhere does the legislation indicate how such a so-called “kill switch” would work, what constitutes a driver who is “impaired,” and what “other purposes” might warrant the government using such a backdoor kill switch.

These “vehicle kill switches” may be sold to the public as a safety measure aimed at keeping drunk drivers off the roads, but they will quickly become a convenient tool in the hands of government agents to put the government in the driver’s seat while rendering null and void the Constitution’s requirements of privacy and its prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Indeed, when you think about it, these vehicle kill switches are a perfect metaphor for the government’s efforts to not only take control of our cars but also our freedoms and our lives. For too long, we have been captive passengers in a driverless car controlled by the government, losing more and more of our privacy and autonomy the further down the road we go.

Just think of all the ways in which the government has been empowered to dictate what we say, do and think; where we go; with whom we associate; how we raise our families; how we live our lives; what we consume; how we spend our money; how we protect ourselves and our loved ones; and to what extent our rights as individuals can be displaced for the sake of the so-called greater good.

In this way, we have arrived, way ahead of schedule, into the dystopian future dreamed up by such science fiction writers as George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Margaret Atwood and Philip K. Dick.

In keeping with Dick’s darkly prophetic vision of a dystopian police state - which became the basis for Steven Spielberg’s futuristic thriller "Minority Report", which was released 20 years ago- we have been imprisoned in a world in which the government is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful, and if you dare to step out of line, dark-clad police SWAT teams and pre-crime units will crack a few skulls to bring the populace under control.

"Minority Report" is set in the year 2054, but it could just as well have taken place in 2022.

Incredibly, as the various nascent technologies employed and shared by the government and corporations alike - facial recognition, iris scanners, massive databases, behavior prediction software, and so on - are incorporated into a complex, interwoven cyber network aimed at tracking our movements, predicting our thoughts and controlling our behavior, Spielberg’s unnerving vision of the future is fast becoming our reality.

Both worlds - our present-day reality and Minority Report’s celluloid vision of the future - are characterized by widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining, fusion centers, driverless cars, voice-controlled homes, facial recognition systems, cybugs and drones, and predictive policing (pre-crime) aimed at capturing would-be criminals before they can do any damage.

Surveillance cameras are everywhere. Government agents listen in on our telephone calls and read our emails. Political correctness - a philosophy that discourages diversity - has become a guiding principle of modern society. The courts have shredded the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. In fact, SWAT teams battering down doors without search warrants and FBI agents acting as a secret police that investigate dissenting citizens are common occurrences in contemporary America.

We are increasingly ruled by multi-corporations wedded to the police state. Much of the population is either hooked on illegal drugs or ones prescribed by doctors. And bodily privacy and integrity has been utterly eviscerated by a prevailing view that Americans have no rights over what happens to their bodies during an encounter with government officials, who are allowed to search, seize, strip, scan, spy on, probe, pat down, taser, and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation.

We’re on the losing end of a technological revolution that has already taken hostage our computers, our phones, our finances, our entertainment, our shopping, our appliances, and now, our cars. As if the government wasn’t already able to track our movements on the nation’s highways and byways by way of satellites, GPS devices, and real-time traffic cameras, performance data recorders, black box recorders and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications will monitor our vehicle’s speed, direction, location, gear selection, brake force, the number of miles traveled and seatbelts use, and transmit this data to other drivers, including the police.

In this Brave New World, there is no communication not spied upon, no movement untracked, no thought unheard. In other words, there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Herded along by drones, smart phones, GPS devices, smart TVs, social media, smart meters, surveillance cameras, facial recognition software, online banking, license plate readers and driverless cars, we are quickly approaching a point of singularity with the interconnected technological metaverse that is life in the American police state.

Every new piece of technologically-enabled gadget we acquire and technologically -boobytrapped legislation that Congress enacts pulls us that much deeper into the sticky snare.

These vehicle kill switches are yet another Trojan Horse: sold to us as safety measures for the sake of the greater good, all the while poised to wreak havoc on what little shreds of autonomy we have left.

As I make clear in my book "Battlefield America: The War on the American People" and in its fictional counterpart "The Erik Blair Diaries", we’re hurtling down a one-way road at mind-boggling speeds to a destination not of our choosing, the terrain is getting more treacherous by the minute, and we’ve passed all the exit ramps. From this point forward, there is no turning back, and the signpost ahead reads “Danger.” Time to buckle up your seatbelts, folks. We’re in for a bumpy ride."

- https://www.rutherford.org/

Gregory Mannarino, "By Design: The US Economy Continues To Collapse, And FED Easy Money Will Not Stop It"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/1/22:

"By Design: The US Economy Continues To Collapse, 

And FED Easy Money Will Not Stop It"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Memory of the Sky"

 

2002, "Memory of the Sky"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“A now famous picture from the Hubble Space Telescope featured Pillars of Creation, star forming columns of cold gas and dust light-years long inside M16, the Eagle Nebula. This false-color composite image views the nearby stellar nursery using data from the Herschel Space Observatory's panoramic exploration of interstellar clouds along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Herschel's far infrared detectors record the emission from the region's cold dust directly.

The famous pillars are included near the center of the scene. While the central group of hot young stars is not apparent at these infrared wavelengths, the stars' radiation and winds carve the shapes within the interstellar clouds. Scattered white spots are denser knots of gas and dust, clumps of material collapsing to form new stars. The Eagle Nebula is some 6,500 light-years distant, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160728.html

Chet Raymo, "The Meaning Of Life"

"The Meaning Of Life"

by Chet Raymo

"There is only one meaning of life, the act of living itself."

– Erich Fromm

"I had heard from a high-school student in the midwest who had read my book 'Skeptics and True Believers,' in which, as you may know, I take to task all forms of faith that lack an empirical basis, including astrology and supernaturalist religion. He writes: "Are we just meaningless beasts roaming a meaningless Earth with the sole purpose of popping out babies so we can raise them to live longer, more meaningless lives?"

A good question, the best question. What we have learned about our place on Earth does indeed suggest that we are beasts, related even in our DNA and molecular chemistry to other animals. And, yes, the driving purpose of all animal life would seem to be "popping out babies." But our uniquely complex human brains allow us to be more than beasts, more than baby-poppers. As far as we know, humans are the most complex thing in the universe, and in our desire to gain reliable knowledge of the universe the universe becomes conscious of itself.

As for myself, I don't need stars or gods to give my life meaning. I work at meaning every day, in the love of family and friends, in caring for my own little pieces of the Earth, in art, in science, and in making myself conscious of the mystery and beauty - and terror - of the cosmos.

"Or is there a possibility that there may be more?" asks my midwestern correspondent. Yes, there is almost certainly more to existence than what we have yet learned. Just think how much more we know than did our pre-scientific ancestors. But that still greater knowledge will have to wait for minds other than my own. My children and grandchildren will know far more than I, and in that growing human storehouse of reliable knowledge I hope they will find some greater measure of meaning.

In the meantime, I attend to the fox that sometimes walks across my windowsill, the morning glory seedlings that reach achingly for the sun, and the moon that hangs like a great milky eye in the sky. Francis Bacon said that what a man would like to be true, he preferentially believes. That's a mistake I try to avoid. I choose instead to believe what my senses tell me to be palpably true."

- http://www.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: Mary Oliver, “White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field”

“White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field”

“Coming down out of the freezing sky

with its depths of light,

like an angel, or a Buddha with wings,

it was beautiful, and accurate,

striking the snow and whatever was there

with a force that left the imprint

of the tips of its wings - five feet apart -

and the grabbing thrust of its feet,

and the indentation of what had been running

through the white valleys of the snow -

and then it rose, gracefully,

and flew back to the frozen marshes

to lurk there, like a little lighthouse,

in the blue shadows -

so I thought:

maybe death isn't darkness, after all,

but so much light wrapping itself around us -

as soft as feathers -

that we are instantly weary of looking, and looking,

and shut our eyes, not without amazement,

and let ourselves be carried,

as through the translucence of mica,

to the river that is without the least dapple or shadow,

that is nothing but light - scalding, aortal light -

in which we are washed and washed

out of our bones.”

- Mary Oliver

"Do What You Can..."

 

"JFK's Executive Order 11100 Abolishing the Federal Reserve"

"JFK's Executive Order 11100 Abolishing the Federal Reserve"

by John P. Curran

“Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution specifically says that Congress is the only body that can "coin money and regulate the value thereof." The US Constitution has never been amended to allow anyone other than Congress to coin and regulate currency. So what’s the Federal Reserve?

In 1910 Senator Nelson Aldrich, then Chairman of the National Monetary Commission, in collusion with representatives of the European central banks, devised a plan to pressure and deceive Congress into enacting legislation that would covertly establish a private central bank. This bank would assume control over the American economy by controlling the issuance of its money. After a huge public relations campaign, engineered by the foreign central banks, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was slipped through Congress during the Christmas recess, with many members of the Congress absent. President Woodrow Wilson, pressured by his political and financial backers, signed it on December 23, 1913. The act created the Federal Reserve System, a name carefully selected and designed to deceive. "Federal" would lead one to believe that this is a government organization. "Reserve" would lead one to believe that the currency is being backed by gold and silver. "System" was used in lieu of the word "bank" so that one would not conclude that a new central bank had been created.

In reality, the act created a private, for profit, central banking corporation owned by a cartel of private banks. The Federal Reserve Bank, a.k.a Federal Reserve System, is a Private Corporation. Black's Law Dictionary defines the "Federal Reserve System" as: "A Network of twelve central banks to which most national banks belong and to which state chartered banks may belong. Membership rules require investment of stock and minimum reserves." Privately-owned banks own the stock of the FED. Who owns the FED? The Rothschilds of London and Berlin; Lazard Brothers of Paris; Israel Moses Seif of Italy; Kuhn, Loeb and Warburg of Germany; and the Lehman Brothers, Goldman, Sachs and the Rockefeller families of New York. Did you know that the FED is the only for-profit corporation in America that is exempt from both federal and state taxes? The FED takes in trillions of dollars per year tax free! The banking families listed above get all that money.

The FED basically works like this: The government granted its power to create money to the FED banks. They create money, then loan it back to the government charging interest. The government levies income taxes to pay the interest on the debt. On this point, it's interesting to note that the Federal Reserve Act and the sixteenth amendment, which gave Congress the power to collect income taxes, were both passed in 1913. The incredible power of the FED over the economy is universally admitted. Any one person or any closely knit group who has a lot of money has a lot of power. Now imagine a group of people who have the power to create money. Imagine the power these people would have. This is exactly what the privately owned FED is!

An often overlooked aspect of John F. Kennedy's attempt to reform American society involves money. Kennedy apparently reasoned that by returning to the Constitution, which states that only Congress shall coin and regulate money, the soaring national debt could be reduced by not paying interest to the bankers of the Federal Reserve System, who print paper money then loan it to the government at interest. He moved in this area on June 4, 1963, by signing Executive Order 11110 which called for the issuance of $4,292,893,815 in United States Notes through the U.S. Treasury rather than the traditional Federal Reserve System. That same day, Kennedy signed a bill changing the backing of one and two dollar bills from silver to gold, adding strength to the weakened U.S. currency.

When Kennedy signed this Order, it returned to the federal government, specifically the Treasury Department, the Constitutional power to create and issue currency- money - without going through the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank. President Kennedy's Executive Order 11110 gave the Treasury Department the explicit authority: "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." This means that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury's vault, the government could introduce new money into circulation based on the silver bullion physically held there. As a result, more than $4 billion in United States Notes were brought into circulation in $2 and $5 denominations. $10 and $20 United States Notes were never circulated but were being printed by the Treasury Department when Kennedy was assassinated.

It appears obvious that President Kennedy knew the Federal Reserve Notes being used as the purported legal currency were contrary to the Constitution of the United States of America. Kennedy knew that if the silver-backed United States Notes were widely circulated, they would have eliminated the demand for Federal Reserve Notes. This is a very simple matter of economics. The USN was backed by silver and the FRN was not backed by anything of intrinsic value. Executive Order 11110 should have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level (virtually all of the nearly $20 trillion in federal debt has been created since 1963) if LBJ or any subsequent President were to enforce it. It would have almost immediately given the U.S. Government the ability to repay its debt without going to the private Federal Reserve Banks and being charged interest to create new "money". Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S.A. the ability to, once again, create its own money backed by silver and realm value worth something.

President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and the United States Notes he had issued were immediately taken out of circulation. Federal Reserve Notes continued to serve as the legal currency of the nation. According to the United States Secret Service, 99% of all U.S. paper "currency" circulating in 1999 are Federal Reserve Notes. It seems very apparent that President Kennedy challenged the "powers that exist behind U.S. and world finance."

Perhaps the assassination of JFK was a warning to all future presidents not to interfere with the private Federal Reserve's control over the creation of money. The Latin phrase, “Cui bono” ("To whose benefit?," literally "as a benefit to whom?”), is frequently applied in determining motive for a crime. Ask yourself, who had the most to lose if Kennedy had lived, and who benefited the most from Kennedy’s assassination? The answer is the same to both questions."

- http://rense.com/general76/jfkvs.htm

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"No man did more to expose the power of the FED than Louis T. McFadden, who was the Chairman of the House Banking Committee back in the 1930s. In describing the FED, he remarked in the Congressional Record, House pages 1295 and 1296 on June 10, 1932: "Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government Board, has cheated the Government of the United States and he people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt. The depredations and the iniquities of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks acting together have cost this country enough money to pay the national debt several times over. This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of the United States; has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our Government. It has done this through the maladministration of that law by which the Federal Reserve Board, and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it."

Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are not Government institutions, departments, or agencies. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers. Those 12 private credit monopolies were deceitfully placed upon this country by bankers who came here from Europe and who repaid us for our hospitality by undermining our American institutions.

The FED basically works like this: The government granted its power to create money to the FED banks. They create money, then loan it back to the government charging interest. The government levies income taxes to pay the interest on the debt. On this point, it's interesting to note that the Federal Reserve Act and the sixteenth amendment, which gave congress the power to collect income taxes, were both passed in 1913. The incredible power of the FED over the economy is universally admitted. Some people, especially in the banking and academic communities, even support it. On the other hand, there are those, such as President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, that have spoken out against it. His efforts were spoken about in Jim Marrs' 1990 book "Crossfire":

"Another overlooked aspect of Kennedy's attempt to reform American society involves money. Kennedy apparently reasoned that by returning to the constitution, which states that only Congress shall coin and regulate money, the soaring national debt could be reduced by not paying interest to the bankers of the Federal Reserve System, who print paper money then loan it to the government at interest. He moved in this area on June 4, 1963, by signing Executive Order 11110 which called for the issuance of $4,292,893,815 in United States Notes through the U.S. Treasury rather than the traditional Federal Reserve System. That same day, Kennedy signed a bill changing the backing of one and two dollar bills from silver to gold, adding strength to the weakened U.S. currency.

Kennedy's comptroller of the currency, James J. Saxon, had been at odds with the powerful Federal Reserve Board for some time, encouraging broader investment and lending powers for banks that were not part of the Federal Reserve system. Saxon also had decided that non-Reserve banks could underwrite state and local general obligation bonds, again weakening the dominant Federal Reserve banks. In a comment made to a Columbia University class on Nov. 12, 1963, ten days before his assassination, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy allegedly said: "The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the American's freedom and before I leave office, I must inform the citizens of this plight. In this matter, John Fitzgerald Kennedy appears to be the subject of his own book... a true "Profile of Courage."

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Executive Order 11110

AMENDMENT OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 10289 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE PERFORMANCE OF CERTAIN FUNCTIONS AFFECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, it is ordered as follows:

SECTION 1. Executive Order No. 10289 of September 19, 1951, as amended, is hereby further amended — (a) By adding at the end of paragraph 1 thereof the following subparagraph (j): "(j) The authority vested in the President by paragraph (b) of section 43 of the Act of May 12, 1933, as amended (31 U.S.C. 821 (b)), to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury not then held for redemption of any outstanding silver certificates, to prescribe the denominations of such silver certificates, and to coin standard silver dollars and subsidiary silver currency for their redemption," and (b) By revoking subparagraphs (b) and (c) of paragraph 2 thereof. 

SECTION 2. The amendment made by this Order shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil or criminal cause prior to the date of this Order but all such liabilities shall continue and may be enforced as if said amendments had not been made."

JOHN F. KENNEDY

THE WHITE HOUSE

June 4, 1963

○

Once again, Executive Order 11110 is still valid. According to Title 3, United States Code, Section 301 dated January 26, 1998: The 1974 and 1987 amendments, added after Kennedy's 1963 amendment, did not change or alter any part of Kennedy's EO 11110. A search of Presidential Directives has shown no reference to any alterations, suspensions, or changes to EO 11110."

- http://www.lust-for-life.org/

"We Have Broken the Supply Chain - Crime Spree Fees Being Charged"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly PM 2/1/22:

"We Have Broken the Supply Chain - 

Crime Spree Fees Being Charged"

"We have broken the supply chain. Nothing is right in the market right now. Stores and restaurants are charging “Crime Spree” fees. There are hundreds of thousands of fake disability fees in California."

Streets of Philadelphia, “True Story: After Snow Storm, January, 2022"

Full screen recommended.

Streets of Philadelphia,

 “True Story: After Snow Storm, January, 2022"

"Human Progress..."

"It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone - that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge."

- H. L. Mencken, 1929

○

"It is extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut,

 with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it's just as well; 

and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes

 life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome."

-Joseph Conrad, "Lord Jim"

The Daily "Near You?"

Irwin, Pennsylvania, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Gregory Mannarino, "Alert! The Fed. Is Already Backpedaling... And This Is Very Bad For The Stock Market"

Gregory Mannarino, 2/1/22:

"Alert! The Fed. Is Already Backpedaling...

 And This Is Very Bad For The Stock Market"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Empty Shelves At Meijer! - What's Next!? - Rising Prices!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 2/1/22:

"Empty Shelves At Meijer! - What's Next!? - Rising Prices!"

"In today's vlog we go shopping at Meijer only to find empty shelves everywhere! This is not good as many stores are struggling to get in products. Trying to find any deals we can, we also notice that prices on groceries are skyrocketing!"

"Farming Insider Warns The Coming Food Shortages Are Going To Be Far Worse Than We're Being Told"

"Farming Insider Warns The Coming Food Shortages

 Are Going To Be Far Worse Than We're Being Told"

by Michael Snyder

"The information that I am about to share with you is extremely alarming, but I have always endeavored to never sugarcoat things for my readers. Right now, there are shortages of certain items in grocery stores across the United States, and food supplies have gotten very tight all over the globe. I have repeatedly warned that this is just the beginning, but I didn’t realize how dire things have already gotten until I received an email from a farming insider that I have corresponded with over the years. I asked him if I could publicly share some of the information that he was sharing with me, and he said that would be okay as long as I kept his name out of it.

According to this farming insider, dramatically increased costs for fertilizer will make it impossible for many farmers to profitably plant corn this year. The following is an excerpt from an email that he recently sent me…

“Things for 2022 are interesting (and scary). Input costs for things like fertilizer, liquid nitrogen and seeds are like triple and quadruple the old prices. It will not be profitable to plant this year. Let me repeat, the economics will NOT work. Our plan, is to drop about 700 acres of corn off and convert to soybeans (they use less fertilizer, and we also have chicken manure from that operation). Guess what? We are not the only ones with those plans. Already there is a shortage of soybean seeds, so we will see how that will work out. The way I see it, there will be a major grain shortage later in the year, especially with corn. I mean, we are small with that. What about these people in the midwest who have like 10,000 acres of corn? This will not be good.”

Once I received that message, I wrote him back with some questions that I had. In response, he expanded on his comments in a subsequent email… "As for the farming, I see it getting bad. Things like fertilizer and liquid nitrogen have tripled and quadrupled in price. Yes commodity prices are up, but that certainly wont cover the new increased input costs. We are in NC, so while certainly not like the midwest, we still grow grain. The midwest of course will have these same higher input costs as well.

Corn for example, typically takes about 600 pounds of fertilizer per acre, plus 50 gallons of liquid nitrogen. Times that by many acres and thats a lot of money. Soybeans take much less. The plan for us, and most others around here, is to drastically cut corn acres and switch to soybeans. Problem is, there is apparently a soybean seed shortage because others have this plan as well. We were lucky enough to pre buy enough to do it. However, most people, especially younger farmers, or farmers where that is all they do, probably don’t have the money to front like that.

The way I see it, a corn shortage will come. I guess there could possibly be a glut of soybeans, but remember that could depend on the seed being available. I guess there are other alternatives, maybe milo, oats, or barley. Of course the corn market is much larger. Think animal feed and ethanol. I mean for animals, soybeans are used too, but its a mix. What happens to the animal producers who depend on reasonably priced corn? I just don’t see how it can end well. I mean, even if we end up with plenty of soybeans, even a glut, then you have a busted market for that. I don’t know. There just isnt much history to base any of this on. I just see it hurting both grain farmers, and animal farmers, and also translating to more shortages and price increases for consumers who buy the end products."

I was stunned when I first read that. Corn is one of the foundational pillars of our food supply. If you go to the grocery store and start reading through the ingredients of various products, you will quickly discover that corn is in just about everything in one form or another. So what is our country going to look like if a severe corn shortage actually happens? I don’t even want to think about that.

Of course fertilizer prices are not just going through the roof here in the United States. In South America, high fertilizer prices are going to dramatically affect coffee production… "Christina Ribeiro do Valle, who comes from a long line of coffee growers in Brazil, is this year paying three times what she paid last year for the fertilizer she needs. Coupled with a recent drought that hit her crop hard, it means Ms. do Valle, 75, will produce a fraction of her Ribeiro do Valle brand of coffee, some of which is exported. There is also a shortage of fertilizer. “This year, you pay, then put your name on a waiting list, and the supplier delivers it when he has it,” she said." If you love to drink coffee in the morning, you will soon be paying much more for that privilege.

Over in Africa, fertilizer prices could result in “30 million metric tons less food produced”… "Fertilizer demand in sub-Saharan Africa could fall 30% in 2022, according to the International Fertilizer Development Center, a global nonprofit organization. That would translate to 30 million metric tons less food produced, which the center says is equivalent to the food needs of 100 million people. “Lower fertilizer use will inevitably weigh on food production and quality, affecting food availability, rural incomes and the livelihoods of the poor,” said Josef Schmidhuber, deputy director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s trade and markets division."

Where in the world are we going to get enough food to replace “the food needs of 100 million people”? This is beyond serious. Basically, the stage is being set for the sort of historic global crisis that I have been relentlessly warning about. Many Americans had assumed that even if the rest of the world was suffering that we would be immune. But now there are widespread shortages all over the nation, and the Wall Street Journal just published a major article entitled “U.S. Food Supply Is Under Pressure, From Plants To Store Shelves”.

This is really happening. In Washington D.C., residents are being instructed to “just buy what you need and leave some for others”… “If you’re hitting the grocery store to prepare for winter weather, please just buy what you need and leave some for others! You may have noticed empty shelves in some stores due to national supply chain issues, but there is no need to buy more than you normally would.”

What would have been unimaginable just a few years ago is now making headlines on a daily basis. Of course it isn’t just our food supply that is under threat. As Victor Davis Hansen has aptly noted, our country is now in the process of undergoing a “systems collapse”…"In modern times, as in ancient Rome, several nations have suffered a “systems collapse.” The term describes the sudden inability of once-prosperous populations to continue with what had ensured the good life as they knew it. Abruptly, the population cannot buy, or even find, once plentiful necessities. They feel their streets are unsafe. Laws go unenforced or are enforced inequitably. Every day things stop working. The government turns from reliable to capricious if not hostile."

A lot of people are going to be caught off guard by the pace of change. Things are shifting so rapidly that it really is hard to keep up with it all unless you are paying very close attention. Now that you have been exposed to the information in this article, please don’t go back to sleep. This is not a drill. We really are heading into a nightmare scenario, and I strongly urge you to act accordingly."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

"Skyrocketing Fertilizer Prices Could Spark Widespread Global Famines Unlike Anything We Have Seen In Modern History"

"Skyrocketing Fertilizer Prices Could Spark Widespread 

Global Famines Unlike Anything We Have Seen In Modern History"

by Michael Snyder

"I am going to try to make as much noise about this crisis as I can, because we have never faced anything like this in modern times. Global fertilizer prices have tripled, and we are being warned that this is going to have a catastrophic impact on food production all over the world. On Monday, an article that I wrote about this went viral all over the Internet. On Zero Hedge alone, my article has been viewed more than a quarter of a million times. The reason why the article is so popular is because the corporate media in the United States is largely ignoring this story. But it should be front page news all over the country, because this is going to affect every man, woman and child on the entire planet.

Some experts did warn us about this in advance. For example, a European CEO told the media the following all the way back in November…“I want to say this loud and clear right now, that we risk a very low crop in the next harvest,” said Svein Tore Holsether, the CEO and president of the Oslo-based company. “I’m afraid we’re going to have a food crisis.”

Holsether says that a food crisis is coming because the cost to produce a ton of ammonia has gotten nearly ten times higher…"In Europe, the natural-gas benchmark hit an all-time high in September, with the price more than tripling from June to October alone. Yara is a major producer of ammonia, a key ingredient in synthetic fertilizer, which increases crop yields. The process of creating ammonia currently relies on hydropower or natural gas. “To produce a ton of ammonia last summer was $110,” said Holsether. “And now it’s $1,000. So it’s just incredible.”

In order to fix this, we need to solve the global energy crisis. Unfortunately, as I have been repeatedly warning my readers, the global energy crisis is only going to get worse. So we have a really, really big mess on our hands.

In Africa, many farmers are not going to be able to afford fertilizer at all this year, and it is being projected that this will reduce production by enough “to feed 100 million people”…"With prices tripling over the past 18 months, many farmers are considering whether to forgo purchases of fertilizers this year. That leaves a market long touted for its growth potential set to shrink by almost a third, according to Sebastian Nduva, program manager at researcher group AfricaFertilizer.Org."

That could potentially curb cereals output by 30 million tons, enough to feed 100 million people, he said. To make sure that their people won’t starve, African governments will need to import massive amounts of food from elsewhere…“We are likely to see a scenario where yields are depressed and this will mean that either the government will have to readjust their budgets and import food or there will be food shortages,” Nduva said."

But agricultural production is going to be way down all over the globe. So almost everyone is going to be looking to import food, and there won’t be a lot of exporters. Many of you may not realize this, but the food crisis has already become quite severe in some parts of Africa… "Food scarcity is already reaching desperate levels in many regions. On Wednesday, Frédérica Andriamanantena, the World Food Program’s Madagascar program manager, appeared on a COP26 panel to describe the severity of the country’s drought and resulting famine. Andriamanantena, who is from Madagascar, said drought had this year reduced the harvest to one-third of the average of the past five years. Where families had once had comfortable meals, children are now subsisting on foraged plants and cactus leaves."

How would you feel if your own children were eating plants and leaves just to survive? Of course this is just the beginning. As I have warned for a very long time, we will soon get to a point where there is not nearly enough food for everybody. What are we going to do then?

And if Russia and Ukraine go to war, that will take this crisis to a completely different level very rapidly…"A major casualty could be even higher food prices. Ukraine and Russia together are heavyweights in global wheat, corn and sunflower oil trade, leaving buyers from Asia to Africa and the Middle East vulnerable to more expensive bread and meat if supplies are disrupted. That would add to food-commodity costs that are already the highest in a decade."

Markets may be remembering what happened in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and wheat prices jumped even though shipments weren’t substantially affected. Russia and Ukraine’s share of world exports has increased since, with nations like Egypt and Turkey reliant on the Black Sea breadbasket. But even without war, global food prices just keep going higher and higher and higher.

In fact, global grain prices have risen approximately 70 percent just since the middle of 2020…"Food inflation in the OECD hit 5.5% in November, the highest reading since 2009, data published by the Paris-based organization show. Grain prices have jumped roughly 70% since mid-2020 as bad weather curbed harvests, China scooped up supplies and a fertilizer crunch added to farmers’ costs."

Sadly, most people don’t even realize that this is happening, because the mainstream media is not really talking about it. Eventually, however, everyone will be talking about this crisis because it is going to be a really, really big deal. There is no way out, and global food supplies are going to get tighter and tighter. I would act on this information while you still can. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the population is going to be absolutely blindsided by what is coming."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"A Geology Insider Explains Why The Global Energy Crisis Is Going To Get Much, Much Worse"

"A Geology Insider Explains Why The Global 

Energy Crisis Is Going To Get Much, Much Worse"

by Michael Snyder

"It is becoming clear that we are in far more trouble than we are being told. In recent months, all forms of traditional energy have become significantly more expensive, and this is fueling price increases all over the planet. This new global energy crisis is directly responsible for the astounding rise in fertilizer prices, it has resulted in a tremendous amount of pain at the pump for millions of average Americans, and since virtually everything that we buy has to be transported it is a major contributing factor to the “inflation boom” that we are currently witnessing. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

I was recently contacted by a geologist that worked in the oil industry for more than a decade. He patiently explained to me why things aren’t going to be getting any better. I asked him if I could share some of what he sent to me with all of you, and he agreed. After reading this, I think that you will agree that it is quite a sobering assessment of the current state of affairs…

"I am a geologist who has worked in the oil industry for over ten years. I was just coming out of school in time for the shale revolution and worked in Denver on the Bakken play in North Dakota, and then I worked the Permian out of Midland. These were the two major shale plays, so I have firsthand knowledge. I now teach environmental science for high-schoolers in Amman, Jordan.

Anyway, back in 2015 I was starting to see reports coming out from analysts that the shale industry would run out of new places to drill shale oil wells in the Permian in 2021. These reports weren’t telling me anything new, just giving me a likely date. You see, shale drilling is drilling in poor rock quality. Prior to shale, we didn’t have to frac wells because the rock quality was great, but we drilled all that good rock up. So, it is really scraping the bottom of the barrel now and way back then, there was a recognition that it wouldn’t last forever. Oil is a limited resource. For a time, it was barely economic to drill shale wells because the margins of drilling in such poor rock was slightly better than what you could make on interest due to quantitative easing policy. Most of the shale companies however, were simply Ponzi schemes and the shale industry lost billions as a whole. 

But the result of this loss of capital was record production. Needless to say, Wall Street figured it out eventually that they were not making money and so the industry has been capital starved. That is one problem, the other is that there really aren’t many more drilling locations. All the good places have been drilled up which is why you don’t see a rush of shale companies returning to drilling even though oil prices are rising fast. This lack of investment will continue to push oil prices higher.

So much of America’s oil production now comes from shale wells. The problem with shale wells is that the oil production declines much faster than wells drilled in what we call “conventional” rock. Conventional oil production has been on the decline for a long time and shale as helped make up for production. The problem is, that now that drilling new wells slows, the rate of decline in oil production will be much steeper. Around the world, many countries that have not invested in shale (because it is sub-economic) have had their conventional resources continue to decline. Venezuela was a major oil exporter, so were Columbia and Mexico. Expect Saudi Arabia to not be far behind. They have been lying for years about just how much oil they really have left.

As you keep pointing out, add wars or natural disasters to this and we are in really big trouble. Oil is the number one resource upon which the entire global economy is built. High oil prices lead directly to bread riots and collapse of governments (think the Arab Spring). Politicians need cheap oil but we won’t be seeing it again. Some people in the industry keep thinking new technology will save us and help us develop new oil plays. They couldn’t be more wrong. The technology for frac’ing was first developed in the 60’s. I can tell you that there is no new technology being developed right now in the oil industry that will save us. Physics and geology are against us on this one, even if we could develop some technology. Wind & solar won’t save us either, it would require a larger investment of materials and energy than we have."

There is no way we are getting out of this. What this means is that you are going to be paying much more to heat your homes. And it means that you are also going to be paying much more to fill up your vehicle at the gas station.

Needless to say, you will be paying a lot more for food too. In fact, food prices are already starting to go bananas. Last week, Kraft Heinz announced that it will soon be raising prices on many of their most popular products by as much as 30 percent… "Kraft Heinz (KHC) said in a recent letter to its customers that it will raise prices in March on dozens of products, including Oscar Mayer cold cuts, hot dogs, sausages, bacon, Velveeta cheese, Maxwell House coffee, TGIF frozen chicken wings, Kool-Aid and Capri Sun drinks. The increases range from 6.6% on 12oz Velveeta Fresh Packs to 30% on a three-pack of Oscar Mayer turkey bacon. Most cold cuts and beef hot dogs will go up around 10% and coffee around 5%. Some Kool-Aid and Capri Sun drink packs will increase by about 20%."

Of course Kraft Heinz is definitely not alone. As our colleagues over at Zero Hedge have aptly pointed out, other major food companies will soon be jacking up prices as well… "Kraft Heinz is just the latest consumer manufacturer to announce plans to boost prices early in the year. Last week, P&G said that it would raise prices on Tide and Gain laundry detergents, Downy fabric softener and Bounce dryer sheets by an average of about 8% in February. Conagra, which makes such brands as Slim Jim, Marie Callender’s and Birds Eye, has said it plans to raise prices later this year."

For a long time, I have been specifically warning that food prices would go completely nuts, and now it is starting to happen right in front of our eyes. And according to a new Gallup survey that was just released, a whopping 79 percent of all Americans expect even more inflation in the months ahead… "Gallup highlighted that the 79% surveyed in their Jan. 3-16 poll, who said they expected inflation to rise, was the highest they’ve measured in the two decades they’ve been asking the question. “In the past, Americans have always been more likely to say inflation will increase rather than decrease, but the current expectation is higher than usual - in fact, it is the highest Gallup has measured in its trend,” the polling organization wrote in its release.

The “experts” at the Federal Reserve thought that they could absolutely flood our financial system with money without any severe consequences. Similarly, our politicians in Washington thought that they could borrow and spend trillions upon trillions of dollars without wrecking our currency. They were both wrong, and now the American people are going to be absolutely shocked by the level of economic pain that we will soon be enduring."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"Goldman: Brace For A Huge Market Crash; A Lot Of Turmoil Is Coming"

Full screen recommended.

"Goldman: Brace For A Huge Market Crash;

 A Lot Of Turmoil Is Coming"

by Epic Economist

"The U.S. stock market continued to plunge today after Goldman Sachs reported bleak quarterly corporate earnings, which accelerated the downward trend for stocks as financial and economic results disappoint. According to Goldman Sachs flow trader Scott Rubner, the nail-biting sentiment is fast spreading across the market after several indexes started to tumble last week and closed on negative again today. The veteran trader forecasts more volatility this week as liquidity gets removed from the market. During Goldman’s trading desk, analysts answered some of the most asked questions and shared some indicators showing that more losses are coming. The analysts argued that the current market consensus remains bearish given that equities cannot sustainably hold a rally during the day, and most gains fade away when the market’s about to close.

“The sell the Rally mode is still in place,” they noted. Goldman also explained why indexes have not been able to hold gains over the past few weeks. Of course, the stock market crash has just begun, but the fact that stocks are not being able to retain their gains and recover means that something is systematically broken in the market, and a reversal, at this point, seems unlikely. First, the Wall Street bank notes that as the sell-off intensifies, the equity supply is much more elevated than investors’ demand for stocks. Goldman’s estimates point out that $15.8 billion of selling happened last Thursday alone, and at least $69.9 billion will be removed from the market by the end of the week.

Adding more turbulence to that scenario, corporate earnings have been quite disappointing, which is inflaming the correction in some sectors and triggering a crash in others. The sharp losses are turning sentiment from negative to “panic-y”. “Since 1987, the Bull vs. Bear index has been at .45, and it is currently at .44. This has only happened 51 times out of 1,799 readings or 2.8% of times,” he said. Rubner says that another catalyst that can potentially spark another sell-off is CNBC’s “Markets in Turmoil” warning. If it sounds the alarm, a broader crash can be set off pretty much overnight, considering that the last time CNBC’s financial experts shared their prediction of an imminent collapse, the downturn followed right away, so that’s one key indicator investors are paying close attention to.

Additionally, as the global economy starts to slow down again and supply chains seem to be grinding to a halt, inflows from foreign countries to U.S. markets have also been compromised, with earnings reports signaling that major global industries are faltering. What’s more, according to Goldman Sachs’ chief U.S. equity strategist, David Kostin, the “substantial” disconnect in the U.S. tech sector is going to bring about a lot more chaos over the next few days. The tech selloff is inflating the market with unprofitable stocks. That has already pushed the Nasdaq into correction territory and several other indexes to the edge of a meltdown.

“The single greatest mispricing in the U.S. equity market is between companies that have high expected revenue growth but low or negative margins, and on the other hand high growth companies with positive or very significantly positive margins. That gap has adjusted dramatically in the last year,” Kostin said. In other words, Kostin believes that tech firms that have had “huge returns but produce little profit are going to continue to be sold by investors after a period of being highly sought after,” and he says that trend will accelerate as the tech bubble deflates.

“That’s a big issue, and so the gap between those two, I’d say, is the single biggest topic of conversation with clients. You’ve had a huge derating of the fast expected revenue growth companies that have low margins, and the argument is probably that there is more to go in that readjustment.” Derating is the term used to define the correction or crash triggered when investors start to rethink the price or value of any given asset, especially when there’s growing uncertainty regarding its prospects.

As more and more traders take off their rose-colored glasses to see reality as it is, bearish sentiment is making a comeback, and that’s a huge sign that a bigger meltdown is approaching. We’re currently witnessing the last stages of a superbubble that can burst at any time – and when it does, stocks will face a brutal crash, to the tune of 80 to 90 percent in the most overvalued sectors. The checklist for a catastrophic bubble burst is now complete, and the countdown for a financial disaster like no other has begun."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

“Stock Market Euphoria Returns, No Fear; Central Banks Have Rigged The World; Cheap Money Has A Price”

Jeremiah Babe, PM 1/31/22:

“Stock Market Euphoria Returns, No Fear; 

Central Banks Have Rigged The World; Cheap Money Has A Price”

"The Narrative Is Collapsing"

"The Narrative Is Collapsing"

by Jim Rickards

"Let’s face it: The public health policy response to the pandemic has been abysmal. I realize I’m not exactly breaking news here, but it can’t be said enough. Even those on the political left, like Bari Weiss, formerly of The New York Times, and comedian Bill Maher are beginning to publicly question mandates and other anti-COVID measures.

Of course the mainstream media have its dutiful lapdogs who still fawn over Dr. Fauci, but what do you expect? Let’s start at the beginning… In January 2020, Dr. Fauci said there was no danger the COVID-19 virus would strike the United States. We were soon overwhelmed with it. Then Fauci told the public not to wear masks. Then he said wear two masks, indoors and out. Fauci and others favored lockdowns and quarantines. Then they said the vaccines would prevent infection and stop the spread of the virus. You could throw away your masks and return to normal living. At the same time, they warned against early treatment with drugs like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, despite numerous studies proving that they’re both safe and effective. And the sooner they’re administered, the better.

Killer Medical Advice: But the public health authorities told COVID sufferers to just wait it out at home until they had trouble breathing. Only then should they go to the hospital. But guess what? By the time you’re having trouble breathing, it’s already too late in many cases because the disease process is so advanced. Besides, if you went to the hospital, there’d be a real chance you’d end up on a ventilator and be treated with remdesivir, a drug that’s shown little effectiveness but that has potentially serious side effects, including heart and kidney damage.

There are a lot of conspiracies surrounding the suppression of early treatment. There’s no need to get into them here, but it’s clear that the public health authorities decided that mass vaccination was the solution, and they knew that effective therapeutics would undermine the rationale for the vaccines.

Remember, the vaccines were granted Emergency Use Authorization, a requirement for which was that no alternate treatments existed. By claiming that there were no effective therapeutics (relying on badly flawed studies a junior high biology student could pick apart), they cleared the way for emergency authorization. They feared that people wouldn’t take their experimental mRNA vaccines if they knew they could take these safe and effective medicines if they got sick. So they went all out to discredit the therapeutics and those who promoted them. They said quacks were pushing a “horse dewormer,” which is ridiculous because people have been taking ivermectin for decades.

But the authorities, colluding with Big Tech, wanted it to appear that vaccination was the only legitimate option. Well, pretty much everything they said was wrong.

You Can’t Vaccinate Your Way out of a Pandemic: The vaccines don’t prevent infection and do not stop the spread. Remember when Fauci and others were calling it a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”? That wasn’t true at all, as statistics from the most highly vaccinated countries like Israel have demonstrated. The vaccinated are getting sick at very high rates, and it appears that they’re more likely to acquire the Omicron variant than the unvaccinated.

It’s not that the vaccines should have no role whatsoever. But they should be targeted toward the elderly and those with serious comorbidities. They shouldn’t be forced on the population as a whole, especially on children who face practically no risk from COVID whatsoever. And it’s entirely possible that mass vaccination is actually creating variants because it forces the virus to evolve rapidly in order to perpetuate itself. Many vaccinologists will tell you that you can’t vaccinate your way out of a pandemic because of that strong possibility. It could actually make it worse.

Aside from the vaccines, masks don’t work because the weave is not tight enough and they’re not worn properly. Lockdowns create indoor incubators for the disease. They don’t stop the virus from spreading. Lockdowns also lead to social isolation and so-called diseases of despair, including those produced by drug and alcohol abuse.

A Tale of Three Cities: Needless to say, lockdowns are also economically destructive. Here’s some dinner reservation data, comparing January 2022 with January 2020: In Manhattan, reservations are down 64%. In San Francisco, they’re down 66%. Both New York and San Francisco have vaccine mandates. Here’s one city that doesn’t: Miami. And reservations in Miami are up 14% compared with January 2020.

See a pattern here? You might, but the politicians running cities like New York and San Francisco don’t, or they simply won’t admit that they’ve been wrong. I’ll leave that for you to decide. The best approach is to be outside without a mask, getting exercise and fresh air. Boosting your immune system is probably the best thing you can do.

All of these lies and incompetence have cost lives, ruined economies and destroyed trust in science and public health officials. Real science (as opposed to THE SCIENCE of phonies like Fauci) shows clearly that the best defense against the virus is natural immunity.

Fauci Has Blood on His Hands: If you’ve had COVID, you have natural antibodies that are far more effective in preventing a severe case than the vaccines. In fact, that’s how human populations have always survived pandemics and plagues — by just recovering and relying on herd immunity to eventually shut down the virus.

Independent medical studies show that, as Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins wrote for The Wall Street Journal, “natural immunity was 27 times as effective as vaccinated immunity in preventing symptomatic illness” from the COVID virus. But because the government ignores natural immunity and insists on ineffective vaccines, thousands of nurses, doctors and emergency workers have been fired from their jobs for not getting the vaccines. In turn, this depletes hospitals and clinics of much-needed staff, including highly experienced clinicians who have worked with tens of thousands of COVID patients.

Ignoring natural immunity is not just stupid — it’s a death sentence for some sufferers who cannot get the help they need because medical professionals have been fired for no good reason. Preventing early treatment with repurposed drugs like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, among others, is also criminal. Potentially hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved if early treatment options were made widely available. They weren’t.

For many, waiting around at home until they had trouble breathing, i.e., following Fauci’s advice, cost them their lives. Fauci and his vax-at-all-costs gang have blood on their hands. Hopefully, one day they’ll be held to account. When they are, I think they’re going to need good lawyers."

- dailyreckoning.com

Musical Interlude: Neil H., “Candlelight Dreams”

 

Neil H., “Candlelight Dreams”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This colorful skyscape features the dusty, reddish glow of Sharpless catalog emission region Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula. About 2,400 light-years away, the scene lies along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus.

Astronomical explorations of the region reveal that it has formed at the boundary of the massive Cepheus B molecular cloud and the hot, young, blue stars of the Cepheus OB 3 association. The bright rim of ionized hydrogen gas is energized by the radiation from the hot stars, dominated by the bright blue O-type star above picture center. Radiation driven ionization fronts are likely triggering collapsing cores and new star formation within. Appropriately sized for a stellar nursery, the cosmic cave is over 10 light-years across.”

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

"Assumptions..."