"The Web Gallery of Art"

"The Web Gallery of Art"

"The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Realism periods (1100-1850), currently containing over 52,800 reproductions. It was started in 1996 as a topical site of the Renaissance art, originated in the Italian city-states of the 14th century and spread to other countries in the 15th and 16th centuries. Intending to present Renaissance art as comprehensively as possible, the scope of the collection was later extended to show its Medieval roots as well as its evolution to Baroque and Rococo via Mannerism. More recently the periods of Neoclassicism and Romanticism were also included.

The collection has some of the characteristics of a virtual museum. The experience of the visitors is enhanced by guided tours helping to understand the artistic and historical relationship between different works and artists, by period music of choice in the background and a free postcard service. At the same time the collection serves the visitors' need for a site where various information on art, artists and history can be found together with corresponding pictorial illustrations. Although not a conventional one, the collection is a searchable database supplemented by a glossary containing articles on art terms, relevant historical events, personages, cities, museums and churches.

The Web Gallery of Art is intended to be a free resource of art history primarily for students and teachers. It is a private initiative not related to any museums or art institutions, and not supported financially by any state or corporate sponsors. However, we do our utmost, using authentic literature and advice from professionals, to ensure the quality and authenticity of the content.

We are convinced that such a collection of digital reproductions, containing a balanced mixture of interlinked visual and textual information, can serve multiple purposes. On one hand it can simply be a source of artistic enjoyment; a convenient alternative to visiting a distant museum, or an incentive to do just that. On the other hand, it can serve as a tool for public education both in schools and at home."

- https://www.wga.hu/

•

For those so inclined, this is a treasure trove of material. Enjoy!

"Luminarium"

"Luminarium"

“I have undertaken a labor, a labor out of love for the world, and to comfort noble hearts: those that I hold dear, and the world to which my heart goes out. Not the common world do I mean, of those who (as I have heard) cannot bear grief and desire but to bathe in bliss. (May God then let them dwell in bliss!) Their world and manner of life my tale does not regard: it's life and mine lie apart. Another world do I hold in mind, which bears together in one heart its bitter sweetness and its dear grief, its heart's delight and its pain of longing, dear life and sorrowful death, dear death and sorrowful life. In this world let me have my world, to be damned with it, or to be saved.”

- Gottfried Von Strassburg


"A comprehensive anthology and guide to English literature of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Seventeenth Century, Restoration and Eighteenth Century. This site combines several sites first created in 1996 to provide a starting point for students and enthusiasts of English Literature. Nothing replaces a quality library, but hopefully this site will help fill the needs of those who have not access to one.

Luminarium is the labor of love of Anniina Jokinen. The site is not affiliated with any institution nor is it sponsored by anyone other than its maintainer and the contributions of its visitors through revenues from book sales via Amazon.com, poster sales via All Posters, and advertising via Google AdSense.

For all materials, authorities in a given subject are consulted. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Encyclopaedia Britannica, and The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English are some of the general reference works consulted for accuracy of dates and details. Many of the materials collected here reside elsewhere. Quality and accuracy are concerns, and all materials are checked regularly. However, "Luminarium" cannot be held responsible for materials residing on other sites. Corrections and suggestions for improvements are encouraged from the visitors.

The site started in early 1996. I remember looking for essays to spark an idea for a survey class I was taking at the time. It seemed that finding study materials online was prohibitively difficult and time-consuming - there was no all-encompassing site which could have assisted me in my search. I started the site as a public service, because I myself had to waste so much time as a student, trying to find anything useful or interesting. There were only a handful of sites back then (read: Internet Dark Ages) and I could spend hours on search engines, looking for just a few things. I realized I must not be the only one in the predicament and started a simple one-page site of links to Middle English Literature. That page was soon followed by a Renaissance site.

Gradually it became obvious that the number of resources was ungainly for such a simple design. It was then that the multi-page "Medlit" and "Renlit" pages were created, around July 1996. That structure is still the same today. In September 1996, I started creating the "Sevenlit" site, launched in November. I realized the need to somehow unite all three sites, and that led to the creation of Luminarium. I chose the name, which is Latin for "lantern," because I wanted the site to be a beacon of light in the darkness. It was also befitting for a site containing authors considered "luminaries" of English literature."

- http://www.luminarium.org/

The Daily "Near You?"

Haymarket, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Thoughts On Independence Day, 2022"

"Thoughts On Independence Day, 2022"

by John Wilder

"Independence Day is just around the corner, and I’ve got the Civil War 2.0 Weather Report scheduled for that day, so I thought I’d give a few thoughts about one of the most cherished ideas in our history: Independence.

Independence was the life blood of our new nation. I think people were genetically (and sometimes judicially) selected for it. The people that came here looked around Britain and said, “You know what, I’d much rather be in a wilderness surrounded by hostile natives. Oh, and I’ll gladly cross an ocean in a dangerous journey that will take forever, and I’ll never see the land of my birth again.”

It’s one thing to do that yourself, but these dudes convinced their wives to come, too. Leaving everything you know and love is not normal, but Duncan McWilder left Scotland before the Revolutionary War was over to come on over here. I don’t know his story, but as I trace his children across generations, not a one of them settled in a place where life was easy – in fact every one of them headed for the frontier (as it existed in their time) and pushed outwards.

They raised heaven knows what in Virginia and Alabama. They tamed Texas. They built the railroads. The homesteaded in New Mexico. Portions of the family were west of the Rockies in 1860. Not a single day was spent in a life in on easy mode. They built this country with their sweat, their tears, and over the bones of their wives who died in childbirth and their sons who died of fever and war. None of it was easy. The hard choice was something else:

Independence.

But they had one thing in their mind – they bowed to no man. I feel safe in saying that should my forefathers have met any king or potentate that walked this Earth that not a single one of them would have bowed. They would have stood straight up, looked him in the eye, and thought to themselves, “You’re nothing but a man like me. And no Wilder bows to any man.”

When people mention to me that I am the beneficiary of “white privilege” or any other such nonsense, I laugh. My ancestors fought in Europe, twice, in the last century. They fought here at places like Shiloh and Manassas Junction. They fought at places like Valley Forge when the dark winter nearly doomed a nation yet unborn. I stand at the end of a line of brave men and women who looked on a new and fresh continent, not with fear, but with determination. They wouldn’t bend their knees even to their countrymen. Why?

Independence.

Life was never easy. But I look back onto that line of my ancestors and know – they made the hard choice, the choice to be free. They gave up comfort and, likely, material success to have control of their own destiny. Rather than submit, they pushed farther out – into danger. Wolves aren’t a problem now. Why not? My ancestors (along with many others) killed them. Grizzly bears used to be in nearly every State. Not now. Why? My ancestors (along many others) killed them. They braved the cold, the heat, the snakes, the (now dead) bears, and the (now dead) wolves. Why?

Independence.

I’m not alone here, either. If you’re reading this, there’s a near certainty that you came from a long line of Big Damn Heroes® yourself. They carved a nation out of their heroism, their success, and, yes, their failure, all chasing the same dream.

Independence.

I’ve met billionaires, movie stars, sports stars, and rock stars. I hold none of them in contempt. And I hold none of them as my better. I had several times that I could have sworn fealty and abandoned my integrity and had greater success. I never would. To do so would have been shameful to the memories of those that came before me. So, I never will. Why?

Independence.

I am not alone. The United States was a magnet for hard-headed men of principle that were looking for nothing but that chance to be free, to be independent, to live their own lives. In 1900, my ancestors would interact with the Federal government whenever they got their mail. That might have been infrequent, at best, out on the frontier, out in the places where they might be lucky to see mail once in a month.

From once a month, we’ve moved to all the time. When my alarm goes off in the morning, it’s driven by electricity that comes from power plants regulated by the EPA. I go to the bathroom where I brush my teeth with toothpaste approved by the FDA, and then into the shower where the valve is regulated by the Consumer Protection Agency and water regulated by several government agencies. I then get in the car (approved in different aspects by several government agencies) fueled by gasoline... and the number of agencies in that chain just to get gasoline is amazing.

The biggest difference between then and now are the massive cities. Our cities are huge and complex and anonymous. Here in the country, you can configure your life to deal only with the people you see at work and the people that you see at the store, in the city there are people everywhere. And the chances you’ll see a random individual again in a context so that you’d recognize them? Nearly zero.

Thus, cities are an environment where people are anonymous. Anonymous people aren’t responsible for their actions – they exist outside of the constraint of society. Be rude to someone because your day isn’t going well? Whatever. You’ll never see them again. They’re not a part of your group, your tribe.

That anonymity might sound like Independence, but it’s not – it actually leads to the worst of tyranny – rule after rule because poor manners in an anonymous setting lead to rules about how tall a lawn can be. And if you don’t follow that rule, and don’t pay the fines associated with breaking it? People with guns will take you to a concrete box and keep you there. So, cities don’t sound very free to someone like me.

On the other side of the equation, small towns provide accountability without resorting to the law. A city slicker moved to Modern Mayberry and didn’t pay a plumber because of a disagreement. What are the odds any other plumber will even return his calls when something goes wrong? Or any contractor? Heck, even I know the story, so I’m giggling thinking about them making phone calls when they need to get their septic tank pumped.

Without anonymity, there is responsibility. It will be a tough lesson for the city slicker to learn. I remember that lesson every time I go to dinner and see the same waitress for the twentieth time. They are responsible to me as a waitress, and I am responsibility to them as a customer.

In my small town, I have responsibility. My forefathers had independence, but they also had responsibility. If they succeeded, they succeeded. If they failed, they failed. If they died because of their foolishness? They died. The lesson is simple: independence isn’t freedom from consequences. Independence is being free to choose. Living with those consequences is the result.

We sit here at the edge of a new world that is struggling to be born out of the old world that we lived in. Will we choose independence and responsibility? I know what my ancestors would choose."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

"Oh, That Could Never Happen Here!"

 "Oh, that could never happen here!"

Yeah, yeah... heard it a thousand times. Well guess what...

"Never, ever forget that nothing in this life is free. Life demands payment in some form for your "right" to express yourself, to condemn and abuse the evil surrounding us. Expect to pay... it will come for you, they will come for you, regardless. Knowing that, give them Hell itself every chance you can. Expect no mercy, and give none. That's how life works. Be ready to pay for what you do, or be a coward, pretend you don't see, don't know, and cry bitter tears over how terrible things are, over how you let them become."

- Ernest Hemingway, "For Whom the Bell Tolls "

Robert Palmer, "You're Gonna Get What's Coming"

"A Wartime Economy Coming... Here Are Two Things That Could Happen as a Result"

"A Wartime Economy Coming... 

Here Are Two Things That Could Happen as a Result"

by Chris MacIntosh

"Things are a tad wonky. The problem that market participants are not thinking about is this. When combining the most levered global and US economy in the history of our planet, record low interest rates (lowest in recorded history), the greatest disruption to world’s energy supplies as well as direct and indirect attacks on our food networks, not to mention sanctions against Russia and hence Ukraine — two major exporters of food. The consequences of all of this have delivered to us the highest inflation in four decades… oh, and this was BEFORE the Russkies went hunting for biolabs in Ukraine and the attendant fallout. The result… or at least one result is in the graph below.

Click image for larger size.

Real wage earnings are collapsing like a teenager at spring break after a bottle of Kalashnikov vodka. The problem with the pointy shoes over at the Fed is that they believe they can curtail inflation by destroying demand. Destroying demand, which they are attempting to do, will cause a negative wealth effect. This they think will mitigate inflationary pressures. Even presumably fuel and food price inflation.

Consider this… In a recent speech Gov. Waller said: "I support tightening policy by another 50 basis points for several meetings. In particular, I am not taking 50 basis-point hikes off the table until I see inflation coming down closer to our 2 percent target. And, by the end of this year, I support having the policy rate at a level above neutral so that it is reducing demand for products and labor, bringing it more in line with supply and thus helping rein in inflation."

Now, if we step out of the world of central planners who live in ivory towers, out there in the real world the West is at war with Russia and Ukraine who produce collectively startlingly large amounts of both food and fuel. No solution exists to end this war. If anything, the central planners are encouraging it. What does this mean for supply of fuel and food?

Despite what the Fed may do with interest rates, this will persist. Sure, there will be demand destruction as inflation eats into disposable incomes. But it is food, fuel, and shelter that sit at the foundation of must haves. They are far more inelastic than iPhones, soy lattes, and definitely monkey JPEGs.

What will the governments do? They’ll send out money in some form. The Brits are already doing it. How are they getting the funding to do this? Good question. By taxing the energy companies an additional 25%. Genius! I’ll refrain for the minute from walking you through how idiotic this is and move onto other measures government will likely employ and then we’ll look at what this means for the bond market.

To pay the subsidies, the thickos in DC will need to generate more cash, which will necessitate the issuing of more treasury bonds due to a widening fiscal deficit. Who will buy these bonds? Not foreign central banks.

Nope. Remember the stealing "freezing" Russia’s central bank reserves? That was a shot fired only once, because by firing that shot every single nation on planet earth was put on notice. The implications are clear. If at any point in time we dislike your stance, even where that stance is in the interests of your own citizenry, we’ll punish you. To think they won’t be acting accordingly is isht that only the cerebrally impaired can manage. The critical point is that foreign central banks, having seen what happened to Russia, will reduce their purchasing of US treasuries. Incidentally, they also have their own issues to deal with.

Stagflation is global and especially in emerging markets they’re struggling against a rising dollar while revenues are generated in local currency. It isn’t like there are piles of cash swishing about for them to find a home for. Furthermore, they’ve no ability to issue treasuries like the US has been able to do. Then, of course, there is the domestic (US) market who are waking to the fact that the cost of a banana today is more than it was last week… and they’re thinking that maybe, just maybe the whole "transitory" thing may just be bullshit.

So who’s gonna buy them? This is where things are about to get truly nutty. We are about to experience a "wartime" economy. Certainly the central planners will play on this narrative. And in a wartime economy central banks lose their independence and become merged with the government, which means they merge with the treasury department. This is about to happen. When? Not sure, but I’d be surprised if it takes more than 12 months. When this happens two things will take place. Bonds will tank and it will be when gold finally gets bid. It is still cheap. It’s not going to stay that way.

At this point the central banks and central planners will be well and truly trapped. Trapped by their own attempts to self detonate the economy with the demonstrably fake Covid narrative, failure to contain or fully understand the consequences of shutting down global supply chains (which can’t, aren’t, and wont simply be turned back on), failure to contain the stagflation, and resultant rising social unrest and economic depression of their own making. But most of all they’ll be trapped by their inability to depress the world’s largest-ever debt bubble.

Financial market collapse, together with rampant stagflation, will be the result of an implosion of the fiat money system turned credit system laboring under the grandest credit creation and money printing in human history. We are getting close. Be prepared. I think this promises to be a once-in-a-100-year type of event."

- internationalman.com

○

Related:

"The Fed’s Monetary Policies and Washington’s

 Powerplays Have Fueled The Great Distortion"

Bill Bonner, "Cold Day in Hell, Part II"

"Cold Day in Hell, Part II"

History's daring innovators...

 and the political hacks who would thwart them.

by Bill Bonner

Part 1

Dublin, Ireland - "This just in. Fox News reports: "The GDPNow gauge, a widely watched measurement from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, indicated Thursday that real gross domestic product shrank by 1.0% in the second quarter from April through June. While the official advance estimate of Q2 performance will not be released for another month, this preliminary reading shows the second quarter in a row of negative growth in the economy after GDP contracted 1.6% in Q1."

As forecast, now we have a recession on Main Street as well as a bear market on Wall Street. But what we don’t have, yet, is any sign of panic from the Fed. It’s committed – for now – to tightening up the money supply in order to combat inflation. But we’re just at the beginning. Mr. Market is correcting the Fed’s mistakes and deflating the economy. And he’s got a long way to go. Investors are still looking for the bottom. Typically, real bear markets don’t end until investors get fed up… give up… and stop looking. Dow 20,000? Dow 15,000? We don’t know, but it’s probably a much smaller number than most investors expect.

Then, we’ll see what kind of stuff the Fed is made of. It will face the ‘Decision of the Century’ – either continue to let Mr. Market do his work, cleaning up more than 20 years of irresponsible monetary policies… or go back to printing money and letting inflation rip. That decision will determine whether we suffer a serious bear market and deep recession now… or a total economic, political and social breakdown later. Stay tuned.

Spontaneous Order: Meanwhile… we look ahead. And putting the present conversation in historical perspective…today’s standards of living… our ability to feed 8 billion people… with average lifespans that are twice what they were 150 years ago… air-conditioning… power steering… Facebook… mosquito repellent… for good or for evil – the world we live in was created by people who paid little attention to government. Instead, they drilled wells and built refineries… they invented automobiles and produced them by the millions… they hammered steel… and cooked dinners with ingredients that came from all over the planet. Pineapples from Hawaii… palm oil from Malaysia… beef from Texas… strawberries – even in the winter time!

They did these things without subsidies or tax credits. And not because Congress passed a law or the president threatened them. They did them to make their lives better. No Great Transition plan showed them how to go from a muscle-powered world to one with 1,000 times more power – from fossil fuels. No ‘Group of 7’ world leaders got together and decreed a switch to coal, oil and gas as primary energy sources. No Pete Buttigieg directed people to build gas stations. No think tank showed them the way forward. No regulations guided their feet… nor was there any Department of Energy (not created until 1977) looking over their shoulders.

Often, the biggest innovators – those who added most to our wealth and comfort – worked on their own… unknown to the powers-that-were… with no backing from universities or non-profit foundations or governments. Each one danced to his own tune… followed his own compass… and brought forth the quality of life that we enjoy today.

The Great Spend-a-thon: The first major effort to bring the economy under elite (government) control came in the Soviet Union. Later, Germany… Italy, China, Cuba, Vietnam – all took a stab at it. All failed. And usually, the failures were accompanied by millions of deaths – either ‘liquidated’ by intention… or by accident. The largest ‘accident’ was in China, 1958-1962, where the Great Leap Forward so thoroughly wrecked the economy that 50 million people starved. But the planners, world improvers and controllers don’t give up. Now, they are convinced that unrestrained growth will bring the ‘death of the planet.’

It is not clear to us that an increase in global temperatures would be a bad thing. Nor is it apparent that the earth lacks its own feedback loops and counterbalance mechanisms. We’ll leave ‘The Science’ of it – if there is any – to others. What is apparent to us is that trying to control the weather is likely to produce the same sort of results as every other Great Crusade since 1914. The elite, for all its technocratic pretensions, has botched every major policy initiative and bungled its way into one debacle after another. WWI, Prohibition, Korea, Vietnam, the War on Poverty… the War on Drugs… Stagflation #1 (in the ‘70s)… the War on Terrorism… Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the bailout of Wall Street… the Covid Panic and the Gimmie-Stimmie Spend-a-thon… the sanctions war against Russia… and now Stagflation #2.

They’ll almost certainly make a mess of this Great Transition away from fossil fuels too. But now the stakes are higher. Now, they put the progress of more than 150 years – and the lives of 8 billion people – in jeopardy. The rich may miss a latte – a few may swing from lampposts. But the poor? ‘The People?’ On Monday, we’ll look at how it might develop."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

"Massive Price Increases At Target! This Is Ridiculous! What's Next?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 7/1/22:

"Massive Price Increases At Target! This Is Ridiculous! What's Next?"

"In today's vlog we are at Target and are noticing massive price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

○

Related:

"World is READY To Explode - Unrest and Food Riots Spreading"

"Food riots and civil unrest is spreading from country to country as food shortages and food prices rise. Peru workers are striking and in the Netherlands farmers are blocking roads. Empty shelves and fuel prices rising are causing more protests."

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Bank Warns It's Customers to Get Their Money Out"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly, 7/1/22:

"Bank Warns It's Customers to Get Their Money Out"

"Banks are suffering. One is warning it's customers to get their money out. They are lucky they got a warning. There are so many houses available for sale now. June saw an 18% increase in listings. It's a buyers market."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Alert! The 10 Year Yield Is Plummeting! Prepare!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/1/22:

"Alert! The 10 Year Yield Is Plummeting! Prepare!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up for 7/1/22"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up for 7/1/22"

"Paul Craig Roberts: Nuke War Coming, 

Mysterious Deaths Don’t Stop, Dems Can’t Win"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Dr. Paul Craig Roberts says American leaders want war with Russia. Russia is trying to avoid war, but the provocations from the U.S. and NATO keep coming. At some point, Dr. Roberts says Russia will be backed into a corner, and it won’t take long for the battle to go nuclear. This is a special interview inside the Weekly News Wrap-Up that explains how we got here and where we are going in terms of war with Russia. Dr. Roberts says it’s no longer a question of if, but when, it all hits the fan.

You cannot hide the unexplained deaths and emergency sickness. It is now happening every week. 32-year-old SNL comedian Nick Nemeroff died in his sleep this week, but before he did, he was on video complaining about being deathly sick after the two CV19 shots he already got. He pledged that he would not get the booster, and he never did–because he died a few days later. Meanwhile, Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker was rushed to the hospital with some strange emergency, and the drummer for Five Seconds of Summer passed out on stage for no apparent reason. Once again, the question is, “Were they vaxed?” This trend is going to continue for some time to come no matter if you are famous or not.

A new poll for the Democrats is coming in awful. An AP poll reveals 8 out of 10 Democrats say the country is “headed in the wrong direction.” That’s 8 out of 10 DEMOCRATS. Let that sink in. Couple that with another story from the AP that reports new data showing 1 million Democrats have left the party to register with the GOP. It looks like the Democrats cannot win without massive cheating or a war that shuts down the election process this fall. It’s going to be a rough ride. Buckle up."

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these

 stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 7/1/22:

- https://rumble.com/

Gerald Celente, "Worst First Half for Stocks in 50 Years. When All Else Fails They Take You to War"

Full screen recommended.

Very strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, 6/30/22:

"Worst First Half for Stocks in 50 Years. 

When All Else Fails They Take You to War"

- https://trendsresearch.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "Breaking News: Russia Declares Emergency!"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 6/30/22:

"Breaking News: Russia Declares Emergency!"

"The Russians will declare a general mobilization soon and are evoking Emergency powers for 24/7 weapons manufacturing."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Food Inflation Desperation Leads To Violent Attacks In Grocery Stores - Gonna Get Worse" (Excerpt)

"Food Inflation Desperation Leads To Violent 

Attacks In Grocery Stores - Gonna Get Worse"

by Mike Adams

Excerpt: "As food inflation worsens, a sense of desperation is seizing the minds of the American people, and some of them are lashing out in acts of violence against workers at grocery stores and other food retail locations. America is now seeing a shocking rise in retail location violence that seems destined to only get worse.

The reality is that as food inflation gets far worse, grocery and convenience store employees are going to face a rising number of violent attacks. We expect to see flash mob looting of grocery stores before the end of this year, and food prices are no doubt going to continue to climb to alarming levels in 2023 and possibly beyond."

Please view this complete article here:

- https://www.naturalnews.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "An Economy Cratering; A Stock Market Plunging; Inflation Surging... But It's Not Real!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 6/30/22:

"An Economy Cratering; A Stock Market Plunging;

 Inflation Surging... But It's Not Real!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Get Ready For A Supply Chain Nightmare That Will Absolutely Shock You As Shipping Prices Hit $45,000"

Full screen recommended.

"Get Ready For A Supply Chain Nightmare That 

Will Absolutely Shock You As Shipping Prices Hit $45,000"

by Epic Economist

"It’s official: According to industry insiders, the supply chain nightmare that has been plaguing the United States for the past couple of years is set to remain for the long-term, aggravating shortages and resulting in a historic slowdown in domestic production at the same time retailers grapple with record shipping costs and a weakening consumer demand. Even though many were expecting the crisis to ease now that the health crisis started fading away, experts say that’s not the case at all. In a repeat of the 2021 scenes, thousands of empty containers are piling up at U.S. ports, contributing to five-digit container prices, as well as the worst delivery delays on record, and empty shelves all across the country. In some places, rationing has already begun, and the trend is expected to intensify as we move into the second half of the year.

Approximately 4 million containers are stuck outside ports worldwide as congestion takes a turn for the worse. As analysts with logistics company RBC noted, that’s the perfect recipe for even higher shipping costs. “When ships are scarce, regardless of whether due to an increasing number of vessels queuing at a port or true demand, prices see upward pressure,” they wrote in a report released last week.

In the past twelve months, container costs have risen ten-fold, jumping from $3,000 to $30,000. This year’s shipping interruptions in China and Europe have exacerbated the container shortage and drove prices to unprecedented levels, according to Josh Saffran, director of Plug & Play Tech Center in Rogers. In a separate report released by Morgan Stanley on Monday, analysts said they don’t expect capacity increases until late 2023. They predict that container prices in the spot market could reach up to $47,000 this summer, outlining that as the trucking industry faces labor shortages, that is also going to boost costs and increase delays.

Now that the U.S. economy is facing growing imbalances, supply chain problems are set to trigger a bullwhip effect, explained FreightWaves CEO, Craig Fuller. American consumers are incredibly stressed about the state of the economy and their personal financial security. Record inflation, crashing stock markets, higher interest rates, and growing economic and financial uncertainty are having a dramatic impact on consumer confidence.

Before U.S. supply chains had been taken over by chaos in 2020, most Americans believed that the phenomenon of product shortages was a problem that only foreign countries had to face, and one they would never experience in their lifetime. But things have changed very rapidly. At this point, millions of consumers are already rushing to stock up, with some saying they’ve never been so stressed out about empty shelves, while others believe that what we’ve gone through so far was just the start.

The cycle of high prices and empty shelves is creating a vicious cycle where many buyers rush to stockpile products at home before they disappear from stores again - a phenomenon that is likely to gain force in the months ahead. In some places, rationing of some food products has already begun. According to the National Herald, some supermarkets have started rationing flour, sunflower oil, sugar, corn, eggs, milk, dairy products, cleaning supplies, and canned goods due to supply problems.

So far, most cases of rationing have been concentrated in European countries, but as one could figure it out, it was only a matter of time before it started happening in the United States. This is just another indication that the hour is late, and that things are getting really crazy out there. Right now, some parts of the country are still experiencing the calm before the chaos. But it’s safe to say that it won’t stay that way for long. So use the time you still have left to prepare wisely because things are rapidly spinning out of control out there."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

"Warning! Digital Banks Are Seizing Your Money; Americans Cut Spending; Death Blow To Home Sales"

Jeremiah Babe, 6/30/22:

"Warning! Digital Banks Are Seizing Your Money; 

Americans Cut Spending; Death Blow To Home Sales"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Believe"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "Believe"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Massive stars, abrasive winds, mountains of dust, and energetic light sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies. Known as N11, the region is visible on the upper right of many images of its home galaxy, the Milky Way neighbor known as the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC).

The above image was taken for scientific purposes by the Hubble Space Telescope and reprocessed for artistry by an amateur to win the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures competition. Although the section imaged above is known as NGC 1763, the entire N11 emission nebula is second in LMC size only to 30 Doradus. Studying the stars in N11 has shown that it actually houses three successive generations of star formation. Compact globules of dark dust housing emerging young stars are also visible around the image.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130211.html

"The Deep State Is Sadistic"

"The Deep State Is Sadistic"

by Jeffrey Tucker

Editor’s note: "It’s easy to assume that most government failures are the result of incompetence and perverse incentives. But is it worse than that? Might the administrative “deep state” actually despise the American people? Today, Jeffrey Tucker shows you why the answer may be yes."

"Remember the old days of the Clinton administration? It came to power riding a center-left push against the messes of the Bush administration. Clinton was careful to distance himself from the crazies with a series of high-profile rebuffs of the worst among them. The hope was to advertise as a moderate but govern slightly to the left.

But then the polls and the markets started to speak, and loudly. The Clinton White House was highly sensitive to them. The president himself was said to have cursed the bond market more than once, demanding to know who precisely was running this country, himself or bond traders?

Nonetheless, the administration responded to all inputs. The federal budget did not expand dramatically. Indeed the budget was temporarily balanced. And then welfare itself was reformed to cut it out with the generous benefits for sheer laziness that had characterized the welfare state since the 1960s. An economic boom commenced and these days people look back rather fondly on the whole experience, choosing only to remember the president’s dalliance with an intern.

Times Change: The single strangest feature of the existing regime is how utterly impervious it is from input from either markets or polls. The polls are showing the Biden regime at an 18.1% split between disapproving and approving. These are composite numbers. Some polls show a situation much worse. I take it as axiomatic that one-third of the public will believe anything, no matter how stupid. We are approaching that level in terms of job approval.

Meanwhile, the markets are in solid bear territory. A new survey from an insurance company shows that 93% of Americans have taken up second and third jobs just to stay ahead of the inflationary trap. JPMorgan has a new poll of medium-sized business owners that shows an unprecedented level of pessimism about the future.

What is going on right now is revealed in the following chart that shows household income declining even as debt service as a percent of income is on the rise. That is a crucial moment in modern economic history. It reveals the current impoverishment taking place.

It also reveals an amazing trick. Government gave everyone money and then took it away. Many people have just dropped out of the workforce. We are still not up to the old levels of labor participation. Meanwhile, people are maxing out their credit cards, even as the more well-to-do are taking on new mortgages in hopes of paying them back in cheaper dollars.

What’s more, we are looking at 2½ more years of this hell. There seems to be no chance of turning the corner, not so long as Biden denies that inflation has anything to do with money printing, even as the administration continues to inveigh against fossil fuels while suggesting that instead, we live off the wind and the sun.

And even given all of this, we are seeing no change from the top. They are blind to it all. The 30-something Ivies who work there are so convinced of their insane ideology that they are pressing it no matter what. They are behaving like Bolsheviks in 1920, thrilled for their revolution, clinging to power and utterly disregarding the sufferings of the people at all levels of society. It’s a sadistic state, one that seems to thrive in direct proportion to the pain it inflicts on the American people.

Why, Why, Why? I was just on a radio show in which the host made a speculation. He said that the Biden administration is literally seeking to destroy the American middle class, and this is for two reasons. First, they want to punish people who voted for Trump and see them suffer forever for having done so. Second, they want to gut the middle class and promote dependency and demoralization to stop it ever from happening again.

I usually resist the kind of interpretation that relies on pure malice versus sheer stupidity. But in this case, I simply cannot shake off and dismiss this opinion. Evil does exist. It explains a lot. It is not necessary to believe that government has our best interests at heart but just gets confused at how to promote them. He might actually be correct, I don’t know.

I’ve never been a Trump superfan but I still struggle to understand what’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome. It’s a real thing and is truly boundless.

The Fix: However, the other day I ran across an interesting fact of history that could account for the unmitigated hate. Three months before Trump left office, he passed Executive Order 13957. The purpose was to create a new category of federal employment called Schedule F. Schedule F employees could be fired by the president. They would no longer have civil service protection due to their positions as policymakers and influencers.

The executive order demanded a thorough review of all federal employees to see who would qualify. Only one agency responded in time before the election was called for Biden and concluded that it would pertain to 88% of its employees. In other words, this action would have gutted the power of the administrative state.

It would have been the biggest change to hit Washington in 100 years. Absolutely astonishing. What was Biden’s first action in office? You guessed it. He issued a new executive order reversing this one. He saved the deep state. None of this made the news, but you can be darn sure that it was a HUGE deal in the belly of the beast. Imagine the CDC, IRS, NSA, CIA, FDA, DOJ and so on all subject to normal standards of hiring and firing.

That would have gone a very long way to ending the tyranny in America. It absolutely had to be stopped. The point is that Trump with this order raised the stakes enormously. He figured out the problem and the solution. They must never allow it to happen again. This is why they are behaving this way, like cornered rats. They will do anything to prevent something like this.

I’ve never been one for the theory that the election was stolen, simply because I don’t have enough information to say either way. But I will say this. If there ever were an election to steal, this would have been it. The entire deep state stood on the precipice of dismemberment. So yeah, plenty of people would have been willing to take the risk.

We live in exceedingly dangerous times, with multiple beasts on the loose looking for wealth and liberties to devour. They are proving themselves impossible to train or deter, no matter how bad it gets out there. They really are sadistic."

- dailyreckoning.com

○

Related:

"Mapping out the New World Order – 

Global Feudalism Digital Slavery"

"It's Just Life..."

“Bad things don’t happen to people because they deserve for them to happen. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s just… life. And no matter who we are, we have to take the hand we’re dealt, crappy though it may be, and try our very best to move forward anyway, to love anyway, to have hope anyway… to have faith that there’s a purpose to the journey we’re on.”

- Mia Sheridan

"We The 'Traitors To Democracy'”

"We The 'Traitors To Democracy'”

“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”

– Voltaire

"This one’s a doozy. We’ll have to pull it apart piece by piece. We received reader mail overnight that accused The Wiggin Sessions of being “traitors to democracy.” We’ll leave out the name of the reader who sent it. And spare you the expletives involved. Both out of respect. Immediately I wanted to go on a tirade about how we don’t actually live in a democracy. According to how the Founding Fathers penned it, we live in a republic. But then, this piece graced my feed. “Stop Saying ‘We’re a Republic, Not a Democracy’”, writes Ryan McMaken. The Mises Institute editor claims that such a tirade as mine would be a waste of time, and, frankly, a dead argument. The piece is a bit academic. And cites a bit of the Federalist Papers. But if you’re into it, McMaken makes a good argument, and worth considering in today’s political environment.

Rather than run my mouth, I’ll defend my so-called “traitorous” action by proudly responding to our unnamed accuser with what we’ve actually been writing…We’ve been celebrating “democracy” all week. We wrote about Roe v. Wade overturning, and its resulting protests. We wrote about the LGBTQ+ parade in Manhattan. We wrote about “gun-toting hippies” at the Porcfest in New Hampshire.

These were all peaceful expressions of free speech and our right to assemble from all walks of American life, left and right. Under the First, Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, these acts are all protected and celebrated.

My guess is you didn’t like our “Smoking Gun” accusation made yesterday. Or our portrayal of the fungal “Administrative State,” as described by Jeffrey Tucker on this week’s Session. That being said, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That is the nature of our freedom in the Western World. If you missed it, Jeffrey Tucker explains the better angels of American liberty and fraternity here (or the lack thereof):

The Wiggin Sessions: The history and consequences of the administrative state. Right Here.

I’m positive Jeffrey would be appalled by our reader’s accusations. Or maybe scintillated. This is why it is important to really reflect on what it means to live in a democratic republic. After all, what is more traitorous to democracy than a bureaucratic power structure you can’t identify by name? And just won’t go away? Who issues your money? Then demands it back again? And controls your property rights? Oy. Who are the traitors again?"

"Follow your bliss,"

- WigginSessions@email.5minforecast.com

Canadian Prepper, "A Nuclear Weapons Experts Last Ditch WARNING to the World"

Canadian Prepper, 6/30/22:

"A Nuclear Weapons Experts Last Ditch WARNING to the World"

"We welcome back Dr. Peter Vincent Pry to discuss the

 state of the conflict and what to expect moving forward."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

○

Related:

"Ukraine Has Lost the War: 

But Thermonuclear War Still Threatens"

by Schiller Institute, Recorded June 13, 2022

"Excerpted from the June 18-19 Schiller Institute conference, 

"There Can Be No Peace Without the Bankruptcy 

Reorganization of the Dying Trans-Atlantic Financial System." 

View the conference - https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/20...

The Daily "Near You?"

Tel Aviv, Israel. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: Thomas Gray, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"

"Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"

"Ye distant spires, ye antique tow'rs,

That crown the wat'ry glade,

Where grateful Science still adores

Her Henry's holy Shade;

And ye, that from the stately brow

Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below

Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,

Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowr's among

Wanders the hoary Thames along

His silver-winding way.

Ah, happy hills, ah, pleasing shade,

Ah, fields belov'd in vain,

Where once my careless childhood stray'd,

A stranger yet to pain!

I feel the gales, that from ye blow,

A momentary bliss bestow,

As waving fresh their gladsome wing,

My weary soul they seem to soothe,

And, redolent of joy and youth,

To breathe a second spring.

Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen

Full many a sprightly race

Disporting on thy margent green

The paths of pleasure trace,

Who foremost now delight to cleave

With pliant arm thy glassy wave?

The captive linnet which enthrall?

What idle progeny succeed

To chase the rolling circle's speed,

Or urge the flying ball?

While some on earnest business bent

Their murm'ring labors ply

'Gainst graver hours, that bring constraint

To sweeten liberty:

Some bold adventurers disdain

The limits of their little reign,

And unknown regions dare descry:

Still as they run they look behind,

They hear a voice in ev'ry wind,

And snatch a fearful joy.

Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed,

Less pleasing when possest;

The tear forgot as soon as shed,

The sunshine of the breast:

Theirs buxom health of rosy hue,

Wild wit, invention ever-new,

And lively cheer of vigor born;

The thoughtless day, the easy night,

The spirits pure, the slumbers light,

That fly th' approach of morn.

Alas, regardless of their doom,

The little victims play!

No sense have they of ills to come,

Nor care beyond to-day:

Yet see how all around 'em wait

The ministers of human fate,

And black Misfortune's baleful train!

Ah, show them where in ambush stand

To seize their prey the murth'rous band!

Ah, tell them they are men!

These shall the fury Passions tear,

The vultures of the mind

Disdainful Anger, pallid Fear,

And Shame that skulks behind;

Or pining Love shall waste their youth,

Or Jealousy with rankling tooth,

That inly gnaws the secret heart,

And Envy wan, and faded Care,

Grim-visag'd comfortless Despair,

And Sorrow's piercing dart.

Ambition this shall tempt to rise,

Then whirl the wretch from high,

To bitter Scorn a sacrifice,

And grinning Infamy.

The stings of Falsehood those shall try,

And hard Unkindness' alter'd eye,

That mocks the tear it forc'd to flow;

And keen Remorse with blood defil'd,

And moody Madness laughing wild

Amid severest woe.

Lo, in the vale of years beneath

A griesly troop are seen,

The painful family of Death,

More hideous than their Queen:

This racks the joints, this fires the veins,

That ev'ry laboring sinew strains,

Those in the deeper vitals rage:

Lo, Poverty, to fill the band,

That numbs the soul with icy hand,

And slow-consuming Age.

To each his suff'rings: all are men,

Condemn'd alike to groan,

The tender for another's pain;

Th' unfeeling for his own.

Yet ah! why should they know their fate?

Since sorrow never comes too late,

And happiness too swiftly flies.

Thought would destroy their paradise.

No more; where ignorance is bliss,

'Tis folly to be wise."

- By Thomas Gray

"Inflation Hits July 4 Cookouts With Food Prices Up as Much as 36% (heckova job Jerome Powell, Yellen the Felon, & Brandon)

"Inflation Hits July 4 Cookouts With Food Prices Up as Much as 36% 

(heckova job Jerome Powell, Yellen the Felon, & Brandon)

by Boo_Randy

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

○

"Alas, regardless of their doom,

The little victims play!

No sense have they of ills to come,

Nor care beyond to-day..."

-Thomas Gray

"Next Housing Crisis is Here - Too Many Homes for Sale"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 6/30/22:

"Next Housing Crisis is Here - Too Many Homes for Sale"

"Jerome Powell, Chairman of The Fed has stepped forward and said that inflation is here to stay. This is a far cry from the original story that this was only transitory. Also, what if there is not a housing shortage, but in fact a housing glut? We are about to see an abundance of houses for sale."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

Today’s AAA National Average $4.857.

Price as of 6/30/22.

- https://gasprices.aaa.com/

"Rationing Has Already Started In Europe As The Entire Globe Plunges Into A Horrific Economic Nightmare"

"Rationing Has Already Started In Europe As 

The Entire Globe Plunges Into A Horrific Economic Nightmare"

by Michael Snyder

"If countries in Europe are already beginning to ration certain things due to “supply problems”, how long will it be before it starts happening in the United States? Up until the past couple of years, many of us in the western world always considered shortages to be something that only “unsophisticated” poor countries on the other side of the planet had to deal with. But the last couple of years have shown us that painful shortages can happen to wealthy countries in the western world too. At first we were told that they were “just temporary”, but the months went by and we just kept having more shortages. In fact, in 2022 “supply problems” have become so serious that many supermarkets in Europe have been forced to strictly ration essential items at various times. For example, it was being reported that due to the war in Ukraine flour, sunflower oil and sugar were all being rationed by stores in Greece…

After limiting the sale of some flours and sunflower oil online, Greek supermarkets are turning to rationing the sale of sugar as well, now including in their stores, over supply problems. The AB Vassilopoulos is setting a maximum limit on the purchase of all brands of corn and sunflower oil and of flour per customer while Mymarket put a ceiling on sunflower oil purchases and Sklavenitis has added sugar to the rationed sales of corn oil through its online store, with a maximum of four packs, the products in high demand from restaurants, some of which said they have to stop selling french fries and other fried foods.

Over the past few months we have seen similar measures implemented in other major European nations as well. For example, the war in Ukraine prompted some pretty severe rationing in Spain…"Sporadic shortages of products like eggs, milk, and other dairy products also hit Spain since the war in Ukraine began. And major supermarkets including Mercadona and Makro began rationing sunflower oil earlier this month. Now, stores will temporarily be allowed to limit “the number of goods that can be bought by a client,” according to information in the Official State Gazette published on Wednesday."

Looking forward, natural gas rationing is the next big thing that many people in Europe are talking about. The flow of Russian natural gas into Europe has been cut back, and it appears that this may soon cause widespread rationing in Italy…"Italy may start rationing natural-gas consumption to certain industrial giants, after Russia’s Gazprom halved supplies on Friday. On the weekend, the newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that the Italian government and energy industry would meet Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the crisis, with the likely outcome being the introduction of a state of alert under the country’s gas emergency protocol."

And CNN is reporting that Germany is “one step closer to rationing supplies” now that Russia has decided to reduce the flow of natural gas going to that country…"Europe’s biggest economy is now officially running short of natural gas and is escalating a crisis plan to preserve supplies as Russia turns off the taps. Germany on Thursday activated the second phase of its three-stage gas emergency program, taking it one step closer to rationing supplies to industry - a step that would deliver a huge blow to the manufacturing heart of its economy."

Of course there are other parts of the globe that are dealing with problems that are far, far more serious than what Europe is facing right now. As I discussed in an article that I posted earlier this week, significant numbers of people are starting to literally drop dead from starvation in portions of eastern Africa. Global food supplies just keep getting tighter, and the head of the UN is openly telling us that the world is heading into an “unprecedented global hunger crisis”. So if you have plenty of food to eat tonight, you should be thankful.

Here in the United States, economic conditions are deteriorating fairly rapidly, and most Americans are completely and totally unprepared for any sort of a major economic downturn. Earlier today, I came across yet another survey that shows that about 60 percent of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck… “We find that consumers in all income brackets - including those who make more than $100,000 annually - are living paycheck to paycheck. PYMNTS’ research finds that 61% of U.S. consumers were living paycheck to paycheck in April 2022, marking a 9 percentage point increase from 52% in April 2021, meaning that approximately three in five U.S. consumers devote nearly all of their salaries to expenses with little to nothing left over at the end of the month.”

So what is going to happen when those people start losing their jobs in large numbers? Already, we have seen the number of tech layoffs greatly accelerate over the last couple of months. Sadly, the layoffs will get much worse in the months ahead.

And as inflation continues to systematically eat away at our standard of living, Americans are turning to credit cards at a record pace… "As Americans grapple with the highest inflation in 40 years, the number of new credit cards have surged as more Americans rely on them to keep up with high prices. According to a recent report from the Federal Reserve, revolving credit (credit cards and lines of credit) increased by 19.6% from the previous year to $1.103 trillion."

Going into credit card debt is not a solution. At best, it can buy you a little bit of time. And it is especially a bad idea to go into credit card debt as we plunge into a recession. At this point, almost everyone realizes that things are going to get bad. According to one recent poll, a whopping 85 percent of all Americans believe that the U.S. is “headed in the wrong direction”… "The national dissatisfaction is bipartisan. Most Americans, 85%, say the country is headed in the wrong direction. A majority of Republicans have been unhappy with the direction of the country since Biden’s election. Democrats had been positive about how things were going, but now 78% say the country is headed in the wrong direction."

I was astounded to see that 78 percent of Democrats believe that the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction with a Democrat in the White House. I have never seen a number like that ever before. But this is just another indication that the hour is late and that things are about to start getting really crazy out there. For the moment, life is still at least somewhat normal in the western world. Sadly, it won’t stay that way for long, and so I would recommend using your time wisely."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/