"Before We End Up In Wars With Russia And China Simultaneously, Let’s Review The Nuclear Balance Of Power"

"Before We End Up In Wars With Russia And China Simultaneously, 

Let’s Review The Nuclear Balance Of Power"

by Michael Snyder

Excerpt: "It has been said that there are no winners in a nuclear war, but the Russians and the Chinese have been feverishly preparing to fight one anyway. When I was growing up, I was taught that nobody would ever dare start a nuclear war because both sides would fire their missiles and everyone would die. In those days the doctrine of “mutual assured destruction” was universally accepted in the United States, and once the Cold War ended our politicians saw no more need to upgrade our missiles or to develop cutting edge anti-missile technologies. Unfortunately, the balance of power has changed dramatically over the past decade. Russia and China have both made enormous leaps forward, and that puts us in a very precarious position.

In recent days, Republicans in Congress have been buzzing about a new report “from the top commander of U.S. nuclear forces” that says that China now has more launchers for land-based nuclear missiles than the U.S. does…"Top Republicans on Capitol Hill are raising alarms over news that China has surpassed the U.S. in its number of launchers for land-based nuclear missiles - and arguing for the U.S. to expand its own arsenal to keep pace.

Four GOP leaders on the House and Senate Armed Services committees said the revelation about China’s nuclear capability, made in a Jan. 26 letter from the top commander of U.S. nuclear forces, is a warning that Beijing’s arsenal is expanding faster than anticipated, though the U.S. still has more warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles."

This wasn’t supposed to happen. We all knew that the Chinese were upgrading their arsenal, but it turns out that they were even busier than we had anticipated. In fact, they “have doubled their number of warheads in just 2 years”…“The [Chinese Communist Party] is rapidly expanding its nuclear capability. They have doubled their number of warheads in just 2 years,” Rogers said at the outset of Tuesday’s hearing. “We estimated it would take them a decade to do that.” I was stunned when I saw that. The Chinese were not supposed to catch up with us that quickly.

Meanwhile, the Russians have developed a new intercontinental ballistic missile that is the most advanced in the world by a wide margin. It is called “the Sarmat”, and it is absolutely frightening…

"The Sarmat is a three-stage, silo-based, liquid-fuel, heavy ICBM with a reported range of 18,000 kilometers. Dubbed “Satan II” by NATO, the missile is a Russian-built replacement of the Soviet-era SS-18 “Satan” ICBM, which is reaching the end of its life cycle. The Sarmat reportedly can carry a 10-ton payload consisting of 10-plus multiple independent reentry vehicles along with penetration aids used to evade missile defenses. Moscow says the new missile can also carry several Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles. A single Sarmat can carry enough firepower to destroy an area the size of Texas."

RS-28 Sarmat

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-28_Sarmat

15 warheads per missile, 11,000 mile range, 

hypersonic speed of 15,880 mph. No possible defense against it.

Do we really want to do this?

If the Russians or the Chinese fire their missiles at us, can we shoot them down? The answer is no."

Full, most highly recommended article is here:

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

o

Hindustan Times, 2/9/23:

"Putin Warns of Russia-U.S. Direct Clash 

Over Nuclear Provocations; Blasts 'Cynical' Biden'"

Russia has issued a deadly warning to the U.S. and its president, Joe Biden. The Russian Foreign Ministry says that the U.S. has "unleashed a total hybrid war" on Moscow and is putting two nuclear nations on a path to direct confrontation. In a strongly worded statement, the Russian foreign ministry said that Washington’s demands for nuclear inspections in Russia are cynical and that they will obviously assist Ukrainian attacks on Moscow's strategic nuclear forces. Russia issued the "direct clash" warning in response to U.S. allegations of blocking nuclear inspection and violating the New Start treaty. Watch this report for more."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Do we really want to do this? It seems we do...

"A Wise Man Once Said..."

“A wise man once said you can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. What he meant is nothing comes without a price. So before you go into battle, you better decide how much you’re willing to lose. Too often, going after what feels good means letting go of what you know is right, and letting someone in means abandoning the walls you’ve spent a lifetime building. Of course, the toughest sacrifices are the ones we don’t see coming, when we don’t have time to come up with a strategy to pick a side or to measure the potential loss. When that happens, when the battle chooses us and not the other way around, that’s when the sacrifice can turn out to be more than we can bear.

So, how do you beat the odds when it’s one against a billion? You’re just outnumbered. You stand strong, keep pushing yourself against all rational limits, and never give up. But the truth of the matter is despite how hard you try and fight to stay in control, when it’s all said and done, sometimes you’re just outnumbered.”

- "Meredith", "Gray's Anatomy"

"Shopping At Kroger! Checking Prices And Stocking Up!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 2/9/23:

"Shopping At Kroger! Checking Prices And Stocking Up!"

"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing some good sale prices on groceries. With prices continuing to rise in all grocery stores across the country, we are on the hunt to find the best deals for you, and your family."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Michael Jackson, "Earth Song"

Full screen recommended.

Michael Jackson, "Earth Song"

Canadian Prepper, "OMG, You're Not Gonna Believe This!"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 2/8/23:

"OMG, You're Not Gonna Believe This!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Don't Worry About A Recession, Worry About A Meltdown; Inflation Has Just Begun"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/8/23:

"Don't Worry About A Recession, Worry About A Meltdown; 

Inflation Has Just Begun"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Scott Ritter, "When Will Russian Offensive Begin?"

Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, 2/8/23:

"When Will Russian Offensive Begin?"

"We are joined by Andrey Klincevich, a Russian statesman, military expert in the field of weapons & military equipment. Graduate of the Tver’ Suvorov Military Academy and the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Former officer of the Special Forces Regiment of the Russian Airborne Forces."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "We’re Living On Borrowed Time and Borrowed Cash"

Gerald Celente, 2/8/23:

"We’re Living On Borrowed Time and Borrowed Cash"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present facts and truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for what’s next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"An Industry Insider Just Revealed Why Major Grocery Stores Are Struggling To Stock Up On Essentials"

Full screen recommended.

"An Industry Insider Just Revealed Why Major 

Grocery Stores Are Struggling To Stock Up On Essentials"

by Epic Economist

"This video is for everyone who is sick and tired of hearing that inflation is going down when you’re actually not seeing this being reflected on your grocery bill. No matter which store you go to, you still get shocked to see how much prices have gone up from one week to the other. It’s also very frustrating to see that many shelves are wiped clean and staying that way for months. If you can relate to all that, stay tuned with us because in today’s video, we compiled some chilling revelations made by sources in the food industry, with one in particular laying out the truth behind the new price hikes and the comeback of shortages of essential products now happening all around America.

Nowadays, shopping for groceries has become a challenging task, like preparing for battle. As you enter the store with your shopping list in hand, you are immediately faced with empty displays, missing everyday items, and some eye-popping prices that have an instant effect on your mood. It's not uncommon to return home with only half of what you intended to buy, having spent twice the amount you budgeted, and feeling quite defeated.

Believe it or not, prices are soaring so high right now that even major food retailers like Target and Whole Foods are begging their suppliers to cut costs this year. But several sources within the food industry say that retailers’ requests will be left unheard and consumers will continue to bear the brunt of absurd grocery price hikes in 2023 because a handful of corporations that control the global food market are rushing to capitalize on inflation before they lose the chance to do so. “Food price rises around the world are the result of a “broken” food system that is failing populations and concentrating power and profits in the hands of a few,” Alex Maitland of Oxfam said in a recent interview.

In other words, “corporate greed is the biggest factor keeping food prices high,” the expert highlights. Even more notably, Phil Lempert, the editor of supermarketguru.com, and respected food industry insider revealed even the chairman of Tesco, John Allen, is alarmed by the fact that major food firms are profiteering from inflation at the cost of some of the poorest consumers. Grocers are having to come forward and step up against such dishonest practices. “They're challenging companies that they believe are lifting prices disproportionately. So when we look at this fight that's now taking place, and I don't think it's anywhere near over, I think we're gonna see a lot of consumers get hurt. I think we're gonna see a lot of small grocers get hurt. All of these big guys at the top of the chain may try to crush them,” he noted.

The harsh reality of soaring food prices and shortages of essentials is painting a bleak and desolate picture for our population. The greed of corporations has brought the nation to its knees, leaving ordinary people to suffer the consequences. With each passing day, the struggles of everyday Americans become more unbearable as they are forced to choose between feeding their families and paying for life's other necessities. The inability of the government to take action and hold corporations accountable is only adding fuel to the fire, as institutions fail to provide the protection and relief that is so desperately needed. There’s no sign of a reprieve from this dark and gloomy reality. This is a moment of crisis, a time when the very fabric of our society is being tested and revealing its shortcomings."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

“You Deserve to Be Hanged for Treason”

“You Deserve to Be Hanged for Treason”

by Brian Maher

Annapolis, Maryland - “You are sick… You deserve to be hanged for treason.” This, reader I.W. has informed us. He elaborated his case no further, alas. His charges therefore lack the legal warrant for an official hanging. Upon this slender hope we hang… if you will indulge the expression. Yet the question dangles: Why would I.W. have us hanged? What have we done to rate a hanging?

I.W.’s laments attend our recent articles on the Ukrainian unpleasantness - articles in which we called United States involvement into severe question. Put simply: We argued against United States involvement in the Ukrainian war. That is because we fear it opens the roadway for direct United States conflict with Russia itself. Thus we are a Putin “apologist.” Thus we sanction, bless and enable the man’s multiple evils in Ukraine. Thus we are an agent of Satan and against every human decency. Thus we must hang for treason - by the neck - until dead.

Tread Carefully: Yet we might remind I.W. that nations can stumble into war… as easily as men can stumble into love. War’s dogs are willful and excitable hounds. They are forever plotting to break the leashes. The June 1914 assassination of an Austrian archduke did not by itself fire the guns of August. War was not an inevitability. But blunders were made… and miscalculations. That is, human beings were at their normal tricks. Two months later the guns were roaring. They roared for the next four years.

We would avoid a nuclear-age sequel - a sequel with a far less lengthy conclusion. We fear that the distance from initial clash with Russia… to nuclear clash with Russia… may be nearer than most imagine…That the howitzers of June that led to the tanks of February could lead to the aircraft of April and the troops of September and the atoms of October. How many homicides escalated from a simple shove? The graveyards and the jails crowd with examples.

What Would Adams Think? America “goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy,” said Adams (John Quincy) in 1821. More from whom: "She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings…

Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be…She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example.

She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom.

The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force.... She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit...America's glory is not dominion, but liberty… She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is, Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her Declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice."

Adams Says No to the Early Neoconservatives: In the early 1820s the nation of Greece was at war with the Ottoman Empire. It was a war for Greek independence - similar to America’s own war for independence from the British Empire. The Greek government formally solicited aid and assistance from the United States. Many Americans, including prominent politicos, were hot to jam their snouts into the thing. They believed the Greek cause was in essence the United States’ cause. And so they were for the Greek proposal. They were out to aid Greece materially - even to dispatch a squadron of the United States Navy to those distant, contested waters.

Yet Secretary of State Adams did not think “quite so lightly of a war with Turkey.” Thus he put out a very stern rebuke against the Greek request: "While cheering with their best wishes the cause of the Greeks, the United States are forbidden by the duties of the situation from taking part in the war, to which their relation is that of neutrality… Their established policy and the obligations of the laws of nations preclude them from becoming voluntary auxiliaries to a cause which would involve them in war."

Incidentally, Mr. Adams references the United States in the plural form - “the United States are…” That is because the United States was not yet an “it.” It remained a “them.”

What Would Adams Say About War With Russia? Would Secretary of State John Quincy Adams counsel war with Russia in 2023? Or would the fellow not think “quite so lightly of a war” with Russia? We do not presume to speak for the dead. And so we shall not presume to speak for Mr. Adams. Yet we can draw certain… inferences… based on his written declarations. And we believe he would be against war with Russia - for the very reasons he cited in 1821.

Must the United States of 2023… the “it”... cling to the doctrines of the “them” United States of 1821? No, it is under no such bonds. The world of 2023 is vastly different from the world of 1821. And the contemporary United States is free to chart its own course, to blaze its own path, to do as it pleases. It need not - must not - be devoted slavishly to the old ways. Even old Tommy Jefferson argued that the nation’s Constitution should be written anew every 19 years. And who are we to dispute old Tommy Jefferson? No one whomsoever.

What if Adams Was Right? Yet we must consider this possibility: The Adams admonitions of 1821 maintain their value in the year 2023. They may transmit a vast and enduring wisdom worth a good hard listen. Yet the living so rarely listen to the dead. The living believe they inhabit unrivaled times. That they confront unrivaled circumstances - and challenges. “This time is different” is their eternal refrain.

These unrivaled times, circumstances and challenges lead some to conclude that Russia constitutes a unique menace to global tranquility. And that the world’s civilized nations must scotch it before the menace grows… like a cancerous growth They further believe that war with a nuclear-armed Russia is a tolerable risk in pursuit of this greater good. And some even believe that a man should hang for treason if he is against it…"

- dailyreckoning.com

Musical Interlude: Neil H, "Candlelight Dreams"

Neil H, "Candlelight Dreams"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"A gorgeous spiral galaxy some 100 million light-years distant, NGC 1309 lies on the banks of the constellation of the River (Eridanus). NGC 1309 spans about 30,000 light-years, making it about one third the size of our larger Milky Way galaxy. Bluish clusters of young stars and dust lanes are seen to trace out NGC 1309's spiral arms as they wind around an older yellowish star population at its core.

Click image for larger size.

Not just another pretty face-on spiral galaxy, observations of NGC 1309's recent supernova and Cepheid variable stars contribute to the calibration of the expansion of the Universe. Still, after you get over this beautiful galaxy's grand design, check out the array of more distant background galaxies also recorded in this sharp, reprocessed, Hubble Space Telescope view.”

-  http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130116.

Chet Raymo, “Free As A Bird”

“Free As A Bird”

by Chet Raymo

“All afternoon I have been watching a pair of hummingbirds play about our porch. They live somewhere nearby, though I haven’t found their nest. They are attracted to our hummingbird feeder, which we keep full of sugar water. What perfect little machines they are! No other bird can perform their tricks of flight – flying backwards, hovering in place. Zip. Zip. From perch to perch in a blur of iridescence. If you want a symbol of freedom, the hummingbird is it. Exuberant. Unpredictable. A streak of pure fun. It is the speed, of course, that gives the impression of perfect spontaneity. The bird can perform a dozen intricate maneuvers more quickly than I can turn my head.

Is the hummingbird’s apparent freedom illusory, a biochemically determined response to stimuli from the environment? Or is the hummingbird’s flight what it seems to be, willful and unpredictable? If I can answer that question, I will be learning as much about myself as about the hummingbird. So I watch. And I consider what I know of biochemistry. The hummingbird is awash in signals from its environment – visual, olfactory, auditory and tactile cues that it processes and responds to with lightning speed.

How does it do it? Proteins, mostly. Every cell of the hummingbird’s body is a buzzing conversation of proteins, each protein a chain of hundreds of amino acids folded into a complex shape like a piece of a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Shapes as various as the words of a human vocabulary. An odor molecule from a blossom, for example, binds to a protein receptor on a cell membrane of the hummingbird’s olfactory organ – like a jigsaw-puzzle piece with its neighbor. This causes the receptor molecule to change that part of its shape that extends inside the cell. Another protein now binds with the new configuration of the receptor, and changes its own shape. And so on, in a sequence of shapeshifting and binding – called a signal-transduction cascade – until the hummingbird’s brain “experiences” the odor.

Now appropriate signals must be sent from the brain to the body – ion flows established along neural axons, synapses activated. Wing muscles must respond to direct the hummingbird to the source of nourishment. Tens of thousands of proteins in a myriad of cells talk to each other, each protein genetically prefigured by the hummingbird’s DNA to carry on its conversation in a particular part of the body. All of this happens continuously, and so quickly that to my eye the bird’s movements are a blur.

There is much left to learn, but this much is clear: There is no ghost in the machine, no hummingbird pilot making moment by moment decisions out of the whiffy stuff of spirit. Every detail of the hummingbird’s apparently willful flight is biochemistry. Between the hummingbird and myself there is a difference of complexity, but not of kind. If humans are the lords of terrestrial creation, it is because of the huge tangle of nerves that sits atop our spines.

So what does this mean about human freedom? If we are biochemical machines in interaction with our environments, in what sense can we be said to be free? What happens to “free will”? Perhaps the most satisfying place to look for free will is in what is sometimes called chaos theory. In sufficiently complex systems with many feedback loops – the global economy, the weather, the human nervous system – small perturbations can lead to unpredictable large-scale consequences, though every part of the system is individually deterministic. This has sometimes been called – somewhat facetiously – the butterfly effect: a butterfly flaps its wings in China and triggers a cascade of events that results in a snowstorm in Chicago. Chaos theory has taught us that determinism does not imply predictability. Of course, this is not what philosophers traditionally meant by free will, but it is indistinguishable from what philosophers traditionally meant by free will. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.

I watch the hummingbirds at the feeder. Their hearts beat ten times faster than a human’s. They have the highest metabolic rate of any animal, a dozen times higher than a pigeon, a hundred times higher than an elephant. Hummingbirds live at the edge of what is biologically possible, and it’s that, the fierce intenseness of their aliveness, that makes them appear so exuberantly free. But there are no metaphysical pilots in these little flying machines. The machines are the pilots. You give me carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and a few billion years of evolution, and I’ll give you a bird that burns like a luminous flame. The hummingbird’s freedom was built into the universe from the first moment of creation.”

- http://www.sciencemusings.com/

"We Have The Power..."

“Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans to gain or maintain power. What is more, those who choose not to empathize may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it through our own apathy. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”

– J. K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement, June 5, 2008

The Daily "Near You?"

Wooster, Ohio, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Banks Are Getting Ready for Defaults"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 2/8/23:

"Banks Are Getting Ready for Defaults"

"We just heard from Bank of America’s CEO, Robert Moynihan, and he is convinced that the United States government is going to default on its credit. Where does it go from here?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"Banks Could Seize Your Accounts"

Bill Bonner, "A State of Disunion"

"What, me worry?” President Joe Biden delivers his State of 

The Union address to Congress on February 8th, 2023 in Washington, DC.

"A State of Disunion"

Jawboning politicos promise more things 

they can't afford and won't deliver anyway...

by Bill Bonner

"An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium."

~ W.B. Yeats

Youghal, Ireland - "Yesterday was a busy day for lower jaws. Powell spoke. Then, Biden spoke. It is easy to make fun of Biden’s speech, so we will hop to it. The man has always been a hack. Now he is an old hack. And old hacks are funnier than young ones.

Still, we were impressed. The tattered coat managed to stand up and deliver a long, pointless speech. It was another triumph of politics…over common sense. And a triumph for old age and treachery over youth and skill. His speech was vaguely about leading the country into a glorious future. But old men do not lead the way into the future. They get out of the way…tell tales…sing songs… and let the future happen. Not since Philippe Petain – a far abler leader – took over France in 1940, has an octogenarian been cast in such a leading role. We doubt the results will be any better.

Biden’s Blah-Blahing: Biden began by saying that the US was a ‘unique’ nation…that always bounces back from adversity stronger than before. As proof he cited an experience that was not at all unique…but common to almost all nations – except Sweden. Said POTUS: “Two years ago, Covid had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, Covid no longer controls our lives.” He also claimed that, two years ago, “our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War.” Both of these great challenges were evidently met, two years ago, by the geezer at the podium.

But on both points, the president was just blah-blahing. The Covid never shut down anything. The government shut down the economy, not the Covid…and as Sweden proved, for no good reason. But rather than apologize to the millions of people whose lives were disrupted, the president claimed it as a great victory…as if he, field marshal of the anti-Covid forces, had scored a decisive victory over the germ.

Likewise, ‘our democracy,’ was not in any special danger two years ago. People voted. The election results were contested. Nobody claimed we shouldn’t have an election. Nobody said we should stop being a democracy and become a monarchy or a theocracy. Nobody rode down Pennsylvania Avenue at the head of a column of tanks…seized a microphone…and announced a military takeover.

That is what makes our democracy so resilient and so jolly; there is no need to abandon elections, because they are largely meaningless. The military does not have to stage a coup d’etat; it gets what it wants without one. Congress is ready to go along with any bamboozle. And the press doesn’t have to be silenced…it has nothing to say anyway.

Biden’s use of the ‘Civil’ War as a prior example of democracy-in-danger was particularly ill-advised. The Southern States expressed themselves at the polls; they wanted out. They voted to set up their own government…exercising a right to ‘self-determination’ clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence. Then, to ‘effect their own safety and happiness,’ they elected Jefferson Davis to be their president. The election wasn’t contested. Davis was unanimously chosen by the representatives present at the constitutional convention held in Montgomery, Alabama, in February 1861. But then as now, Washington flexed its muscles, claiming that no people have a right to govern themselves, unless expressly authorized by the United States of America. Democracy lost.

Biden also crowed about how he had given us more of what America needs least – more laws; he said he signed more than 300 of them. At that rate, the new laws are coming at the rate of about one very 12 business hours – God help us. And he says there are a lot more where those came from.

Among the laws of which Biden is most proud are those doing for the Ukraine roughly what Sherman did for Atlanta. There, too, the fragile flowers of democracy budded out after the US supported a coup d’etat against the democratically-elected government. People of the Eastern provinces wanted freedom from the new US-backed regime in Kyiv. They voted for their own governments…and their own leaders.

We have this on the authority of…artificial intelligence. Not that old-fashioned authentic intelligence. We put the question to ChatGPT, to get the real skinny. ‘Why are we at war in the Ukraine,’ we asked. The answer: "There is an ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which began in 2014 with the Ukrainian Revolution and the subsequent annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. The conflict escalated into a war in the Donbass region of Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists declared independence from Ukraine and formed the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. The Ukrainian government and the separatists have been engaged in military conflict, with periodic ceasefires being declared but often breaking down. The conflict has been fueled by political, historical, ethnic, and economic tensions, and has resulted in thousands of deaths and displacement of civilians."

Geriatric Intelligence: Mr. Biden might have consulted AI before getting so deeply involved in another quagmire. But that would require some state-of-the-art technical skill. Besides, it wouldn’t suit the war industry…whose goal is to use quagmires…any conflict, anywhere…to shift wealth in its direction.

Meanwhile…Mr. Biden may be eager to pass more laws, but there is one that definitely won’t be passed. Alas, it is one of the few that probably should be made law – a law reforming Social Security and Medicaid before they go broke. The president claimed that Republicans want to cut back the social welfare programs. Republicans denied that they would sponsor such responsible legislation. Speaker McCarthy says it’s ‘off the table.’

And the geriatric president, ‘fastened to a dying animal,’ tells us that no such reform measures, no matter how necessary, will be passed on his watch. “I will not allow them to be taken away,” he said of the benefits Americans have not yet received, which are not his responsibility, over which he has little control, and which his government cannot afford. Tomorrow…Jay Powell does the talking."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

o

P.S. "We’re getting ready to head back down south again, to the “Fin del Mundo,” in Argentina. As long time readers know, we’ve got our hands full on the ranch, contending with extreme conditions and the ongoing saga with the locals who claim ancestral rights on our land. If you missed the truth about the originarios… and the back story behind our Argentine wine partnership from Will, our oldest son who’s heading up the project… you can read all about it here.

Sadly, Bonner Private Wines is unable to ship outside the United States at the moment. But if you're in the United States, you can order the wine directly, while supplies last, at this link."

"The Cruelest Joke Of All..."

“The smallest decisions made had such profound repercussions. One ten-minute wait could save a life… or end it. One wrong turn down the right street or one seemingly unimportant conversation, and everything was changed. It wasn’t right that each lifetime was defined, ruined, ended, and made by such seemingly innocuous details. A major life-threatening event should come with a flashing warning sign that either said ABANDON ALL HOPE or SAFETY AHEAD. It was the cruelest joke of all that no one could see the most vicious curves until they were over the edge, falling into the abyss below.”

- Sherrilyn Kenyon

Greg Hunter, "People are Dying from the CV19 Vax & It’s Preventable"

 

"People are Dying from the CV19 Vax 

& It’s Preventable – Dr. Pierre Kory"

by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"World renowned CV19 critical care and pulmonary expert Dr. Pierre Kory is fast becoming one of the top CV19 vaccine injury experts in the country. It’s not only injuries Dr. Kory is concerned about, but it is the huge amount of death from these bioweapon injections. The dark powers did not tell you the dangers of the CV19 so-called vaccines, and now, they are covering up and ignoring lifesaving therapies to combat it. Dr. Kory explains, “Every day it’s just endless reports in the newspapers and all around us of young people dying. By the way, it’s not normal for people to die suddenly at 32 years of age, or at 42 or even at 50. You see droves and droves of people dying, this is not to mention the number of celebrities dying and the amount of artists getting sick, canceling concerts and developing cancers. Have you ever seen so many famous people getting sick all the time and not being able to do their duties, sing or do all these things? It’s dystopian. People are dying, and they are dying at rates we have never seen before. There is a cause (CV19 bioweapon/vax), and it’s preventable.”

Dr. Kory has completely shifted his direction to vax injuries and shedding injuries. Dr. Kory says, “There is no vaccine injury clinic – period. You cannot have a clinic for a disease that you shall not speak its name.” (CV19 bioweapon/vax)

Dr. Kory has seen the amount of vax injuries explode over the last year in his new practice, and he says they are increasing. What does Dr. Kory use for his baseline treatment to combat vaccine injuries? It’s Ivermectin, but the medical community is not pushing this life saving treatment, and many are saying it’s ineffective and unsafe - a total lie. This is why Dr. Kory is coming out with a book in April called “The War on Ivermectin.”

Dr. Kory says, “Ivermectin is demonstrably, provably one of the safest medicines in the history of medicine. It is really hard to overdose on Ivermectin, and this gives it a really wide range of dosing. In fact, you could probably take 100 times a standard dose. (Standard dose is 9mgs per 100 pounds.) So, there is a wide dosing range. There has not been one provable documented death with Ivermectin. The safety is unparalleled. Even the World Health Organization (WHO), it’s on their list of essential medicines around the world, and they say most side effects are minor. I use it all the time. As a physician, it is such a great medicine to work with because of its safety. You don’t have to worry about Ivermectin. In my practice, we have an evolving array of therapies that work to treat what I call vaccine injury syndrome. Most of the patients that come to see me have syndromes. That is a constellation of symptoms, and that is different than a post-vaccine complication. I see patients that are essentially disabled. The three cardinal symptoms are: severe fatigue, post exertional malaise, they cannot tolerate physical exertion, and then the third cardinal symptom is what we call brain fog. Those are the three big ones.”

In closing, Dr. Kory says, “We have a pandemic of the vaccinated. Now, we have millions injured from the (CV19) vaccine for which, in my opinion, Ivermectin is one of the most effective medicines to help them. How are they going to get Ivermectin? How are they going to find a doctor to use Ivermectin?” Dr. Kory answers many questions in the 1-hour and 10-minute in-depth interview.

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with Dr. Pierre Kory, one of the top pulmonary and Covid Critical Care experts on the planet, who is co-founder of the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance (flccc.net) and author of the upcoming book “The War on Ivermectin.”

- https://rumble.com/

o

Related:

 ● "At Least 1 Billion Dead or Disabled from CV19 Bioweapon"

● "Pfizer CV19 Bioweapon Vax Public Enemy #1"

"How It Really Is"

“Too Much Rain Will Kill Ya”

“Too Much Rain Will Kill Ya”

by Bruce Krasting

"My first week on Wall Street was in August of 1973. I was newbie to NYC. My office was on the south side of 100 Wall, on the second floor, looking out over Front Street. There was a tremendous thunderstorm one afternoon. I looked out the window as the street filled with water. The flood poured into a street gutter and overwhelmed it. With the gutter flooded, the rats were drowning. They came out of every hole. In twenty minutes, 500 came out of the one gutter I was watching. The rain stopped and the flooding abated. The rats on the street followed the receding water back into their holes. A memorable first impression of life in the financial district."

- http://www.zerohedge.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Make No Mistake...The Biggest Stock Market Crash Of All Time Is Coming"

Gregory Mannarino, 2/8/23:

"Make No Mistake...

The Biggest Stock Market Crash Of All Time Is Coming"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"Banks Could Seize Your Accounts"

o

And as Wall Street totally collapses...

Any questions?

"The End Of The Financial World? Maybe, But Who Cares?"

"The End Of The Financial World? 

Maybe, But Who Cares?"

by John Wilder

"Let’s talk about Michael J. Burry. Burry studied economics on his way to a pre-med decree at ULCA, and then got an M.D. at Vanderbilt. I think he got bored with medicine, and he decided investing was more fun than doing pathology, and 2000 started investing. Besides, I heard that when he did a report on a deceased patient that he put, “cause of death: autopsy” that people weren’t amused, but that joke still kills me.

By the end of 2004, he was managing $600,000,000 dollars, and had made returns of over 50% shorting the Tech Bubble when everyone still thought that Alta Vista® was worth more than a box of slightly melted Milk Duds®. In 2005, Burry started in reviewing the housing and, more importantly, the housing lending market. He saw it was all junk.

To be fair, I made the same observation at the time, but unlike Dr. Burry, I only made about $80,000 with a stop-loss on my own house from when I lived in Houston. In my case, it was a one-of-a-kind situation, worked like a charm, and it won’t happen to me again.

I made (or, in my case didn’t lose) $80,000. Burry made $100,000,000. Burry made that much personally. But, it really it took him a whole year to make that much. Burry also made his other investors more than $700,000,000 in profit at the same time Bernie Madoff was attempting to convince his investors that the money must be in his other suit. Or maybe he left it under the bed. Burry cleaned out the market, Madoff cleaned out his investors.

Also, Burry is a little ‘spergie like your ‘umble ‘ost, and also is a heavy metal fan. I think he and I would get along, except I’m sure his car costs more than my house. And The Mrs. has a shirt that she had autographed by Dimebag Darrell. I’m thinking I could convince her to sell it to Dr. Burry. For a particular car... Also, like me, he has correctly predicted seven of the last three recessions.

I’ll admit, I do tend to see the cracks. There’s a reason I say, “Better a year early than an hour too late” because I understand a fundamental principle of life as first noted by the stoic philosopher Seneca (and expounded upon by Ugo Bardi – LINK): things are only built slowly, but disappear quickly. A house might take weeks or months to build, but (I was advised by a firefighter) if my house has been burning for more than a few minutes, they show up to pull me, The Mrs., and Pugsley out and make sure that other houses next to mine don’t burn.

Destruction is more powerful than creation. This is a restatement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and just shows what any father knows – the lawn won’t mow itself. But, I digress. Burry sees the larger patterns in the world, and his autism is a superpower in pattern detection. And he doesn’t like what he sees. In fact, he just posted this Tweet®:

Well, I wonder what he meant by that? I’ll turn it over to the philosophers at /pol/ to explain using GrugTalk®:

The slightly longer answer than the GrugTalk™ answer is that this is the graph that shows the relationship between the S&P 500 and the Federal funds rate. Grug is right, sometimes line go up, sometimes down. And when things start to collapse the Fed® normally cuts the interest rate. But, of course, in 2001 the inflation rate was lower than Madonna’s current attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10. Now? In late January, Burry had a one word Tweet©:

I wonder what he meant by that? I don’t think we need Grug to translate. Sell. Burry is indicating he’s out. The first graph shows that the Fed™ rate is approaching levels not seen since before the Tech Bubble popped.

But I think it’s going to be much worse, because inflation is exploding. In 2001, life was better, and the real issue was the ludicrous level of optimism that caused money to flow into the tech sector. Of course, the solution from the Fed™ was to pump in tons of cash and free up lending. In the housing sector. So, this graph represents how Burry made a lot of money, essentially shorting the Fed™ as it poured dollars from the Tech Bubble directly into the Housing Bubble which led to the Great Recession.

This made Burry hundreds of millions of dollars as he profited from the tendency of the Fed™ to treat the symptoms and not the actual problems. However, given that our debt, inflation rate, and business risk are going up faster than a Chinese balloon. And then they’ll go down faster than a Chinese balloon.

Now, to be fair, Elon Musk has characterized Burry as a “stopped clock” who is right enough times to make him a few hundred million dollars. Elon might have a point – as Burry and I wait for the cracks to form and Seneca to be proven correct, there’s a world out there, growing and moving. You can live life, but living it always on the defensive will end up in a losing ground strategy.

I think Burry is right, and I wouldn’t bet against him. But I’m also not going to spend to my life living in fear. It’s a mistake, and has probably cost me additional growth on what I have squirreled away for the future. That’s on me, and I refuse to feel bad about it, though if I were 20 or 30 I would be all in online.

As we get older, we often worry far too much about the destruction part of Seneca’s lesson, and forget about the creation, which is the important part of the story. We will have failures. Economies will collapse. The world will recover. We will abide. But we cannot live in fear, nor in regret. Unlike Madonna’s face."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

R.E.M., 

"It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

"Major Price Increases At Sam's Club! Not Good! What's Next?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 2/8/23:

"Major Price Increases At Sam's Club! 

Not Good! What's Next?"

"In today's vlog we are at Sam's Club, and are noticing some major price increases on groceries! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and the empty shelves situation! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"This Is Getting Crazy - Another Market Miracle; The Economy Is A Mess; US Debt Explodes"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/7/23:

"This Is Getting Crazy - Another Market Miracle; 

The Economy Is A Mess; US Debt Explodes"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "Pop Goes the Weasel! How Many Fighter Jets Does it Take to Down a Weather Balloon?"

Strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, 2/7/23"

"Pop Goes the Weasel! How Many Fighter Jets 

Does it Take to Down a Weather Balloon?"

"Gerald Celente says the gamblers on Wall Street sent the market higher because they believe the Fed will take its foot off the gas...the rest of the U.S. economy is going down."

- TrendsJournal.com

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"44 Million Americans Are On The Brink Of Eviction As They Can't Afford Rental Prices"

Full screen recommended.

"44 Million Americans Are On The Brink Of Eviction 

As They Can't Afford Rental Prices"

by Epic Economist

"If you’re a renter, are you also feeling the pinch of rent prices right now? With mortgage rates soaring and forcing many would-be homebuyers to back out of the housing market over the past year, demand for rentals is at the highest level on record, according to data from Realtor.com. As of January 27, less than 6% of rental units were sitting vacant in the U.S. rental market. And along with demand, rent prices are still at historic highs despite recent declines seen around the country that ranged from 2% to 6%. In fact, one new study found that expensive rental costs are now burdening 44 million Americans from all over the nation. For the bottom 10% of income earners, rents are unaffordable in virtually every state of the country. Meanwhile, eviction rates are rising fast, and this time around, there are no policies in place to prevent an eviction tsunami. Advocates alert that the rent crisis is threatening to spark a national catastrophe. That’s why today, we decided to analyze some incredibly shocking statistics about rental affordability in the United States that everyone should know.

While rent prices are breaking records, wage growth is currently flat. The latest numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that weekly earnings for both men and women in the middle class were standing at $1,085 per week as of January 15. Before taxes, that’s about $4,340 of income per month, which means that middle-class households bringing in that amount would pay more than 41% of their income on rent. Official housing agencies say that anyone spending more than 30% of their income on rent is considered “cost-burdened,”. That’s to say, those workers may struggle to afford necessities such as food and transportation.

This also means that low-income workers are in extreme financial distress due to rent price increases, given that they need to spend about 55% of their income to pay for a one-bedroom rental currently listed on the market, according to estimates from the National Housing Coalition. In January, the average monthly rent affordable to a family of four with a household income at the poverty line was $694. In contrast, the average Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom rental home was $1,492 U.S. dollars per month during that same period.

For the bottom 10%, rent prices are out of their reach in virtually all of the states in the country. The National Housing Coalition highlights that people need to earn $24.90 per hour to afford a rental home without spending more than 30% of their income. Believe it or not, there was a time when a single, full-time income could financially provide for families. But nowadays, most families are working harder than ever and still need at least two incomes to make financial ends meet.

Eviction filings have already returned to pre-pandemic levels and, in some places, even exceeded them. While illegal evictions certainly make the housing insecurity and homelessness crisis worse; the real culprit is the combination of an undersupply of affordable housing, poor wage growth, and a persistent lack of federal and state assistance to help both landlords and low-income tenants. Now, the rental affordability crisis and the growing threat of evictions in America paint a dire picture for millions of renters, putting them at risk of financial instability, and losing their homes, and also further exacerbating an already dire situation."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Judge Napolitano, "Ukraine/Russia War - Beyond the Propaganda w/ Col. Doug Macgregor"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/7/23:

"Ukraine/Russia War - 

Beyond the Propaganda w/ Col. Doug Macgregor"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Moby, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" (Ben-E.dit)

Full screen recommended.

Moby, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" (Ben-E.dit)

"A Look to the Heavens"

“It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522. Next door, though, lives a giant molecular cloud, visible to the right. At this place in space, an irresistible force meets an immovable object in an interesting way.

The cloud is able to contain the expansion of the bubble gas, but gets blasted by the hot radiation from the bubble's central star. The radiation heats up dense regions of the molecular cloud causing it to glow. The Bubble Nebula, pictured above in scientifically mapped colors to bring up contrast, is about 10 light-years across and part of a much larger complex of stars and shells. The Bubble Nebula can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia).”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111011.html