Chet Raymo, “The Journey”

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“The Journey”

by Chet Raymo

“Here’s a deep-deep sky map of the universe from the March 9, 2006 issue of Nature. The horizontal scale is a 360 view right around the sky; the vertical gaps at 6 hours and 24 hours are the parts of the universe that are blocked to our view by the disk of our own Milky Way Galaxy. The vertical scale – distance from Earth – is logarithmic (10, 100, 1000, etc.) measured in megaparsecs (a parsec equals 3.26 light-years). Across the top is the Big Bang, and the oldest and most distant thing we can see, the cosmic microwave background, the radiation of the Big Bang itself. A few relatively nearby galaxies are designated at the bottom. All that stuff in the middle that looks like smoke or dusty cobwebs are quasars and galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

A smoke of galaxies! (2 trillion galaxies* according to latest estimates.- CP) A universe cobwebbed with Milky Ways! Each galaxy itself a smoke of stars, hundreds of billions of stars, many or all of them with planets. My book, “Walking Zero,” is about the human journey from the omphalos of our birth into the world of the galaxies, a journey many of us are disinclined to make. Here is how the Prologue to the book begins:

“Each of us is born at the center of the world. For nine months our physical selves are assembled molecule by molecule, cell by cell, in the dark covert of our mother’s womb. A single fertilized egg cell splits into two. Then four. Eight. Sixteen. Thirty-two. Ultimately, 50 trillion cells or so. At first, our future self is a mere blob of protoplasm. But slowly, ever so slowly, the blob begins to differentiate under the direction of genes. A symmetry axis develops. A head, a tail, a spine. At this point, the embryo might be that of a human, or a chicken, or a marmoset. Limbs form. Digits, with tiny translucent nails. Eyes, with papery lids. Ears pressed like flowers against the head. Clearly now a human. A nose, nostrils. Downy hair. Genitals.

As the physical self develops, so too a mental self takes shape, not yet conscious, not yet self-aware, knitted together as webs of neurons in the brain, encapsulating in some respects the evolutionary experience of our species. Instincts impressed by the genes. The instinct to suck, for example. Already, in the womb, the fetus presses its tiny fist against its mouth in anticipation of the moment when the mouth will be offered the mother’s breast. The child will not have to be taught to suck. Other inborn behaviors will express themselves later. Laughing. Crying. Striking out in anger. Loving.

What, if anything, goes on in the mind of the developing fetus we may never know. But this much seems certain: To the extent that the emerging self has any awareness of its surroundings, its world is coterminous with itself. We are not born with knowledge of the antipodes, the plains of Mars, or the far-flung realm of the galaxies. We are not born with knowledge of Precambrian seas, the supercontinent of Pangea, or the Age of Dinosaurs. We are born into a world scarcely older than ourselves and scarcely larger than ourselves. And we are at its center.

A human life is a journey into the grandeur of a universe that may contain more galaxies than there are cells in the human body, a universe in which the whole of a human lifetime is but a single tick of the cosmic clock. The journey can be disorienting; our first instincts are towards coziness, comfort, our mother’s enclosing arms, her breast. The journey, therefore, requires courage – for each individual, and for our species.

Uniquely of all animals, humans have the capacity to let our minds expand into the space and time of the galaxies. No other creatures can number the cells in their bodies, as we can, or count the stars. No other creatures can imagine the explosive birth of the observable universe 14 billion years ago from an infinitely hot, infinitely small seed of energy. That we choose to make this journey – from the all-sustaining womb into the vertiginous spaces and abyss of time – is the glory of our species, and perhaps our most frightening challenge.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

* "2 Trillion Galaxies? The Mind-Boggling 

Scale of the Universe Explained"

o

Full screen recommended.

"The Living Universe is Unimaginably 

BIG and You're a Part of It!"

o

"In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of three billion Earth-type planets. And in all of the universe, 2 trillion galaxies like this. And in all of that... and perhaps more, only one of each of us." - "Dr. Leonard McCoy"

"Reality Avoidance"

"Reality Avoidance"

by Morris Berman

"It’s quite amazing how the news is endlessly about filler, which is what I call it. Very little of this has anything to do with reality, which the Mainstream Media and the American people avoid like the plague. What then is real?

1. The empire is in decline; every day, life here gets a little bit worse; all our institutions are corrupt to varying degrees; and there is no turning this situation around.

2. A crucial factor in this decline and irreversibility is the low level of intelligence of the American people. Americans are not only dumb; they are positively antagonistic toward the life of the mind.

3. Relations of power and money determine practically everything. The 3 wealthiest Americans own as much as the bottom 50% of the population, and this tendency will get worse over time.

4. The value system of the country, and its citizens, is fundamentally wrong-headed. It amounts to little more than hustling, selfishness, narcissism, and a blatant disregard for anyone but oneself. There is a kind of cruelty, or violence, deep in the American soul; many foreign observers and writers have commented on this. Americans are bitter, depressed, and angry, and the country offers very little by way of community or empathy.

5. Along with this is the support of meaningless wars and imperial adventures on the part of most of the population. That we drone-murder unarmed civilians on a weekly basis is barely on the radar screen of the American mind. In essence, the nation has evolved into a genocidal war machine run by a plutocracy and cheered on by mindless millions.

Most Americans hide from these depressing, even horrific, realities by what passes for ‘the news’, but also by means of alcohol, opioids, TV, cellphones, suicide, prescription drugs, workaholism, and spectator sports, to name but a few. This stuffing of the Void is probably our primary activity. In a word, we are eating ourselves alive, and only a tiny fraction of the population recognizes this."

- https://morrisberman.blogspot.com/

"Madness..."

“When the world goes mad, one must accept madness as sanity;

since sanity is, in the last analysis, nothing but the

madness on which the whole world happens to agree.”

- George Bernard Shaw

"The World Economy Is In Freefall As Inflation Continues To Surge! The Worst Is Yet To Come!"

"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it.

You and I are not in the Big Club."

- George Carlin

o

Gregory Mannarino, PM 6/22/23

"The World Economy Is In Freefall As

Inflation Continues To Surge! The Worst Is Yet To Come!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Cicero, Indiana, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Hope In a Time of Hopelessness"

"Hope In a Time of Hopelessness" 

by Washingtons Blog

"Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage;

anger at the way things are, and courage 

to see that they do not remain the way they are."

- Augustine of Hippo

"Several long-time activists have told me recently they are overwhelmed, worried, and think that we may be losing the struggle. One very smart friend asked me if there is any basis for hope.

Hope is an act of will, not a passive mood. Admittedly, things are easier when circumstances bring hope to us, and we can just receive the hopeful and inspiring news. But if we care about winning, we have to be able to decide to have hope even when outer circumstances aren't so positive.

I have children who are counting on me to leave them with a reasonably safe and sane planet. As I've said elsewhere, I care too much about my kids and my freedom to be afraid. I care enough about them that it gets my heart beating, connects me to something bigger than myself, and that gives me courage, even when the chips are down. 

If I allowed myself to lose hope about exposing falsehoods, about protecting our freedom and building a hopeful future, I would be dropping the ball for my kids. I would be condemning them to a potentially very grey world where bigger and worse things may happen, where their liberties and joys are wholly stripped away, where every ounce of vitality is beholden to joyless and useless tasks.

Many of us may be motivated by other things besides kids, and only you can know what that is. But we each must dig down deep, and connect with our most powerful motivations to win the struggle for freedom and truth.

I don't know about you, but I don't have the luxury of giving up hope. When I get depressed, overwhelmed or exhausted by the stunning acts of savagery, treason, and disinformation carried out by the imperialists, or the willful ignorance of far too many Americans, I will myself into finding some reason to have hope. Because the struggle for life and liberty is too important for me to give up." 

- http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/

Sadly this blog has been deleted...

"2023: Fourth Turning Meets Mass Formation Psychosis" Part 1 (Excerpt)

"2023: Fourth Turning Meets Mass Formation Psychosis"

By Jim Quinn

 

Excerpt: “Four things need to exist or need to be in place if you want a large-scale mass phenomenon to emerge. The first thing is that there needs to be a lot of socially isolated people, people who experience a lack of social bonds. The second one is that there needs to be a lot of people who experience a lack of sense-making in life. And the third and the fourth conditions are that there needs to be a lot of free-floating anxiety and a lot of free-floating psychological discontent. So: meaning, anxiety, and discontent that is not connected to a specific representation.

So, it needs to be in the mind without the people being able to connect it to something. If you have these four things - lack of social bonds, lack of sense-making, free-floating anxiety, and free-floating psychological discontent -then society is highly at risk for the emergence of mass phenomenon.”

- Mattias Desmet, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism"

“Try to unlearn the obsessive fear of death (and the anxious quest for death avoidance) that pervades linear thinking in nearly every modern society. The ancients knew that, without periodic decay and death, nature cannot complete its full round of biological and social change. Without plant death, weeds would strangle the forest. Without human death, memories would never die, and unbroken habits and customs would strangle civilization. Social institutions require no less. Just as floods replenish soil and fires rejuvenate forests, a Fourth Turning clears out society’s exhausted elements and creates an opportunity.

- Strauss & Howe, "The Fourth Turning"

I recently finished reading Mattias Desmet’s fascinating and illuminating book "The Psychology of Totalitarianism", where he examines the mass formation psychosis which swept over the world during the time frame of early 2020 until present day. He explores some of the root causes of this psychological phenomena, comparing it to previous episodes in history, and delving into whether it occurred naturally or was purposely generated in order to implement a Great Reset agenda.

This type of spectacle has happened throughout human history, even documented by Charles Mackay in his 1841 book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." It is clear to me aspects of mass formation psychosis played a part in the previous two Fourth Turnings, as both sides in the U.S. Civil War displayed characteristics of those being hypnotized by a narrative, and the German people falling under the spell of Hitler and his rhetorical skills."

View full, highly recommended, article here:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"2023: Fourth Turning Meets Mass Formation Psychosis", Part 2 (Excerpt)

"2023: Fourth Turning Meets Mass

 Formation Psychosis", Part 2 (Excerpt)

By Jim Quinn

Excerpt: "In Part 1 of this article, I laid out the mass formation psychosis theory postulated by Mattias Desmet in his book "The Psychology of Totalitarianism" and how totalitarian minded politicians and bureaucrats manipulated the masses by creating the covid crisis. Now I will focus on how this will impact the Fourth Turning we are currently trying to survive.

Decades of social indoctrination and degraded ability to think critically has left most people hopelessly unable to resist the vitriolic opinions of those under the spell of coronavirus mass formation. Even though they didn’t necessarily believe the covid narrative, especially when it became clear only the very old (especially when tyrant governors inserted infected patients into nursing homes) and the very obese actually died with covid, these people still went along. Even the CDC admitted only 6% of deaths were attributable to covid alone.

Based upon research like the Milgram Experiment, we know average people will obey authority without question, even when they know their actions are causing pain. The conformity research done by Solomon Asch explains why a huge percentage of the global population just conformed to what appeared to be a majority opinion. Asch’s experiment had 8 test subjects, but 7 of them worked for Asch. They asked them which line was the same length as Exhibit 1. The 7 Asch employees answered C. Only 25% of the case subjects consistently answered A. They were cowed into giving a patently absurd answer due to peer pressure and lack of faith in their own judgement.

When you have 30% of the population as true believers of the covidian religion, with their savior Fauci, prophets Walensky, Birx, Gottlieb, Biden, the pope, a slew of Big Pharma paid priests for hire, Hollywood elites, low IQ athletes, and a highly compensated mass media campaign of fear and loathing, the 40% in the middle really had no chance to not be pulled into the vortex of pandemia. From the outset they were inundated with data like Neal Ferguson’s Imperial College model of death. Putting up a scary chart, even though it was based on absurd assumptions, is considered fact by the lazy, non-thinking masses.

Shutting down the world was based on this worthless fraudulent model. Add some fake videos of dead people piling up in the streets in China, with media talking heads declaring hospitals being overrun (even though nurses had time to do coordinated dance routines on Tik Tok), and graphics on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox showing cases rising (based on a faulty PCR test set too high), and Fauci knowingly lying about the effectiveness of masks and the ineffectiveness of ivermectin and hydroxychloquine, and you’ve got panic."

Full, highly recommended article is here:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"Permanent Adolescence: The Epidemic That Will Destroy America"

"Permanent Adolescence:

The Epidemic That Will Destroy America"

by Dr. Paul Kindlon

"As a Humanities professor I have had the opportunity to teach psychology and social psychology for more than 25 years. Occasionally the knowledge obtained in these areas allows me to analyze and understand social behavior and certain cultural trends. This is one those occasions.

If one is able to observe American society in an objective manner (granted no easy task) it becomes clear that the country is suffering from an epidemic of arrested emotional development (AED). This particular illness is characterized by some combination of: addiction, greed, immaturity, fear, blame, shame, resentments, anger, confusion and suffering. What it means is that the vast majority of Americans are stuck in adolescence exhibiting behavior like lying, negative attitudes, disobedience and disrespect, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and issues of sexuality.

One has only to watch American movies or television shows to get a snapshot of juvenile, puerile, and base comedy characteristic of adolescent humor. It’s no accident that 48 year old Jimmy Fallon is essentially the “eternal teenager” performing comedy that mostly includes bathroom humor and gags that are based on and appeal to a silly sense of immaturity. The other darling of late-night shows in America is Stephen Colbert, age 58, who specializes in insulting public figues in an overtly adolescent display of negative attitude and disrespect.

Another hallmark of AED is to evade responsibility and blame others for failure. One had only to observe the millions of Hillary supporters to understand this phenomenon. Also common for AED sufferers is to show disrespect in sophomoric ways usually by damaging property as we see with monuments being defaced and destroyed.

Teenagers, of course, tend to have identity issues often involving sexuality which is another phenomenon all too apparent in contemporary America. It’s almost uncool not to be LGBT or confused about your gender nowadays. Soon there will be as many genders as ice-cream flavors for it’s all just a matter of taste!

In terms of cognitive activity AED is characterized by exaggeration and over-simplification. If you are angry with one of your parents you might refer to them as a Nazi or Fascist.

This negative attitude now is extended to anyone who disagrees with you and can be seen in slogans such as “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA”. Adults are an endangered species. The cognitive effect of exaggeration and over-simplification leads to irrationality and confusion. Witness the millions of people who think they are being anti-racist by opposing “White Supremacy”. No anthropologist on earth would claim that “White” is a race (although a Neo- Nazi would) It’s not even a primary color. The Irish were discriminated against for more than a hundred years in America due to Anglo-Saxon racism yet the Irish are considered “white”. There are millions of Americans of German, Polish, and Scandinavian extraction who have been working-class and lower for a very long time. Are these “white people” guilty of supremacy? Against whom? Themselves?

Of course, what the protestors should be focusing on is class and not race which is really an arbitrary term. Unfortunately. the progressive movement in America has gone from “Occupy Wall Street” to “occupy the public bathroom”. Lenin would be turning over in his grave – if he had one. With regard to alcohol and drug addiction in America, the statistics are startling. Opiod addiction alone is becoming a national health issue as is depression. Alcohol abuse, of course, is also quite high. Lying is also becoming commonplace. It used to be just politicians and lawyers who were known to “play with the truth”. Nowadays the mainstream media is widely seen as a mainstream of lies with CNN now wearing the title of FAKE NEWS.

The teenage attempt to rebel and show disobedience is often manifested through the use of profanity intended to shock the older generation. Gratuitous profanity is pervasive in American culture and has replaced the imagination as a form of creativity. It is not an accident that Pussy Riot – a group of “performance artists” using profanity in a Cathedral considered sacred to “shock” the Russian public and “disobey” authorities – has found a home in the United States and been befriended by Madonna, another symbol of eternal adolescence. Her AED was on full display when she publicly offered all men fellatio if they voted for Hillary Clinton. And as any rebellious teenager attempting to shock the “older generation” she had to announce that she “swallows”. Stay classy, Madonna. Keep in mind we’re talking about a then 63 year old mother of six.

You see…if everyone is a teenager there is no adult supervision. That is the problem. After an autopsy is conducted years from now to ascertain how and why the American Empire expired, the obituary will include multiple causes of death and AED will be listed prominently. Perhaps a precocious teenager will be allowed to write the epitaph that will read…”When extended, the bridge between adolescence and adulthood can take a heavy toll”.

- https://www.lewrockwell.com/

○

“Most people don’t grow up. It’s too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older. That’s the truth of it. They honor their credit cards, they find parking spaces, they marry, they have the nerve to have children, but they don’t grow up. Not really. They get older. But to grow up costs the earth, the earth. It means you take responsibility for the time you take up, for the space you occupy. It’s serious business. And you find out what it costs us to love and to lose, to dare and to fail. And maybe even more, to succeed."

- Maya Angelou

Bill Bonner, "Brain Development Issues"

"Brain Development Issues"

The real world consequences of sub-intelligence committees...

By Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman

Normandy, France - "A young man was taken out of school because he was, well, retarded. His father reported: “He was born prematurely, he had brain development issues. I had the school do a neurosurgery evaluation on him and they said his brain was underdeveloped,” Ventura said. “He was suffering endless bullying at school with other kids taking food off his plate, tripping him in the hallway, humiliating him, laughing at him.”

There were never many terrorists on the streets of Wakefield, Massachusetts. Still, the poor kid thought he might want to join up. And it must have been thrilling to be in touch, via the internet, with a real live one. Only, the terrorist wasn’t a terrorist at all. He was a G-Man…with his own issues. He even pretended to be a foreigner, with this corny dialog:

The kid: I reached out to brother [A.D.] for hijrah [migration] I dont know if it is still possible but if it is I know it will take sometime.

FBI agent masquerading as a terrorist: Ahh.. Inshallah [if Allah wills it] I help u, but before talk have rule my brother…U must no talk about what said here or intention to anyone. No tell family. No tell friend. No tell ikhwan [brothers] at masjid [mosque]. No one. This for both are safety.

Brain Dead: When you don’t have any real terrorists in your area, and you are an ambitious FBI agent, you have to create them yourself. So, the agent continued to phish for the boy for years. And to make sure he could be nabbed on a ‘supporting terrorists’ charge, he got the kid to send him small amounts of money – like $25 – via gift cards. The agent encouraged the boy to get on a plane to travel to ‘the Islamic State;’ the youngster balked. He preferred Wakefield. So, the agent tried again…and again, the kid had the good sense to stay home. When the young man turned 18, the FBI showed up at his house and arrested him. Who had the brain development issues?

Turns out, there are undeveloped brains all around us. Yesterday, the French celebrated ‘La Nuit de St. Jean’ with bands in public parks and street corners all over the country…or at least in Paris. It was also the day, five years ago, that Greta Thunberg, the child saint of the Green Transition, claimed that “all of humanity” would be wiped out unless we humans “stopped using fossil fuels” by June 21st, 2023.

We don’t know about the rest of the world. But we drove to the pharmacy yesterday, in a diesel powered Nissan. We cooked dinner on a gas-fired stove. And we took a shower in water that was also heated with gas. So far, so good. The world uses more fossil fuel today than it did in 2018; still no sign of extinction.

Sub-Intelligence: Ms. Thunberg celebrated her birthday by getting arrested for trying to force people to do what she wanted. MSN: "Greta Thunberg Arrested From Oil Port Protest In Malmo, Sweden." "Around 20 climate activists including Greta Thunberg took part in a protest outside an entrance to the port in the Swedish city of Malmo…briefly blocking road traffic to the oil port."

This is why we have councils of elders, not councils of adolescents, to guide us. Teenagers often suffer from development issues. But so do adults. "This morning, rescue teams are still trying to find a mini-submarine that disappeared in the deep, dark waters near Newfoundland. The guy who ran the tourist sub operation made a point of hiring a young, diverse crew. He wanted people who were good at ‘inspiration,’ he said…not a lot of “50-year-old white guys” (aka ‘skilled engineers’)."

Joel’s Note: "Speaking of sub-intelligence, there’s a generation of denialism lurking beneath the surface in many developed, highly-indebted countries. Recall the old saying: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

Where do you reckon we are in this cycle? Do strong men suffer micro-agressions? Do they need trigger warnings? Do they preference “diversity, equity and inclusion” over core competence? No. We’re somewhere between weak men and hard times. And, as BPR investment director, Tom Dyson, mentioned in yesterday’s paid research note to members, that has financial consequences, too…

Many people in America are still not convinced that a massive decline in their living standards and quality of life could happen. But the point is, it's already happening. That's inflation. And the way debt dynamics work in countries that don’t have the exorbitant privilege of printing dollars, it happens faster. You need to prepare for this financially for sure. But also psychologically as well. It's one big advantage you'll have over everyone else. You'll have a realistic understanding of what's happening, and what's going to happen. You'll be better prepared mentally to do what you need to do now.

Of course, there’s a “lot of ruin in a nation,” as Adam Smith had it. “The USA is a very rich country,” continued Tom. “Decades of accumulated capital stock. Inherited wealth. Businesses (big and small). Functioning and sophisticated legal, insurance, and banking systems. Those have allowed centuries of wealth to build up. A lot of the physical wealth—real estate, factories, transportation, power, and communication infrastructure—isn't going anywhere. “But inflation can ravage financial wealth and asset values. That's what people underestimate about the danger of debt. It's a lesson some generations are unlucky enough to learn the hard way. There's a lot of learning to be done.”

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"It's Coming - Are You Ready?"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly 6/22/23

"It's Coming - Are You Ready?"

"A financial expert who predicted the banking crisis is calling for a recession. Do you buy this? Now Wells Fargo is sending people money to “re-dress“ what they have done wrong. Did you get your money?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Stock Up Now At Kroger! Great Prepping Options! What's Coming?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 6/22/23

"Stock Up Now At Kroger! 

Great Prepping Options! What's Coming?"

"In today's vlog, we are at Kroger and are looking at foods that have a long shelf life. With prices in the grocery stores skyrocketing, we are also looking for the best deals on food to add to our prepper pantry!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"We're Going To War! Russia Counters; Media Crackdown; Crimea Nuclear Countdown Begins"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 6/21/23

"We're Going To War! Russia Counters;

 Media Crackdown; Crimea Nuclear Countdown Begins"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"You Spent Too Much For Your Car; Car Buyers Financing Big Payments; Car Market Is Crazy"

Full screen recommended.

Jeremiah Babe, 6/21/23

"You Spent Too Much For Your Car; 

Car Buyers Financing Big Payments; Car Market Is Crazy"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Gas Stations Will Run Out Of Fuel And Prices Will Explode This Summer As Supplies Collapse"

Full screen recommended.

"Gas Stations Will Run Out Of Fuel And Prices 

Will Explode This Summer As Supplies Collapse"

by Epic Economist

"How would your budget be affected by a $2 increase in the cost of a gallon of gas? That’s the prospect millions of Americans are facing without even knowing. With the administration boycotting projects to ramp up domestic gasoline production at a time inventories are falling in the US and around the world, expensive prices at the pump will become our new reality, and our stations will face even higher risks of outages and prolonged shortages as fuel supplies continue to get hit from all sides. That’s what we’re going to expose in today’s video.

There has never been another period in the 21st century where global and domestic fuel production faced so many cuts and disruptions as they do in 2023. Not only in America, but all over the world, inventories are rapidly falling, and there isn’t enough capacity to rebuild supplies and stabilize prices for consumers in the long run, a new report shows.

In other words, we are going to be forced to cope with much higher gasoline prices due to a global shortage of fuels. But the bigger and most worrying threat is at home – with the administration planning to enforce regulations that ban gasoline-powered cars, prohibiting drilling in key areas, and canceling leases that would allow us to develop our own resources. That is pushing US fuel reserves to the limit, and those decisions are being made at a time when demand is expected to continue rising, adding further pressure on the cost of a gallon of gas.

At the same time, a big gasoline stockpile drop is making analysts sound the alarm about potential outages and shortages, especially after one single disruption caused by a heavy storm in Oklahoma this week left many stations without fuel, a scene that can be repeated in several other states that are prone to extreme weather events and are running low on fuel supplies.

To make things worse, the administration is restricting gasoline production in a number of ways, and that will have major consequences in our lives in the short and long term. According to a new analysis published by the Foundation for Economic Education, the US government has single-handedly made the gas crisis worse by closing the domestic supply chain, prohibiting drilling in key areas, and now canceling leases that would allow us to become completely independent from international suppliers.

This action will halt the potential to drill for oil on over 1 million acres on the Cook Inlet in Alaska, which will be a devastating loss for those trying to increase the oil supply in the country. Not only did the government cut this lease, but they also stopped two other pending leases in the Gulf of Mexico claiming there were “conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed lease sales.”

Our government is willing to throw our citizens under the bus so they can reach a false, net-zero emissions utopia. And the reality is that they want to give us smaller wages and be forced to pay over $5 for a gallon of gas in order to reach their goal. But we shouldn’t have to sacrifice lives to save the planet, and it’s time our politicians finally wake up to that."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Logos, "Cheminement"

Full screen recommended.

Logos, "Cheminement"

"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.

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.html

"Perhaps..."

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

- Rachel Carson

“Are People Really Stupid?”

“Are People Really Stupid?”

by Fred Russell

“On the face of things – judging from the general level of knowledge and understanding, not to mention the intellectual pursuits, of most of the human race – one is tempted to say that the overwhelming majority of mankind lacks the intellectual capacity, the intelligence, to contribute to human progress. And it is in fact a very small elite that has carried us beyond Neanderthal Man, without whom, if the truth be told, we might still be living in caves. It is, in a word, appalling to contemplate the level at which ordinary people use their minds – what they read, if at all, what they watch on TV, the movies they go out and see, and the ease with which they are seduced and manipulated by the technicians of the psyche, namely, politicians and advertisers. 

The impression one gets when contemplating these tens and hundreds of millions of people glued to their TV screens for the reality shows and sitcoms or fiddling with their smartphones from morning till night is of complete empty-headedness. This is not to say that such people cannot be shrewd, resourceful, or, for that matter, simply decent. It is to say that at the average level of intelligence displayed by the human race, the great intellectual achievements of mankind seem to be beyond the scope of the vast majority of men and women. But are people really stupid? And if they aren’t, who or what has held them back?

Now one may be inclined to place all the blame for our ignorance on the television producers and gadget makers, but the truth is that by the time they get to us the damage has already been done. All they really succeed in doing is dragging us down a little further. The problem starts in childhood. It starts in the schools with all those empty cells waiting to be filled and no one, not entire educational systems, really knowing how to fill them. In fact, the opposite result is achieved. By the time the child finishes elementary school, unless he is destined to join the intellectual or scientific or economic or political elite and is self-motivated, as the saying goes, he will have developed an aversion to the learning process that will persist for the rest of his life.

It is not hard to understand why. School bores him, and oppresses him. Its premise, fostered in the West by the Church – the virtually exclusive supplier of teachers until fairly recent times, historically speaking – is that as a consequence of Original Sin all men are born evil and must therefore be coerced into doing what is good. The result has been rigidly structured frameworks where teachers hammer away at the captive child until his head is ready to explode. Within just a few years, the public school system thus destroys the natural curiosity of the child and dooms him to a life of total ignorance, dependent, for whatever sense of the world he does have, on second rate journalists, who themselves lack the knowledge, understanding, discipline and integrity to be historians or even novelists and therefore shape his perception like the ignorant clerics of the Middle Ages, raining down on his head a disjointed and superficial body of information presented largely to produce effects, and even this is beyond his capacity to retain. 

The man in the street may thus be said to have a great many opinions but very little knowledge, mindlessly repeating the half-truths of “experts” and “analysts” who reflect his own biases and constructing out of them a “credo” of dogmatic views that remain embedded in his mind for an entire lifetime like bricks in a brick wall.

Does it matter? After all, we have all the scholars and scientists we need, and besides, a world where everyone became one would be a dull place indeed. It can even be argued that it is better for the race if progress is opposed, since, judging from its products, it mostly expresses itself materially and economically in an unholy alliance of greed and technology. However, progress of this kind cannot be fought if all that people have on their minds is to wire themselves into this technology, and that is what they will be doing until their minds are engaged in less frivolous pursuits. They are thus doubly victimized, first by the schools, whose methods are not attuned to the temperament and capacity of the average child, and then by the economic elites who control the technologies and consequently the flow of information and whose only interest in the man in the street is as a consumer of their products.

Unfortunately, there is very little hope that any of this will change. The wrong people control human society and will continue to do so, because they created the model and are the only ones who know how to operate it. The sad truth is that today’s man in the street is neither wiser nor more knowledgeable than a medieval peasant. Calling ourselves Homo sapiens, or even Homo sapiens sapiens, seemed like a good idea once but very few of us have lived up to the billing.”

- https://www.counterpunch.org/

"Nuclear War Escalation Alert"

"Nuclear War Escalation Alert"

by Mike Adams

"Russian president Vladimir Putin is now warning the West about military escalations that could lead to nuclear war. As reported by the UK Daily Mail, Putin warns that a Third World War would be catastrophic for the world. “There will be no winners,” he says, “including America.” Writing at SHTFplan.com, Michael Snyder posts additional comments from Putin that speak directly about the possibility of nuclear strikes against American cities or military bases: “We were forced to try to end the war that the West started in 2014 by force of arms. And Russia will end this war by force of arms, freeing the entire territory of the former Ukraine from the United States and Ukrainian Nazis. There are no other options,” Putin said.

“The Ukrainian army of the US and NATO will be defeated, no matter what new types of weapons it receives from the West. The more weapons there are, the fewer Ukrainians and what used to be Ukraine will remain.” And importantly, he emphasized that “Direct intervention by NATO’s European armies will not change the outcome. But in this case, the fire of war will engulf the whole of Europe. It looks like the US is ready for that too.” This “fire of war” refers to nuclear weapons, and Russia has the world’s most advanced assortment of nuclear missiles, including nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles for which the West has no effective defense.

America keeps poking the bear and begging to be nuked: The issue at hand is that the United States of America — led by raging, hate-filled tyrants and historically illiterate “woke” idiots like Victoria Nuland at the State Dept. — keeps provoking Russia on purpose. The latest provocation is the promise of providing nuclear-capable F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. These combat aircraft would be deployed from military bases outside of Ukraine (Poland, for example) and would attempt to engage Russian forces or launch nuclear missiles against military or infrastructure targets inside Russia.

Putin clearly explains that if the West deploys F-16s from military bases outside of Ukraine, Russia will consider those military bases to be legitimate targets for annihilation, most likely using nuclear weapons. Yet launching nuclear weapons at European military bases would likely lead to European countries launching their own nuclear missiles aimed at Russia. As those are launched, Russia would almost certainly launch its entire nuclear arsenal at targets in Europe and the United States, resulting in the near-total nuclear annihilation of the West.

Russia itself, meanwhile, has air defense systems that can bring down some portion of incoming ICBMs. In addition, Russia has nuclear fallout bunkers spread across its cities, allowing a high survival rate even if nuclear detonations occur. America, on the other hand, has virtually no nuclear preparedness and would be instantly plunged into anarchy and collapse in the aftermath of nuclear strikes.

Additionally, thanks to stimulus money and the welfare state, the American masses are fat, lazy and stupid. In contrast, thanks to years of economic sanctions, the Russian people are adaptive, resilient and resourceful. Which population do you think will fare better in the aftermath of a nuclear exchange?

On top of all this, Russia has its Poseidon nuclear-armed underwater drones parked off the coastlines of both the USA and Britain. With a single command, these drones will detonate 100 megaton nuclear warheads, unleashing a tidal wave of radioactive ocean water that inundates the coast and wipes out ports, cities and naval bases. There is no defense against that. None whatsoever. And America’s most important cities, ports and naval bases are, of course, located near the East Coast.

Yet, astonishingly, the USA doesn’t want to negotiate peace with Russia. Nor does Zelensky, a tyrannical puppet of the Biden regime. Besides, Russia has already learned that it’s pointless trying to negotiate with people who are insane and stupid, which is exactly what now characterizes the “leadership” of both the USA and NATO countries. They are all steeped in child mutilations, election rigging and the trans cult, proving to be completely dissociated from reality and utterly oblivious to the real laws of cause and effect, economics, war, nuclear weapons, currencies, supply chains and more. Sadly, the leaders currently running the show were never elected by the American people. They achieved their positions of power through fraud, psyops, propaganda and cheating. Yet those tactics won’t work against Russia, even though the West knows nothing else to try.

Russian influencers call for deploying nuclear weapons to save the world from the West: Making matters even more dangerous, multiple influencers in Russia are calling for nuclear strikes against NATO and the USA in order to save the world. Here’s an article authored by Professor Sergey Karaganov, honorary chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and academic supervisor at the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow: "Sergey Karaganov: By using its nuclear weapons, Russia could save humanity from a global catastrophe. (RT.com)" The article argues that leaders of the USA and NATO countries have lost their minds (which is true) and must be shocked back to their senses using nuclear weapons (which would be catastrophic for the world). From the article by Karaganov:

"But what if the present Western leaders refuse to back down? Perhaps they have lost all sense of self-preservation? Then we will have to hit a group of targets in a number of countries to bring those who have lost their senses back to their senses." Failure to nuke the USA and NATO, argues Karaganov, will lead to the end of human civilization on planet Earth: "It’s a morally frightening choice – we would be using God’s weapon and condemning ourselves to great spiritual loss. But if this is not done, not only may Russia perish, but most likely the whole of human civilization will end."

Given the suicidal tendencies of Western European globalists who are running a bioweapons depopulation agenda on the planet, Karaganov may have a point, even if his conclusions point to a dangerous end game. But the fact that he is arguing for a limited number of nuclear strikes on numerous western cities as a kind of “warning shot” should be alarming to anyone paying attention. If Putin shares this view, then he may indeed launch such weapons with the justification that doing so is the only effective way to defend Russia against the West.

Prepare for U.S. cities to burn."

Full video here:

- https://www.brighteon.com/

The Daily 'Near You?"

Vail, Arizona, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

“Incidit In Scyllam Cupiens Vitare Charybdim”

“Incidit In Scyllam Cupiens Vitare Charybdim”

by Steve Candidus

“One of the great things about ancient Greek Mythology is that the stories all teach a lesson. They don’t end with – and the moral of the story is – though. They leave it to the reader to figure them out. So in addition to being just plain fun to read they are wonderful teachers about life. Perhaps the best thing about this one is that we still use the expression it contains exactly the same way that the ancient Greeks intended it almost 3,000 years ago. That almost never happens. Language is fluid and the meanings of words and expressions changes from one generation to another, but this one is an exception. The everyday expression it contains is one that we often refer to without really knowing where it came from.

This is one of the tales of Odysseus who was the heroic king of Ithaca and of whose ten-year journey back to Greece after the Trojan War was immortalized in Homer’s ‘Odyssey’. There was a point in his journey when his ship had to enter a narrow straight. It was a passage so narrow that it could only be made under special conditions. They had to have both the wind at their backs and the current in their direction. However, once committed it was impossible to turn back.

Unknown to the sailors the straight was guarded by two deadly perils. On the one side, it was guarded by Scylla. Scylla was a six-headed monster that disguised itself as a rock. On the other side, it was guarded by Charybdis, a terrible deadly whirlpool born of the sea god Poseidon.

In olden times, it was common to refer to any place that a ship came to rest on land as being in a hard place. It didn’t matter if it was blown on shore by a storm, grounded on a reef or brought up intentionally for repair. If it was on shore, it was on a hard place as opposed to the soft place – water.

It also applied to a ship that had foundered. A ship that sinks will eventually rest on the bottom. The land at the bottom of the ocean is therefore called a hard place. It used to be a common term, but it has since pretty much fallen out of practice in common language today. A deadly whirlpool such as Charybdis could take a ship and send it straight to the bottom – a hard place.

So, now as we return to the story of Odysseus we see that their ship had entered a narrow straight and that straight was guarded by two evil perils with hardly enough room for a ship to pass between them. They were forced to choose between the six headed monster ‘Scylla’ disguised as a rock or the dreaded whirlpool ‘Charybdis’ that would surely send them to a hard place and they could not turn back.

There is a Latin proverb from this story, “Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim” which translates to, “He runs on Scylla, wishing to avoid Charybdis.” In modern day English, we simply say, “They were between a rock and a hard place”. And now you know…”

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"Russia To Strike Ukraine With Nuclear Missiles? Putin Declares 'Sarmat To Join Combat Soon'"

Full screen recommended.

Hindustan Times 6/21/23

"Russia To Strike Ukraine With Nuclear Missiles? 

Putin Declares 'Sarmat To Join Combat Soon'"

"Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Sarmat missile system would soon be ready for combat duty. The Sarmat system is Russia's new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of carrying more than 10 nuclear warheads. The Russian President further added that the development of the nuclear triad is the 'most important task'. The development comes as Ukrainian forces' counteroffensive is underway against Russian troops."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, PM 4/18/22:

"Oh S#!%... "SATAN" Nuclear Missile is Being Prepared"

"We are so close to the brink... Russia is reported to have conducted a test launch of the RS-28 (15A28) Sarmat ICBM, which will replace the Soviet R-36M2 Voyevoda missile. This is the worlds largest nuclear missile that includes 15 warheads each with high nuclear yield. According to Russian information, on April 24, a Sarmat ICBM test launch took place from Plesetsk in the Arkhangelsk region with the final destination being the Kura training field in Kamchatka. It is worth noting that this information was leaked to the Russian media immediately after the loss of the Moskva cruiser. The Russians note that there is no reason to follow the example of the US, which canceled the test launches of Minuteman III twice in March and April of this year under the fictitious pretext of "non-escalation" of the situation. Launch is only necessary for a complete re-equipment."

○

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.

Do we really want to do this?

o

And for good measure...

Full screen recommended.

o

Full screen recommended.

Sub Brief, "Russia's Status-6"

"Russia's strange love of nuclear weapons takes a dark turn. The Status-6 Poseidon nuclear torpedo is designed to render entire coastal regions uninhabitable for 100's of years. This new threat is unlike anything we've seen since the Cold War."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

○

Do we really want to do this?

"The Stigma Is Over"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly 6/21/23

"The Stigma Is Over"

"I have been shopping at the dollar stores for decades. Now, we learned that rich people are going there in droves. Two reasons, they want to save money and they see the real value. The stigma is over."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Schools Are Now Allowing Children To Identify As Cats, Horses, Dinosaurs And All Sorts Of Other Things"

"Schools Are Now Allowing Children To Identify As

 Cats, Horses, Dinosaurs And All Sorts Of Other Things"

By Michael Snyder

"I seriously should have thought of this when I was a kid. If I could have answered every question a teacher asked by meowing like a cat or roaring like a dinosaur, there is no way they could have ever accused me of getting an answer wrong. And when it was time for a quiz or a test, I could have just responded to every question with a paw print. Of course nobody would have actually been able to get away with such a thing decades ago. When I was a kid, anyone that tried to pull this kind of a stunt would have been immediately marched down to the principal’s office. But now we live at a time when we are supposed to allow people to identify as anything that they want.

Things have gotten particularly absurd in the United Kingdom. According to an investigation that was conducted by the Telegraph, schools in the UK are now allowing children to identify as all sorts of things…"At a state secondary school in Wales, one student is said to ‘meow’ when asked questions by a teacher, rather than answering in English, the Telegraph reports. In other schools, one apparently insists on being addressed as a dinosaur, one claims to identify as a horse while another is said to wear a cape and demands to be acknowledged as a moon."

In the old days, teachers knew how to deal with this kind of nonsense. But today they are instructed not to correct the children because that would be “discriminatory”…"Pupils claim teachers are ‘not allowed to get annoyed’ about such behavior in case it is seen as being discriminatory. However, lessons are reportedly becoming completely derailed by these interactions, impacting the quality of their classmates’ education. So these teachers in the UK literally have to sit there and make the best of it when students respond to their questions with “animal noises”…"In some reported instances, classes have faced severe disruption as pupils insist on answering teacher’s questions and communicating via animal noises."

I couldn’t take that. If I was told that I had to allow students to make animal noises all day, I would just quit. Apparently one student that identifies as “a cat” has been doing this for three years…"In a particularly disruptive case, the newspaper spoke to a student in Wales who claimed a classmate had identified as a cat for three years. The pupil complained: “When they answer questions, they meow rather than answer a question in English."

Are you kidding me? In the old days, that kid would have been corrected on day one. But these days you are not allowed to say anything. That just wouldn’t be proper.

In fact, a 13-year-old girl was recently called “despicable” by her teacher when she confronted a classmate that identifies as “a cat”…"A 13-year-old girl was called “despicable” by her teacher at a Church of England school in the United Kingdom on Friday after asking a classmate how she identifies as a cat. The schoolgirl and her friend were reprimanded by their teacher at Rye College in East Sussex at the end of an eighth-grade “life education” class, where they were told that they could “be who you want to be and how you identify is up to you,” The Telegraph reported."

Here in the United States, we are moving very rapidly in the same direction. In fact, we just learned that public school teachers in New York are now being instructed to keep “children’s gender transitions a secret from parents in some cases”…"The New York State Education Department (NYSED) released 42 pages of new guidance for public schools Monday that includes a section about keeping children’s gender transitions a secret from parents in some cases. The report, titled “Creating a Safe, Supportive, and Affirming School Environment for Transgender and Gender Expansive Students,” maintains that a student’s gender identity should be based on the student’s own assertion and that administrators should keep such information from families if they deem it necessary."

Can you believe that? How do you think parents that have been purposely deceived by teachers will react once they find out the truth? The stage is being set for some very messy lawsuits. And sometimes allowing students to identify as whatever they want can have some really tragic consequences.

For example, earlier today I read about a 12-year-old girl that was brutally raped at a middle school in New Mexico… "The diary entry referred back to an incident in October 2021, when her daughter Ray*, a 6th grader at ASK Academy charter school in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, was allegedly raped inside the girls’ bathroom by an older biological male student. When the male student first entered the girls’ restroom, Ray said she was washing her hands and didn’t take particular notice of the student’s sex, nor was she aware of his “gender identity.” But before she knew it, the male student walked over to her, pinned her against the counter, and wrestled her to the floor. After hitting her head, he allegedly held her down, ripped her pants, and raped her."

I’m sorry, but if I see a man try to follow a young lady into a restroom there is going to be a problem. As a society, we have lost all common sense. If I say that I am a chicken, that does not make me a chicken. But now we are teaching our children that they can “identify” as anything that they want.

When I say that time is short, I am not exaggerating one bit. The social cohesiveness of our society is literally coming apart at the seams all around us. The inmates are running the asylum at this point, and we are raising an entire generation of children that are going to be completely and totally messed up if they ever get the opportunity to become adults."

- https://citizenwatchreport.com/