"In today's vlog, we are at Target and are noticing a massive amount of shortages on groceries and cleaning supplies. We are here to check out some deals, but we are mostly finding items that have skyrocketed in price!"
"After 575 days of Sanctions in Russia, what does a Russian typical Shopping mall look like inside. Have western brands returned, how is the mood and feel of the Dutch owned shopping mall. Together we are going to find out."
"Somebody is Still Trying to Kill You, Don’t Let Them"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"The data is out on the CV19 bioweapon vax, and it is crystal clear it did not help a single person. In fact, the CV19 vax is causing massive death and disability, and it will continue for years to come. Catherine Austin Fitts (CAF), Publisher of The Solari Report, financial expert and former Assistant Secretary of Housing (Bush 41 Admin.), says, “I said literally on the first day way before they had a vaccine, I said don’t worry about Covid, worry about the injection. I said that immediately because I could see it coming. The goal of this thing was to get people injected. The other goal was to steal a huge amount of assets, which they did quite successfully. The reality is you can’t navigate this unless you can face what it is. It’s not a mistake, and it’s not betrayal. Somebody is trying to kill you, and your job is to figure out how to make sure they don’t. You have to reorganize how you manage your time and how you manage your money where you have disaster capitalists coming at you and can make money from killing you.”
The latest plan by these evil demons to separate you from your life and cash is something CAF calls “Pharma Food.” CAF and company has done a deep dive on corporations putting “biotech on your plate.” Spoiler alert - this has nothing to do with the benevolent job of feeding the masses, it’s about using food to control the masses. CAF explains, “I am always telling people to invest in their local fresh food not because you want to make money, you do it because you don’t want to eat insects. You don’t want to eat lab grown meat. “Pharma Food” is one of the most frightening reports we have ever written. We don’t like to scare people, but you need to see how much money is going into creating the capacity to feed you things in a million years you would not want to eat. This is serious. They are trying to build complete control of the food system. This includes delivering you food out of a manufacturing plant and not out of a farm.”
CAF goes on to say “If we can sustain ourselves with barter ,the financial transaction control won’t work. That is why food is so critical. You have to control food because if you control food, you can get financial transaction control. If you look at the venture capital investments, it is absolutely illogical for them to spend this kind of money for a consumer product nobody wants.” CAF says what could happen is the demonic powers might mandate you eat their factory made “Pharma Food.” This is why CAF is pushing everybody to get serious about growing and procuring real food without corporations and Big Pharma getting between you and your table.
CAF also talks about the Fed, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the Fed meeting in Jackson Hole, the razor accurate destruction in Maui and how to fight back and stay alive in a world where people are dreaming up ways to kill you for cash. There is much more in the 1-hour and 3-minute interview."
"Everybody Knew CV-19 Vax Was a Criminal Bioweapon"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"Karen Kingston is a biotech analyst and former Pfizer employee who has researched and written about many aspects of the so-called CV19 vaccines. Kingston has uncovered documents that prove everybody knew or should have known the deadly effects of these criminal injections. Kingston says documents with the drug makers, FDA and CDC listed the deadly and debilitating “side effects” of the injections. Kinston shows that vaccine makers gave a list to the FDA of “side effects” or “possible adverse event outcomes” from the injections. Kinston says, “Common side effects should be muscle aches, headaches, fever and pain. With these injections, common side effects are Guillain-Barre, inflammation of your brain and your spinal cord, meningitis, stroke, narcolepsy, anaphylaxis, heart attack, myocarditis, pericarditis, auto immune disease, death, pregnancy and birth outcomes, fetal injuries, fetal mutations, spontaneous abortion and vaccine enhanced disease. So, they knew this was not mild side effects. This is not me speaking. This is literally their documents. This information is just the tip of the iceberg, which show how really sick and perverse these CV19 injections are.”
Kingston asks, “How much longer are doctors going to defend the safety of these injections? Why are people not waking up? Their trusted leaders and their family doctors are telling them these mRNA injections are safe and effective. In legal terms, it is the definition of extrinsic fraud. These are gene editing technologies, and the FDA does not have the right to call these injections a vaccine. They are not even gene therapies because they cause disease, disabilities and death. They are bioweapons.”
Kingston goes on to say, “This is fraud. The claim that these injections are safe and effective are all based on fraud. It is blatant misrepresentation of facts to the American people. This was parroted and repeated to the American people through the mainstream media as well as through all of the healthcare organizations. We are in a real pickle, we really are because those who know the truth are being hammered down, myself included. This is premeditated battery and murder of adults and children. They knew what was going to happen, and they authorized it any way. Keep in mind, your entire medical industrial complex, which includes your local family practitioner, nurses and pediatricians, went along with it. Why? If they were not getting large financial incentives and being pressured to go along with it, they would have never stuck these shots in people’s arms. They were getting peer pressure, and everyone else was doing it. So, how bad could it be? We can’t get caught if we all agree to the lie.
Again, this is called extrinsic fraud. Extrinsic fraud is brought against a large population or party when there are many people involved. This is exactly what has happened with these mRNA injections, which are bioweapons. It is a group of people who are all in a club together who agreed to go along with the lie. They got financial incentives, which gave them additional power. They followed the orders of tyranny believing they were going to get away with it. They went against our God-given rights, and they think they are going to get away with it with no costs because they are all in agreement together. They let other people suffer for their gain, and they don’t have to lose their jobs, and they don’t have to miss out on these financial incentives called Covid19. That’s what has happened.”
In closing, Kingston says, “Look, they are burning down the house with you and the baby in it. My concern is that people have been told nothing can stop what is coming. They are going to do what they attempted to do for centuries. We are going to exterminate a lot of humans and enslave the rest of them. There are too many people in power who have been bought and sold. A crime has been brought against all Americans and all of humanity. We have to stand in the truth, and truth in evidence and God and not false idols. I think a lot of people know that they have been fooled, but they have been told you might as well go along with this until the ride is over.” There is much more in the 1-hour and 7-minute presentation.
“There is no hope and no possible treatment for those who have already been vaccinated,” Montagnier stated plainly during the segment. “We must be prepared to cremate the bodies.” After studying at length the ingredients contained in the injections and what they do, Montagnier came to the conclusion that every single person who gets the shot will eventually die from antibody-dependent enhancement, or ADE. “That is all that can be said,” he added."
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI)is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding,safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."
Doomsday Plane Airborne In Black Sea! 'Flashes In Sky' Seen"
"Massive blackout in Russia preceded by "flashes in sky", an unusual close encounter of a Russian doomsday plane and an American recon jet in the Black Sea, Canada appears to now be on a warpath."
"There are a multitude of fuses affixed to dozens of powder-kegs and little kids with matches are on the loose. I don’t know which of the fuses will be lit and which powder-keg will blow, but someone is bound to do something stupid, and then all hell will break loose. It could happen at any time. One military miscue. One assassination. One violent act that stirs the world. And the dominoes will topple, setting off fireworks not seen on this planet since 1939 – 1945. I can see it all very clearly." - Jim Quinn
God help us.. we're really gonna do this, aren't we? Yeah, we are...
“While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula (M42). A potentially rewarding but difficult object to view personally with a small telescope, the above gorgeously detailed image was recently taken in infrared light by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in honor of the 23rd anniversary of Hubble's launch.
The dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500 light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is seen above primarily because it is backlit by the nearby massive star Sigma Orionis. The Horsehead Nebula will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years and will eventually be destroyed by the high energy starlight.”
"Everyone knows that plagues have a way of recurring throughout history, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in the ones that crash down on us out of the sky. There have always been plagues and wars, yet they always take us by surprise. When war breaks out people say it's stupid and won't last long. Stupidity has a knack of getting in the way, which we would see if not wrapped up in ourselves. In this our townsfolk were like everybody else, they did not believe in plagues."
- Albert Camus, "The Plague"
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Freely download "The Plague", by Albert Camus, here:
"The Federal reserve’s hikes have significantly raised the costs of consumer and business loans in America. In fine-tuning its rate policies, the central bank is trying to guide the US economy toward a tricky “soft landing” of cooling inflation without triggering a deep recession. The US central bank has pushed interest rates to more than 4.75%, the highest since 2006. Besides forecasting another hike by year’s end, Fed officials now envision keeping rates high deep into 2024. As a consequence, the economy has decelerated significantly, as businesses reduced investments in the face of higher borrowing costs.
In generating sharply higher interest rates throughout the economy, the Fed has sought to slow borrowing for houses, cars, home renovations, business investment; this helps to ease spending, moderate the pace of growth and curb inflation; however, the opposite is happening, multiple factors are threatening to re-ignite inflation and weaken the economy. Rising oil prices are making gasoline steadily more expensive. Should that trend continue, it would worsen inflation and leave consumers with less money to spend. Even the so-far limited strike by the United Auto Workers union against the Big 3 US automakers will eventually further inflate vehicle prices."
"The Disney empire seems to be crumbling down amid a worsening management crisis. The entertainment giant just shared some of its third-quarter results, and the latest numbers suggest that the House of Mouse is in deep trouble. Unfortunately, not much is going right for Disney these days. Its three biggest businesses – streaming, studio, and parks – are all underperforming this year, which is causing the company billionaire losses. The simultaneous decline of the three pillars that support the company’s growth is making things extremely difficult in 2023. Previously, if one of these sectors was struggling, executives could rely on the other two to generate cash flow and maintain a stable balance sheet.
But this year, at large, the company has only seen failure. “From our point of view, Disney has problems across just about every one of its businesses,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel stressed during an interview with MarketWatch.
By now, the conglomerate has left the retail sector almost completely, after slowing sales and foot traffic made it too expensive for Disney to continue operating physical stores. When it announced mass closings several months ago, the news rocked the entire industry, and loyal customers lamented the shutdown of multiple iconic locations.
Meanwhile, its streaming platform Disney+ is facing an ugly downturn this year, losing more than 10 million subscribers since January. In August, Disney+’s subscriber count fell to 146 million subscribers, posting a 7.4% decline compared to the previous quarter – and far worse than Wall Street had predicted. Since 2020, the impact of COVID-19, saturated streaming competition, shifts in consumer preferences, content costs, and geopolitical challenges have all put strain on the media enterprise.
However, industry analysts argue that the worst crisis the company is currently facing is mismanagement. But conditions under Iger’s management aren’t improving as fast as shareholders had hoped. Disney is still scrambling to prop up its box office returns. Disney parks, which account for two-thirds of the company’s revenue are losing popularity due to some extreme price increases. The ballooning costs of tickets, hotel stays, food, drinks, and merchandise have placed a Disney vacation outside the price range of most families in America.
So far, the corporation has canceled some high-profile projects after running up an astronomical amount of debt during the pandemic — $54 billion by the middle of 2020. Now, the company is trying to cut $5.5 billion in costs, a move that already led to 7,000 job cuts.
By pricing out the middle class, the conglomerate is depending upon a smaller number of guests who are willing to pay more for exclusivity. But that alone can not support a multibillion-dollar company over the long term, and it seems that management is forgetting about this or, at least, taking their chances to see how much money they can squeeze from wealthy Americans before the business fatally collapses."
"It was the essence of life to disbelieve in death for one's self, to act as if life would continue forever. And life had to act also as if little issues were big ones. To take a realistic attitude toward life and death meant that one lapsed into unreality. Into insanity. It was ironic that the only way to keep one's sanity was to ignore that one was in an insane world or to act as if the world were sane."
"This article is a comparison between America and another great empire faced with rot in high office and a decline of the state - Rome. The writer, JR Nyquist, artfully points out it’s not the big events that sink an empire but many seemingly little ones. You could call what is happening to the U.S. “death by a thousand cuts.” Except in this story, people are not really aware how deep the cuts are and exactly who is doing the cutting. I loved this piece, and I hope you do as well." - Greg Hunter
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"There is a letter by Marcus Tullius Cicero, dated 18 December 50 B.C. This letter was written to his friend Atticus on the eve of the Roman Civil War. He wrote as follows: “The political situation alarms me deeply, and so far I have found scarcely anybody who is not for giving Caesar what he demands rather than fighting it out.” To explain the situation in brief, G. Julius Caesar had demanded the right to circumvent the Roman constitution, to break laws with impunity, to extend his command over a large army by using that army to threaten the Senate of Rome. “And why should we start standing up to him now?” asked Cicero. The next day he wrote to Atticus: “We should have stood up to him [Caesar] when he was weak, and that would have been easy. Now we have to deal with eleven legions…” Though he hated the idea of civil war, the only course, said Cicero, was to follow “the honest men or whoever may be called such, even if they plunge.”
And who were these “honest men”? “I don’t know of any,” wrote Cicero in the same letter. “There are honest individuals, but there are no honest groups.” Then he asked rhetorically if the Senate was honest, or the tax farmers, or the capitalists. None were frightened of living under an autocracy, he lamented. The capitalists, especially, “never have objected to that, so long as they were left in peace.” But civil war occurred nonetheless, because people are not free to be dishonest forever. They must admit to certain responsibilities, and oppose the advance of evil. The previous inclination to look away, to do nothing, to shrug off responsibility, proves in the end to be no more than a delaying tactic. They attempted to put off calamity, Cicero suggested, and made it all the more calamitous. That is all.
Why did the Roman Senate suddenly stand up to Caesar? What triggered their resistance? As with all free people, they began with policies of procrastination and appeasement. They hoped that the problem (i.e., Caesar) would go away. In the end, however, they discovered their mistake. Everyone still hoped for peace, though none believed it was possible. Everyone wanted to avoid war, but nobody saw a way out. Pompey stood before the Senate and gave voice to what everyone thought. “If we give Caesar the consulship, it will mean the subversion of the constitution.” In other words, it would mean the end of Rome, the end of the republic, the destruction of their country.
In a fitting preface to John Dickinson’s "Death of a Republic," George L. Haskins wrote, “that the history of Rome is the history of the world, that, as all roads lead to Rome, so all history ends or begins with Rome.” Why do free people fall into complacency? Why are threats ignored until the eleventh hour?
“Surely,” wrote Cicero at the end of Caesar’s dictatorship, “our present sufferings are all too well deserved. For had we not allowed outrages to go unpunished on all sides, it would never have been possible for a single individual to seize tyrannical power.” Caesar’s cause was not right, but evil, Cicero explained. “Mere confiscations of the property of individual citizens were far from enough to satisfy him. Whole provinces and countries succumbed to his onslaught, in one comprehensive universal catastrophe…” As for the city of Rome, Cicero lamented, “nothing is lef t- only the lifeless walls of houses. And even they look afraid that some further terrifying attack may be imminent. The real Rome is gone forever.”
Republics are slow to defend themselves against enemies that advance, like Caesar, under camouflage. But make no mistake, republics always defend. Groups and categories of men may not be honest or brave, but when they are finally confronted with the truth - as individuals - they see no other course. They stand up and fight. We should not be surprised, therefore, that Caesar was struck down in the Senate and killed by thrusting daggers.
It is all too true, of course. “We should have stood up to him when he was weak,” Cicero lamented. The problem with republican government is its tardiness; or rather, tardiness in the face of danger. As Machiavelli wrote, "The institutions normally used by republics are slow in functioning. No assembly or magistrate can do everything alone. In many cases, they have to consult with one another, and to reconcile their diverse views takes time. Where there is a question of remedying a situation that will not brook delay, such a procedure is dangerous."
Machiavelli concluded, therefore, “that republics in imminent danger, having no recourse to dictatorship, will always be ruined when some grave misfortune befalls them.” This is the weakness of republican government. Here is the ground on which it dies. An obvious threat, like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor is not the greatest danger. It is the subtle, camouflaged threat, that creeps up from behind. It is this camouflage that gives reluctant men a way out. “We need not fight. We need not make a fuss. There is nothing to fear.”
When this is the prevailing view, people who understand a given threat may ask: “What is to be done?” As long as we are isolated individuals, there is nothing to do. The individual may be honest with himself, but groups are not honest. What prevails overall is an optimistic dismissal. “The threat isn’t real.” This is how Hitler got so far. This is how Communism took over so many countries, and continues today under camouflage. There is nothing the individual can do that will sway the crowd. And as we are a republic, our political system operates according to the psychology of a crowd. The majority are caught up in the fads and media trends of the moment. Cynical and empty publicity characterizes much of our public discourse. But one day the country will awaken. Then, and only then, Americans will stop going along as if nothing serious hangs over them. Will it be too late? Perhaps it will be too late to save the republic. But it will not be too late to save the country."
"Once upon a time there really was an American exceptionalism and America was a light unto the world. That exceptionalism was a long way from perfect (looking for perfection in a mass of humans is silly), but it was legitimate.
Alas, that was long ago. People who say that American exceptionalism still exists may not have bad intentions, but they don’t understand what it was. Others, with less noble intentions, promote the idea to whip up support. Telling people to praise themselves is always a big seller.
Exceptional Means “Not Like the Others”: A Bible passage that has always stuck in my mind is I Samuel, Chapter 8. In it, the Israelites, then living in a tribal anarchy, go to Samuel the prophet and tell him to appoint a king for them. Samuel warns them profusely not to ask this (“Your king will take your children away, take your crops, you’ll cry out for relief,” and so on), but they wouldn’t listen. “No!” they said, “We will have a king over us and be like the other nations.” In other words, they threw away their exceptionalism and became like everyone else.
This is what happened to the United States - it became just like Britain and France and Germany. It became like all the nations ‘round about. And that’s the precise opposite of “exceptional.”
Thinking about this directly and not through the rose-colored lenses of flattering political talk, we see this:The Dutch and the Brits created central banking, and the US followed right along.The Germans created social welfare, and the US followed right along.They tax income; we tax income.They regulate private commerce; we regulate private commerce.They built massive armies and conducted foreign wars; the US did the same and now exceeds them all.
We could, of course, extend this list for many pages. Any difference between the US and the rest of the “developed nations” is now minimal.
Americans like to claim people like Patrick Henry and Sam Adams as their great founders, but what those men believed no longer matters in American life… nor does the founding philosophy of John Locke. The US is now like the nations ‘round about - and that, by definition, means that it is not exceptional.
It Was Exceptional at the Beginning: As I say, once upon a time, America was exceptional. It was wildly different from the other nations. The uppity American commoners claimed that their rights were above kings and parliaments. The other nations said that they were spitting on both tradition and order, and that they were crazy.
Here’s how Thomas Jefferson saw the fruits of his revolution: "All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them…"
In Jefferson’s time, Americans faced no direct taxation (income tax, sales tax, etc.) and no armies of bureaucrats. That changed a long time ago, however, and Americans are now saddled just like everyone else… and saddled far worse than they would have been under the old English system.
George Washington said this in his farewell address: "Nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded …
The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. Nowadays, we have almost nothing but the above. In fact, entangling alliances are looked to as the essential guarantor of safety. So we have exactly the opposite of exceptionalism, and precisely the opposite of what George Washington wanted.
What Washington and the others believed was that the United States would be different - that it would be a haven for actual freedom in the world. Here’s Washington again: "I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong."
And here’s Sam Adams, writing in 1770: "This little part of the world - a land, until recently happy in its obscurity - the asylum, to which patriots were accustomed to make their peaceful retreat.
These men were creating something separate, something apart, something radically different from the usual machinery of government.
How It Happened: American exceptionalism failed steadily. Some of the key moments were these:
1790: Alexander Hamilton’s bank and his ripoff of the revolutionary war soldiers. Hamilton trashed the monetary system prescribed in the Constitution (silver and gold coin) and replaced it with a massively manipulable bank. He sold this plan by corrupting a great number of congressmen, enriching them through a massive ripoff of Revolutionary War soldiers. It was a large, dirty affair.
1798: The Alien and Sedition Acts. In the name of national security, the Federalists, under Hamilton’s influence, gave the president power to deport anyone he wished (after he first branded them as “dangerous”) and restricted any speech that criticized the government.
Because of these laws and other political manipulations, the election of 1800 - in which Thomas Jefferson was elected - was called a “second American revolution.” (One of Jefferson’s first acts as president was to pardon people in jail from the Sedition Act.) To illustrate the depth of this change, here’s what Alexander Hamilton said during the election: "If Mr. Pinckney [Jefferson’s opponent] is not elected, a revolution will be the consequence, and within four years I will lose my head or be the leader of a triumphant army."
1850-1865: I’m not going to go through details on the Civil War, but it’s crucial to understand that all three branches of the national government supported slavery until the end of the war. Furthermore, slavery ended peacefully for England, France, and the rest of the West. Only in the US was there a dreadful war.
1898: The Spanish-American War. This is when the US went Big Military.
1913: The life the old republic was squeezed out in 1913. The ban on direct taxation was removed, the power of the states to control Washington, DC was handed to political parties, and the dollar was handed to a banking cartel.
Bringing Democracy to the World? It’s very odd to hear people try to tie American exceptionalism to “bringing democracy to the world,” since that was no part of the American difference at all. The American founders were crystal clear that they were building a republic, not a democracy. Here’s John Adams on the subject: "Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
Once, but Not Now: The original American exceptionalism was about individual self-determination. It was clearly not about cradle-to-grave control, administered by two interlocked cabals in the capital city.
Once, America was truly different: People lived as they wished and barely saw the government. They had rights that government couldn’t touch, not just in propaganda, but in real life. Now, America is the same as all the other nations and government is God. Personal sovereignty has been outlawed.
There are still a few currents from the early days running through American hearts, and I pray that they continue. But to pretend that American exceptionalism exists on any level beyond that is mere propaganda… catchy lies that encourage us to praise ourselves."
"If we compare health and endurance, well-being, security, general attitudes, family
and community ties and values, we would conclude that it is we who are impoverished."
by Charles Hugh Smith
"We're taking care of my 92-year old mother-in-law here at home. She has the usual aches and pains and infirmities of advanced age but her mind and memory are still sharp. Her memories of her childhood are like a time capsule from the 1930s.
My mom-in-law has always lived in the same general community here in Hawaii. She's never lived more than about 10 miles from the house where she was born (long since torn down) in 1931. Listening to her memories (and asking for more details) is to be transported back to the 1930s, an era of widespread poverty unrelated to the Great Depression. Many people were poor before the Depression. They were working hard but their incomes were low.
Prior to the tourist boom initiated by statehood and affordable airfare, Hawaii's economy was classically colonial: large plantations owned by a handful of wealthy families and/or corporations (known as The Big Five) employed thousands of laborers to raise and harvest sugar cane and pineapple. Pearl Harbor, Hickam air base and Schofield Barracks were large military bases on Oahu. Travel between islands was expensive (ferries) and each island was largely self-sufficient. Even taking a bus for the 12-mile ride to the island's sole city was a rare luxury, an excursion that occurred a few times a year.
Plantation workers were not yet unionized in the 1930s, and wages were around $20 a month for backbreaking field labor - work performed by both men and women. Typical of first and second-generation immigrant communities of the time, families were generally large. Six or seven children was common and nine or ten children per family was not uncommon. Many families lived in modest plantation-provided camps of two bedroom houses.
Gardens were not a hobby, they were an essential source of food to feed a table of hungry kids and adults. Candy, snacks, sodas, etc. were treats rserved for special occasions and holidays. Kids usually went barefoot because shoes were outside the household's limited budget.
Staples were bought at the company store (or one of the few privately owned groceries) on credit and paid off when the plantation paid wages.
Credit issued by banks was unknown. Neighborhoods (kumiai) might pool a few dollars from each family every year and offer the sum to the highest secret bidder or by lottery. Those households that scraped up enough to open a small business often worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week (or equivalent: 14 hours 6 days a week).
Neighbors helped with births and deaths.
Since no one could even dream of owning a car, transport was limited. Children and adults walked or biked miles to school or work. Many sole proprietors made a living delivering vegetables, meat and fish around the neighborhoods. (This distribution system is still present in rural France where my brother and sister-in-law lived for many years). Each vendor would arrive on a set day / time and housewives could gather to buy from the proprietor's jitney or truck. Children could eye the few candies longingly, and if they were lucky, a few pennies would be given to them to buy a candy.
Locally baked bread was delivered by boys. Milk was delivered by small local dairies.
Nostalgia is a powerful force, but I don't think we can dismiss the general happiness of my Mom-in-law's childhood as airbrushed impoverishment. The poverty seems obvious to us now, but at the time it was normal life. Everyone was in the same general socio-economic class. The plantation manager lived in a mansion with servants, but those with wealth were few and far between. In other words, wealth and income inequality was extreme but the class structure was flat: the 99% had very similar incomes and opportunities - both were limited.
Employment was stable, community ties and values were strong without anyone even noticing, and everyone had enough to eat (though not as much as they might have wanted, of course).
This secure plantation structure of work and community was still firmly in place in 1969-1970 when I lived on the pineapple plantation of Lanai (and picked pineapple with my high school classmates in the summer), and so I was fortunate to experience it first-hand. My Lanai classmates speak fondly and with a sense of loss when they recall their youth. Life was secure and protected, and with unionization of the workforce, the wages sufficient enough for frugal households to save enough to send their children to college off-island.
I can personally attest that fond memories of 1970s plantation life are not distorted by nostalgia. These memories are accurate recollections of a far more secure, safe and nourishing place and time.
Compared to today, the typical 1930s diet was locally grown/raised and therefore rich in micro-nutrients. Grains such as rice and flour came from afar, but other than canned fish and similar goods, food was local and fresh. Little if any was wasted. People typically worked physically demanding jobs that burned a lot of calories.
There are many people 90+ years of age in our neighborhood. My Mom-in-law's brother - like many of the men in this age bracket, he was a World War II veteran of the famed 442nd unit -died last year at 96, despite smoking a half-pack of cigarettes daily until the end. A neighbor/friend just passed away at 99 (he was also a 442nd veteran). Our neighbor (cared for by her daughter and son-in-law, just like us) just turned 100. These people are generally healthy and active until the end of their lives.
If we look for causal factors in their advanced age and generally good health, we cannot ignore the high-quality, near-zero-processed foods diets of their youth and their strong foundations in community ties and values.
If we compare the financial and material wealth most enjoy today with the limited income and assets of the pre-war era, we would conclude they lived in extreme poverty and their lives must have been wretched as a consequence.
But if we compare health and endurance, well-being, security, general attitudes, family and community ties and values, we would conclude that it is we who are impoverished and it was their lives that were rich in these essentials of human life.
The world has changed since the 1930s, of course. Materially, our wealth and options of what to do with our lives are off the charts compared to the 1930s. But if we look at health, security, well-being, community ties, social cohesion and civic virtue, our era seems insecure, disordered and deranging.
The irony is that those who have grown weary of our divisive, rage-inducing socio-economic system yearn for all that's been lost in the rise to material wealth and opportunities to spend that wealth. Those who grasp the emptiness of spectacle and material wealth and who have the means to do so are seeking the few enclaves that still have a few shreds of community and social cohesion left.
These enclaves then get listed on "best small towns in America" or "best places in the world to retire" and the resulting influx of wealthy outsiders destroys the last remaining shreds of what everyone came for.
I recently harvested some of our homegrown green tomatoes, and my Mom-in-law gave me a handwritten recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes from her collection. The first ingredient was "two tablespoons of bacon drippings." Um, okay, if we were all working 10-hour days hauling 80-pound loads of sugar cane on our backs, no problem, but we're a household of three seniors, 69, 70 and 92. I think we'll substitute two teaspoons of olive oil for the bacon drippings..."
"1930s USA - Fascinating Street Scenes of Vintage America"
"Step back in time with us as we unveil a mesmerizing journey through 1930s America like you've never seen before! While the Dustbowl was heating up in the southwest, the country as a whole was fighting through the Great Depression. All the while, Americans were living their day-to-day lives, and getting on as best as they could.
In this captivating video, we've meticulously colorized a collection of stunning photographs that capture the essence of a tumultuous yet resilient period in American history. From bustling cityscapes to serene countryside vistas, witness the contrast between hardship and hope that defined an entire generation. Discover the intricate details of everyday life as we explore the highways and byways of the past, complete with corner gas stations, storefronts, and bustling city streets. Journey through snapshots of the stunning architecture that emerged during this era, from Art Deco skyscrapers to quaint suburban homes. Each frame is a window into a world where innovation and creativity thrived despite adversity.
Join us on this mesmerizing visual journey, as we honor the legacy of the past and celebrate the indomitable spirit of the American people. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to experience the 1930s in an entirely new light. Whether you are a history enthusiast, a lover of vintage aesthetics, or simply curious about the past, this video offers an immersive visual experience that will evoke a sense of nostalgia and leave you with a renewed appreciation for the beauty of the human experience."
"From the homeless encampments to the retail crime, it’s all getting worse. There are more stories about phishing and ransom attacks This is the unwinding of it all."
"Stocking Up On These Items At Kroger Before They're Gone!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Kroger and are stocking up on some of these sale items before they are gone. Kroger is having a .99 cents sale on many items this week, and we are taking advantage of this rare occasion!"
“What makes this spiral galaxy so long? Measuring over 700,000 light years across from top to bottom, NGC 6872, also known as the Condor galaxy, is one of the most elongated barred spiral galaxies known.
The galaxy's protracted shape likely results from its continuing collision with the smaller galaxy IC 4970, visible just above center. Of particular interest is NGC 6872's spiral arm on the upper left, as pictured here, which exhibits an unusually high amount of blue star forming regions. The light we see today left these colliding giants before the days of the dinosaurs, about 300 million years ago. NGC 6872 is visible with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Peacock (Pavo).”
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