Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Thanks for stopping by!
So, we rise from the rubble...
Monday, November 20, 2023
"The Way You Carry It..."
"It's not the load that breaks you down,
it's the way you carry it."
- Lena Horne
"The Way of the West"
The Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina
"The Way of the West"
Continued decline and fall, plus an historic moment
for the long-suffering Argentines and more...
by Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman
Paris, France - "Is Western Civilization in decline? More evidence in a minute. First, in an historic turnaround, a democratic government has voted to shrink itself. At least, that is our reading of yesterday’s election in Argentina. The voters have had enough. Bloomberg: "Argentina Takes Leap Into Unknown With Javier Milei as President." "Libertarian outsider Javier Milei won Argentina’s presidency promising a radical shakeup to fix decades of policy mismanagement, a strategy that resonated with a populace suffering under a nosediving economy and one of the world’s fastest inflation rates. With 99% of ballots counted after Sunday’s runoff election, Milei took 56% of the votes to 44% for Economy Minister Sergio Massa of the incumbent left-wing Peronist coalition, according to the official electoral authority."
Will this be good? Bad? We don’t know. But we’re sure it will be fun to watch. Our man on the scene, Joel, will have more below.
I, Capitalism: In the meantime, while Argentina may be correcting mistakes, the rest of the West is making more than ever. A small illustration: An English friend showed up for dinner on Saturday. He drove a new Citroen, built by the company founded by Andre Citroen in 1919. It had front-wheel drive, invented by Citroen himself, but was assembled from products and materials gathered from all over the world. It burned gasoline that came from the Total station down the road; Total was established in 1924…its fuel comes from several sources, none of them local. This gas may have been imported from its Jubail refinery in Saudi Arabia.
We sat down in a house built by others, more than a century ago, to a simple dinner of fish (perhaps from the North Atlantic…‘harvested’ by a Portuguese fisherman) with tomatoes from North Africa…local carrots…and a dessert made with sugar imported, most likely, from Central America. Then, after dinner…followed coffee that had been introduced to Europe by Venetian traders in the 16th century. The beans were grown in Ethiopia and made their way to the local grocery store.
Woke Nonsense: After the dinner was completed, it began to get dark, so we turned a switch and the electric lights came on. None of us at the table had anything more to do with inventing electrical illumination than we had with any other part of the evening’s comforts. None of us could reproduce either the simplest electric light, nor the electricity to power it, even with the working models right in front of us. A Russian invented an arc lamp as early as 1802. Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan developed a more practical form of light – an incandescent bulb – much later. It was into this soft light that we pulled out our guitars, spoons, and harmonicas – none of them made by ourselves – for a little musical distraction.
It was then that our guest apologized. “I always feel a little guilty about playing the blues,” he said. “Why’s that,” we asked? “I mean, I’m not Black. It is someone else’s music.” “Cultural appropriation,” is the “woke” term. It is such an absurd idea, that we will move on immediately. We only bring it up to remind ourselves how much of modern material civilization was developed in the West…and how much of it has been happily appropriated by the rest of the world.
Sharing is Caring: Trains, planes, automobiles…internal combustion engines, electric engines…rotary engines…elevators…painless dentistry…air-conditioning…microchips… wood chippers…Chip & Dale…TV…the internet…social media – all were developed by Europeans. But today, non-Europeans manufacture them, reproduce them, enjoy them, and improve them...That is, of course, the way it works. Knowledge…technology…culture…art... music…math – all get appropriated. And misappropriated.
The Wright Bros. were widely doubted and dissed in America. When they reported that they had built a ‘flying machine,’ many people considered them frauds. After all, they were guys who ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. Unlike other aeronautical pioneers, they had no college degrees, no government funding and no scientific credentials.
So, they went to France. In 1908, Wilbur demonstrated his plane at Le Mans. He flew a figure 8 pattern, proving that he could not only go aloft but control the plane’s movements. The French were delighted…and soon Wilbur, Orville, and their sister Katharine, a school teacher, were the toast of Paris. They were invited to meet with presidents and royalty…while the whole world raced to get into the air. Only six years later, the French, English and Germans were using aeroplanes to drop bombs on each other.
So it goes…products, ideas, language, germs, designs, technology are always on the move. Evolving….changing. Always appropriated. And often improved! The Chinese may have invented pasta…but they didn’t make ravioli it the way our aunt, Alma di Grazia, bless her soul, used to make it."
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Joel’s Note: When we want to know what’s happening here in Argentina, we just stick our head outside our apartment window. When things are going poorly – high inflation, unpopular public policies, losing football teams, etc. – the locals bang their pots and pans, creating a deafening “cacerolazo” protest that rings out around the city. When things are going well – World Cup victories, the end of pandemic lockdowns, resounding defeats for the ruling Peronist “caste” – they take to their balconies to sing and celebrate.
The cheering started shortly after 8 o’clock last night. That was how we found out who had won the presidential election. “Vamos Milei!” hooted the crowd across the way, proclaiming victory for the self-described anarcho-capitalist candidate. “Vamoooooooos Argentina!!!”
Cars honked their horns up and down the street, the way they do when one or another football team scores a “goooooooool!” Folks crowded the plazas and pizzerias, cheering and hugging each other. Below our apartment window, at a Romario’s Italian restaurant, we watched a family of ten or twelve embrace in tearful celebration. And this is the capital city, where the incumbent, Sergio “200% Inflation” Massa, was favored to win heavily. (Gotta love those polls!) For their part, the mainstream press dutifully carries the election story. Their “reporting” is full of all the usual slander and claptrap... Milei is a “Trump sympathizer”... a “climate denier”... a “conspiracy theorist.”
But beyond the cheap epithets and puddle-deep analysis, few will mention that last night’s victory for Milei represented a staunch repudiation of seven decades of Peronist populism, which dragged the once-prosperous nation from the top of the world into the economic doldrums. With 56% of the vote, Milei garnered the single highest percentage of any presidential candidate since Argentina’s return to democracy, back in 1983. And who voted for him? The poor. The working class. Even the youth swung heavily in his favor. (The Peronists now surely regret having passed a law a few years ago to lower the voting age. Whoopsie!) And while the political caste cry into their mate this morning, the rest of Latin America is watching closely. They are energized. They know that, if it’s possible to disrupt the establishment in Argentina... it might just be possible in their country, too. More to come from the fin del mundo later..."
"Maybe..."
“Maybe we accept the dream has become a nightmare. We tell ourselves that reality is better. We convince ourselves it’s better that we never dream at all. But, the strongest of us, the most determined of us, holds on to the dream or we find ourselves faced with a fresh dream we never considered. We wake to find ourselves, against all odds, feeling hopeful. And, if we’re lucky, we realize in the face of everything, in the face of life the true dream is being able to dream at all.”
- Dr. Meredith Grey, "Grey's Anatomy"
"Rules of Engagement: Thanksgiving Edition"
"Rules of Engagement: Thanksgiving Edition"
A helpful guide for avoiding rhetorical pitfalls over the holiday dinner table...
by Joel Bowman
Buenos Aires, Argentina - Our American readers are preparing for a Thanksgiving of their own this coming week. Many years have passed since the Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest of the New World, back in 1621. The holiday has been commemorated, on and off, since George Washington declared it a national day in 1789, but it wasn’t official until Honest Abe made it so, proclaiming...“Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” calling on the American people to also, “with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience .. fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation...”
On the subject of perverseness and disobedience, just while we’ve got you, your Australian-born editor has always had a special affection for this most American of holidays, known to him as the day when families come together to flesh out irreconcilable political differences over too much cider and victuals.
Though our quasi-American wife assures us this behavior is not exclusive to Thanksgiving (“some families drag their frivolous disputes on until Christmas, or even beyond...”), we recall with fondness many a fracas in which tipsy uncles clashed with college student nephews and nieces over the controversial topic du jour.
Of course, there are certain ways of getting one’s point across that are more helpful than others... and some that are downright harmful. And so, with the holidays just around the corner, we thought it might be fun to examine a few of the dos and don’ts of artful dinner table rhetoric. Please enjoy a light-hearted guide for Turkey Day veterans and newcomers alike, below...
"Rules of Engagement - Thanksgiving Edition"
By Joel Bowman
"The first, and perhaps most obvious, rule for maintaining civil discourse (even within the family) is to never resort to ad hominem. Essentially, this means turning to personal attacks, rather than sticking to matters of logic. “Playing the man and not the ball,” as sportsfolk are heard to say. It’s just bad form, mate.
So even if Aunt Joan is a prattling old windbag with decidedly dated views... and even though Cousin Charlie is a well known charlatan who deserves to have lost his money on scammy meme stocks... and even if Uncle Jeffrey is a dipsomaniacal bore whose third wife is even more insufferable than the previous two... best not to say so.
Also steer clear of labels like “fatso,” “dunderhead,” “moron,” “millennial,” “skinflint,” “feckless pest,” “half-wit,” “jackass,” etc. Oh, and if Niece Elly decides she now identifies as a fern and asks to be referred to using gender/species neutral neopronouns, just nod along and go with it. You can lament the downfall of Western Civ and traditional values at the Chick-fil-A drive through on your way home.
Now that you’ve holstered the nasty slurs, a close second on the “Logical Fallacies to Avoid on Holidays List” is the Hasty Generalization trap. This occurs when one interlocutor summons a few, often anecdotal instances to make loose and sweeping claims, often on a subject they know precious little about. For instance, just because every single person you’ve individually encountered with blue/pink dyed hair happens to have proven themselves a brainless weirdo, that doesn’t mean there isn’t someone out there eager to establish themselves as the exception to the rule.
Recall Nassim Taleb’s Black Swan analogy: while a thousand sightings of white swans is not sufficient to prove once and for all the statement “all swans are white,” a single sighting of a black swan is adequate to disprove it. In other words, you are just one friendly, witty, well-informed, empathetic, self-aware, blue-haired Starbucks barista away from having all those harmful and triggering stereotypes disproved. Rejoice!
Pot, Meet Kettle: Next we have the notorious Appeal to Hypocrisy tactic, wherein the speaker defends himself against a particular charge by pointing out the obvious and demonstrable fact that the accuser is similarly guilty. Also known as the “pot calling the kettle black” gambit.
For instance, don’t say “Well, Republicans also lie, cheat and steal” as a way of defending Democrats from doing likewise (or vice-versa). Simply agree that both political parties are chock full of ratbags and that anyone who seeks office ought immediately to be disqualified from holding it on reasonable suspicion of hubris and delusions of grandeur. You and your new ally may wish to commemorate this novel common ground with a toast to liberty and apolitical enlightenment.
Next up we have the popular Circular Argument ploy, a favorite of cutesy, tag-teaming couples (think honeymooners, newlyweds, college sweethearts, etc. who don’t yet know what they’re in for). Infuriatingly, this often occurs when said saccharine duo completes one and other’s sentences. “Smoking pot is wrong because it’s against the law....”
“... Exactly, babe, and that’s precisely why it’s against the law; because it’s wrong.”
“You got it, babe!” (*Breaks for conspicuous canoodling*)
Textbook circular argument. Rather than getting between the pawwing pair, better to just annoy everyone present by saying something like, “While not a smoker myself, I happily defend every same-sex couple’s right to guard their personal weed stash with their firearm of choice.”
Which brings us to the popular False Dilemma ruse, whereby the speaker offers (always generously) two equally poor options as if no others existed. (We covered this in last week’s Sunday Session, "The Illusion of Choice", which garnered quite a number of, ahem... enthusiastic responses.) Recall George W. Bush’s classic line, “We will fight them over there so we do not have to fight them over here.” Boy oh boy did they misunderestimate Dubbya! Never mentioned was the apparently ludicrous idea that “we” might not fight “them” at all, something one might have expected to occur to a man who also said, “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” Umm...? Moving along...
I, Bernanke: Another classic holiday ploy is the Argument from Authority. Someone out there, possibly one of our dear readers, will find themselves this year seated across from a man recently awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics. When the subject of the economy inevitably comes up, likely introduced by the faux-modest laureate himself, you may be sure the Argument from Authority is lurking close by. (So too the aforementioned False Dilemma.)
“It took a certain ‘courage to act,’ I freely admit,” Mr. Bernanke will hold forth, “but our economy was on the brink. In fact, were it not for my deep knowledge of financial meltdowns, and of course the bravery with which my name has since become synonymous, we may not be gathered here today, enjoying this sumptuous feast, brought to us by Julia and Maria in the kitchen. Gracias señoritas. In fact, we may not have an economy at all...”
If, by some twist of fate or punishment, you do happen to be seated at the above table and on the receiving end of said sermon, please do us all a favor and refuse to accept such balderdash. Call the man out. Herewith, some suggested notes: “Facts do not care for your prizes and positions, my dear man. Fortunately for us all, reality is not subject to opinion. Your tenure as Fed Chairman, unblemished by a single instance of success or real insight, was objectively disastrous. Indeed, your much lauded actions led us into the mess in which we presently find ourselves mired. True courage would have involved thoughtful inaction. Now, unless there is another round of those delicious cookies... thank you Julia and Maria for a delicious meal, thank you Mrs. Bernanke for the invite, and good evening to you all.”
Although there are a great many more Rhetorical Weapons of Mass Destruction (too many to cover in one pithy Sunday Sesh), we would be remiss if we didn’t conclude with the oft-misquoted Godwin’s Law, or Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies. Always a cheerful party favorite, especially after a round or two of Moscow Mules, you’ll hear this one invoked when one or another dinner guest inevitably falls to reductio ad Hitlerum to prove a point. It is usually then said that “the first person to bring up Hitler loses the argument.”
But this is a misnomer. Introduced into the common vernacular by American attorney and author, Mike Godwin, back in the early ‘90s, the eponymous law simply asserts that, as online discussion forums grow, the probability that someone will veer into Nazi territory increases, eventually approaching a near certainty. Crucially, this tendency was observed regardless of the group’s participants and regardless of the topic under discussion.
So when Aunt Molly calls Cousin Mike a “fascist” for his views on the midterm elections... or Grandpa labels Grandma a “Nazi” for insisting that the menfolk eat leftovers at the table instead of on the couch in front of the game, know that it’s nothing personal. It’s just Thanksgiving."
Dan, I Allegedly, "More Lies That We Are Paying For"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly AM 11/20/23
"More Lies That We Are Paying For"
"You won’t believe this one. The student loan debacle is such a problem.
People are getting $10,000 and $20,000 forgiven without any verification."
Comments here:
"WW3 Prelude: Middle East Crisis 11/20/23"
Full screen recommended.
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, AM 11/20/23
"Alastair Crooke (fmr British Diplomat ):
Evaluating Israel's Moral Justifications"
"Join our thought-provoking conversation with Alastair Crooke that delves into the complex landscape of Israel's actions in the context of ethics and morality. We embark on a nuanced exploration, critically examining the historical, political, and social aspects that contribute to Israel's moral justifications."
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
Democracy Now, 11/20/23
"Israel’s Raid on Al-Shifa Questioned as IDF
Fails to Present Hard Evidence Linking Hamas to Hospital"
"We continue our coverage of Israel’s unrelenting 45-day bombardment of Gaza, where health officials say the overall death toll has topped 13,000 since October 7. Writer and analyst Muhammad Shehada joins Democracy Now! to discuss the global protests calling for a ceasefire, the ongoing hostage negotiations, and Israel’s failure to prove Hamas ran a command post underneath Al-Shifa Hospital."
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
Scott Ritter, 11/20/23
"Israel Needs To Free 10,000 Palestinian
Prisoners Before Hamas Launches Missiles"
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, AM 11/20/23
"Israeli Troops Killed As Al Qassam Fighters
Chase And Attack IDF On Gaza Streets"
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 11/20/23
"Iran Reveals New Hypersonic Missile With Rare
HGV Tech To 'Beat Air Defenses': Threatening Israel?"
"As Israel-Hamas war rages on, Iran unveiled a newer version of its hypersonic missile. The new missile is an upgraded version of Iran's first homegrown hypersonic missile named 'Fattah'. Iran claims Fattah-2 is capable of evading air defense systems with its high-speed maneuvers. Tehran's claim is being seen as a veiled jibe at rival Israel which has several air defense systems. This comes after Israel recently intercepted a number of ballistic missiles fired by Houthis from Yemen."
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Jim Kunstler, "The Blob and Its Mobs"
"The Blob and Its Mobs"
by Jim Kunstler
"In normal times we anticipate the splendid gluttony of the American Thanksgiving, the fellowship of family and friends, with gratitude and remembrance of overcoming ordeals past. This year, though, we are a bit preoccupied with ordeals to come, and that nip in the November air conjures rumors of approaching hardship and cruelties we have no idea how we might overcome. These are not normal times.
What was normal, anyway? The second half of the twentieth century in Western Civ, the cornucopia of post-war America, paychecks that covered the house, the car, assured square meals, and quite a bit left over for Disneyworld, a place at the lake with a speedboat, and four seats at the ballpark. Normal was keeping a lid on discontent in foreign lands and containing our wicked obverse enemy, the Soviet communists. Normal was mom and dad together under one roof, expecting strangers to behave decently, order outside the home. Normal was thinking all that would last forever.
I idealize a bit. But many of you will recognize at least some of that being present in your lives for a while, at least. And you might agree that it all started breaking badly in the new century, clearly marked by the attacks of nine-eleven. What followed that wondrous enormity was the amazing and nauseating transfiguration of our country into the opposite of the old normal: broad financial desperation, broken families, strangers bent on homicide and mayhem, official tyranny of all kinds, immersive lying, failed institutions, foolish wars, nothing and no one to believe in, and the creeping suspicion that mysterious evil forces are running it all.
Somehow, we have managed to become our old enemy, the Soviets. The sprawling bureaucracy I call the blob has a blank check to control everything we do, to usurp our individual economic decisions, intrude on our very bodies, snatch us from our homes or lock us up in them, and force us to shut-up about all that. Unlike the Soviets, though, our blob is unable to suppress vile civil misbehavior, murder, rape, looting, car-jacking, robbery at the bottom and fraud, bribery, money laundering, insider trading, cyber-Ponzis, and racketeering, at the top. The law is a new wilderness of iniquity. Show me the man and I’ll find a crime to pin on him, Stalin’s KGB chief liked to say. Merrick Garland seems to like that method, too.
The people of our land look like they are being systematically poisoned (because they are). Our food is poisoned. Our daily bread contains engineered toxic proteins, glyphosate, and heavy metals. All those things will kill you before your time. Our supermarkets are stuffed overwhelmingly with addictive snacks made of corn syrup that turns people into oxen. Americans live on pizza, chips and soda. These things are in their faces at every turn, all day long, hard to resist, especially if your existence is horribly lonely and purposeless.
The oddest feature of this upheaval is that the revolutionary youth in the streets and on the campuses are on the side of tyranny - as long as they are allowed to do some of the tyrannizing. The mobs and the blob officials mutually reinforce each other. The governor of Oregon, Kate Brown, did everything possible to protect Antifa while they destroyed the city of Portland. Mayor Muriel Bowser had Washington DC’s streets painted boldly to celebrate Black Lives Matter, after they torched the church across the street from the White House, occupied by the wicked Trump. Lately, the Ivy Leaguers stupidly shout for intifada and the allahu akbar of beheading - the innate sadism of Wokery on display for all to see. These mobs got tacit official permission to do their mob thing - except for the crowd that FBI blob agents turned into a mob on January 6, 2020. Permission denied! Instead, the people who “paraded” in the US Capitol got systematically hunted down by Christopher Wray. Can those luckless souls now serving years-long jail sentences possibly feel thankful for being born in the USA?
Perhaps the anxious gloom pervading this year’s Thanksgiving is due to the dread of what comes next. No one in the public arena says that 2024 will be anything but much worse than what we’ve already lived through in this ongoing crackup of our country, and their expressed utterances are probably not as dark as their private, inner thoughts. The gang behind “Joe Biden” has successfully jacked our country into chaos. Something similar has got Europe and the rest of the Anglosphere in its thrall. Half of the public is grossly misinformed by The News, and swallows every proffered lie. The other half can’t get traction to storm this slippery slope of blob despotism.
So, the table is set. You have probably commenced the preparations for the ritual meal. We started with the cranberries last night, since the condiment has only two ingredients and would store well for four days. It came out badly. There was some rot in the berries that we couldn’t detect just by looking and sorting out some obviously bad ones. I hear a lot of chatter that the fresh food supply chain in America is broken. The bad link in the chain is apparently the trucking system. The truck lines can’t get enough workers to load the refrigerator trailers, so the fruits and vegetables spend too much time sitting on the loading dock, where they start to . . . turn. You have to wonder if this is a harbinger of greater disruptions to come, maybe widespread hunger, and you know what that leads to.
We’re going all out for the Thanksgiving feast here, a big fresh turkey, of course, and way more side-dishes than necessary for a dozen friends at the table. I live in a relatively poor county in deep upstate New York and I have to wonder how many people around here will go without a Thanksgiving feast this year, how many are suddenly mired in misfortune, default on a home mortgage, car sliding into the re-po zone, no job, no prospects, in despair, hungry. Perhaps they’ll be drawn to the church basements in town. That might be us next year.
Those of us outside the blob and their mobs know that our country has to be rebuilt somehow, and that rebuilding it must include assurances of personal liberty. I’m grateful and thankful this year that there are enough of us who understand what’s at stake and are prepared to fight against slithering tyranny. Do you see where things stand this Thanksgiving? It feels like the edge of something because it is the edge of something."
"These World Events Are Driving Up Prices Everywhere! It's About To Hit The Fan!"
Adventures With Danno, AM 11/20/23
"These World Events Are Driving Up
Prices Everywhere! It's About To Hit The Fan!"
"These world events are driving up food costs everywhere! We need to make sure we are prepared for what's to come before it all hits the fan! Grocery items are higher than they have ever been, and we need to plan accordingly and save any way we can!"
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"Economic Market Snapshot 11/20/23"
"Economic Market Snapshot 11/20/23"
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Market Data Center, Live Updates:
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Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
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"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it.
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
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A comprehensive, essential daily read.
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Financial Stress Index
"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."
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Job cuts and much more.
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Commentary, highly recommended:
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"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
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Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
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And now... The End Game...
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Sunday, November 19, 2023
Canadian Prepper, "WW3 Alert! Ships Taken Hostage; US Troops Guard Israeli Nukes? NATO Troops 50 KM From Russia; Nukes Deploy"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 11/19/23
"WW3 Alert! Ships Taken Hostage; US Troops Guard Israeli Nukes?
NATO Troops 50 KM From Russia; Nukes Deploy"
Comments here:
"15 Items That Will Disappear From Store Shelves Next Month"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 11/19/23
"15 Items That Will Disappear
From Store Shelves Next Month"
"It's time to prepare yourself for the winter that is coming! In a few short weeks, a seasonal shift in consumer demand will leave some empty shelves at grocery stores, new reports reveal. Weaker-than-expected harvest seasons and other manufacturing challenges have hit the biggest food companies in the country really hard throughout the year. And now, many retailers are already reporting inventory holes at a time when they should be receiving more supplies to prepare for the all-important holiday season.
For example, Americans might have to go out of their way to find asparagus for their holiday recipes next month. Michigan, California, and New Jersey reported an 11% reduction in the number of asparagus crops planted this year, and farmers also cited losses caused by fungus and beetles during the harvest season. While more people will be looking for the veggie at big-box stores in the weeks ahead, retailers won't likely be able to fulfill the entire demand. At local farmers' markets, prices can be higher this season, but you'll have greater chances of getting what you need for the perfect holiday dinner.
Similarly, flour, butter, shortenings, and oils are not only costing more but also becoming more scarce at grocery stores in 2023. The worldwide shortage of grains has been pushing the production of flour and vegetable oils down since 2022. Meanwhile, dairy products are being impacted by higher cow slaughter this year. And now that seasonal demand for baking supplies is about to grow home and professional bakers might have to fight for the available supply, according to Bloomberg. With holiday celebrations about a month away, many bakers have already started stocking up on the ingredients they'll need. Those who haven't yet should start making preparations now because many products may be sold out over the next couple of weeks.
You also might have heard about the massive decline in U.S. cattle production this year. A historic drought, rising fuel, and feed costs, as well as labor shortages, have all combined to create a perfect storm for the nation's ranchers. Prices are expected to soar, too. According to the USDA, they are likely to double from a year ago levels. The best cuts, including filet mignon and ribeye, will not only face even bigger price increases but also become harder to find, given that this year's beef cows were much smaller than usual, and produced less meat. If you haven't purchased steak for your holiday celebrations yet, don't wait too long because you may struggle to get what you want.
Weather emergencies, supply chain disruptions, and an ongoing freight market crisis will exacerbate shortages and prevent retailers from restocking their shelves over the next weeks and months. Don't wait until the last minute to search for the products you will need because you might end up paying a lot more than you would if you had prepared sooner. The holiday shopping frenzy has only just begun, and we should brace for a whole lot of chaos at U.S. stores next month.In this video, we tracked the new product shortages that are about to hit the U.S. market in December and beyond so you can stay ahead of the shortages and get ready for the dark winter that is ahead of us."
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Adventures With Danno, PM 11/19/23
"Prepping For Winter!
Getting What We Can Before It's Too Late!"
"Discussing items to stock up on before winter hits and getting prepared before more price increases at the grocery stores! We are expecting certain food items to go up higher than ever and must plan accordingly!"
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Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Escape From Gravity"
Full screen recommended.
Deuter, "Escape From Gravity"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Stars are sometimes born in the midst of chaos. About 3 million years ago in the nearby galaxy M33, a large cloud of gas spawned dense internal knots which gravitationally collapsed to form stars. NGC 604 was so large, however, it could form enough stars to make a globular cluster.
Many young stars from this cloud are visible in the above image from the Hubble Space Telescope, along with what is left of the initial gas cloud. Some stars were so massive they have already evolved and exploded in a supernova. The brightest stars that are left emit light so energetic that they create one of the largest clouds of ionized hydrogen gas known, comparable to the Tarantula Nebula in our Milky Way's close neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121211.html
"What Might Have Been..."
“Space I can recover. Time, never.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
“Lands can be reconquered, indeed in the course of a battle, a hill or a certain plain might trade hands several times. But missed opportunities? These can never be regained. Moments in time, in culture? They can never be re-made. One can never go back in time to prepare for what they should have prepared for, no one can ever get back critical seconds that were wasted out of fear or ego. Napoleon was brilliant at trading space for time: Sure, you can make these moves, provided you are giving me the time I need to drill my troops, or move them to where I want them to be. Yet in life, most of us are terrible at this. We trade an hour of our life here or afternoon there like it can be bought back with the few dollars we were paid for it. And it is only much, much later, as they are on their deathbeds or when they are looking back on what might have been, that many people realize the awful truth of this quote. Don’t do that. Embrace it now.”
- Ryan Holiday
Redacted, "'All Of Ukraine's Young Men Are Dead', NATO Has Killed An Entire Generation"
Full screen recommended.
Redacted, 11/19/23
"'All Of Ukraine's Young Men Are Dead',
NATO Has Killed An Entire Generation"
"As Zelensky insists that Ukraine can win the war, the media admits that Ukraine is all out of young men and the average age of a Ukrainian soldier is 43! Now the Washington Post is throwing Ukraine under the bus with an "investigation" showing that a rogue ops unit sabotaged the Nord Stream Pipeline. This story is...hard to believe."
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Dan, I Allegedly, "Bank Gets a Massive Fine"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly PM 11/19/23
"Bank Gets a Massive Fine"
"A bank committed a crime and got a massive fine. Plus, the car
industry is completely upside down and insider tells us all about Carvana."
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"Attitude..."
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you
as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens
to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”
- Kahlil Gibran
"At The Approach Of Danger..."
“At the approach of danger there are always two voices that speak with equal force in the heart of man: one very reasonably tells the man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of avoiding it; the other, even more reasonable, says that it is too painful and harassing to think of the danger, since it is not a man’s power to provide for everything and escape from the general march of events; and that it is therefore better to turn aside from the painful subject till it has come, and to think of what is pleasant. In solitude a man generally yields to the first voice; in society to the second.”
- Leo Tolstoy, “War and Peace”
“All our mortal lives are set in danger and perplexity: one day to prosper,
and the next – who knows? When all is well, then look for rocks ahead.”
- Sophoclese, “Philoctetes”
○
Free Downloads:
A little light reading from Tolstoy…
Freely download “War and Peace”, by Leo Tolstoy, here:
Freely download “Seven Tragedies of Sophocles - Philoctetes” here:
Jim Quinn, "Watch Out, You Might Get What You're After"
"Watch Out, You Might Get What You're After"
by Jim Quinn
"Hold tight
Wait ’til the party’s over,
Hold tight,
We’re in for nasty weather.
There has got to be a way,
Burning down the house..."
"If you haven’t noticed, we’re in for nasty weather. The swirling winds of a cloudy Fall day, as darkness descends upon the world, portends the coming vicious storms approaching our shores. Winter is coming. The gathering storm in the Middle East, with sides being chosen, alliances formed, enemies provoked, military’s mobilized, and the U.S. military industrial complex arming all sides, is just one of multiple potential inflection points poised to set the world ablaze if one of the psychopathic world leaders, installed to advance the globalist reset agenda, lights the fuse and ignites a global conflagration.
Once it ignites, no one knows how it will progress. This Israel – Hamas eruption could easily lead to a Mount St. Helens level eruption at any moment. The posturing and threats by Israel, Hamas, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Hezbollah and other players in this global game of World War 3 chicken are growing more intense by the day. They are all consumed by hubris, overestimating their strength and understanding of the situation, while far underestimating the extreme risks and dire consequences of their actions.
Should anyone be confident statesman like behavior or wisdom will emanate from a White House occupied by an empty dementia ridden vessel grifter with pedophile tendencies and his merry band of LGBTQ+++ fools, knaves and dimwits? Of course not. The crumbling debt sodden American Empire is being led by an outright moron and anyone expecting Biden to do anything other than make things worse, has probably been jabbed five times, has a BLM, Israel, and Ukraine flag in their Twitter profile, and still thinks Hunter Biden’s laptop is Russian disinformation.
The U.S. provoked Ukraine conflict has drained the coffers of the U.S. and EU of hundreds of billions, while depleting their precious armaments, just as WW3 launches. With the Middle East set to explode in a ball of fire, the world’s flow of precious oil, is in danger of being cutoff abruptly. Luckily, Dementia Joe depleted our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for election purposes, leaving us with 17 days worth of supply. Maybe Biden’s green energy windmill and solar farms will fill the gap when gasoline prices soar to $6.00 a gallon and 1970s like gas lines become common again.
Biden and his squad are burning down the house with the American people trapped inside and there are no firemen coming to save the day. His physical and mental weakness; corruption of heart, mind, and spirit; vitriolic hate for half the nation; blatant disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law; selection of weak minded diversity apparatchiks for key positions; and doing as instructed by his globalist handlers behind the curtain, have left our nation with no visible means of support. And we haven’t seen anything yet. If you think Biden has made a mess of our country thus far, wait until he provokes WW3 and Civil War 2.0 simultaneously.
Putin and Xi are serious minded, highly intelligent, dictators for life, who will do whatever they believe is in their nation’s best interest. And that means mobilizing their armed forces to take what they believe is theirs. Putin will not back down in Ukraine, and will oppose whichever side America supports in the Middle East. Xi is biding his time waiting for the American Empire to murder itself, and will take Taiwan when the moment is most advantageous to him. Both Putin and Xi have been busy decoupling their economies from the U.S. and creating their own New World Order.
The Global Reset psychopaths, Schwab, Gates, Soros, and the shadowy cabal of billionaires they work for, appear to think a global war will benefit their satanic agenda by furthering depopulation, increasing restrictions on the peasants, taking away more liberties and freedoms, and furthering their authoritarian surveillance measures in the name of safety and security. They are willfully ignorant regarding the possibility they could blow up the planet. They are willing to risk the lives of billions to satisfy their unquenchable thirst for wealth, power, glory, and control. They better watch out, they might get what they’re after.
It may seem mad to those staring into their TV sets, igadgets, and laptops, being distracted by the latest misgendering outrage, BLM violence reported as a peaceful protest, new trumped up charges against Trump, Taylor Swift’s vaxx promoting NFL boyfriend, any of the thousands of nightly sporting events, and the daily propaganda performances by the regime media, but they actually have the same enemy as Putin and Xi – the U.S. government. They just don’t know it yet.
Our crumbling society is being held together with spit, bailing wire, lies, and money printing. Lenin nailed it when he said, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” It seems like the next several weeks could see decades of history made. And not the good kind. The time is approaching where we’ll have life and death decisions to make. We can’t let the likes of Biden and his minions sacrifice our youth in a war to benefit a globalist reset agenda.
We can’t allow the continued unimpeded invasion of our border. We can’t allow the unhindered lawlessness of our executive, legislative, and judicial branches. We can’t allow the unconstrained astronomical increase of our national debt. We can’t allow these fools to destroy our world. It’s time to fight fire with fire. The Founding Fathers unequivocally created the 2nd Amendment for times like this. Armed conflict is a certainty, so acquiring more arms and ammo should be a high priority for all those thinking clearly at this point in history. The time for life changing courageous choices approaches. I hope we make the right choices. Good luck and Godspeed."
"No visible means of support,
And you have not seen nothin’ yet.
Everything’s stuck together
And I don’t know what you expect,
Staring into the TV set
Fightin’ fire with fire, ahh..."
o
Full screen recommended.
Talking Heads, "Burning Down The House"
o
Hat tip to Jim Quinn and
The Burning Platform for this material.
o
A great bonus video...
Full screen recommended.
Talking Heads, "Life During Wartime"
"Anybody have any questions?" lol
Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead: And It's Gone! $3.8 Trillion Dollars!"
Full screen recommended.
Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/19/23
"Markets, A Look Ahead:
And It's Gone! $3.8 Trillion Dollars!"
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Adventures With Danno, "Outrageous Price Increases At Walmart! "
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 11/19/23
"Outrageous Price Increases At Walmart!
This Is Ridiculous! What's Next!?"
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