"Christmas 2023 – Looking Back"

"Christmas 2023 – Looking Back"

by John Wilder

"I was going to write a story about one of my Christmas experiences, but instead I thought I’d write about more than just one. Since my only boss at this blog is you, dear reader, I thought you wouldn’t mind. So, for this Christmas, I’ll share some of the Christmas memories I have of my family while growing up. Why? Because those Christmas memories are the strongest in the young, but our understanding of Christmas as well as our experience of Christmas changes as we age.

The very first Christmas memory I recall as a child was of sneaking out of my bedroom, late at night on Christmas Eve. As an adopted child, I might have been looking for firearms or an exit so I could exit if these adoptive parents wanted me to do chores or something. Or not. I was four. Long after everyone had gone to bed, filled with excitement, I got up and headed towards the fireplace where I had been told Santa would be dropping off presents. I recall seeing Santa, putting presents in the stockings, his back to me. Or it might have been an alien. I was four, so it was probably just a dream. Or maybe Ma and Pa Wilder put something extra in my eggnog so I “slept well”. That would have been an uncomfortable parent-teacher conference for them, “Hey, he’s thirty and in the fourth grade, but he sleeps well.”

The next year, when I was five, I recall that there were presents under the tree. Of course, I was drawn to them like the Colorado Supreme Court is drawn to crack cocaine. Being five and having the coordination of Joe Biden biking, I stepped right one of the presents that was meant for me. The result? My foot tore right through the wrapping paper, revealing to me what the gift from Uncle McWilder was. It was awesome: a tool belt, complete with real tools including a flashlight, screwdriver, and metal pliers. Immediately, I imagined putting the belt on and helping Pa Wilder fix things, like the sink.

Our sink had never been broken to my knowledge, but if it ever did break, I had a pair of real metal pliers and all the tools a five-year-old could imagine would be necessary to fix a sink. We never did fix a sink, though I believe I did an unsanctioned fieldstrip of an Electrolux™ vacuum cleaner. Note: I still have the pliers.

I don’t recall a particular present from first grade, but I do recall sitting at dinner. Being an idiot, I announced to Ma and Pa Wilder (who I think had stopped drugging my food by now) that there was no Santa. My brother, John Wilder, kicked me savagely under the table. “Ow! Why did you do that???” “You idiot, now they won’t give us presents for our stockings!” I’ve written about second grade before, here: "A Wilder Story, or, The BB Gun, The Black Bear, The Soviets, and Me."

In third grade, we had moved to Wilder Mountain. We were in a very small place while the rest of Stately Wilder Manor was still being constructed. Ma Wilder decided to make wine, which involved really good, thick balloons. My brother John and I decided to play a strange version of volleyball using one of the really thick wine balloons over the small pine tree Ma Wilder had made since we were living in a house the size of Hunter Biden’s sense of morality. Good times.

In fourth grade my brother John Wilder was proven wrong, as my parents really went all out filling our socks. In addition to several G.I. Joes®, my brother and I got wind up cars that, when they hit something, all of their body panels flew off. I had no idea that kind of toy existed. What was best? The surprise.

In fifth grade my parents had said we weren’t going to get any presents. It was part of a deal – they were going to buy some new snowmobiles, and because of the expense, those would be our Christmas presents. To be fair I was fine with that – a snowmobile is just awesome. But, my parents lied, and on Christmas Day we found lots and lots of presents under the tree. What were they? Boardgames, galore. Everything from Mousetrap® to Clue™ to giant checkers.

The present I remember most from sixth grade was one from my brother – he got me the cassette version of Alice Cooper’s album, "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell."  An odd Christmas present? Sure. But I’ll never cry.

Seventh grade brought probably one of the most peaceful Christmas Days from my youth. I recall on Christmas Day quietly doing a Star Wars™ jigsaw puzzle. If ever there was a day where there wasn’t a single problem, no strife, nothing but a completely happy time spent with my family growing up, this was the day.

The biggest present I recall for Christmas in my eighth grade year was a Nerf® football, which my brother and I promptly took and threw in the driveway for hours on an unseasonably warm Christmas Day.

As a freshman, my brother and I were out shopping for Christmas presents for Ma and Pa Wilder. One gift I saw was a towel. It wasn’t just any towel, but one that had metal snaps and the Everlast® logo. It looked like boxer’s trunks when you wrapped it around your waist. This was the era of Rocky™, and I told my brother, “Man, that’s cool.” He said, “Yes, it is. I like it, and I’m buying it, for me.” I was only slightly disappointed, since he had the money, and I didn’t. Imagine my surprise on Christmas morning when I unwrapped his present to me and found . . . the towel.

When I was a sophomore, all the varsity wrestlers shaved our heads. Why? I have no idea. We were in high school. Ma Wilder took great amusement in this, and, for Christmas, she made me a knit hat in my high school colors. The hat was ludicrously long, and perfect in every way.

My junior year was the last year that my brother was with us before he got married, so, in a sense, it was the last, close family Christmas. Pa Wilder could see the nerd in me, and my present that year was an HP-15C programmable calculator that used reverse Polish notation (RPN). Back then, HP™ had no equal.

My senior year, I recall that Pa Wilder gave me a metal puzzle – one that he had given all of his friends that year. Made of brass, it wasn’t a hard puzzle, but I still have it, a memory of the last Christmas before college.

Going through this, it’s interesting (to me, at least) to see the changes over time as I moved from greedy excitement to looking for meaning and peace. This year? Not sure I’m getting a present at all, and I’m certain I don’t need one. I’m also not sure if there’s going to be a Monday post, I’ll give myself permission to skip it if we’re having a good time here at Stately Wilder Manor.

I hope your Christmas is a wonderful one, and brings you peace and meaning as well."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

"Christmas With Placido Domingo"

Placido Domingo, "La Virgen Lava Pañales"

○

Full screen recommended.

Plácido Domingo, Wiener Sängerknaben, 

"Ave Maria" (Franz Schubert)

Canadian Prepper, "Emergency Alert! A Hackers Warning! 'Major Crisis Is Coming!'"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 12/23/23

"Emergency Alert! A Hackers Warning! 

'Major Crisis Is Coming!'"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"For This Is What We Do..."

"What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive. You keep your eyes open, you see this damned-to-hell world you got born into, and you ask yourself, 'What life can I live that will let me breathe in and out and love somebody or something and not run off screaming into the woods?'"

- Barbara Kingsolver

o

“For this is what we do. Put one foot forward and then the other. Lift our eyes to the snarl and smile of the world once more. Think. Act. Feel. Add our little consequence to the tides of good and evil that flood and drain the world. Drag our shadowed crosses into the hope of another night. Push our brave hearts into the promise of a new day. With love: the passionate search for truth other than our own. With longing: the pure, ineffable yearning to be saved. For so long as fate keeps waiting, we live on. God help us. God forgive us. We live on.”

- Gregory David Roberts, “Shantaram”

o

Justin Hayward, "Doin' Time"

Dan, I Allegedly, "No Cash for Christmas"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, PM 12/23/23

"No Cash for Christmas"

"Talking about horrible timing. There is a payment processing company called Nationwide that is down for Christmas. People are not going to get their paychecks or money, no transfers for the holidays. No cash for you."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Neil H, “Daybreaks Early Rising”

Neil H, “Daybreaks Early Rising”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Can you see them? This famous Messier object M89, a seemingly simple elliptical galaxy, is surrounded by faint shells and plumes. The cause of the shells is currently unknown, but possibly tidal tails related to debris left over from absorbing numerous small galaxies in the past billion years. Alternatively the shells may be like ripples in a pond, where a recent collision with another large galaxy created density waves that ripple through this galactic giant.

Click image for larger size.

Regardless of the actual cause, the featured image highlights the increasing consensus that at least some elliptical galaxies have formed in the recent past, and that the outer halos of most large galaxies are not really smooth but have complexities induced by frequent interactions with - and accretions of - smaller nearby galaxies. The halo of our own Milky Way Galaxy is one example of such unexpected complexity. M89 is a member of the nearby Virgo cluster of galaxies which lies about 50 million light years distant.”

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

o

"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

"Lemons..."

"When life hands you a lemon, say

"Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else you got?"
- Henry Rollins

Chet Raymo, “Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright…”

“Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright…”

by Chet Raymo

“Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, and holy, and fleet.” You may recall these words from Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.” There is nothing intrinsically cheerful about the world, she says. To live is to die; it’s all part of the bargain. Stars destroy themselves to make the atoms of our bodies. Every creature lives to eat and be eaten. And into this incomprehensible, unfathomable, apparently stochastic melee stumbles… You and I. 

With qualities that we have - so far - seen nowhere else. Hope. Humor. A sense of justice. A sense of beauty. Gratitude. But also: Anger. Hurt. Despair. Strangers in a strange land.

Galaxies by the billions turn like St. Catherine Wheels, throwing off sparks of exploding stars. Atoms eddy and flow, blowing hot and cold, groping and promiscuous. A wind of neutrinos gusts through our bodies, Energy billows and swells. A myriad of microorganisms nibble at our flesh.

We have a sense that something purposeful is going on, something that involves us. Something secret, holy and fleet. But we haven’t a clue what it is. We make up stories. Stories in which we are the point of it all. We tell the stories over and over. To our children. To ourselves. And the stories fill up the space of our ignorance.

Until they don’t. And then the great yawning spaces open again. And time clangs down on our heads like a pummeling rain, like the collapsing ceiling of the sky. Dazed, stunned, we stagger like giddy topers towards our own swift dissolution. Inexplicably praising. Admiring. Wondering. Giving thanks.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

○

“The Tyger”

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, and what art.

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,

And watered heaven with their tears,

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

- William Blake

The Daily "Near You?"

Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

“Why Albert Einstein Thought We Were All Insane”

“Why Albert Einstein Thought We Were All Insane”

by Simon Black

“In the early summer of 1914, Albert Einstein was about to start a prestigious new job as Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. The position was a big deal for the 35-year old Einstein – confirmation that he was one of the leading scientific minds in the world. And he was excited about what he would be able to achieve there. But within weeks of Einstein’s arrival, the German government canceled plans for the Institute; World War I had broken out, and all of Europe was gearing up for one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history.

The impact of the Great War was immeasurable. It cost the lives of 20 million people. It bankrupted entire nations. The war ripped two major European powers off the map – the Austro Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire – and deposited them in the garbage can of history. Austria-Hungary in particular boasted the second largest land mass in Europe, the third highest population, and one of the biggest economies. Plus it was a leading manufacturer of high-tech machinery. Yet by the end of the war it would no longer exist.

World War I also played a major role in the emergence of communism in Russia through the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. Plus it was also a critical factor in the astonishing rise of the Nazi party in Germany. Without the Great War, Adolf Hitler would have been an obscure Austrian vagabond, and our world would be an entirely different place.

One of the most bizarre things about World War I was how predictable it was. Tensions had been building in Europe for years, and the threat of war was deemed so likely that most major governments invested heavily in detailed war plans. The most famous was Germany’s “Schlieffen Plan”, a military offensive strategy named after its architect, Count Alfred von Schlieffen. To describe the Schlieffen Plan as “comprehensive” is a massive understatement.

As AJP describes in his book "War by Timetable", the Schlieffen Plan called for rapidly moving hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the front lines, plus food, equipment, horses, munitions, and other critical supplies, all in a matter of DAYS. Tens of thousands of trains were criss-crossing Europe during the mobilization, and as you can imagine, all the trains had to run precisely on time. A train that was even a minute early or a minute late would cause a chain reaction to the rest of the plan, affecting the time tables of other trains and other troop movements. In short, there was no room for error.

In many respects the Schlieffen Plan is still with us to this day – not with regards to war, but for monetary policy. Like the German General Staff more than a century ago, modern central bankers concoct the most complicated, elaborate plans to engineer economic victory. Their success depends on being able to precisely control the [sometimes irrational] behavior of hundreds of millions of consumers, millions of businesses, dozens of foreign nations, and trillions of dollars of capital. And just like the obtusely complex war plans from 1914, central bank policy requires that all the trains run on time. There is no room for error.

This is nuts. Economies are comprised of billions of moving pieces that are beyond anyone’s control and often have competing interests. A government that’s $33 trillion in debt requires cheap money (i.e. low interest rates) to stay afloat. Yet low interest rates are severely punishing for savers, retirees, and pension funds (including Social Security) because they’re unable to generate a sufficient rate of return to meet their needs.

Low interest rates are great for capital intensive businesses that need to borrow money. But they also create dangerous asset bubbles and can eventually cause a painful rise in inflation. Raise interest rates too high, however, and it could bankrupt debtors and throw the economy into a tailspin. Like I said, there’s no room for error – they have to find the perfect balance between growth and inflation.

Several years ago hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio summed it up perfectly when he said, “It becomes more and more difficult to balance those things as time goes on. It may not be a problem in the next year or two, but the risk of not getting it right increases with time. The risk of them getting it wrong is clearly growing. I truly hope they don’t get it wrong. But if they ever do, people may finally look back and wonder how we could have been so foolish to hand total control of our economy over to an unelected committee of bureaucrats with a mediocre track record… and then expect them to get it right forever. It’s pretty insane when you think about it."

As Einstein quipped at the height of World War I in 1917, “What a pity we don’t live on Mars so that we could observe the futile activities of human beings only through a telescope…”

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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"It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone - that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge."

- H. L. Mencken, 1929

○

Freely download "Ideas And Opinions", by Albert Einstein, here:

-  https://namnews.files.wordpress.com/

The Poet: Wendell Berry, "A Warning To My Readers”

"A Warning To My Readers”

“Do not think me gentle

because I speak in praise

of gentleness, or elegant

because I honor the grace

that keeps this world. I am

a man crude as any,

gross of speech, intolerant,

stubborn, angry, full

of fits and furies. That I

may have spoken well

at times, is not natural.

A wonder is what it is.”

- Wendell Berry

Scott Ritter, "Israel Has Forfeited The Right Of Existence"

Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, 12/23/23

"Israel Has Forfeited The Right Of Existence"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"No One Has Really Grokked

 How Big The Suez/Houthi Gambit Is"

"How It Really Is"

 

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Nationwide System Outage! Abandoned Grocery Carts; Houthis 48 Hour Threat To US; Russian Warning"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 10/23/23

"Alert! Nationwide System Outage! Abandoned Grocery Carts;

 Houthis 48 Hour Threat To US; Russian Warning"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Outrageous Price Increases At Aldi! This Is Ridiculous! What's Next!?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, AM 12/23/23

"Outrageous Price Increases At Aldi! 

This Is Ridiculous! What's Next!?"

"In today's vlog, we are at Aldi and are seeing some outrageous price increases on groceries! This is starting to get overwhelming as some of our cheapest supermarkets are starting to get very expensive!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Has A 'Silent Depression' Already Started In The United States?"

"Has A 'Silent Depression' 

Already Started In The United States?"

by Michael Snyder

"The Biden administration and the corporate media are telling us over and over that the economy is just fine, but the term “silent depression” has been going viral on TikTok. Housing, vehicles, food and just about everything else that we spend money on is far more unaffordable today than it was during the Great Depression of the 1930s. A realtor in Florida named Freddie Smith posted a video on TikTok with some absolutely startling numbers about the cost of living in the United States today, and that is what started the “silent depression” trend.

TikTok user Freddie Smith, a realtor based in Orlando, posted a video in September claiming that the U.S. economy is in what he calls a “Silent Depression.” In the video, which has amassed nearly 800,000 likes, Smith compares the average 2023 salary and basic costs to those of the Great Depression to highlight the growing cost-of-living crisis in the country.

Watch video here.

“If you look back to the Great Depression, the house was only three times the average salary. Now, it is eight times the average salary,” Smith said. “The car was 46% of the salary, the car today is 85% of the salary. And here’s the craziest part, the rent was 16% of the average salary, it is now 42% of the average salary.”

"Controversial ‘Silent Depression’ Trend 

Has Gone Viral Reveals True Economy"

Of course he is right on target. There is a reason why 62 percent of the country is currently living paycheck to paycheck. The cost of living has become incredibly oppressive for most Americans, and nobody can deny that reality.

Many Americans are working as hard as they can, but they just keep falling farther and farther behind. But we aren’t supposed to talk about what is happening. We are just supposed to pretend that everything is just wonderful. And now the corporate media has been putting out lots of articles attempting to debunk Smith’s videos. Here is just one example…"But economists strongly disagree. “Any notion from TikTok that life was better in 1923 than it is now is divorced from reality,” said Columbia Business School economics professor Brett House."

So what is the truth? Are we in a “silent depression” or not? Let’s take a look at three key areas. If honest numbers were being used, they would show that GDP growth has been negative for almost the entire time that Joe Biden has been in the White House. That would indicate that we are at least experiencing a recession. And if honest numbers were being used, they would show that the unemployment rate in this country is sitting at about 25 percent right now.

Needless to say, that is absolutely horrible. And if the rate of inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, it would still be in double digit territory even though it has come down a bit. The official numbers that the government gives us are designed to make us feel good about things.

But at this point things are so bad that the charade is falling apart. It certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you just got laid off from your job. And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you cannot pay your bills…

Millions of Americans strapped with student loan debt are still not paying their bills after a three-year payment hiatus ended this fall. Federal student loan payments restarted at the beginning of October after President Biden declined to extend the pandemic-era pause that first began in March 2020 under his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. However, 40% of the 22 million borrowers who had bills due failed to make a payment as of mid-November, according to a new report published by the Department of Education. That means about 9 million Americans who have payments due are not making them.

And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you cannot sell your home…"Home sales in California plunged to the lowest level in 15 years in November, according to the latest data shared by the California Association of Realtors (CAR). According to a report released on Tuesday, existing single-family home sales were down 7.4 percent last month compared to October and down 5.8 percent from November 2022, totaling 223,940. It was the biggest monthly decline in the past year, which plunged existing home sales in California to the lowest level since the Great Recession of 2008-2009."

And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you are living in the streets…"Homelessness shot up by more than 12% this year, reaching 653,104 people. The numbers represent the sharpest increase and largest unhoused population since the federal government began tallying totals in 2007, the U.S. Department of Urban Planning and Development said Friday.

If the economy is in “good shape” why are Americans becoming homeless at the fastest pace ever recorded? That doesn’t make any sense at all. But those at the top of the economic food chain simply do not understand what all the fuss is about. Today, Americans age 70 and older now hold more than 30 percent of the nation’s wealth. For the moment, life is good for the elite, and they think that the rest of us just need to work harder. Of course they shouldn’t be looking down their noses at the rest of us, because hard times are coming for them as well. The “silent depression” that has already started is hitting those at the bottom of the economic food chain the hardest, but those at the very top will soon be feeling it too."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Corporate America Is Gouging Prices While You Lose Your Job"

Full screen recommended.

Jeremiah Babe, 12/22/23

"Corporate America Is Gouging Prices 

While You Lose Your Job"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ithoA6pVQbk

"15 Fast Food Chains That Are In Deep, Deep Trouble"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 12/22/23

"15 Fast Food Chains That Are In Deep, Deep Trouble"

"Delving into the significant challenges faced by 15 iconic American fast food chains in the wake of the pandemic and the current US financial crisis. As the economic landscape shifts and consumer behaviour changes, well-established franchises such as Subway, KFC, Burger King, and Papa John’s contend with closures, declining sales, and bankruptcy."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"

Full screen recommended.

Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"

Musical Interlude: Moby, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad"

Full screen recommended.

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

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Do you see the bat? It haunts this cosmic close-up of the eastern Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. While the Veil is roughly circular in shape and covers nearly 3 degrees on the sky toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), NGC 6995, known informally as the Bat Nebula, spans only 1/2 degree, about the apparent size of the Moon. That translates to 12 light-years at the Veil's estimated distance, a reassuring 1,400 light-years from planet Earth.

In the composite of image data recorded through narrow band filters, emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is shown in red with strong emission from oxygen atoms shown in hues of blue. Of course, in the western part of the Veil lies another seasonal apparition: the Witch's Broom Nebula."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211027.html

"We Can Learn To Fly!"

"Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live - to learn, to discover, to be free! How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!"

"What he had once hoped for the Flock, he now gained for himself alone;

he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid...”

- Richard Bach, 

“Jonathan Livingston Seagull”

Freely download “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, by Richard Bach, here:

-https://archive.org/

The Poet: Carl Sandburg, “From the Shore"

“From the Shore"

“A lone gray bird,

Dim-dipping, far-flying,

Alone in the shadows and grandeurs and tumults

Of night and the sea

And the stars and storms.

Out over the darkness it wavers and hovers,

Out into the gloom it swings and batters,

Out into the wind and the rain and the vast,

Out into the pit of a great black world,

Where fogs are at battle, sky-driven, sea-blown,

Love of mist and rapture of flight,

Glories of chance and hazards of death

On its eager and palpitant wings.

Out into the deep of the great dark world,

Beyond the long borders where foam and drift

Of the sundering waves are lost and gone

On the tides that plunge and rear and crumble.”

- Carl Sandburg 

"Mass Psychosis - How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill"

Full screen recommended.

"Mass Psychosis - 

How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill"

"In this video we are going to explore the most dangerous of all psychic epidemics, the mass psychosis. A mass psychosis is an epidemic of madness and it occurs when a large portion of a society loses touch with reality and descends into delusions. Such a phenomenon is not a thing of fiction. Two examples of mass psychoses are the American and European witch hunts 16th and 17th centuries and the rise of totalitarianism in the 20th century.

This video will aim to answer questions surrounding mass psychosis: What is it? How does is start? Has it happened before? Are we experiencing one right now? And if so, how can the stages of a mass psychosis be reversed?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Hawkins, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Acceptance..."

"Acceptance is a crucial step forward for those who prefer the idea of living this life over simply existing within it. Accept all that you've said and what you've done, because you cannot change your past. Accept the idea of the unknown, because the future is the unknown waiting patiently to reveal itself. Accept the person you have become thus far in your journey, because you are the only person who will be there with you when you finish it. Do all of this so that you may never find yourself having to accept regret that haunts you at two a.m., leaving you sweaty and broken hearted. All you have is this minute; not this hour, or this day, or this year. Live in this minute so that you won't get stuck simply existing with your guilty past, or with nothing but anxiety for the future."

- Margaret E. Rise

"World War III Prelude: Geopolitical Round Table"

Full screen recommended.

Tech Show, 12/22/23

"Yemen Attack US Base On The Border Of Israel!"

"In this in-depth video, we look at the recent shocking incident in which Yemen conducted a daring attack on a US military base on Israel's border, reportedly in support of Palestine. We'll look at the Middle East's complicated geopolitical landscape, the motivations behind this bold act, and the potential ramifications for the region and world politics.

Yemen, a long-running problem in the Arabian Peninsula, is a key emphasis. We'll talk about the current civil conflict, the Houthi rebels, and their allegiance to Iran. We'll also look at how Yemen sees the US's position in the Saudi-led coalition and how it affects the Yemeni people. Another critical component of this topic is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We'll look at the conflict's historical roots, rival land claims, and the continuing difficulties concerning territory, Jerusalem, refugees, and settlements.

The US position in the Israeli-Palestinian issue will be addressed, including its military and political support for Israel, as well as its role in mediating peace talks. We'll also look at how some people perceive the US to be biassed towards Israel, which hinders diplomatic attempts.

We'll go over the specifics of the attack on the US base, as well as the message of sympathy with Palestine and its consequences for the Middle East. Given the existing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, this act of aggression has far-reaching regional implications, aggravating an already volatile region. The worldwide response to the incident, including condemnations from the United governments, the European Union, and individual governments, will be discussed. We'll also talk about Israel's concerns and its need for international assistance.

Diplomatic attempts to defuse tensions and find a peaceful solution to the problem will be emphasized. We will emphasize the importance of taking a comprehensive strategy to addressing interrelated conflicts, as well as the role of non-state actors in the region. In addition, in the middle of these geopolitical issues, we will emphasize the relevance of humanitarian concerns. Millions of innocent people are suffering in Yemen and Palestine, and their voices should not be silenced by politics."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Hindustan Times, 12/22/23

"'Want Direct War With U.S.': Houthi Chief's Big 

Declaration Against America Amid Red Sea Tensions"

"A Houthi Leader has threatened the U.S. and said that the militant group will directly attack American warships. Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said they would strike "American interests" and "American maritime traffic". The group has also demanded a "direct confrontation" with the United States. This comes after the U.S. formulated a multinational task force to deter Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea."

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Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, "Geopolitical Round Table"

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Full screen recommended.

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 12/22/23

"Intel Roundtable: 

2023: A Year of Intelligence Failures"

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"How It Really Is"

"Americans Are 'Dreading The Holidays' -

1 In 3 Go Into Debt To Pay For Holiday Shopping"

Dan, I Allegedly, "Crazy 2024 Economic Predictions"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly AM 12/22/23

"Crazy 2024 Economic Predictions"

We’ve got some crazy economic predictions for 2024. Plus, we’re going to cover the latest cyber attack. Now one of the largest insurance companies in the world gets hit.

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"'This Is Off The Charts': Economist Claims 2024 

Will Bring 'Biggest Crash Of Our Lifetime' In US"

Jim Kunstler, "Whatever It Takes Won’t Be Enough"

"Whatever It Takes Won’t Be Enough"

By Jim Kunstler

“Like many people, I assumed every impeachment, every indictment, every criminal count would be the end of him.” -  Robert B. Reich, celebrated Trump hunter, career summation.

"And just like that - snap ! - the news about the Colorado Supreme Court’s droll action against candidate DJ Trump vanished from the front page (or top screens) of The New York Times. Do you know why? I’ll tell you: Because the political Left has finally managed to embarrass itself with a “lawfare” gambit so nakedly fatuous that it exposes the faction’s drive to destroy the election process, and with it our country.

This is what you get from a regime that faked its way to power and now must strain to cover up its long train of crimes, abuses, and effronteries to common sense, while running out of tricks to keep fooling even its own deranged followers. Somehow, the act of kicking a leading candidate off the ballot has finally registered as inconsistent with “defending our democracy.”

Of course, the reckless abuse of law - “lawfare” - proceeds from the Left’s disrespect for boundaries and limits, which is exactly what law in principle concerns itself with. And from there it’s a quick leap into totalizing bad faith, the operating system for government under an imposter president, “Joe Biden.” Suddenly, mere days before Christmas, when the people want to be preoccupied with things other than politics, events merge explosively to shape the fate of the nation.

In a sane world, the US Supreme Court would not just summarily strike down the Colorado ruling, but would issue a career-ending rebuke to the brain-damaged state justices who managed to not learn a basic principle of due process: innocent until proven guilty - that to brand someone a criminal, there must be a record of indictment and conviction for a particular crime, and that, in the case of Mr. Trump, a politically-motived fairy tale about an “insurrection” doesn’t cut it.

Also, in a sane world interested in truth and justice, the Republican-majority Congress would have months ago convened new hearings about the Jan 6/21 Capitol riot to undo the manifold perfidious frauds instigated by the previous Democrat-majority committee under Chairman Bennie Thompson. By now, testimony should have been compelled from Nancy Pelosi, the then Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, and former Defense Secretary Chris Miller about Ms. Pelosi’s refusal to call in national guard troops to reinforce security around the building, and to answer for the odd behavior of the Capitol Police, such as opening doors for the mob and then serving as ushers to show off the place. It seems obvious that many elected Republicans also have an interest in supporting the Jan 6/21 “insurrection” fairy tale. Do you still wonder why the evil entity infesting Washington is called “the blob?”

The Substack blogger who styles himself as El Gato Malo offers the alluring theory that a SCOTUS ruling on whether the 14th Amendment clauses applies to the presidency in the Colorado case, could enable Special Counsel Jack Smith to slip-in a superseding indictment (replacing the original indictment) in his DC Jan 6 case against Mr. Trump with new insurrection / rebellion charges, thus setting-up a fortified argument for states to chuck Mr. Trump off any ballot. More “lawfare,” you see. Whatever it takes...!

More curiously even, we learn today, that an amicus brief has been filed in the SCOTUS by former Attorney General Ed Meese (under Ronald Reagan), and two constitutional law professors, Steven Calabresi and Gary S. Lawson challenging the legality altogether of Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel for prosecuting Mr. Trump. The amicus is filed in the matter of Jack Smith’s certiorari petition to the court to schedule Mr. Trump’s DC trial the same day as the Super Tuesday primary  - against the defendant’s objections. The amicus presents compelling arguments that Attorney General Merrick Garland acted illegally in appointing Mr. Smith, and if SCOTUS chucks him out of the special counsel job, the whole mendaciously constructed scaffold of the Jan 6 prosecution goes out the window, along with the Mar-a-Lago documents case.

Those of you with a deep interest in blob lawfare treachery may also be interested in the courtroom win, this week, by Brandon Straka, who launched the 2018 “Walk Away” movement to persuade gays to leave the Democratic Party. He was present on the US Capitol grounds the day of the Jan 6/21 riot, and was later sued by eight “black and brown” Capitol Police officers, with the help of a Soros-funded nonprofit law firm, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Straka was accused of causing the officers’ injuries (pepper spray and “exhaustion”) and of conspiring to deprive them of their civil rights (under the KKK Act of 1871). It came out in the course of testimony that seven of the officers were on the other side of the enormous Capitol building from Mr. Straka’s position the entire time alleged, and that one of the officers was not even present at the Capitol or even in the District of Columbia at the time. Such are the sordid dreams of lawfare warriors and their useful idiots...

Next up, as we turn the corner into a fateful 2024 - and lately eclipsed by all these lawfare election interference shenanigans - will be the perhaps even more consequential hearings on the Biden family’s extensive international bribery operations, which may shed some light on how come we suffer a president and a party bent on destroying our country."

- https://kunstler.com/

Oh yeah, the full title of Kunstler's website really does say it all...

Adventures With Danno, "Be Ready For This! They Are Listening!"

Adventures With Danno, AM 12/22/23

"Be Ready For This! They Are Listening!"

"We discuss how we have to be mindful of what's going on and be cautious of everything we talk about that you don't want others to know. The "smart" devices are listening."

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