"When life hands you a lemon, say
"Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else you got?"
- Henry Rollins
So, we rise from the rubble...
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Free Download: Henry Miller, "Tropic Of Cancer"
“The monstrous thing is not that men have created roses out of this dung heap, but that, for some reason or other, they should want roses. For some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured – disgrace, humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui – in the belief that overnight something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable. And all the while a meter is running inside and there is no hand that can reach in there and shut it off.
All the while someone is eating the bread of life and drinking the wine, some dirty fat cockroach of a priest who hides away in the cellar guzzling it, while up above in the light of the street a phantom host touches the lips and the blood is pale as water. And out of the endless torment and misery no miracle comes forth, no microscopic vestige of relief. Only ideas, pale, attenuated ideas which have to be fattened by slaughter; ideas which come forth like bile, like the guts of a pig when the carcass is ripped open.
Somehow the realization that nothing was to be hoped for had a salutary effect upon me. For weeks and months, for years, in fact, all my life I had been looking forward to something happening, some intrinsic event that would alter my life, and now suddenly, inspired by the absolute hopelessness of everything, I felt relieved, felt as though a great burden had been lifted from my shoulders. At dawn I parted company with the young Hindu, after touching him for a few francs, enough for a room. Walking toward Montparnasse I decided to let myself drift with the tide, to make not the least resistance to fate, no matter in what form it presented itself.
Nothing that had happened to me thus far had been sufficient to destroy me; nothing had been destroyed except my illusions. I myself was intact. The world was intact. Tomorrow there might be a revolution, a plague, an earthquake; tomorrow there might not be left a single soul to whom one could turn for sympathy, for aid, for faith. It seemed to me that the great calamity had already manifested itself, that I could be no more truly alone than at this very moment. I made up my mind that I would hold on to nothing, that I would expect nothing, that henceforth I would live as an animal, a beast of prey, a rover, a plunderer. Even if war were declared, and it were my lot to go, I would grab the bayonet and plunge it, plunge it up to the hilt. And if rape were the order of the day then rape I would, and with a vengeance.
At this very moment, in the quiet dawn of a new day, was not the earth giddy with crime and distress? Had one single element of man’s nature been altered, vitally, fundamentally altered, by the incessant march of history? By what he calls the better part of his nature, man has been betrayed, that is all. At the extreme limits of his spiritual being man finds himself again naked as a savage. When he finds God, as it were, he has been picked clean: he is a skeleton. One must burrow into life again in order to put on flesh. The word must become flesh; the soul thirsts.
At this very moment, in the quiet dawn of a new day, was not the earth giddy with crime and distress? Had one single element of man’s nature been altered, vitally, fundamentally altered, by the incessant march of history? By what he calls the better part of his nature, man has been betrayed, that is all. At the extreme limits of his spiritual being man finds himself again naked as a savage. When he finds God, as it were, he has been picked clean: he is a skeleton. One must burrow into life again in order to put on flesh. The word must become flesh; the soul thirsts.
On whatever crumb my eye fastens, I will pounce and devour. If to live is the paramount thing, then I will live, even if I must become a cannibal. Heretofore I have been trying to save my precious hide, trying to preserve the few pieces of meat that hid my bones. I am done with that. I have reached the limits of endurance. My back is to the wall; I can retreat no further. As far as history goes I am dead. If there is something beyond I shall have to bounce back. I have found God, but he is insufficient. I am only spiritually dead. Physically I am alive. Morally I am free. The world which I have departed is a menagerie. The dawn is breaking on a new world, a jungle world in which the lean spirits roam with sharp claws. If I am a hyena I am a lean and hungry one: I go forth to fatten myself.”
- Henry Miller, "Tropic of Cancer"
Freely download "Tropic of Cancer", by Henry Miller, here:
"I Pity You, Too..."
“Said a philosopher to a street sweeper, “I pity you. Yours is a hard and dirty task.” And the street sweeper said, “Thank you, sir. But tell me, what is your task?” And the philosopher answered saying, “I study man’s mind, his deeds and his desires.” Then the street sweeper went on with his sweeping and said with a smile, “I pity you, too.”
- Kahlil Gibran
Gregory Mannarino, "Leading Indicators Slide Deeper Into The Red, Economic Meltdown Accelerating Again!
Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/27/24
"Leading Indicators Slide Deeper Into The Red,
Economic Meltdown Accelerating Again!
Comments here:
"The Dawn Of Chaos! Inventory Soars 195%! The Great Car Market Collapse Of 2024 Begins"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 2/27/24
"The Dawn Of Chaos! Inventory Soars 195%!
The Great Car Market Collapse Of 2024 Begins"
The global car market is teetering on the brink of a precipitous crash in 2024, a situation brewing since 2020. However, the sound of a car market crash has not just started, but it has reached the US horizon. But, it's not just the U.S. The whole world is feeling the effects of this car craze! Ever since 2020, dealerships everywhere have been flooded with cars.
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "Foreclosures Are On Fire"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly 2/27/24
"Foreclosures Are On Fire"
"Wow, what a day. I went with Doug, the foreclosure expert and posted a bunch of houses throughout Southern California. No one can tell me that foreclosures are not busy right now. This was an insane day and you have to see this video. It speaks for itself."
Comments here:
"This Is What The Early Stages Of A Severe Recession Look Like"
"This Is What The Early Stages
Of A Severe Recession Look Like"
by Michael Snyder
"It is definitely starting to look a lot like 2008 and 2009 again. Those years were such a painful time for our country, and in many ways we still haven’t fully recovered from the damage that was inflicted upon us during that era. Unfortunately, so many of the exact same things that we experienced back then are starting to happen in our time. For example, the Great Recession brought us the greatest foreclosure crisis in the history of our nation, and now foreclosures are really starting to spike here in 2024. In fact, the number of new foreclosure filings in the U.S. just jumped 10 percent in a single month… "Home foreclosures are on the up across the US as Americans continue to battle against soaring interest rates and rising costs. Last month, 37,679 properties had a foreclosure filing, according to fresh figures from real estate data provider ATTOM – up 10 percent from the month prior."
According to the pundits, that wasn’t supposed to happen. But it did. Interestingly, Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware actually experienced the fastest increase in foreclosure filings last month. Nevada was second, and that was due to the large number of foreclosure filings in Las Vegas…"Nevada’s position in the ranking is largely due to foreclosure filings in Las Vegas, where many people lost their jobs when tourism crashed during pandemic lockdowns. According to ATTOM, Las Vegas had a foreclosure filing on one in every 1,923 housing units in January."
This is a really troubling sign. When the economy is booming, Las Vegas is booming even more. But when hard times arrive, times are even harder in Las Vegas. So let’s watch and see if this trend continues.
Meanwhile, it is also being reported that the number of completed foreclosures in the U.S. was up 13 percent compared to the previous month. In Michigan, the number of completed foreclosures actually shot up by “a huge 200 percent”…"Michigan saw the fastest rise in completed foreclosures – up a huge 200 percent. This was largely down to high rates of foreclosure filings in Detroit." I remember writing articles about how some homes in Detroit were literally selling for one dollar when things were at their worst.
Has another housing crash begun? We are certainly ripe for one. Thanks to painfully high interest rates, buying a home has become out of reach for most of the population. Unless interest rates go down dramatically, home prices have got to fall, and that is going to cause all sorts of problems.
Of course a horrifying commercial real estate crisis is already here. Prices have crashed all over the nation, and now many office buildings that were once worth millions of dollars are simply being torn down. In fact, in Los Angeles there is a plan to tear down a very large office building in order to build just 30 EV charging stations…"This is absolutely crazy… An owner of an office building in LA is seeking approval to tear down the building and construct 30 EV charging stations.
I don’t know what’s crazier…this headline or seeing office properties drop 80-90% in just a few years. The commercial real estate recession (primarily office) has gone from scary to a meltdown in many cities across the US and it seems as though the damage is permanent
If we really are heading into a major economic slowdown, we would also expect retailers to be shutting down stores all over America, and that is precisely what we are witnessing right now.
Incredibly, even Walmart reduced the number of stores that it operates by 102 last year... "Walmart last year closed 23 stores across the US, eight of which were in Illinois, it emerged this week. Overall, its total number of stores fell by 102, from 4,717 in January 2023 to 4,615 a year later. That’s because in addition to the 23 closures, Walmart sold a combined 79 Moosejaw and Bonobos locations after selling the two retailers." If even Walmart sees a need to batten down the hatches, that is a really bad sign.
On top of everything else, large employers continue to conduct mass layoffs from coast to coast. Last week, many were saddened to hear that Vice Media Group is laying off hundreds of workers as it continues to spiral toward oblivion…"Vice Media Group plans to lay off hundreds of employees and stop publishing on its flagship news website, the company’s chief executive said in a memo to employees Thursday — a stunning setback for a digital media pioneer that ascended to cultural prominence more than a decade ago. “It is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously,” Vice CEO Bruce Dixon said in the memo, which was seen by NBC News. Vice Media did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment on Thursday’s news." Everyone knew that Vice was in dire straits, and so those layoffs are not exactly a shock.
But why has Google suddenly decided to give the axe to thousands of workers?…"Google has initiated significant layoffs across its various teams, including the Voice Assistant, hardware, engineering and ad sales teams, marking a continuation of the tech industry’s trend towards reducing workforce expenses. The layoffs have affected hundreds of employees within the Voice Assistant unit; hardware teams responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit products; and a considerable portion of the augmented reality (AR) team. This move is part of Google’s broader effort to streamline operations and align resources with its most significant product priorities. According to The Verge, the total number is in the thousands. This comes at a time when Google parent, Alphabet Inc., reported record profits in late January. The company reported $20.4 billion in net income in Q4."
Google is one of the most successful companies in the entire world, and they are swimming in cash. If they feel the need to ruthlessly cut workers, what kind of sign is that for the rest of the economy? Sadly, the truth is that it has become quite apparent that big trouble is ahead. 2024 is going to be such an important turning point for the economy, and it is also going to be such an important turning point for the nation as a whole. The state of the economy will certainly be a central issue during the upcoming election season, but there are no easy answers for the problems that we are now facing."
Adventures With Danno, "Great Savings At Meijer!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 2/27/24
"Great Savings At Meijer!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Meijer and are taking advantage of all the grocery sales they are having this week. As grocery prices continue to rise around the world, we all need to get these deals when we see them. Get your notepad ready as these are items everyone should be buying right now!"
Comments here:
Gregory Mannarino, "The US Dollar Is In For A Great Fall, And It's No Accident"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/27/24
"The US Dollar Is In For A Great Fall, And It's No Accident"
Comments here:
Related:
"Record Global Debt: A Ticking
Time Bomb For The World Economy"
By Daniel Lacalle
Excerpt: "The relentless increase in global debt is an enormous problem for the economy. Public deficits are neither reserves for the private sector nor a tool for growth. Bloated public debt is a burden on the economy, making productivity stall, raising taxes, and crowding out financing for the private sector. With each passing year, the global debt figure climbs higher, the burdens grow heavier, and the risks loom larger. The world’s financial markets ignored the record-breaking increase in global debt levels to a staggering $313 trillion in 2023, which marked yet another worrying milestone.
The relentless increase in global debt is an enormous problem for the economy. Public deficits are neither reserves for the private sector nor a tool for growth. Bloated public debt is a burden on the economy, making productivity stall, raising taxes, and crowding out financing for the private sector. With each passing year, the global debt figure climbs higher, the burdens grow heavier, and the risks loom larger. The world’s financial markets ignored the record-breaking increase in global debt levels to a staggering $313 trillion in 2023, which marked yet another worrying milestone.
Some analysts say that this whole mess can be solved by raising taxes, but reality shows that there is no revenue measure that will fill an annual financial hole of $2 trillion with additional yearly receipts. This, of course, comes with an optimistic scenario of no recession or economic impact from a higher tax burden. Deficits are always a spending problem.
Citizens are led to believe that lower growth, declining real wages, and persistent inflation are external factors that have nothing to do with governments, but this is incorrect. Deficit spending is printing money, and it erodes the purchasing power of the currency while destroying the opportunities for the private sector to invest. The entire burden of higher taxes and inflation falls on the middle class and small businesses. (That means YOU, Pilgrim...)"
Full article here:
"You Cannot Kill Me Here..."
Two Steps From Hell, "Downstream"
“You cannot kill me here. Bring your soldiers, your death, your disease, your collapsed economy because it doesn’t matter, I have nothing left to lose and you cannot kill me here. Bring the tears of orphans and the wails of a mother’s loss, bring your God damn air force and Jesus on a cross, bring your hate and bitterness and long working hours, bring your empty wallets and love long since gone but you cannot kill me here. Bring your sneers, your snide remarks and friendships never felt, your letters never sent, your kisses never kissed, cigarettes smoked to the bone and cancer killing fears but you cannot kill me here. For I may fall and I may fail but I will stand again each time and you will find no satisfaction. Because you cannot kill me here.”
- Iain S. Thomas
Monday, February 26, 2024
"Alert! NATO Sending Troops To Ukraine! Israel Calls Up 300,000! Russia Bans Exports! Sea Cables Cut!"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 2/26/24
"Alert! NATO Sending Troops To Ukraine!
Israel Calls Up 300,000! Russia Bans Exports! Sea Cables Cut!"
Comments here:
These psychopaths just insist on getting us all killed.
God help us, God help us all...
Jeremiah Babe, "The Economic Collapse Is Here And Can't Be Stopped, The Debt Is Unsustainable"
Jeremiah Babe, 2/26/24
"The Economic Collapse Is Here And Can't
Be Stopped, The Debt Is Unsustainable"
Adventures With Danno, "These Items Are Disappearing From Stores & People Are Outraged!"
Adventures With Danno, PM 2/26/24
"These Items Are Disappearing From
Stores & People Are Outraged!"
Comments here:
Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"
Full screen recommended.
Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“The Pelican Nebula is changing. The entire nebula, officially designated IC 5070, is divided from the larger North America Nebula by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The Pelican, however, is particularly interesting because it is an unusually active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds.
The featured picture was processed to bring out two main colors, red and blue, with the red dominated by light emitted by interstellar hydrogen. Ultraviolet light emitted by young energetic stars is slowly transforming cold gas in the nebula to hot gas, with the advancing boundary between the two, known as an ionization front, visible in bright red across the image center. Particularly dense tentacles of cold gas remain. Millions of years from now this nebula might no longer be known as the Pelican, as the balance and placement of stars and gas will surely leave something that appears completely different.”
○
"In a universe devoid of life, any life at all would be immensely meaningful. We ARE that meaning. "And what we see, "says the poet Mary Oliver, "is the world that cannot cherish us, but which we cherish." As though life itself is the great, universal, unrequited love of all time. But there is even more to this. Deep mystery. We are the universe aware of itself. We let the miracle get lost in distractions. On a planet so rich with living companions, much of humanity sentences itself to solitary confinement. Late at night, I used to lie in my boat listening to radio calls from ships to families ashore. There was only one conversation, and it boils down to, "I love you and I miss you: come home safe." Connections make us individuals. Ironic, isn't it? The more connected, the more unique our life becomes."
- Carl Safina
"A Long March Through The Night..."
"The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instill faith in times of despair."
- Bertrand Russell
"US $1.6 TRILLION Deficit Signaling Fiscal CRISIS, $34T National Debt Collapse"
Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, 2/26/24
"US $1.6 TRILLION Deficit Signaling Fiscal CRISIS,
$34T National Debt Collapse"
Comments here:
Bill Bonner, "The Military/Industrial/Spook/Media Complex"
"The Military/Industrial/Spook/Media Complex"
The industry behind the empire's forever wars
and the profiteers making a fortune...
by Bill Bonner
"Is it really necessary to attack Kursk, and indeed in the east this year at all? Do you think anyone even knows where Kursk is? The entire world doesn't care if we capture Kursk or not. What is the reason that is forcing us to attack this year on Kursk, or even more, on the Eastern Front?"
~ General Heinz Guderian
Youghal, Ireland - "Military leaders are often blockheads. Civilian leaders are too. And when they get together what follows is rarely welcome. The military-industrial complex calls the shots; they are often fatal.
The US approaches what promises to be the most widely anticipated and most easily avoided crisis of its history. It owes $34 trillion. Soon – given current forecasts – the debt will grow to $40 trillion…and then to $50 trillion. No nation has ever survived such a huge debt load – not without bankruptcy, depression, serious inflation, revolution or war…sometimes all of them. What follows, we believe, is why the US will be no exception.
Consensual Rules: Heinz Guderian was no fool. It was he who invented the Blitzkrieg…the use of tanks without infantry support to disrupt the enemies’ communications and create panic among their troops.
He was born in what is now known as Chelmno, Poland. But it was Prussian territory when he came into the world. And the Prussians had conquered it centuries before. Tough. Clever. They were the backbone of the Wehrmacht officer class. They were also the ones who had the most to lose in Hitler’s war against the Soviets. Their homeland was in the East, where it was most vulnerable to the Soviet Union.
Guderian’s family lost its home when Poland regained control of the area after WWI. Then, in 1939, Guderian took command of the XIX Army corp, spearheaded a drive into Poland, and ‘liberated’ his childhood home.
Ever since the rise of civilized societies, a major problem has been how to keep people like Heinz Guderian under control. By definition (ours) civilized societies prefer to settle their affairs without violence. They rely on “consensual rules,’ not brute force. People agree on what laws and regulations they will follow. They drive on the right…or the left… Women are allowed to appear in public without a headscarf – or not. They vote for their leaders – or not. Etc.
Armies are meant to project violence…not civilization. They are the muscle of the State…expected to kill or be killed in order to promote the government’s agenda. But in the modern world, their tendencies towards murder and mayhem are supposed to be held in check by civilian command.
Unconditional Surrender: That’s what didn’t happen in Nazi Germany. Military and civilian power came together in the person of Adolf Hitler, who donned a field-gray uniform in September, 1939. So it was that General Heinz Guderian found himself subordinate to the former corporal, now Fuhrer.
In 1943, Hitler was insisting that his tanks attack the Soviets at Kursk. Guderian opposed the campaign. After months of preparation and hesitation there was little hope of success. The Soviets already had the Germans’ battle plans and had already prepared for them. The Soviets’ could merely let the Germans exhaust themselves against their defenses, and then, with more tanks and more men than the Wehrmacht could put into the field, they would counterattack. And that’s what happened.
By then, the Nazis were losing the war. The Allies were advancing through Sicily…and Italy was wobbling, preparing to hang Mussolini from a light post and welcome the invading US troops. The only real questions were when and how the end came.
Hitler was clearly an impediment to any decent solution…not only with his amateurish military commands; he also stood in the way of a negotiated settlement. In January of 1943, FDR announced that the allies would only accept an ‘unconditional surrender.” Still, had Germany gotten rid of the Fuhrer, brought its troops back to Germany and promised never again to go on the warpath, it might have been possible to avoid total surrender and occupation.
Emperors, kings, and parliaments always struggled to keep their fighting men in line. They were expensive to keep in the field. And dangerous to keep too close to home. A powerful general might lead a coup d’etat against the civil authorities. That’s why Caesar was not supposed to come to Rome at the head of his army; the troops were meant to stay on the other side of the Rubicon river. Caesar was popular with his troops. But even he had to face a mutiny, which he dealt with smoothly.
Unwarranted Influence: After William the Conqueror had taken control of most of England, he went back to Normandy, leaving his new kingdom with trusted subordinates. Alas, the army went wild – raping, pillaging, looting across much of the South of England. William returned to put them in order, but by then the English were so enraged that they rebelled…leading to further costly war.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527 was perhaps a less able commander; his troops went wild. It didn’t help that he neglected to pay them. They attacked Rome, looting, kidnapping, killing. Pope Clement VII escaped to the Castel Sant’Angelo. He survived by paying a ransom to the mutinous troops. But his Swiss Guard were annihilated.
What enables a civilian government to control its military? Money. Real money. Governments typically control the tax revenue…and use it to keep their fighting men on a short leash. But when the US switched to a ‘fake’ money – which it could create in seemingly boundless quantities – it also let loose the dogs of war. Pentagon budgets increased…even after 1991, when the Soviet Union disbanded. This left the military-industrial complex with billions in ‘excess’ funds, which they used to suborn Congress and corral the media, think tanks and universities.
Eisenhower was not merely spreading a ‘conspiracy theory’ when he warned that the firepower industry might soon exert an ’unwarranted influence’ on the civilian government; he was merely observing a trend. Powerful groups want more power. And unless they are constrained, they will get it.
Real money used to limit government spending – including the number one rat hole money goes down, the firepower industry. After 1971, Congress – richly lobbied by military suppliers – voted for one increase after another. Politicians tried to out-do each other by being ‘strong on defense.’ And today, it’s not the civilian leaders who hold their gunmen in check, it’s the military/industrial/spook/media complex that prevents the feds from heading off the coming catastrophe."
o
Full screen recommended.
Al Stewart, "Roads To Moscow"
"Oh! Had I The Ability..."
"Oh! Had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced."
“I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued.”
- Frederick Douglass
"The Sandcastle"
"The Sandcastle"
by Jeff Thomas
"The decline from democracy to tyranny is both a natural and inevitable one. That’s not a pleasant thought to have to consider, but it’s a fact, nonetheless. In every case, a democracy will deteriorate as the result of the electorate accepting the loss of freedom in trade for largesse from their government. This process may be fascism, socialism, communism, or a basket of "isms," but tyranny is the inevitable endgame of democracy. Like the destruction of a sandcastle by the incoming tide, it requires time to transpire, but in time, the democracy, like the sandcastle, will be washed away in its entirety.
Why should this be so? Well, as I commented some years ago, the concept of government is that the people grant to a small group of individuals the ability to establish and maintain controls over them. The inherent flaw in such a concept is that any government will invariably and continually expand upon its controls, resulting in the ever-diminishing freedom of those who granted them the power.
Unfortunately, there will always be those who wish to rule, and there will always be a majority of voters who are complacent enough and naïve enough to allow their freedoms to be slowly removed. This adverb "slowly" is the key by which the removal of freedoms is achieved. The old adage of "boiling a frog" is that the frog will jump out of the pot if it’s filled with hot water, but if the water is lukewarm and the temperature is slowly raised, he’ll grow accustomed to the temperature change and will inadvertently allow himself to be boiled.
Let’s have a look at Thomas Jefferson’s assessment of this technique: "Even under the best forms of Government, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."
Mister Jefferson was a true visionary. He knew, even as he was penning the Declaration of Independence and portions of the Constitution, that his proclamations, even if they were accepted by his fellow founding fathers, would not last. He recommended repeated revolutions to counter the inevitable tendency by political leaders to continually vie for the removal of the freedoms from their constituents.
Around the same time that Mister Jefferson made the above comment, Alexander Tytler, a Scottish economist and historian, commented on the new American experiment in democracy. He’s credited as saying, "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
So, was each of the above gentlemen throwing a dart at a board, or did they each have some kind of crystal ball? Well, actually, neither. Each was a keen student of history. Each knew that the pattern, by the end of the 18th century, had already repeated itself time and time again. In fact, as early as the fourth century BC, Plato had quoted Socrates as having stated to Adeimantus, "Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery comes out of the most extreme form of liberty."
Today, much of what was called the "free world" only half a century ago has deteriorated into a combination of residual capitalism, which has been largely and increasingly buried by socialism and fascism. (It should be mentioned that the oft-misinterpreted definition of "fascism" is the joint rule by corporate and state - a condition that’s now manifestly in place in much of the former "free" world.)
Today, many people perceive fascism as a tyrannical condition that’s suddenly imposed by a dictator, but this is rarely the case. Fascism is in fact a logical step. Just as voters succumb over time to the promises of socialism, so a parallel decline occurs as fascism slowly replaces capitalism. Fascism may appear to be capitalism, but it’s the antithesis of a free market. As Vladimir Lenin rightly stated,
Fascism is capitalism in decline. Comrade Lenin understood the value of fascism for political leaders. Whilst he retained a close relationship with New York and London bankers, and a healthy capitalist market was tapped into for Soviet-era imports, he was aware that his power base depended largely on denying capitalism to his minions.
So, from the above quotations, we may see that there’s been a fairly erudite group of folks out there who have commented on this topic over the last 2,500 years. They agree that democracies, like sandcastles, never last. They generally begin promisingly, but, given enough time, any government will erode democracy as quickly as the political leaders can get away with it, and the progression always ends in tyranny.
We’re presently at a major historical juncture - a time in which much of the former free world is in the final stages of decay and approaching the tyranny stage. At this point, the process tends to speed up. We can observe this as we see an increase in the laws being passed to control the population - increased taxation, increased regulation, and increased promises of largesse from the government that they don’t have the funding to deliver.
When any government reaches this stage, it knows only too well that it will not deliver and that, when the lie is exposed, the populace will be hopping mad. Therefore, just before the endgame, any government can be expected to ramp up its police state. The demonstrations by governments that they’re doing so are now seen regularly - raids by SWAT teams in situations where just a small number of authorities could handle the situation just as well. Displays of armed forces in the street, including armored vehicles, in instances of disruption.
In London, Ferguson, Paris, Boston, etc., the authoritarian displays have become ever-more frequent. All that’s now necessary is a series of events (whether staged or real) to suggest domestic terrorism in several locations at roughly the same time. A state of national emergency may then be declared "for the safety of the people." It’s this justification that will assure the success of tyranny. Historically, the majority of people in any county, in any era, choose the illusion of safety over freedom. As John Adams was fond of saying, "Those who would trade freedom for safety will have neither."
From this point on, it would be wise for anyone who lives in the EU, US, UK, etc. to watch events closely. If a rash of "domestic terrorism" appears suddenly, it could well be the harbinger that the government has reached the tipping point - when tyranny under the guise of "protecting the safety of the people" is inaugurated. The most essential takeaway here is that, although some may object (even violently), the majority of the people will trade their freedom for the promise of safety."
Greg Hunter, “'War Cycle' Will Continue To Build Into 2025"
“'War Cycle' Will Continue To Build Into 2025"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner has been warning of a huge war and financial cycle, and it is clear both continue to build. The war cycle will continue to amplify until World War III breaks out. Meanwhile, unpayable debt will continue to explode until another Great Depression hits America again. Standing in the gap is gold, and the wait for a bull market is about over. Nenner explains, “The dollar’s buying power could possibly be cut in half. That’s the reason why we expect a super bull market in gold and silver when the cycle bottoms. You remember I came on and said coming, coming, but not yet? I say it was too early but, now, we are getting very close to a bull market. Gold could still have one more down move because the cycles are still down.”
On Bitcoin, Nenner says, “We had a high of $54,000, and we said if it hit $52,000, we would sell. I do not believe this story that Bitcoin will hit $100,000 based on my work. It has been proven that NASDAQ and Bitcoin go up and down together because it is based on nothing, and people are buying out of greed. Because we think we are at a top in the NASDAQ, then we don’t think the outlook for Bitcoin is too positive.” Nenner thinks the DOW is also topping, and he is telling clients to lighten up on the risk. Nenner sees a second Great Depression playing out again in 2026 or 2027.
Nenner thinks the “War Cycle” will continue to build in 2024, but all bets are off in 2025. Nenner says his wealthy clients see dark days ahead for the world and have actual bunkers to go along with a bunker mentality. Nenner think domestic terror and even war is coming to America in a big way. Nenner is still forecasting “2 billion will die in the next global war, and the only way we get a body count that high is with nuclear weapons.”
Nenner sees an election coming in 2024 and still thinks Trump can win. Nenner warns that problems in America are too big for any one person to actually fix. Nenner still thinks if you know winter is coming, you cannot stop it, but you can get a winter coat. Again, Nenner thinks “Trump is the winter coat.” There is much more in the 32-minute interview."
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One
with renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner.
"Alas..."
“Alas, regardless of their doom, the little victims play!
No sense have they of ills to come, nor care beyond today.”
- Thomas Gray,
“Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College”
"Too Often..."
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word,
a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
- Leo Buscaglia
"How Could You? A Dog's Story"
"How Could You? A Dog's Story"
by Jim Willis
"When I was a puppy I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was "bad," you'd shake your finger at me and ask "How could you?" - but then you'd relent and roll me over for a bellyrub.
My housetraining took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed, listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs," you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.
Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love.
She, now your wife, is not a "dog person" - still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy. Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a "prisoner of love."
As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them, especially their touch - because your touch was now so infrequent - and I would have defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams. Together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway. There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being your dog to "just a dog," and you resented every expenditure on my behalf.
Now you have a new career opportunity in another city and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family," but there was a time when I was your only family.
I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her." They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog or cat, even one with "papers."
You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed "No, Daddy! Please don't let them take my dog!" And I worried for him and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life. You gave me a goodbye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too.
After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked "How could you?"
They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you - that you had changed your mind - that this was all a bad dream... or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me. When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited.
I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room. She placed me on the table, rubbed my ears and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days. As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood.
She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?"
Perhaps because she understood my dogspeak, she said "I'm so sorry." She hugged me and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself - a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. With my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" was not meant for her. It was you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of. I will think of you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty."
○
"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go where they went."
- Will Rogers
Dogs are better people than people will ever be...
The Poet: Robinson Jeffers, "Contemplation Of The Sword"
"Contemplation Of The Sword"
"Reason will not decide at last; the sword will decide.
The sword: an obsolete instrument of bronze or steel,
formerly used to kill men, but here
In the sense of a symbol. The sword: that is: the storms
and counter-storms of general destruction; killing
of men,
Destruction of all goods and materials; massacre, more or
less intentional, of children and women;
Destruction poured down from wings, the air made accomplice,
the innocent air
Perverted into assassin and poisoner.
The sword: that is: treachery and cowardice, incredible
baseness, incredible courage, loyalties, insanities.
The sword: weeping and despair, mass-enslavement,
mass-torture, frustration of all hopes
That starred man's forehead. Tyranny for freedom, horror for
happiness, famine for bread, carrion for children.
Reason will not decide at last, the sword will decide.
Dear God, who are the whole splendor of things and the sacred
stars, but also the cruelty and greed, the treacheries
And vileness, insanities and filth and anguish: now that this
thing comes near us again I am finding it hard
To praise you with a whole heart.
I know what pain is, but pain can shine. I know what death is,
I have sometimes
Longed for it. But cruelty and slavery and degradation,
pestilence, filth, the pitifulness
Of men like hurt little birds and animals . . . if you were
only
Waves beating rock, the wind and the iron-cored earth,
With what a heart I could praise your beauty.
You will not repent, nor cancel life, nor free man from anguish
For many ages to come. You are the one that tortures himself to
discover himself: I am
One that watches you and discovers you, and praises you in little
parables, idyl or tragedy, beautiful
Intolerable God.
The sword: that is:
I have two sons whom I love. They are twins, they were born
in nineteen sixteen, which seemed to us a dark year
Of a great war, and they are now of the age
That war prefers. The first-born is like his mother, he is so
beautiful
That persons I hardly know have stopped me on the street to
speak of the grave beauty of the boy's face.
The second-born has strength for his beauty; when he strips
for swimming the hero shoulders and wrestler loins
Make him seem clothed. The sword: that is: loathsome disfigurements,
blindness, mutilation, locked lips of boys
Too proud to scream.
Reason will not decide at last: the sword will decide."
- Robinson Jeffers
o
A grateful hat tip to Michael J. McNall for this material.
"How It Really Is"
Read a book? LOL! That'll be the day!
"Nationwide, on average, 79% of U.S. adults are literate in 2023.
21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2023.
54% of adults have a literacy below 6th grade level."
"The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't
even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that Johnny
doesn't know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling."
- Thomas Sowell
"Back when I taught at UCLA, I was constantly amazed at how little so many students knew. Finally, I could no longer restrain myself from asking a student the question that had long puzzled me: ''What were you doing for the last 12 years before you got here?''
- Thomas Sowell
"Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think."
- Thomas Edison
Judge Napolitano - "Judging Freedom, 2/26/24"
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/26/24
"Alastair Crooke: Can US Cap Middle East Violence?"
Comments here:
o
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/26/24
"Scott Ritter: Explaining Ukraine’s Military Failures"
Comments here:
Jim Kunstler, "Comes Thermidor"
The Arrest of Robespierre, The Night of the 9th to
10th Thermidor, Year Two, 27th July 1794
"Comes Thermidor"
By Jim Kunstler
“Democratic Party elites such as those on CNN are not just angry
but genuinely confused by the fact that American voters don’t obey them.”
- Glenn Greenwald
"What’s most amazing about the fiasco that was the French Revolution is that it happened at exactly the same time that the United States successfully organized themselves into an orderly and effective government following the American Revolution. George Washington was elected and sworn-in by April of 1789, with the backing of an exemplary constitution assembled by the best minds in the land. The Bastille fell in July that same year. France then fell into a years’ long orgy of beheading and chaos that went nowhere until 1799 when an artillery officer named Bonaparte put an end to it by sheer force of personality.
Of course, France had assisted America in concluding our revolt against King George - surely you remember the Marquis de Lafayette from your high school history class (or has he been replaced by George Floyd?). There were plenty of Frenchmen still on the American scene during the years following the British surrender at Yorktown in the fall of 1783. Some of them must have kept tabs on the Constitutional Convention, May to September, 1787, out of which came our blueprint for managing national affairs, and not a few of these Frenchmen were active in their own revolution which kicked off two years later.
By the way, Thomas Jefferson was in Paris from 1784 until autumn of 1789, months after the Bastille fell. He succeeded Ben Franklin as minister there to negotiate trade agreements (Ben went to London as ambassador). John Adams was also on-the-scene in Paris as our ambassador there when Jefferson arrived. These Americans met daily and chatted endlessly with France’s political players. The American Articles of Confederation were in effect then, to be replaced by the improved US Constitution in 1787. The people of France, including the various elites involved in public life, royal, haut bourgeoise, lawyers and generals, might have taken a lesson from the American experience of how to successfully come out of a political tribulation. Alas, they simply could not get their shit together.
Rewind a little to 1793 in Paris, the revolution in full swing: King Louis XVI went to the guillotine in January. The National Convention had replaced the National Assembly as the furnace of political action. The radical Jacobin faction, led by Robespierre and Saint-Just, coalesced into a power-seizing majority there. They took their name from a political club founded by anti-royalists, but their platform became increasingly extreme as the revolution lurched toward pandemonium.
During their year in power, the Jacobins turned the life of the nation upside down in their zealous quest to create a perfectly just society. They abolished the church (and replaced it with their own “cult of the supreme being”). They changed the week from seven days to ten days, they changed the names of all the months of the calendar. (1792 was denoted “the Year One.”) They put in price and wage controls while churning out money (paper assignats) which triggered (voila) monetary inflation! They confiscated grain from farmers all over the country. They condemned thousands (estimate: 20,000 to 40,000) of political enemies to the guillotine in their “Reign of Terror.” In short, the Jacobins made a bloody mess of things and pissed-off a lot of their countrymen.
By the summer of 1794 (in their renamed month of Thermidor), everybody else finally had enough of the Jacobin nightmare. On July 27, Robespierre was at the rostrum once again denouncing his enemies and crying for blood when the out-group members present started throwing food at him and shouting him down. That was the magic moment when everything flipped - the shock of recognition that the Jacobins had lost power. Just like that! The chamber fell into a melee, a lot of shoving and shouting... Robespierre and his cronies were chased across town to the city hall (Hôtel de Ville) and barricaded themselves inside. The mob broke through and arrested them. Somewhere in the confusion a policeman shot Robespierre in the face, shattering his jaw (no more speeches for you!)... and the very next day, Robespierre, Saint-Just, and twenty of their associates had their appointment with “the national razor.”
This event became known as the Thermidorian Reaction. The insane Jacobin program of terror and social derangement was swiftly abolished. Nothing like it was seen again until the Bolsheviks, the Maoists and the Khmer Rouge came along in the 20th century, and now, in our time, The Party of Chaos as led by “Joe Biden” (or whoever and whatever is behind him), with their open border, their lust for another world war, their drive for censorship, their sadistic lawfare, their race and sex hustles, their compulsive lying, and their sick destruction of every norm and boundary in daily life.
America is headed for its own Thermidorian Reaction. It’ll end up being called something else, of course, because it is a different time, place, and set of circumstances. But it feels close, doesn’t it? Everybody I know or correspond with mentions this feeling that something is going to blow in our country, and pretty soon. The air is alive with it, just as the air is alive with portents of spring. Are you waiting for it?"
Gregory Mannarino, "Alert! US Begins New Phase Of Middle East War, This Is What You Need To Know"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/26/24
"Alert! US Begins New Phase Of Middle East War,
This Is What You Need To Know"
Comments here:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)