"Maybe we're not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes to simply be a human. Maybe, we're thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe, we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate. "
"Hypersonic Missiles Fuel Houthis' Rampage In Red Sea,
Iran Gifts “Fattah” For Red Sea War"
"In a significant escalation of tensions, the Houthis claim to have bolstered their arsenal with hypersonic missiles, as reported by Russian state-owned media. The reported upgrade comes after weeks of speculation and hints from the Houthis regarding "surprises." Although unconfirmed, media speculates Iran's potential involvement in providing the arsenal, given the Houthis' limited infrastructure and technical capabilities. The hypersonic missile, dubbed "Fattah I," unveiled by Iran in June 2023, boasts impressive features, including an operational range of 1,400 km and the ability to bypass missile shields and interceptors. While the Houthis have yet to confirm the reports, unverified sources suggest modifications to the warheads with explosives. Additionally, Iran has consistently denied arming the Houthis, despite threats to expand attacks. The situation raises concerns about the potential impact on regional stability and the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Yemen."
"Houthis 'Test Hypersonic Missile, Plan Attacks On Israel'
After Warning US, UK Of Red Sea 'Surprise'"
"Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group carried out a test flight of a hypersonic missile with high destructive capability, concerning the West. The Houthi rebels are reportedly preparing to add hypersonic missiles to their military arsenal, Sputnik quoted sources as saying. The group modified its explosive warheads to double their destructive power after a test that lasted three months, as per Russian state media RIA. The Sputnik source said the Houthis want to use the hypersonic missiles to hit ships in the Red Sea, as well as targets inside the Jewish state."
"Iran has the largest and most capable ballistic missile arsenal in the middle east. The Islamic Republic is the first country to develop a 2,000 km range missile before developing a nuclear weapon, giving them the ability to accurately strike anywhere in the middle east including Israel and eastern europe. According to their own Ministry of Defense, Iran ranks 6th in the world for missile production. To give you an idea of how the missile program is viewed in Iran take a look at this public billboard on display in the country written in Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew. It shows their new hypersonic missile and it says “400 seconds to Tel-aviv” Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. the former head of U.S. Central Command said this to the Senate Armed Services Committee last year. “Iran has over 3,000 ballistic missiles of various types, some of which can reach Tel Aviv, Over the last five to seven years, they have invested heavily in the ballistic missile program. Their missiles have significantly greater range and significantly enhanced accuracy.”
An Israeli report underlines that the Israeli occupation has no
chance in the face of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon
as the latter's capabilities would rapidly overwhelm "Tel Aviv".
By Al Mayadeen
"The potential war between the Israeli occupation and Lebanon's Hezbollah holds a grim reality for the Israeli occupation, as it would be the most devastating war it has gone through since its inception, as per a three-year study conducted by hundreds of experts at the Counter-Terrorism Policy Institute at Reichman University. Israeli news outlet Calcalist shed light on the grim analysis of the potential war, which warns of unprecedented destruction and bloodshed in a conflict that could surpass the Israeli occupation's worst fears.
The exhaustive 130-page report was a collaborative effort of six think tank teams, consisting of 100 experts, former military and security officials, academics, and government officials. Notably, the team was led by Professor Boaz Ganor, a globally recognized pioneer in so-called "terrorism research" and the current president of Reichman University.
The report delves into critical aspects, including the readiness of the Israeli forces and the home front for a multi-front war. Key contributors to the study include Reserve Major General Aharon Ze'evi Farkash, Reserve Major General Isaac Ben-Israel, Reserve Brigadier Generals Zeev Zuk Ram and Betzalel Treiber, Reserve Colonel Eran Makov, Haim Tomer, and former Justice Minister Dan Meridor.
Despite the gravity of the findings, Calcalist suggests that doubts surround the timing of the report's release, hinting at possible concealment or manipulation. Ganor reportedly presented the report to various Israeli military and political leaders in the months leading up to the Palestinian Resistance's October 7 operation. However, the attempts to alert security agencies and decision-makers were allegedly unsuccessful, according to the Israeli media outlet.
The report was presented to senior Israeli officials over the span of 40 meetings with figures as high-ranking as former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Security Minister Moshe Ya'alon, and former Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, among others. Professor Ganor expressed his disappointment in failing to secure meetings with more high-profile figures like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi, and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, despite multiple requests.
Of particular concern is the claim that only the findings of five think tank teams were made public, with the section prepared by the sixth team, focusing on aspects related to a potential Israeli preemptive attack, remaining strictly confidential.
Hellfire to rain down on 'Israel': Ganor's report suggests that the war, anticipated to erupt from the north, will be overwhelmingly intense for the Israeli occupation, with Hezbollah launching a whopping 2,500 to 3,000 missiles per day. (Col. Douglas Macgregor states that Hezbollah has 150,000 missiles.) This barrage includes both statistically inaccurate rocket artillery and high-precision long-range missiles.
Periodically, Hezbollah is expected to unleash massive salvos targeting specific areas, such as crucial Israeli military bases or cities in the key "Gush Dan" region, where hundreds of rockets could rain down in a single day. The relentless assault is projected to persist day after day, extending over three weeks from the outbreak of hostilities. The report warns that the resulting destruction will be unprecedented, accompanied by thousands of casualties on both the front lines and among Israeli settlers within occupied Palestine, sparking a state of panic and disarray.
One of the primary objectives of Hezbollah's prospective operations, as highlighted by Ganor, is to undermine the Israeli forces' air defense system. Precision ammunition and low-flying aerial devices, including drones, gliders, and cruise missiles, are expected to inflict material damage and target Iron Dome batteries.
The pace of the barrage will present unprecedented challenges to Israeli capabilities, depleting reserves of interception missiles for the Iron Dome and David's Sling within the early days of the conflict. The Israeli occupation could be left exposed to thousands of rocket and missile attacks without an effective and reliable defensive mechanism.
Simultaneously, Hezbollah aims to sabotage the activities of the Israeli Air Force and limit its operational capabilities as heavy precision missiles will be directed at takeoff runways within specific timeframes to hinder repair efforts and aerial offensives. Intensive fire will target hangars storing military aircraft and precision missiles with explosive warheads will strike sensitive infrastructure, including power stations, electricity-related facilities, desalination plants, and transportation facilities in Haifa and "Ashdod", the report underlined.
The report's research team also issued a dire warning that a swarm of dozens of suicide drones flying at very low altitudes would target critical assets within occupied Palestine. These include weapons facilities, emergency storage facilities for the Israeli occupation forces, and hospitals that would be needed for the unprecedented casualties that would be incurred.
The assault won't be limited to physical attacks; critical transportation infrastructure, communication channels, and sites related to government ministries and local authorities are expected to face widespread cyberattacks, posing a serious risk of disrupting the economy.
Hezbollah, allies to overwhelm 'Israel': The report highlights that chaos is expected to escalate within the Israeli occupation as Hezbollah prepares to send hundreds of fighters from the Radwan force into Israeli territories. Their primary objective would be to gain control of settlements along the border area with Lebanon and strategic military sites in the northern region. This would force the Israeli army to divert its efforts from immediate operations in Lebanon, engaging in ground maneuvers to counter the imminent threat.
Internally, the Israeli public is anticipated to face challenges in receiving updated and reliable information about the unfolding situation, leading to a loss of trust in messages relayed by official sources. The potential for panic and fear is expected to intensify due to the significant number of casualties, extensive damage, disruptions in power and water supply, delays in the arrival of rescue and relief forces, and difficulties in obtaining essential services such as food and medicine.
Hezbollah plans to exacerbate panic and confusion through continuous psychological warfare, flooding the media and social networks with threats and information that deepen internal divisions. Additionally, those seeking to escape from occupied Palestine may discover that the country's air links with the world have been severed.
Ganor, a prominent figure in the region, pointed out that the Israeli public's expectations of the Air Force and intelligence formations preventing the majority of guided missile strikes on the Israeli occupation are likely to be disproven. The assumption that an intensive Israeli attack on strategically important properties in Lebanon will force Hezbollah to cease fire is also expected to be proven wrong.
Hezbollah will not be alone in this battle, as the report warns of involvement from organizations across the region. Resistance factions in Syria and Iraq, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, as well as Ansar Allah in Yemen, are expected to contribute to what the report describes as a "violent and extensive upheaval." The upheaval in question will include disruptions in the West Bank and among Palestinians of '48, with rioting in mixed cities, challenges in war perception for the public, and the lowering of expectations from the army and rescue forces.
The report concludes by outlining vulnerabilities and pinpointing weaknesses in the Israeli forces and society. It challenges the expectations of the public and a significant portion of the leadership, stating that the effective Israeli Air Force and intelligence formations might not prevent the majority of missile strikes from reaching occupied Palestinian territories. Similarly, the assumption that extensive attacks on strategically important properties in Lebanon would force Hezbollah to cease fire is expected to be inaccurate.
In a related context, a former Shin Bet official Dvir Karev told Israeli Channel 13 that "Israel" is currently in its third war with Lebanon and that Hezbollah has much more power than Hamas, both in weapons and in force. He questioned whether the IOF's power could be sufficient against Hezbollah and expressed hope that the confrontations would remain at a low level, acknowledging the many Israeli casualties."
"The national Association of realtors just settled their lawsuit for $400 million plus. You were going to see big changes come to the real estate market between now and July 1, 2024. You no longer have to list a buyers commission and this will bring prices down dramatically. Get ready."
"In today's vlog, we are at Aldi and are noticing a massive amount of products that have gone up in price. Although we continue to see very high prices, I do manage to find some good Aldi Saver Deals and try out some new Aldi products, and give my review on them."
"Nearly 107 Million Americans Do Not Have A Job Right Now"
"American Patriots, finding a job is harder than ever. A lot of people are confused about the economy of the United States right now. What state is it in, exactly? There are many large employers and Fortune 500 companies where mass layoffs are taking place, and many job seekers are struggling to find employment. Despite this, the Biden administration and the mainstream media paint a picture that everything is rosy and the unemployment rate is low. How can there be such a disconnect? This is the stark reality of American society and the middle class. Prepare yourselves and your families if at all possible, because it's sink or swim, and the American people must be prepared for anything that comes our way and anything that could happen in the near future."
"The city of Sedona, Arizona just passed a law where people can sleep in their cars. So many people work at the hotels in the resorts cannot afford to pay rent. This is insanity."
"In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail of the arachnalogical constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower.
In fact, clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. Known as a cometary globule, the swept-back cloud, is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the upper edge of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in the dust can be seen as bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower, NGC 6231, and associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away."
“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.”
"I’ve trotted out lists of thoughts from time to time. The lists change based on (hopefully) me getting more wisdom over time. Anyway, here’s this year’s list:
1. Be on time. Seriously, it’s simple. People notice, and people care. It’s a basic principle of respect for someone not to waste their time waiting for me.
2. Never be a little late to work or a little early to leave. Especially on a regular basis. Being late an hour once every quarter is much better than being late a minute each day for sixty work days. An hour looks like something happened. A minute looks like I don’t care.
3. Little changes at the start make big difference in the result. I’ve seen many people start their careers and become experts at the subject of their first assignment. Many of them made a lot of money by knowing a whole lot about a little.
4. Choosing not to decide is a choice. I love reminding people that “doing nothing” is always an option. But it is a choice. And it has just as many consequences as “doing something”.
5. For me, opportunities always showed up when I needed them, even if I didn’t understand it at the time. Thankfully in my case the opportunities weren’t subtle.
6. After college, in a high achieving profession, it becomes rarer and rarer to be the smartest guy in the room, and someone in the room is often an expert at something in which I’m a novice. True humility allows a good leader to understand the capabilities they need, and not have to be “right” all the time.
7. The biggest fights are over the smallest things. It seems that no one ever snaps over the house being on fire on the day the insurance payment was late – it’s that the trash wasn’t taken out on time and we have to hang on to it for another week.
8. People understand $10,000 more than they understand $10,000,000. The difference between $10,000 and $11,000 means more to most people than the difference between $10 million and $10 billion. Most people can’t understand more than seven magnitudes of anything.
9. Outcome is less important than process. When working on life, I try to not care about what the outcome will be. I go in, make the best choices I can, and do the best work that I can. If it works, it works, if it doesn’t, I try to adjust to be better next time.
10. Outcome is still important. Dead is dead, so sometimes the outcome is final.
11. The last outcome is always final. How many refunds?
12. No refunds.
13. Nothing breeds success like success, and nothing breeds failure like failure. I’ve been on streaks where I literally could not lose. I’ve been on streaks where I couldn’t win.
14. Corollary to 13: I’m never as bad or as good as my failures or successes. The streaks where I couldn’t win set me up with the habits I needed to win.
15. Beating myself up is a loser’s game.
16. Most people don’t think about me very much and will have a hard time remembering my name after five years. As much as I like to think I’m the center of my story (and I am) I’m only a minor player in the stories of most other people.
17. Corollary to 16: Except where I’m their personal villain. Then I live on forever and will definitely have someone who will want to be at my funeral, if nothing more than to make sure I’m dead.
18. Protect the relationships with the people that genuinely do care about me in a positive way so maybe the sad people at my funeral will outnumber the happy ones.
19. Listen to people, really listen. They tell me amazing things if I just listen. One time I was interviewing a guy and he mentioned committing a felony at a previous job. Yeah, I kept a straight face. No, he didn’t get the job.
20. If someone says I’m wrong, I need to have the humility to embrace that and see if they’re right. Especially when my first impulse is to try to defend myself. Even if I’m not wrong, I at least understand why they thought I was wrong.
21. When I’m wrong, admit it and apologize. It’s amazing how admitting error makes other think I’m more trustworthy. And apologies? Why not apologize, have some sort of problem with that?
22. Being good at several things is enough for success, if they’re the right several things. Being an expert at useless things might be fun, but mostly nothin’ times nothin’ is, hmmm, carry the nothin’ . . . nothin’.
23. If I spend my life waiting for the next thing, I’ll spend my entire life waiting and not living. The journey is the point, and rushing through it just gets me to my grave faster.
24. Past behaviors are almost always the key to predicting future behaviors. Leopards, spots, etc. When I listen to a person’s story, I realize that often they’re also telling me their future.
25. Success is based on the last thing I did, not the next. People pay to keep me around because they think I might be able to do it again.
26. Could I have done better? Could I have done worse? Yes. I did how I did. Success is based on how I change what I’m going to do to be better.
27. Power and money are not the same thing. Just ask the rich guys after Robespierre or Lenin took over.
Okay, that’s 3³ thoughts for Friday. See you on Monday!"
“My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilization, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit. I can't prove it, but you can't disprove it either. It happens to be my view, but it doesn't challenge any of the findings of Darwin or Huxley or Einstein or Hawking.” - Christopher Hitchens
"We have huge, exclusive news today: A plan is under way to unload up to 100,000 US troops into Gaza (that's why the emergency shore pier is being constructed) so that US troops will occupy Gaza and serve as "human shields" to stop Israel's bombings. This is in case the new CIA plan to assassinate or remove Netanyahu fails. Sen. Chuck Schumer called for Netanyahu's removal earlier today, and the deep state is gunning for him.
If Netanyahu can't be stopped, the DoD is going to flood Gaza with US troops and then dare Netanyahu to bomb them. If he does, it will put the U.S. and Israel at war. This is all an effort to save Biden's election chances, because of the Muslim vote in America (which is increasingly powerful and very motivated)."
"The rewards of civilization have come to seem rather trashy in these bleak days of late empire; so, why even bother pretending to be civilized? This appears to be the ethos driving our politics and culture now. But driving us where? Why, to a spectacular sort of crack-up, and at warp speed, compared to the more leisurely breakdown of past societies that arrived at a similar inflection point where Murphy’s Law replaced the rule of law.
The US Military Academy at West point decided to “upgrade” its mission statement this week by deleting the phrase Duty, Honor, Country that summarized its essential moral orientation. They replaced it with an oblique reference to “Army Values,” without spelling out what these values are, exactly, which could range from “embrace the suck” to “charlie foxtrot” to “FUBAR” - all neatly applicable to our country’s current state of perplexity and dread.
Are you feeling more confident that the US military can competently defend our country? Probably more like the opposite, because the manipulation of language is being used deliberately to turn our country inside-out and upside-down. At this point we probably could not successfully pacify a Caribbean island if we had to, and you’ve got to wonder what might happen if we have to contend with countless hostile subversive cadres who have slipped across the border with the estimated nine-million others ushered in by the government’s welcome wagon.
Momentous events await. This Monday, the Supreme Court will entertain oral arguments on the case Missouri, et al. v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., et al. The integrity of the First Amendment hinges on the decision. Do we have freedom of speech as set forth in the Constitution? Or is it conditional on how government officials feel about some set of circumstances? At issue specifically is the government’s conduct in coercing social media companies to censor opinion in order to suppress so-called “vaccine hesitancy” and to manipulate public debate in the 2020 election. Government lawyers have argued that they were merely “communicating” with Twitter, Facebook, Google, and others about “public health disinformation and election conspiracies.”
You can reasonably suppose that this was our government’s effort to disable the truth, especially as it conflicted with its own policy and activities - from supporting BLM riots to enabling election fraud to mandating dubious vaccines. Former employees of the FBI and the CIA were directly implanted in social media companies to oversee the carrying-out of censorship orders from their old headquarters. The former general counsel (top lawyer) for the FBI, James Baker, slid unnoticed into the general counsel seat at Twitter until Elon Musk bought the company late in 2022 and flushed him out. The so-called Twitter Files uncovered by indy reporters Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger, and others, produced reams of emails from FBI officials nagging Twitter execs to de-platform people and bury their dissent. You can be sure these were threats, not mere suggestions.
One of the plaintiffs joined to Missouri v. Biden is Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and professor at the Harvard Medical School, who opposed Covid-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He was one of the authors of the open letter called "The Great Barrington Declaration" (October, 2020) that articulated informed medical dissent for a bamboozled public. He was fired from his job at Harvard just this past week for continuing his refusal to take the vaccine. Harvard remains among a handful of institutions that still require it, despite massive evidence that it is ineffective and hazardous. Like West Point, maybe Harvard should ditch its motto, Veritas, Latin for “truth.”
A society hostile to truth can’t possibly remain civilized, because it will also be hostile to reality. That appears to be the disposition of the people running things in the USA these days. The problem, of course, is that this is not a reality-optional world, despite the wishes of many Americans (and other peoples of Western Civ) who wish it would be.
Next up for us will be “Joe Biden’s” attempt to complete the bankruptcy of our country with $7.3-trillion proposed budget, 20 percent over the previous years spending, based on a $5-billion tax increase. Good luck making that work. New York City alone is faced with paying $387 a day for food and shelter for each of an estimated 64,800 illegal immigrants, which amounts to $9.15-billion a year. The money doesn’t exist, of course. New York can thank “Joe Biden’s” executive agencies for sticking them with this unbearable burden. It will be the end of New York City. There will be no money left for public services or cultural institutions. That’s the reality and that’s the truth.
A financial crack-up is probably the only thing short of all-out war that will get the public’s attention at this point. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it happened next week. Historians of the future, stir-frying crickets and fiddleheads over their campfires will marvel at America’s terminal act of gluttony: managing to eat itself alive."
"In today's vlog, we are at Walmart and are noticing some massive price increases on groceries. It's getting rough out here as we continue to see different food items get unaffordable in places where you would least expect it!"
"The news you are about to read you can find nowhere else than USAWatchdog.com. You have heard me talk about the “real” approval rating of Joe Biden. It’s been stuck at 9% for months. I have two very good sources for this number: One is Martin Armstrong with his “Socratees” program. The other is a confidential source I know personally that I have to protect; otherwise, he could get fired from a very big tech company. The new news is from my confidential source, and he says that Biden’s real approval number is about 8%. It’s gets worse. My confidential source says on a deep data dive on Biden, he cannot win a single demographic. Let that sink in. JOE BIDEN CANNOT WIN A SINGLE DEMOGRAPHIC. This has never happened in presidential polls. When I asked what this means, my deep data mining source summed it up by saying “Biden is unelectable.”
The so-called lawfare (like warfare) cases against Donald Trump are falling apart. The Jack Smith “documents” case is going to get dismissed. The Trump RICO case in Georgia is also going down in flames, and prosecutor Fani Willis is going to get dismissed. The Alvin Bragg/Stormy Daniels case is going to get postponed, and it, too, will likely be dismissed. This is a disaster on the heels of the Supreme Court ruling 9-0 that Trump cannot be kept off any state ballot by desperate Democrats. Are they going to give up or are they going to do something even more desperate and create a global war? We will see.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is now saying the inflation she called “transitory” in 2021 is anything but transitory. Looks like the Fed is going to be fighting inflation, and you do not do that by cutting interest rates. So, the Fed is NOT going to cut interest rates as you have been told by the Lying Legacy Media over and over again. Credit card delinquencies are on the rise, and this, no doubt, is also a sign goods are getting more expensive for “We the People.” You can put off your credit card payment, but you cannot put off eating—for long. There is much more in the 48-minute Wrap-Up."
"Dollar Tree And Family Dollar Closing 1,000 Stores!
Be Ready For The Collapse!"
"Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are closing approximately 1000 stores. What this means for consumers and what you need to know about the beginning of the end of budget stores."
"What does a Russian typical supermarket look like in 2024? Did the Western brands leave Russia? How does it look inside a Russian supermarket in Podolsk, a regional area of Moscow? Join me for a tour of Perekrestok."
"Crime is skyrocketing around the world. In Toronto a police officer told a community action group just to let the bad guys steal your car. This is insane."
"Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait, though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars.
Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in gigantic bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past."
Biographical note: "George Orwell, 1903-1950, was the pen name used by British author and journalist Eric Arthur Blair. During most of his professional life time Orwell was best known for his journalism, both in the British press and in books such as "Homage to Catalonia," describing his activities during the Spanish Civil War, and "Down and Out in Paris and London," describing a period of poverty in these cities. Orwell is best remembered today for two of his novels, "Animal Farm" and "Nineteen Eighty-Four."
Description: Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely- and this is vividly and eloquently proved in Orwell's short novel. "Animal Farm" is a simple fable of great symbolic value, and as Orwell himself explained: "it is the history of a revolution that went wrong." The novel can be seen as the historical analysis of the causes of the failure of communism, or as a mere fairy-tale; in any case it tells a good story that aims to prove that human nature and diversity prevent people from being equal and happy, or at least equally happy.
"Animal Farm" tells the simple and tragic story of what happens when the oppressed farm animals rebel, drive out Mr. Jones, the farmer, and attempt to rule the farm themselves, on an equal basis. What the animals seem to have aimed at was a utopian sort of communism, where each would work according to his capacity, respecting the needs of others. The venture failed, and "Animal Farm" ended up being a dictatorship of pigs, who were the brightest, and most idle of the animals.
Orwell's mastery lies in his presentation of the horrors of totalitarian regimes, and his analysis of communism put to practice, through satire and simple story-telling. The structure of the novel is skillfully organized, and the careful reader may, for example, detect the causes of the unworkability of communism even from the first chapter. This is deduced from Orwell's description of the various animals as they enter the barn and take their seats to listen to the revolutionary preaching of Old Major, father of communism in Animal Farm. Each animal has different features and attitude; the pigs, for example, "settled down in the straw immediately in front of the platform", which is a hint on their future role, whereas Clover, the affectionate horse" made a sort of wall" with her foreleg to protect some ducklings.
So, it appears that the revolution was doomed from the beginning, even though it began in idealistic optimism as expressed by the motto "no animal must ever tyrannize over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers." "When the animals drive out Mr. Jones, they create their "Seven Commandments" which ensure equality and prosperity for all the animals. The pigs, however, being the natural leaders, managed to reverse the commandments, and through terror and propaganda establish the rule of an elite of pigs, under the leadership of Napoleon, the most revered and sinister pig.
"Animal Farm" successfully presents how the mechanism of propaganda and brainwashing works in totalitarian regimes, by showing how the pigs could make the other animals believe practically anything. Responsible for the propaganda was Squealer, a pig that "could turn black into white." Squealer managed to change the rule from "all animals are equal" to "all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." He managed to convince the other animals that it was for their sake that the pigs ate most of the apples and drank most of the milk, that leadership was "heavy responsibility" and therefore the animals should be thankful to Napoleon, that what they saw may have been something they "dreamed", and when everything else failed he would use the threat of "Jones returning" to silence the animals. In this simple but effective way, Orwell presents the tragedy and confusion of thought control to the extent that one seems better off simply believing that "Napoleon is always right".
Orwell's criticism of the role of the Church is also very effective. In Animal Farm, the Church is represented by Moses, a tame raven, who talks of "Sugarcandy Mountain", a happy country in the sky "where we poor animals shall rest forever from our labors". It is interesting to observe that when Old Major was first preaching revolutionary communism, Moses was sleeping in the barn, which satirizes the Church being caught asleep by communism. It is also important to note that the pig-dictators allowed and indirectly encouraged Moses; it seems that it suited the pigs to have the animals dreaming of a better life after death so that they wouldn't attempt to have a better life while still alive...
In "Animal Farm," Orwell describes how power turned the pigs from simple "comrades" to ruthless dictators who managed to walk on two legs, and carry whips. The story may be seen as an analysis of the Soviet regime, or as a warning against political power games of an absolute nature and totalitarianism in general. For this reason, the story ends with a hair-raising warning to all humankind: "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which."
Freely download George Orwell’s “Animal Farm" here:
Meanwhile, peering out from our damp outpost down here at the fin del mundo, we notice great change afoot. In Americas North and South, across the European continent, in Australia, New Zealand and all over the western world, there appears to be quite an awakening underway. Fed up with self-serving politicos, the rotten ilk to which Argentina’s president refers to as the ‘political caste,’ honest, hard working people are finally pushing back against their would-be overlords. As one dear reader put it recently: “Our snout-to-farmer ratio is simply too high!”
Of course, porcine actors are loath to surrender their wealth and power. And why would they? To their way of thinking, such as it is, they stole it fair and square! Never mind all that “We the people” nonsense. In the vacuous noggins of the world improver class, power is the only currency that counts. That they should employ violence to achieve their stated aims should come as no surprise to peaceful, private citizens. As their hero, Chairman Mao, famously observed: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
So do the globalists... World Economic Forum parasitoids... do-gooders and petty meddlers... war profiteers and their lackeys in the media... Big Tech censors and Big Pharma paymasters... justify their horrendous actions. At the core of their philosophy, each and every one of them believes, as did the pigs in Orwell’s classic, Animal Farm: “All animals are created equal... but some animals are more equal than others.”
Ordinarily, most decent people are content to steer clear of the rancid swamp that is politics. They prefer dry socks to muddy puddles... cooperation to coercion... peace and prosperity to warmongering and bloodshed. But pushed to the brink, honest folks will defend kith and kin. They’ll stand by their property. They’ll fight.
Global Revolution: In Europe, it took the so-called ‘Green Lobby,’ a secular cult of environmental catastrophizers hell bent of ‘saving the planet’ by de-industrializing the continent and sending its good citizens back to the Dark Ages, before farmers from Germany to France, Holland to Belgium, Greece to Czech Republic, Italy to Poland and more, finally said (in their various mother tongues) “enough is enough!”
And yet, to get the story from the crumbling pillars of the disgraced Fourth Estate, salt of the earth farmers are not downtrodden citizens raging against the political machine...but Russia’s useful idiots and good for nothing sh!t-sprayers:
Brussels: "Farmers protest leaves streets in chaos." – cried the BBC. "Europe’s farmer protests have been fertile ground for Russian propaganda." - moaned Politico. And our personal favorite, from the bedwetter brigade over at the Associated Press... “Protesting farmers spray Brussels police with liquid manure near EU’s base in a new display of power”
Over in El Salvador, meanwhile, it took the country reaching the highest murder rate in the world before the people declared “¡Basta ya, no mas!” Now the good folk of that beleaguered Central American country have exercised their democratic right and elected (with ~85% of the vote!) their own leader. Of course, the mainstream presstitues were at the ready with all the lazy slurs and hoary epithets their chia seed brains could muster: "Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's would-be dictator, re-elected president ."- from WSWS. "Authoritarian drift in El Salvador." - fretted El Pais. "Nayib Bukele has all the right enemies, including Ilhan Omar." - declared the #brave Washington Examiner.
Here in Argentina, it took 75-years of creeping Marxism, oozing out of the nation’s polluted academies and into her political institutions, for the long-suffering people to elect a leader who promised to take a chainsaw to the putrefying administrative state. “¡Afuera!”
A Timeless Battle: We’ve been following what we’re calling, with modest understatement, “The Greatest Political Experiment of Our Time.” And we’re delighted to see the message spreading...to witness a rising challenge to “The Message”... to hear and to read, on the streets and online, a growing chorus of upright individuals revolting against their self-described “elites”...Slowly but surely, and despite the best efforts of the aforementioned Propaganda Ministry, the wheel is turning...
But as always, there’s more to the story here... much more. What we’re witnessing around the world, from Tierra del Fuego to Toronto, San Salvador to Stockholm, Athens to Antwerp, is symptomatic of a far more profound phenomenon...At its heart lies the age-old tension between liberty and tyranny, violence and voluntarism, collectivist claims and individual rights.
The balance between these competing concepts is, of course, as old as mankind itself. Down through the ages, from the ancient pre-Socratics to the medieval scholastics to the bulging craniums of the Age of Enlightenment, leading thinkers of the day sought to weigh each side, to examine the merits of force versus the benefit of self-determination, to measure “essential liberty” against “the purchase of temporary safety,” as Benjamin Franklin once had it.
The battleground of Man vs. State is thus not a new one...though the political sands are beginning to shift once again in the western world. Until recently, the huddled masses have looked to revolution for their emancipation, an action which, by definition, only begins the cycle anew. But might those who wish to see liberty in their lifetimes discover a new arrow in their quiver, one that could shift the paradigm entirely?"
"Thomas Edison said in all seriousness: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the labor of thinking" - if we bother with facts at all, we hunt like bird dogs after the facts that bolster up what we already think - and ignore all the others! We want only the facts that justify our acts - the facts that fit in conveniently with our wishful thinking and justify our preconceived prejudices. As Andre Maurois put it: "Everything that is in agreement with our personal desires seems true. Everything that is not puts us into a rage." Is it any wonder, then, that we find it so hard to get at the answers to our problems? Wouldn't we have the same trouble trying to solve a second-grade arithmetic problem, if we went ahead on the assumption that two plus two equals five? Yet there are a lot of people in this world who make life a hell for themselves and others by insisting that two plus two equals five- or maybe five hundred!"
