"10 Life Lessons You Should Unlearn"

"10 Life Lessons You Should Unlearn"

by Martha Beck

"In the past 10 years, I've realized that our culture is rife with ideas that actually inhibit joy. Here are some of the things I'm most grateful to have unlearned:

"1. Problems are bad. You spent your school years solving arbitrary problems imposed by boring authority figures. You learned that problems- comment se dit?- suck. But people without real problems go mad and invent things like base jumping and wedding planning. Real problems are wonderful, each carrying the seeds of its own solution. Job burnout? It's steering you toward your perfect career. An awful relationship? It's teaching you what love means. Confusing tax forms? They're suggesting you hire an accountant, so you can focus on more interesting tasks, such as flossing. Finding the solution to each problem is what gives life its gusto.

2. It's important to stay happy. Solving a knotty problem can help us be happy, but we don't have to be happy to feel good. If that sounds crazy, try this: Focus on something that makes you miserable. Then think, "I must stay happy!" Stressful, isn't it? Now say, "It's okay to be as sad as I need to be." This kind of permission to feel as we feel- not continuous happiness- is the foundation of well-being.

3. I'm irreparably damaged by my past. Painful events leave scars, true, but it turns out they're largely erasable. Jill Bolte Taylor, the neuroanatomist who had a stroke that obliterated her memory, described the event as losing "37 years of emotional baggage." Taylor rebuilt her own brain, minus the drama. Now it appears we can all effect a similar shift, without having to endure a brain hemorrhage. The very thing you're doing at this moment- questioning habitual thoughts- is enough to begin off-loading old patterns. For example, take an issue that's been worrying you ("I've got to work harder!") and think of three reasons that belief may be wrong. Your brain will begin to let it go. Taylor found this thought-loss euphoric. You will, too.

4. Working hard leads to success. Baby mammals, including humans, learn by playing, which is why "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." Boys who'd spent years strategizing for fun gained instinctive skills to handle real-world situations. So play as you did in childhood, with all-out absorption. Watch for ways your childhood playing skills can solve a problem (see #1). Play, not work, is the key to success. While we're on the subject...

5. Success is the opposite of failure. Fact: From quitting smoking to skiing, we succeed to the degree we try, fail, and learn. Studies show that people who worry about mistakes shut down, but those who are relaxed about doing badly soon learn to do well. Success is built on failure.

6. It matters what people think of me. "But if I fail," you may protest, "people will think badly of me!" This dreaded fate causes despair, suicide, homicide. I realized this when I read blatant lies about myself on the Internet. When I bewailed this to a friend, she said, "Wow, you have some painful fantasies about other people's fantasies about you." Yup, my anguish came from my hypothesis that other people's hypothetical hypotheses about me mattered. Ridiculous! Right now, imagine what you'd do if it absolutely didn't matter what people thought of you. Got it? Good. Never go back.

7. We should think rationally about our decisions. Your rational capacities are far newer and more error-prone than your deeper, "animal" brain. Often complex problems are best solved by thinking like an animal. Consider a choice you have to make- anything from which movie to see to which house to buy. Instead of weighing pros and cons intellectually, notice your physical response to each option. Pay attention to when your body tenses or relaxes. And speaking of bodies...

8. The pretty girls get all the good stuff. Oh, God. So not true. I unlearned this after years of coaching beautiful clients. Yes, these lovelies get preferential treatment in most life scenarios, but there's a catch: While everyone's looking at them, virtually no one sees them. Almost every gorgeous client had a husband who'd married her breasts and jawline without ever noticing her soul.

9. If all my wishes came true right now, life would be perfect. Check it out: People who have what you want are all over rehab clinics, divorce courts, and jails. That's because good fortune has side effects, just like medications advertised on TV. Basically, any external thing we depend on to make us feel good has the power to make us feel bad. Weirdly, when you've stopped depending on tangible rewards, they often materialize. To attract something you want, become as joyful as you think that thing would make you. The joy, not the thing, is the point.

10. Loss is terrible. Ten years ago I still feared loss enough to abandon myself in order to keep things stable. I'd smile when I was sad, pretend to like people who appalled me. What I now know is that losses aren't cataclysmic if they teach the heart and soul their natural cycle of breaking and healing. A real tragedy? That's the loss of the heart and soul themselves. If you've abandoned yourself in the effort to keep anyone or anything else, unlearn that pattern. Live your truth, losses be damned. Just like that, your heart and soul will return home."

- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Paulo Coelho, "The Law of Jante"

"The Law of Jante"

by Paulo Coelho

"'The Law of Jante?' Of course I had never heard of this, so he explained what it was. I continued on my journey and discovered it is hard to find anyone in any of the Scandinavian countries who does not know this law. Although the law exists since the beginning of civilization, it was only officially declared in 1933 by writer Aksel Sandemose in the novel “A Refugee Goes Beyond Limits.”

The sad truth is that the Law of Jante is a rule applied in every country in the world, despite the fact that Brazilians say that “this only happens here,” and the French claim that “unfortunately, that’s how it is in our country.” Now, the reader must be annoyed because he/she is already half way through the column and still does not know what the Law of Jante is all about, so I’ll try to explain it here briefly in my own words:

“You aren’t worth a thing, nobody is interested in what you think,

mediocrity and anonymity are your best bet.

If you act this way, you will never have any big problems in life.”

The Law of Jante focuses on the feeling of jealousy and envy that sometimes causes so much trouble for people. This is one of its negative aspects, but there is something far more dangerous. And this law is accountable for the world being manipulated in all possible manners by people who have no fear of what the others say and end up practicing the evil they desire. We have just witnessed a useless war in Iraq, which is still costing many lives; we see a huge abyss between the rich and the poor countries of the world, social injustice on all sides, unbridled violence, people being forced to give up their dreams because of unfair and cowardly attacks. Before starting the second world war, Hitler sent out several signals as to his intentions, and what encouraged him to go ahead was the knowledge that nobody would dare to defy him because of the Law of Jante.

Mediocrity may be comfortable, up to the day that tragedy knocks at the door and people start to wonder: “but why did nobody say anything, if everybody could see that this was going to happen?” Simple: nobody said anything because the others did not say anything either. So in order to prevent things from growing any worse, maybe this is the right moment to write the anti-Law of Jante:

“You are worth far more than you think. Your work and presence

 on this Earth are important, even though you may not think so." 

Of course, thinking in this way, you might have many problems because you are breaking the Law of Jante – but don’t feel intimidated by them, go on living without fear and in the end you will win.”

- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

"How It Really Is"

"The Truth..."

 

"Trump's Son-in-Law Makes Pitch for "Valuable" Gaza Seaside Property"

Full screen recommended.

Firstpost, 3/23/24

"Trump's Son-in-Law Makes Pitch

 for "Valuable" Gaza Seaside Property"

"Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former foreign policy adviser Jared Kushner sparked a backlash by claiming that Israel should "clean up" Gaza and move Palestinians to the Israeli Negev desert. Kushner has called the waterfront property in Gaza "very valuable".

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"Israel is Evil personified. Israel is Evil embodied."

- Scott Ritter

Now 31,481 innocent men, old people, women and 14,000 children killed, another 8,000 missing and buried under the rubble by 29,000 US supplied 2,000 lb. bombs, which WE to our eternal shame and disgrace allow and support! These creatures, these monsters, doing this are NOT human beings! They are pure Evil incarnate. They're a bloodthirsty, psychopathically genocidal sub-species of humanity! And, except for the Houthis and Hezbollah somewhat, the world sits silently watching this horror and does nothing! Shakespeare wrote, "Hell is empty and all the devils are here." Sartre said, "This is Hell, cleverly disguised just enough to keep us from escaping." I believe them... - CP

"Apologists for Israel’s Mass Murder in Gaza Fall Back on ‘Antisemitism’ Claims"

"Apologists for Israel’s Mass Murder in Gaza 

Fall Back on ‘Antisemitism’ Claims"

by Norman Solomon

"If we condemn Hamas for its October 7 attacks in Israel, we’re not accused of anti-Arab bigotry. Nor should we be. Nothing could possibly justify the atrocities that Hamas committed against hundreds of civilians, who were the majority of the 1,200 people killed as a result of the attacks by Hamas forces. And nothing can justify the taking of civilian hostages.

But if we condemn Israel for its actions since then, we might be accused of antisemitism. Meanwhile, nothing could possibly justify the atrocities by Israel in Gaza, where the death toll is now estimated at 32,000, while uncounted thousands of other Palestinian people are buried under rubble. Seventy percent of the victims have been children and women.

The U.S. government continues to make the atrocities possible. As retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brick said midway through the second month of the war: “All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S.” He added: “Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”

Because of federal laws and minimal decency, the U.S. should have cut off all military aid to Israel long ago. A single standard of human rights should apply. But adhering to that simple, basic precept can provoke the virulent epithet of “antisemitism.”

The gist of the trick is to equate Israel with the Jewish religion – and then to equate opposition to Israel with antisemitism. And so, writing in the New York Daily News last November, an official at the American Jewish Committee declared that a “virus of antisemitism has spread to the U.S., where college campuses and city streets have been taken over by anti-Israel protesters raging, ‘From the river to the sea!’ – a call for the mass murder of Israelis, and ‘Globalize the Intifada!’ – an appeal to kill Jews worldwide.”

As Peter Beinart pointed out in a 2022 essay, “Under the definition of antisemitism promoted by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the State Department, Palestinians become antisemites if they call for replacing a state that favors Jews with one that does not discriminate based on ethnicity or religion.”

While Israel continues to slaughter children, women and men – no more guilty of anything than a crowd you might see at a local supermarket – the extreme misuse of the “antisemitism” charge often boils down to: Be quiet. Don’t protest. Don’t even speak up.

Of course antisemitism does exist in the United States and the rest of the world, and it should be condemned. At the same time, to cry wolf – to misuse the term to try to intimidate people into silence while Israel’s atrocities continue in Gaza – is an abuse of the word antisemitism and a disservice to everyone who wants a single standard of human rights.

Last week, 17 rabbis and rabbinical students went to Capitol Hill urging a ceasefire and an end to the unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel. Rabbi May Ye said: “We are rabbis representing hundreds of thousands of Jews affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace Action imploring our leaders to end their complicity in the Israeli military’s genocidal campaign in the name of tzedek (justice) and real safety for all people.” Are we supposed to believe that those rabbis are antisemitic?

The Jewish American author Anna Baltzer grew up learning about the evils of antisemitism. “Much of my family was killed in the Holocaust,” she wrote. “My grandparents arrived at Ellis Island traumatized by the unfathomable murder of their families in the gas chambers of Auschwitz while the world let it happen.” And she added: “We must get clear that Israel’s wiping out of entire families in Gaza is not simply revenge for October 7; Israel is continuing its long-existing practice of forcing Palestinians out of Palestine and closing the door behind them.” Do Baltzer’s words make her antisemitic?

In mid-October, 43 Jewish American writers, academics and artists – including Michael Chabon, Francisco Goldman, Masha Gessen, Judith Butler, Tony Kushner, and V (formerly known as Eve Ensler) – released an open letter to President Biden saying: “We condemn attacks on Israeli and Palestinian civilians. We believe it is possible and in fact necessary to condemn Hamas’ actions and acknowledge the historical and ongoing oppression of the Palestinians. We believe it is possible and necessary to condemn Hamas’ attack and take a stand against the collective punishment of Gazans that is unfolding and accelerating as we write.” Along with denouncing Israel’s “war crimes and indefensible actions,” the statement added: “We write to publicly declare our opposition to what the Israeli government is doing with American assistance.” Do those words mean that the signers of the statement are antisemitic? Or how about the more than 100 Jewish Americans who signed the statement released this week denouncing AIPAC, the Israel-is-never-wrong lobby?

Ten years ago, 40 Holocaust survivors issued a statement condemning Israel for its “wholesale effort to destroy Gaza.” The statement, also signed by 287 people who were descendants of Holocaust survivors or victims, called for “an end to all forms of racism, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people” and decried “the extreme, racist dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli society, which has reached a fever pitch.” Were the 327 Jewish signers of the statement antisemitic?

For that matter, when I write here that the Israeli government has been committing mass murder and genocide in Gaza, does that mean I’m antisemitic? There’s a word for seeing – and saying – that Israel is engaged in large-scale crimes against humanity. And that word isn’t “antisemitism.” It’s realism."

- https://original.antiwar.com/

"On the Blood of the Murdered Mothers and Children"

"On the Blood of the Murdered Mothers and Children"

by Abby Zimet

"Cruelty upon cruelty: Today is Mother's Day in Gaza, and across the Arab world. Still the slaughter, the wounding, trauma, hunger go on. Israel has killed over 14,000 Palestinian children, with many thousands more injured or orphaned; each day, 37 more mothers are killed. Those who survive battle to keep their children alive, and mourn those they've lost. "The children are always ours," said James Baldwin. But in Gaza, says one mother, "Today, like all mothers, I feel broken."

This year, the Mother's Day marked each March 21 is, for Gazans, a bloody travesty. The numbers still numb: More than 31,988 people have been killed in the ongoing) Israeli assault; another 74,188 have been injured, including over 32,800 children and 25,000 women, and 25,000 children have lost one or both parents. The Palestine Red Crescent Society estimates this Mother's Day would have been commemorated by 37 mothers killed; it was also marked by Israeli forces denying 28 Palestinian detained mothers from seeing their children. To date, Israel's "there-are-no-innocents" air campaign has dropped over 29,000 bombs, many of them 2,000-pound munitions that maim or kill within a quarter mile - often in so-called "safe zones" or "safe corridors" where Israel has told Gazans to go. Meanwhile, their relentless blockade has left at least half the population at imminent risk of famine; in recent weeks, at least several dozen children have starved to death.

When children are present in a time of genocide, writes Palestinian pediatrician Sabreen Akhter, they are always the most afflicted. and the most in need of protection. When children are in a place that is bombed, they die more often than adults due to their smaller bodies and organs: "When you bomb a place with children in it, your primary intention is to kill all the children first." When they're in a place lacking sustenance, they die more quickly: "When you cut off water and food to a population with children, your primary intention is to starve all the children first." When they're without housing and exposed to the elements, they are more traumatized, and die more rapidly. A U.N panel said Thursday Israel appears "calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinian children." At least, urges Al-Jazeera, "Know their names." Last month, they compiled perhaps half the names of the young dead known to them when the total was 11,500; even then, it takes over seven minutes to scroll through.

Full screen recommended.

For mothers who survive, their daily mission is to keep alive the children who remain to them. A 29-year-old mother of three whose husband was killed in a recent "flour massacre" - while trying to feed his children - struggles to feed her five-month-old, because her breasts have almost no milk from lack of food and "deep sadness": "The baby keeps crying all day and night." A 49-year-old mother hasn't seen her only son, Ahmed, 16, since he rushed to the nearby scene of an Israeli air strike in October; she believes he was killed but has been unable to find or retrieve his body from the rubble. Nada Abu Aita, a 32-year-old "mother missing her mother" - who fled to Rafah - gave birth to her first son a month before the war and is fighting to "keep him alive, or stay alive for him." "I sometimes look into (his) eyes and I want to apologize for bringing him into this life," she says. "I am afraid I will lose him, and I am afraid I will be killed because he would be left alone."

And Alaa el-Qatrawi, a 33-year-old, PhD-educated poet and teacher, lost all four of her children in December. Separated from her husband, she saw them only part-time and last heard from them trapped amidst fighting when they called to beg, "Mama, get us out of here" - which she tried, but failed to do. Much later, her brother-in-law found their bodies. Lovingly, she names them: "Yamen, eight years old. The twins Orchid and Kanan, six years old. And Carmel, three years old.” She speaks of them in the present tense: "They're beautiful...They're so smart and funny...Kenan loves fruit...I would put some next to him when he sleeps (for) when he wakes up." She had been trying to arrange to move her children to Dubai "for a better future"; she'd bought Orchid "a princess dress" for summer, "and now summer will come and Orchid isn't here to wear it." In earlier wars, she'd written prose or poetry; in this one, she can't. "What can a grieving mother say about her children?" she asks. No words."

- https://www.commondreams.org/

Canadian Prepper, "Emergency Alert: Russia Declares 'War'; NATO Jets Scrambled; Blackout In Ukraine"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 3/22/24

"Emergency Alert: Russia Declares 'War'; 

NATO Jets Scrambled; Blackout In Ukraine"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Something Terrible Is Happening To The Middle Class"

Jeremiah Babe, 3/22/24

"Something Terrible Is Happening To The Middle Class, 

People Are In Massive Debt With No Way Out"

"People are in massive debt as the economy continues to collapse

 leaving millions of people vulnerable to losing their homes cars savings etc."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Judge Napolitano, "Intel Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern: Roundup on Ukraine and Gaza"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 3/22/24

"Intel Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern: 

Roundup on Ukraine and Gaza"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "A Very Serious Warning"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, PM 3/22/24

"A Very Serious Warning"

"Cyber crimes are completely out of control. I had a relative that was the victim of a fake ransom plot against his daughter. They used AI to mimic her voice and try to extort money from him. Everyone is OK. Please share this video."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind XII: “Peace”

Liquid Mind XII: “Peace”

"A Look to the Heavens, With Chet Raymo"

“Reaching For The Stars”

by Chet Raymo

“Here is a spectacular detail of the Eagle Nebula, a gassy star-forming region of the Milky Way Galaxy, about 7,000 light-years away. The Eagle lies in the equatorial constellation Serpens. If you went out tonight and looked at this part of the sky – more or less midway between Arcturus and Antares – you might see nothing at all. The brightest star in Serpens is of the third magnitude, perhaps invisible in an urban environment. No part of the Eagle Nebula is available to unaided human vision. How big is the nebula in the sky? Hold a pinhead at arm’s length and it would just about cover the spire. I like to think about things not mentioned in the APOD descriptions.

If the Sun were at the bottom of the spire, Alpha centauri, our nearest stellar neighbor, would be about halfway up the column. Sirius, the brightest star in Earth’s sky, would be near the top. Let’s say you sent out a spacecraft from the bottom of the spire that travelled at the speed of the two Voyager craft that are now traversing the outer reaches of the Solar System. It would take more than 200,000 years to reach the top of the spire.

The Hubble Space Telescope cost a lot of money to build, deploy, and operate. It has done a lot of good science. But perhaps the biggest return on the investment is to turn on ordinary folks like you and me to the scale and complexity of the universe. The human brain evolved, biologically and culturally, in a universe conceived on the human scale. We resided at its center. The stars were just up there on the dome of night. The Sun and Moon attended our desires. “All the world’s a stage,” wrote Shakespeare, and he meant it literally; the cosmos was designed by a benevolent creator as a stage for the human drama. All of that has gone by the board. Now we can travel in our imagination for 200,000 years along a spire of glowing, star-birthing gas that is only the tiniest fragment of a nebula that is only the tiniest fragment of a galaxy that is but one of hundreds of billions of galaxies we can potentially see with our telescopes.

Most of us still live psychologically in the universe of Dante and Shakespeare. The biggest intellectual challenge of our times is how to bring our brains up to speed. How to shake our imaginations out of the slumber of centuries. How to learn to live purposefully in a universe that is apparently indifferent to the human drama. How to stretch the human story to match the light-years.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"The Minds Of Men..."

"The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished. The name of Poet was almost forgotten; that of Orator was usurped by the sophists. A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste. This diminutive stature of mankind was daily sinking below the old standard." 

- Edward Gibbon, 

"The Decline And Fall of The Roman Empire"

o

"All of the available data show that the typical American citizen has about

as much interest in the life of the mind as does your average armadillo."

- Morris Berman

Apologies to armadillos for the comparison...

"Not Such An Easy Business..."

“Over the years you get to see what a struggle life is for most people, how tough it is, how easy it is to be judgmental and criticize and stand outside of situations and impart your wisdom and judgment. But over the decades I've got more tolerant of people's flaws and mistakes. Everybody makes a lot of them. When you're younger you feel: "Hey, this person is evil" or "This person is a jerk" or stupid or "What's wrong with them?" Then you go through life and you think: "Well, it's not so easy." There's a lot of mystery and suffering and complication. Everybody's out there trying to do the best they can. And it's not such an easy business.”

- Woody Allen

○

Joe South, "Walk A Mile In My Shoes"

Bill Bonner, "Too Bad About the Public"

"Too Bad About the Public"

Banks got rich. Congress got rich. 

Lobbyists got rich. What about you?

by Bill Bonner

"Glory in war exceeds all other forms of success."

~ Cicero

Youghal, Ireland - "Birds in the trees…lovers in one another’s arms…and the crows are flying across the morning sky carrying twigs to build their nests. It’s springtime. And all of nature is looking ahead. Fruit trees in bloom, anticipating the apples, pears, and plums that will follow. And birds coo-ing to one another…laying eggs and hatching the next generation.

And, what is an old man to do? Can he think happy thoughts of the future? Of his family…his house…his golf handicap…his muscles…his next battle…his next achievement…his wealth – all growing, getting bigger and better? Or is it too late for that? Should he turn gloomily to the past and remember the mistakes, vanities and traps…and then, wagging his finger in a knowing way, should he say: ‘I don’t think that will work’?

The two things we don’t think will work are the very two things America’s ruling elites most want to do – fight wars they don’t need to fight…and spend money they don’t have. They are, traditionally, the two most dangerous and addictive drugs in the political dispensary…and the two that are hardest to resist. They are also the things that hasten the decline of a great empire.

Where Your Money’s Going: Today, our politics are dominated by scoundrels and scalawags. Previous generations of the political caste may not have been any better. But they were subject to more constraints. The US Constitution, for example, forbade wars without the explicit consent of Congress. The wisdom of the founding fathers further advised against ‘foreign entanglements.’ And if they went to war, they had to figure out a way to pay for it; the reality of federal finances prevented expenses from getting too far ahead of income. Congress was expected to present a balanced budget, and did so…more or less…for 183 years.

But what happens in any society is that ambitious people move into government. They aim to do good. And they do very well. For themselves. Gradually, they take over the institutions that are meant to protect citizens from their government…and use them to rip off the public.

Today, we see more evidence. Congress is racing to pass yet another 1,000-page stopgap spending bill. And the bill includes – would you guess it – more spending where it is least needed, CNN: "…the bill also increases Department of Defense funding, providing $824.3 billion, an increase of $26.8 billion above fiscal year 2023."

We explored the subject recently and concluded that the US is already a form of soft military dictatorship, where Congress has been bought and paid for…and the key decisions of war and peace…surplus or deficit…are made by the military-industrial complex for its own benefit. Steadfast soldiers…well-trained armies…valiant generals – as Cicero explained, they are always popular.

Taxes, Inflation and Financial Chaos: Less popular but similarly self-serving is the Wall Street-Fed complex. By 1913, big bankers had figured out how to get control of the financial system. There was no question of marching off to a glorious war. Bankers don’t get medals for all the deals they put together. And when they suborned the US money system, they did so in secret.

In a very private meeting that took place on Jekyll Island, off the coast of Georgia, the financiers – pretending to be on a hunting trip – set up a cartel, the Federal Reserve system. The idea was simple. When times were good, the bankers would earn substantial profits. When times were bad, usually because of their own over-reaching, the Fed would bail them out and shift the losses onto the public.

This is just what it did in the Crisis of ’08-’09. The Bernanke Fed extended trillions of dollars’ worth of new credits to banks that – in an honest system – wouldn’t have gotten a dime. These new credits – lent at zero, or negative, real rates of interest – saved the biggest banks in the country. But the negative rates fouled the entire economy. The US government, for example, added $25 trillion in new debt since 2008. And the entire economy – including corporations, businesses, and households – now has total debt edging up to nearly $100 trillion.

The national debt alone now costs the public more than $1 trillion per year in interest. As the debt grows – so does the cost of carrying it…which is ultimately paid in taxes, inflation and financial chaos.

Phony Fiat: One important innovation made both of these debauches – the huge growth of the war machine…and the Wall Street takeover of the financial system – possible. It was the switch to a pure paper money system in 1971. Real money is what normally keeps the war makers and the moneymakers on the leash. Inflation of the money supply – being able to ‘print’ up new money at will – lets them run wild.

Even today, 110 years after the creation of the Fed, most people still believe it is part of the government – which they mistakenly believe voters control. Not so; it is a private cartel, designed to serve the interests of member banks, not the interests of the American public.

And even now, 53 years after the new ‘phony’ money was introduced, most people think a little inflation is either inevitable…or even a good thing. The Fed and many economists put forward the fantasy that price increases and lower interest rates help the economy. There is no reason this should be so, theoretically…and no evidence, empirically, that it is. Growth rates have come down, decade after decade, since the new money was put in place.

The One-Two Punchbowl: And here’s the latest. Banks hold US Treasury bonds in their vaults. According to Moody’s, those bonds have lost $650 billion of real value as interest rates went up. Naturally, the banks would like to see lower rates again. So would Wall Street. Lower rates, generally, provoke higher stock prices; Wall Street is fundamentally a stock sales outlet. So, what does the Fed do? Here’s CNN:

"US stocks soared to new highs in Wednesday afternoon trading as investors cheered the Federal Reserve's policy rate decision, economic projections and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference. The central bank kept interest rates unchanged but indicated that there would still be three rate cuts this year. Before the meeting, some investors had worried that the Fed would lower that projection."

Meanwhile, since 1971 the “Inflation Calculator” tells us prices have risen 633%. That is another way of saying that, if you have a dollar from 1970, it is now worth 13 cents. Compared to real money – gold – the dollar fell from $38 per ounce of gold to $2,200 yesterday – a 98% loss. And the rate of loss is speeding up; over the last 4 years, the dollar has lost 20% of its purchasing power.

Banks got rich. Wall Street got rich. The firepower industry got rich. Lobbyists got rich. Members of Congress got rich. Too bad about the public. "Stay tuned.

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Palmer, Alaska, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: May Sarton, “Now I Become Myself”

“Now I Become Myself”

“Now I become myself. It’s taken
Time, many years and places,
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people’s faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
“Hurry, you will be dead before —”
(What? Before you reach the morning?
or the end of the poem, is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move,
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the Sun!”

~ May Sarton

"The Essence Of Human Existence..."

"Curiosity is the essence of human existence.

'Who are we? Where are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?'

I don't know. I don't have any answers to those questions.

I don't know what's over there around the corner. But I want to find out."

- Eugene Cernan

"World War III Prelude, 3/22/24"

Full screen recommended.

Hindustan Times, 3/22/24

"'State Of War': Russia's Alarming Warning For West 

As NATO Leader Fears 'Ukraine's Could Fall Soon'"

"Escalating tensions between Russia and the West have fanned the fear of catastrophe. The Kremlin has made a big announcement about the ongoing military operation in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has turned into a full-fledged war after the West became involved in Kyiv's fight. Notably, thus far, Russia has refrained from referring to the conflict as a war. The change from military operation to war is not just a verbal shift, as the Russian Army's ground assault is anticipated to undergo a significant overhaul."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Hindustan Times, 3/22/24

"'Poland Preparing To Enter...': Ex-U.S. Army Officer

 Reveals NATO Nation's 'War With Russia Plans'"

"A former U.S. Army officer has made a stunning statement about Poland amid the Ukraine war. Stanislav Krapivnik told RT News that Poland is gearing up to get involved in the conflict. He claimed the Polish government is “mentally” preparing its population for direct involvement in conflict with Russia. Krapivnik alleged that recent allegations made by top Polish officials regarding Russia’s supposed plans to attack NATO are intended to justify a preemptive military operation."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, 3/22/24

"Russia Will End Global War, 

Putin Will Put NATO And Israel Back In Their Place"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, 3/22/24

"Jaw-Dropping Revelation: NATO vs Russia – 

A Ticking Nuclear Time Bomb Ready to Explode!"

"In this compelling video, Scott Ritter, a renowned military analyst, presents a harrowing scenario of potential nuclear conflict in Europe. With incisive commentary and a deep understanding of military strategy, Ritter unpacks the complex web of international politics, military logistics, and escalating tensions. From the potential actions of France in Ukraine to the stark realities of NATO's capabilities and Russia's nuclear strategy, Ritter's insights offer a critical look at the delicate balance of global power. This is a must-watch for anyone interested in understanding the high-stakes maneuvers that could lead the world to the brink of nuclear war. Join us as we delve into a discussion that challenges conventional narratives and confronts the urgent realities of today's geopolitical landscape."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Humans, is this what you want?

o

"How It Really Is"

 

Adventures With Danno, "Grocery Prices Are Out Of Control! How I Am Saving Money!"

Adventures With Danno, AM 3/22/24

"Grocery Prices Are Out Of Control!

 How I Am Saving Money!"

"Grocery store prices are completely out of control. With very few ways of saving money on food, I talk about what we are doing to make life more affordable!"

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- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "A Bank Gave Away Free Money"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, AM 3/22/24

"A Bank Gave Away Free Money"

"A Bank had a problem over the weekend where people could take out whatever they wanted out of their account. They could transfer money they could even take as much cash as they wanted out of the ATM."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 3/22/24"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/22/24

"Expect A Dramatic Turn For 

The Worse For The Economy"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Gregory Mannarino, PM 3/22/24

"We Are Being Set Up On A Massive Scale! 

Expect A Worst Case Scenario To Unfold"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jim Kunstler, "Wake-up Call"

"Wake-up Call"

by Jim Kunstler

“Those who organized the disaster will take advantage of the inevitable discontent arising from efforts to overcome it, for if there is one thing that they are skilled in, it is demagoguery.” 

- Theodore Dalrymple

Can you feel it? The tension rising to the red-line? It runs clear through all of Western Civ. We are ruled by governments of fiends. But now, the sun rides higher in the sky. The sap is rising in the northern forests. The earth heaves. The buds swell and blush. Something is in the air. The animals are waking from their long winter sleep. The natives are restless.

The two traditional political divisions, liberal and conservative died with Covid. Now there are simply the sane versus the insane. The sane have had enough of being pushed around by the insane. The insane don’t register much of what reality tries to tell them. They have a body of insane ideas to comfort and protect them from the reality’s rigors. To call that body of ideas an “ideology” is way too polite.

That the insane call themselves “progressive,” is a signature of their insanity. Progress toward what better state of things? Toward a supremacy of fiends, sadists, degenerates, and morons seizing riches and power by every dishonest means possible outside the rule of law and common decency? It’s not even suitable to call them “communists.” They lack the necessary idealism for that. They don’t expect to put their shoulders to the wheel with their fellow man. They just want to grab your stuff and then kill you so they don’t have to hear any complaints.

The insane do not believe any of the theoretical bullshit they want to force you to swallow. They don’t care about climate change. It’s just a cudgel they use to beat everyone over the head so they can steal your stuff. They don’t care about “democracy.” It’s just a line of bullshit to cover up their election-stealing. Do you suppose that sane people would keep using electronic vote-tabulating machines that were demonstrably connected to the Internet, and thus hackable, if they cared about election integrity? Of course not. They would arrange p.d.q. to junk them and use paper ballots, and only in person at polling places, with “absentee” exceptions only for people out of the country.

The insane do not care about public health. Everything that is known about the Covid-19 vaccinations tells you that they are unsafe and don’t prevent infection or transmission of a flu-like illness that might not even be what it was officially labeled as. Our public health officials in the FDA, the CDC, and in other corners of the Department of health and Human Services, lie about everything they’re responsible for. This week, the CDC (under Director Mandy Cohen) released a 148-page study on myocarditis reactions to mRNA shots. Every word on every page of the document was redacted. The CDC printed countless copies of the report with 148 utterly blank pages, and then proffered them to the news media. How is that not insane?

The insane do not care about the rule of law. The conduct of “Lawfare” is the subversion of the law by dishonest means. It is a species of racketeering. And that is why Lawfare rogues such Marc Elias, Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Mary McCord, Lisa Monaco, Matthew Graves, and Merrick Garland, should be charged under the federal RICO statutes for conspiring to deprive sane citizens of their rights and property in the many cases related to the 1/6/21 riot at the US Capitol.

It is, so far, an abiding mystery of contemporary history as to how New York Attorney General Letitia James managed to get away with prosecuting a real estate case against Donald Trump that was no more than victimless business-as-usual between a borrower and his lenders. Ms. James ran for that elected office promising to “get” Mr. Trump on something, anything. That is not how the rule of law works. Under the rule of law, first you determine that there is a crime and then look for who did the crime.

Letitia James must be insane and/or pretty stupid. The short-term gain of stealing Mr. Trump’s property under a false color-of-law and creating impediments to his election campaign, will, sooner or later, blow back at her as a matter of malicious prosecution and, plausibly, racketeering as well. (With whom did she conspire to bring this case? We shall find out.) She will eventually be disgraced publicly as her teammate Fani Willis has already been disgraced in Fulton County, Georgia. I’ll tell you something that all sane people now know but won’t talk about for fear of being crushed by the levers of Lawfare: this looks like a concerted effort by people-of-color to railroad people of non-color. If you think that is a good thing for race relations in our country, then you are insane.

Here are a bunch of other things that are insane: Re-litigating the first amendment is insane. It means what it says, and states it plainly. The open border is insane. No credible sovereign polity would allow it. It would be opposed with force, if necessary. Turning children into transsexuals on a wholesale basis is insane, and fiendishly so. Everybody knows that it is not good for the children or for our society as a whole. But fiends got to fiend, and if you try to deprive them of being fiends then you are guilty of “hate.”

The war in Ukraine is insane. We certainly didn’t ignite it in the service of “democracy.” Our pawn there, Mr. Zelensky, canceled the national elections last year. The war was arguably an effort by our CIA to deprive Russia of its market for natgas in Europe, and thus deprive Russia of a great deal of money, that is, of prosperity. The project failed. Russia overcame NATO’s proxy army and found other markets for its gas. Blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines only served to impoverish and weaken our NATO allies, who no longer have affordable gas to run their industries. The leaders of those allies were too insane to recognize that the Nord Stream op was an act-of-war against them. They were also busy destroying themselves, like the USA, with open borders. They will end up in a new medievalism, ruled by savages. You’d have to be insane to arrange that for yourself.

What’s most obviously insane in our country is that the insane party is pretending to nominate the mentally unfit White House place-keeper, “Joe Biden,” for reelection. You would think that if this party wanted to retain power, they would run a candidate who, though insane, was not also visibly senile. But the rank and file of this party are too insane to see that this dodge is not working. They are pretending with all their might that this is okay, that the growing faction of the sane don’t notice.

Sensing the growing impatience with insanity among the voters, the insane party has reached its point of terminal desperation. What will they try next? Murder? Why not? Nothing else seemed to work. They are too far gone in their insanity to understand that winter is over. We’ve entered the season of rebirth and renewal, starting with a renewed appreciation for being sane and for that indispensable ingredient that makes liberty in a free society possible: good faith. Really, the only question left is: how rough do they intend to play to prevent the return of sanity and good faith?"

- https://kunstler.com/

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 3/22/24"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 3/22/24"

Theft Legal in NY, Black Swan Coming, Fed Rate Cut Tease

by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"It is looking like the Democrats are making theft legal in New York. Donald Trump is on the verge of losing nearly a half billion dollars of property in Westchester County because he lost a fraud case where nobody actually was a victim of fraud. The case is a classic study in abuse of power by the New York State Attorney General and a judge willing to suspend reality to bankrupt the GOP nominee for President. Theft appears legal in New York if it is orchestrated by Dems against the GOP. The Appellate Court should step in and put a stop to the theft for the good of everyone.

General Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at the Pentagon, is warning of a coming “Black Swan” before the 2024 Election. Is this coming because the Deep State realizes it just cannot beat Donald Trump, and they will do anything to keep Trump from a second term? Who knows what General Flynn knows, but he knows something big and bad is coming. You should take this warning seriously and prepare for rough riding by the fall.

The Fed is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t when it comes to interest rates. If it raises them, it could cause a financial meltdown. If it lowers interest rates, it could cause a melt up and big inflation, which will cause the poor to suffer even more. With a barrel of oil now trading above $80, the Fed is in a pretty tight box. The Fed is teasing, and it just might do nothing. There is more in the 52-minute newscast."

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble for these stories 

and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 3/22/24:

- https://rumble.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Your Assets Are Being Seized And Stolen; The Church Has Failed You America; WW III Is Next"

Jeremiah Babe, 3/21/24

"Your Assets Are Being Seized And Stolen; 

The Church Has Failed You America; WW III Is Next"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Canada Prepares For WW III Unrest; Russia Allows NATO To Enter Ukraine?!"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 3/21/24

"Alert! Canada Prepares For WW III Unrest; 

Russia Allows NATO To Enter Ukraine?!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/k

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Chrysalis"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "Chrysalis"

“Oceans of strings and choirs, flutes and keyboards lift us 

out of the trials and tribulations of our daily lives as though 

we were on a ship with gossamer sails, sailing on the moonlight.” 

– Steve Ryals

"A Look to the Heavens"

“What powers are being wielded in the Wizard Nebula? Gravitation strong enough to form stars, and stellar winds and radiations powerful enough to create and dissolve towers of gas. Located only 8,000 light years away, the Wizard nebula, pictured above, surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer.

The active star forming region spans 100 about light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus) Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/

Paulo Coelho, "The Bird And The Cage"

"The Bird And The Cage"

by Paulo Coelho

"Once upon a time, there was a bird. He was adorned with two perfect wings and with glossy, colorful, marvelous feathers. One day, a woman saw this bird and fell in love with him. She invited the bird to fly with her, and the two travelled across the sky in perfect harmony. She admired and venerated and celebrated that bird. But then she thought: He might want to visit far-off mountains! And she was afraid, afraid that she would never feel the same way about any other bird.

And she thought: “I’m going to set a trap. The next time the bird appears, he will never leave again.” The bird, who was also in love, returned the following day, fell into the trap and was put in a cage. She looked at the bird every day. There he was, the object of her passion, and she showed him to her friends, who said: “Now you have everything you could possibly want.”

However, a strange transformation began to take place: now that she had the bird and no longer needed to woo him, she began to lose interest. The bird, unable to fly and express the true meaning of his life, began to waste away and his feathers to lose their gloss; he grew ugly; and the woman no longer paid him any attention, except by feeding him and cleaning out his cage.

One day, the bird died. The woman felt terribly sad and spent all her time thinking about him. But she did not remember the cage, she thought only of the day when she had seen him for the first time, flying contentedly amongst the clouds. If she had looked more deeply into herself, she would have realized that what had thrilled her about the bird was his freedom, the energy of his wings in motion, not his physical body.

Without the bird, her life too lost all meaning, and Death came knocking at her door. “Why have you come?” she asked Death. “So that you can fly once more with him across the sky,” Death replied. “If you had allowed him to come and go, you would have loved and admired him ever more; alas, you now need me in order to find him again.”

- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

"44 Million Americans Face Eviction Due To Unaffordable Rental Prices"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 3/21/24

"44 Million Americans Face Eviction

 Due To Unaffordable Rental Prices"

"Many renters are being evicted from their homes due to the increasing cost of renting a house. With 35% of the U.S. population living in rental housing, many are facing financial stress when it comes to housing affordability. This video delves into the factors causing this spike in price and what the US congress is doing about it."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Greenville, South Carolina, USA. Thanks for stopping by!