"World War 3: Explain It to Me, Please"

"World War 3: Explain It to Me, Please"

If you want a war with Iran, Russia, China and Venezuela 

tell me why and how it would benefit Americans

by Gaius Baltar

Excerpt: "Some knowledgeable people, apparently including the Pope, are beginning to suspect that there may be more going on in the world than just the war in the Ukraine. They say that World War 3 has already started and things will get worse from now on. This can be difficult to determine while we are participating in the unfolding events and do not have the benefit of the historical perspective. It is doubtful that people back in 1939 realized that they were looking at the start of a major worldwide conflict, although some may have suspected it.

The current global situation is in many ways like a giant jigsaw puzzle where the general public only sees a tiny part of the complete picture. Most don’t even realize that there may be more pieces and don’t even ask these simple questions: Why is all this happening and why is it happening now?

Things are more complicated than most people realize. What they see is the evil wizard Vladimir Saruman Putin invading innocent Ukraine with his orc army – for absolutely no reason. This is a simplistic view, to say the least because nothing happens without a reason. Let’s put things in perspective and see what is really going on – and why the world is going crazy before our eyes. Let’s see what World War 3 is all about.

The pressure cooker: The West (which we can define here as the US and the EU and a few more) has been maintaining pressure on the entire world for decades. This does not only apply to countries outside the West, but also to Western countries which strayed from the diktats of the West’s rulers. This pressure has been discussed widely and attributed to all kinds of motives, including neocolonialism, forced financial hegemony, and so forth. What is interesting, particularly during the last 20 years, is which countries have been pressured and what they do not have in common.

Among the pressured countries we find Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Libya, Syria, Serbia, Thailand, and Iran to mention a few. There have also been recent additions, including India and Hungary. In order to understand why they have been pressured, we need to find out what they have in common. That’s not easy since they are extremely different in most ways. There are democracies and non-democracies, conservative and communist governments, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist countries, and so on. Still, many of them are very clearly allied. One must ask why conservative and religious countries such as Russia or Iran would ally themselves with Godless communists in Cuba and Venezuela.

What all these countries have in common is their desire to run their own affairs; to be independent countries. This is unforgivable in the eyes of the West and must be tackled by any means necessary, including economic sanctions, color revolutions, and outright military aggression.

The West and its NATO military arm had surrounded Russia with hostile countries and military bases, armed and manipulated Ukraine to be used as a hammer against it, and employed sanctions and threats. The same thing was and is happening in Asia where China is being surrounded by all means available. The same applies to all the Independents mentioned above to some extent. In the past 10 years or so the pressure has increased massively on the Independents and it reached almost a fever pitch in the year before the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.

During the year before the Ukraine war, the US sent its diplomats around the world to tune up the pressure. They were like a traveling circus or a rock band on a tour, but instead of entertainment, they delivered threats: buy this from us and do what we tell you or there will be consequences. The urgency was absolute and palpable, but then came the Ukraine war and the pressure went up to 11. During the first month of the war, the entire West’s diplomatic corps was fully engaged in threats against the ‘rest of the world’ to engineer the isolation of Russia. This didn’t work, which resulted in panic in political and diplomatic circles in the US and Europe.

All this pressure through the years, and all the fear and panic when it didn’t work, were clearly related to the events in the Ukraine. They are a part of the same ‘syndrome’ and have the same cause."

Please view this complete article here:

- https://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/explain-it-to-me-please/

"All That Matters..."

"Angel: Well, I guess I kinda worked it out. If there's no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters... then all that matters is what we do. 'Cause that's all there is. What we do. Now. Today. I fought for so long, for redemption, for a reward, and finally just to beat the other guy, but I never got it.

Kate Lockley: And now you do?

Angel: Not all of it. All I wanna do is help. I wanna help, because I don't think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there's no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.

Kate Lockley: Yikes. It sounds like you've had an epiphany.

Angel: I keep saying that, but nobody's listening."

"Angel", 2001

- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512846/quotes

"Expect To Pay..."

"Oh, that could never happen here!"

Yeah, yeah... heard it a thousand times. Well guess what...

"Never, ever forget that nothing in this life is free. Life demands payment in some form for your "right" to express yourself, to condemn and abuse the evil surrounding us. Expect to pay... it will come for you, they will come for you, regardless. Knowing that, give them Hell itself every chance you can. Expect no mercy, and give none. That's how life works. Be ready to pay for what you do, or be a coward, pretend you don't see, don't know, and cry bitter tears over how terrible things are, over how you let them become."

- Ernest Hemingway, "For Whom the Bell Tolls "

Robert Palmer, "You're Gonna Get What's Coming"

"I Insist On The Right..."

"I love America more than any other country in the world and,

 exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

- James Baldwin

"“I Cannot Afford To Live”: Americans Get Emotional As The U.S. Economy Goes Off The Rails"

"“I Cannot Afford To Live”: Americans Get Emotional 

As The U.S. Economy Goes Off The Rails"

by Michael Snyder

"As we approach what is likely to be the most chaotic presidential election in U.S. history, trouble signs are starting to erupt for the U.S. economy. In fact, CNN is actually admitting that “the long-predicted storm clouds in the economy may actually be forming”. I can’t remember the last time that I saw a CNN article with a headline like that. But at this point, it is becoming extremely difficult for the mainstream media to avoid the truth. Inflation is getting worse at the same time that many key sectors of our economy are slowing down. If you thought that the last couple of years were rough for the economy, just wait until you see what is coming next. Tremendous turmoil is on the horizon, and the American people are becoming increasingly emotional about our rapidly growing economic problems.

On Wednesday, we learned that prices jumped even more than expected during the month of March…"Inflation jumped in March as prices for consumer staples such as gasoline edged higher and those for housing remained stubbornly high, suggesting inflation may be a bit stickier than it seemed just a few months ago, economists said. The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 3.5% in March from a year ago, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday. That’s up from 3.2% in February."

Lots of pundits on television are telling us that this is really bad news for Joe Biden. But if prices were only rising at a 3.5 percent annual rate, that would be outstanding news. In fact, if prices were only rising at a 3.5 percent annual rate I would not be concerned about inflation at all.

Of course by now everyone realizes that the way inflation is calculated has been changed repeatedly over the years and so the numbers that the government gives us are essentially meaningless at this point. In order to get a realistic idea of how much prices are rising, we need to look at specific categories.

For example, Fox Business is reporting that the cost of energy “is up 36.9% from where it was in Jan. 2021″…"Tuesday’s inflation numbers punctuate what has been a dreadful three years for energy consumers. The overall cost of energy in March is up 36.9% from where it was in Jan. 2021, according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics." Of course energy prices are going to go a lot higher than they are right now. Just wait until Iran and Israel start lobbing missiles at one another.

Housing has become insanely expensive as well. In fact, the average monthly mortgage payment on a newly purchased home has approximately doubled since Joe Biden entered the White House. So how in the world can they possibly tell us with a straight face that inflation is in the low single digits if that is the case?

Home insurance rates are going into the stratosphere as well. One 71-year-old retiree in South Dakota says that his home insurance payment went up by 110 percent in just one year…"Ken Brown is worried he is going to be forced out of his house if his home insurance premium continues to go up. The 71-year-old retiree who lives near Rapid City, South Dakota, has seen his annual cover with American Family skyrocket almost 110 percent in the last year – from $1,665 to $3,490. Ken is on a fixed retirement income, while his wife Valeria, 68, is still working to help cover the insurance bill – and a whole host of other rising costs."

Let’s be honest with ourselves. The truth is that we are in the midst of the worst inflation crisis that any of us have ever seen. Don’t let them gaslight you.

The price of food is also going nuts. At one location in California, a 40 piece order of Chicken McNuggets and two orders of large fries will now set you back more than 25 dollars…"A viral social media video about a $25 McDonald’s “deal” recently sparked an online debate about California’s minimum-wage increase. A TikTok user who posts videos under the username @shannon_montipaya shared the video on March 27. She was in the drive-thru of a Southern California McDonald’s location when she saw a sign for a 40-piece Chicken McNugget meal deal, which also included two large orders of fries.

The price of the meal bundle was $25.39 - including sales tax, it would come to roughly $27. In the video, the social media user lamented that the meal didn’t even include a drink. “OK, so it’s $25.39 for 40-piece nuggets and two large fries,” she said. “You couldn’t even throw in the Sprite?

With everything that is going on, I can certainly understand why Americans are getting so emotional about inflation. Recently, one TikTok user racked up 5 million views when he posted a rant in which he boldly declared that “I cannot afford to live”…"Last week, a TikTok user posted an angry rant about the cost of living that’s since been viewed 5 million times on the platform, with tens of thousands of comments and shares. “I make over three times the federal minimum wage and I cannot afford to live,” he shouts into the camera. “It is embarrassing to come out and say that it is a struggle to survive right now but I know so many people are struggling.” Later, he concludes: “The American Dream is dead.”

Many of you can identify with that. I have heard from so many readers that are deeply struggling in this economy. Unfortunately, there are signs that things are about to get even worse. For example, small business optimism in the United States has dropped to the lowest level in 11 years…

"The failure of Bidenomics has crushed confidence among US small businesses to the lowest level in more than a decade, as the future path of inflation remains a significant concern. Readers must remember small businesses are vital to the economy, contributing 44% of the country’s economic activity and creating two-thirds of net new jobs.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported Tuesday that its small-business optimism index declined .9 points to 88.5, the lowest level since the second half of 2012 – or about when the US economy climbed out of the worst financial crisis ever."

And I was deeply saddened to learn that 99 Cents Only is moving toward liquidating all of their stores…"99 Cents Only shops will begin shuttering its hundreds of locations on Friday as the company moves toward total liquidation. “99 Cents Only Stores, together with its financial and legal advisors, engaged in an extensive analysis of all available and credible alternatives to identify a solution that would allow the business to continue,” the company said in a press release. “Following months of actively pursuing these alternatives, the company ultimately determined that an orderly wind-down was necessary and the best way to maximize the value of 99 Cents Only Stores’ assets.” Prior to the announcement, 99 Cents Only was operating 371 stores in the United States.

Of course we also recently learned that Dollar Tree and Family Dollar will be closing about 1000 stores. All over America, stores that were once thriving will soon be boarded up. This is what the future of our economy looks like, and many Americans are preparing for rougher times by purchasing large quantities of gold…"Gold has turned into money for Costco, where yellow metal sales begun last year have turned into a cash cow for the big-box retailer. In fact, sales are so brisk that analysts at Wells Fargo expect revenue “may now be running at” $100 million to $200 million a month, a rapid acceleration since bullion hit the warehouse club late in the summer of 2023.

Just like me, so many of you can feel what is coming. A tipping point has arrived, and the outlook for the months ahead is very bleak. The U.S. economy is going off the rails, and the worse things get the more frustrated the American people are going to become."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Millions Are Losing Their Jobs Right Now, This Is The End"

Full screen recommended.

The Atlantis Report , 4/11/24

"Millions Are Losing Their Jobs Right Now, This Is The End"

The current state of the US job market is sending shockwaves throughout the nation, unlike anything witnessed in recent memory. Reports as recent as early March highlight the unprecedented nature of the situation. Layoffs have reached levels not seen since 2009's financial crisis, painting a disturbing picture of the employment situation in 2024.

The rise of AI and automation is deepening job losses, with companies like Dropbox, Google, and IBM already announcing layoffs related to technological advancements. Business leaders are bracing for the likelihood of further layoffs in the coming year, driven by concerns about economic recession and the adoption of AI.

The economic situation is further complicated by factors such as rising interest rates and corporate debt obligations. Companies with significant debts are facing the huge task of refinancing loans at higher rates, potentially leading to more layoffs as they streamline operations to weather the financial storm.

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com

Adventures With Danno, "Outrageous Price Increases At Kroger!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, AM 4/11/24

"Outrageous Price Increases At Kroger!"

In today's vlog, we are at Kroger and are noticing some outrageous price increases on groceries! As prices continue to rise everywhere, many are becoming very concerned about how they will provide for their families!

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

Full screen recommended.

Travelling with Russell , 4/11/24

"Russian Typical Shopping Mall

 After 800 Days of Sanctions"

"What does the Largest shopping mall in Russia look like? Aviapark is the largest shoppnig mall in Russia and all of Europe. With more than 500 stores spread over 390,000sq meters, Aviapark really is a place you need to see for yourself."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Absolutely incredible...

Dan, I Allegedly, "Why Put Your Money in a Bank? It's Not Safe"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, AM 4/11/24

"Why Put Your Money in a Bank? It's Not Safe"

"We keep hearing horror stories about people losing money at their bank. Now the banks are not honoring this and giving people their money back. The scams are rampant and the banks are in financial trouble."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Expect A Major False Flag Event Soon! Here's Why"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 4/11/24

"Expect A Major False Flag Event Soon! Here's Why"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Trillion Dollar Misery"

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six,

 result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual

 expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

- Charles Dickens, "David Copperfield"

"Trillion Dollar Misery"

Each dollar must be financed. Interest must be paid. And each dollar increases the pressure for higher interest rates... increasing the total interest cost... and bringing closer the day of reckoning.

by Bill Bonner

Dublin, Ireland - "The latest inflation numbers came out yesterday. They tell us inflation is not going away any time soon. And they give us, we think, a preview of the future. LA Times: "Prices outside the volatile food and energy categories rose 0.4% from February to March, the same accelerated pace as in the previous month. Measured from a year earlier, these core prices were up 3.8%, unchanged from the year-over-year rise in February. The Fed closely tracks core prices because they tend to provide a good read of where inflation is headed."

Of course, investors got nervous. AP: "The S&P 500 was 1.2% lower in a wipeout where nine out of 10 stocks in the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 514 points, or 1.3%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower."

For the benefit of new readers, if there are any, we are a moralistic bunch, here at Bonner Private Research. We believe events follow patterns that have been observed many times in the past. Each generation is warned by the experiences of its ancestors, distilled into moral lessons and given to us in old wives’ tales, proverbs, history, novels, the Bible, etc. (See Dickens, above.) And so, inasmuch as the US government habitually spends far more than its tax revenue - with current deficits running about $3.5 million per minute, we suspect misery is afoot.

Ugly Footprints: The Fed aimed for inflation of 2% per year. That goal never made any real sense, but that’s the corner into which it backed when it painted the floor. And now, the actual inflation rate is 90% above the target. What can it do now? A step in any direction will leave ugly footprints. The real rate of consumer price increases is much higher than the CPI numbers suggest. Here’s Charlie Bilello:

"A WSJ analysis found that a commonly purchased basket of supermarket goods has increased in price by 36.5% over the past four years (+8.1% per year). This is much higher than the US Government CPI figures which show food price inflation of 25.2% over the last 4 years (+5.8%/year). Meanwhile, average hourly earnings in the US have increased 21% over the past 4 years (+4.9% per year). This is one reason why many Americans, particularly those with lower incomes, feel like they’re falling behind."

And here is Fox News, rubbing it in: "Gas prices have again doubled since Biden took office, despite White House claiming ‘costs have fallen.’" These higher numbers are reflected in another Fed metric, the ‘Supercore’ inflation measure. CNBC reports: "The supercore gauge... accelerated to a 4.8% pace year over year in March, the highest in eleven months."

Rate cut? How about a rate hike? Former Secretary of the Treasury, Larry Summers suggested it. Bloomberg: “You have to take seriously the possibility that the next rate move will be upwards rather than downwards,” Summers said...He even referred to “the errors the Fed was making in the summer of 2021,” reminding Fed governors how they failed to see inflation coming or do anything about it when they had the chance."

But where does it leave them now? Stuck in their corner, with persistent inflation... and mounting debt. If they raise rates, they risk a major debt crisis. Homeowners, businesses... or the government itself... may not be able to roll over their huge debts. If they lower rates, they invite more inflation... forcing them to raise rates even further…or suffer a dizzy spiral of higher and higher prices.

And yet, they can’t keep things as they are either. Because federal deficits add about $5 billion more each day to the nation’s debt. Day in…day out. More bombs; more patent medicines. Each dollar must be financed. Interest must be paid. And each dollar increases the pressure for higher interest rates... increasing the total interest cost... and bringing closer the day of reckoning. One way or another, sooner or later, something’s gotta give. Misery."

Market Note, by Dan Denning: "The United States government ran a $1 trillion deficit in the first half of the fiscal year, according figures released in the latest the Monthly Statement of the Treasury. Total Defense spending for the first half of the year was $433 billion. Net interest expense was just behind, at $429 billion. Social Security was first at $715 billion and Medicare/Medicaid second at $449 billion.

This is why that 130% Doomsday figure Bill mentioned earlier this week is consistently a sign of coming crisis, historically. The government is chasing its own tail to fund out of control spending. The more it needs to borrow to pay interest costs, the higher rates go. The higher rates go, the more expensive interest is. Without spending cuts, the only solution is to print. Which drives rates and interest expense up. There's only one narrow golden path out of it..."

Click image for larger size.

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

Musical Interlude: David Gates, "Suite: Clouds and Rain"

Full screen recommended.

David Gates, "Suite: Clouds and Rain"

Jeremiah Babe, "Normal Times In America Are Over"

Jeremiah Babe, 4'10/24

"Normal Times In America Are Over;

 McDonalds Is Now A Luxury; Families Are Getting Hit Hard"

Comments here:

- ://www.youtube.com/

"America Is Facing A Crisis As Bird Flu Spreads"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 4/10/24

"America Is Facing A Crisis As Bird Flu Spreads"

"It shouldn't be surprising by now, because things have been going downhill for years now. Americans, we're in trouble again, but this time it's not our government spending tax dollars on useless things. It's not the cost of housing or even the cost of healthcare. American banks are closing, fast food chains are hiking up their prices, and new bills are being introduced that restrict our access to everyday things that Americans need. Gas prices are skyrocketing, but these issues have all been around for a while. It's getting worse, sure, but there's a new issue that's cropping up and causing quite an issue.

Have you heard of the bird flu? Called H5N1, this virus has been killing off bird flocks in the U.S. for years now, with millions of birds being put down in an effort to contain it. But now, the virus has spread to dairy cattle in five different states. And just this week, a person in Texas tested positive for the virus after working with these sick cows."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "Empire America - It's No Longer A Republic"

Gerald Celente, 4/10/24

"Empire America - It's No Longer A Republic"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present facts and truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for what’s next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsjournal.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Israel is Losing the War and the IDF Won't Survive Iran's Counter Attack"

Scott Ritter, 4/10/24

"Israel is Losing the War and the IDF 

Won't Survive Iran's Counter Attack"

"Former US Marine Corps Intelligence Officer and UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter analyzes what Iran's coming response to Israel crossing its Red Line will mean for its future survival. The answer may surprise you."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "Three Economic Warnings That Will Hurt Us All"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, PM 4/10/24

"Three Economic Warnings That Will Hurt Us All"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Through the Rainbow"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "Through the Rainbow"

"A Look to the Heavens"

Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member of a small galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the aquatically intimidating constellation Cetus. Seen edge-on, the island universe spans over 100,000 light-years, a little larger than our own Milky Way galaxy. The colorful, spiky stars decorating this cosmic portrait of NGC 1055 are in the foreground, well within the Milky Way. But the telltale pinkish star forming regions are scattered through winding dust lanes along the distant galaxy's thin disk.

Click image for larger size.

With a smattering of even more distant background galaxies, the deep image also reveals a boxy halo that extends far above and below the central bulge and disk of NGC 1055. The halo itself is laced with faint, narrow structures, and could represent the mixed and spread out debris from a satellite galaxy disrupted by the larger spiral some 10 billion years ago."

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

Chet Raymo, “The Silence”

“The Silence”

by Chet Raymo

“The hiding places of my power

Seem open; I approach, and then they close;

I see by glimpses now; when age comes on,

May scarcely see at all, and I would give,

While yet we may, as far as words can give,

A substance and a life to what I feel…”

“These few lines from Wordsworth’s “The Prelude” leapt off the page at me. They capture well enough what my life has become. All those years of teaching, of writing in the Boston Globe, were years of sharing public knowledge, knowledge that had been vetted by the scientific community. The work was not about me. The teacher was me, the writer was me, but what I taught and wrote was reliable, consensus knowledge of the world. A student in my classes or a reader of my newspaper columns would have been hard pressed to know my politics or my religion or the nature of the questions that came in the darkest hours of the night. And that is the way it should have been; that was my homage to objectivity.

Those were valuable years, years of building up a sturdy polder in the sea of mystery, a place to stand with a firmness of foot. And now, in retirement, with time on my hands- and on my mind- I find myself more inclined to explore what Wordsworth called “the hiding places of my power.” I approach. They close. I touch with my hand the surface of the pond, my hand comes out of the depths to meet me. I see by glimpses. It is, I suppose, a kind of forgetting. With the forgetting comes a certain freshness. My fingertip touches the surface of the world from above and from below, and concentric circles spread outwards, rippling, like a soundless sound, and I struggle, in words, as best I can, to give a substance and a life to what I feel.

This does not mean, I trust, that I am going soft, finding supernaturalist religion or getting all New Age squishy as “age comes on.” I keep my feet planted on solid fact and read my weekly “Science” and “Nature” along with my Wordsworth. No, it is rather a simple freedom to explore the hiding places, attending to private particulars as opposed to public universals, listening for the small voice that whispers from the nooks and crannies of yet unassimilated reality.

There is a passage in “The Prelude” where a young Boy (the poet?), standing in evening air by the glimmering lake, makes a mimic hooting with his hands to his mouth and the owls answer. Twooo-twooo. And the reply. Twooo-twooo. Then, unaccountably, the answers cease. And in the silence the boy becomes more keenly aware than ever of water, rocks, and woods, and mountain torrents, “that uncertain heaven, received into the bosom of the steady lake.” Thoreau has something similar. He rejoiced in owls; their hoot, he said, was a sound well suited to swamps and twilight woods. The interval between the hoots was a deepened silence, suggesting, to Thoreau, “a vast and undeveloped nature which men have not recognized.” It is that that I now attend: the deepened silence between the hoots.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"A Little Late..."

 

"Cycles, Systems and Seats in the Coliseum"

"Cycles, Systems and Seats in the Coliseum"

by Charles Hugh Smith

"Contrary to first impressions, I am not a doom-and-gloomer; I'm a systems-cycles-er, meaning I'm interested in where systems and cycles are heading. Cycles work because we're still running Wetware 1.0 which entered beta testing around 200,000 years ago and was released, bugs and all, around 50,000 years ago. Since the processes and inputs haven't changed, neither do the outputs.

Nature is a mix of dynamic, semi-chaotic systems (fractals, etc.) and cyclical patterns which tend to operate within predictable parameters. Why should human nature and human constructs (societies, economies and political realms) be any different?

So longterm success breeds complacency, hubris, economic and intellectual sclerosis, draining political infighting and the overproduction of parasitic elites, to use Peter Turchin's apt description. Consumption of resources expands to soak up every last bit of what's available and then the supply of goodies plummets for a multitude of completely natural and predictable reasons (sunspot/solar activity, El Nino, etc.) and a host of unpredictable but equally natural semi-chaotic extremes (100-year droughts, floods, etc.).

Wetware 1.0's go-to solutions to all such difficulties are rather limited:

1. Ramp up magical thinking. If a couple of human sacrifices ensured good harvests in the good old days, let's slaughter a couple hundred now - and if that doesn't work, then...

2. Do more of what's failed spectacularly and slaughter a couple thousand fellow humans, because darn it, maybe everything will turn around if we just kill another couple dozen. This requires ignoring the novelty of the current challenges and clinging to what worked so well in the past even as whatever worked in the past can't possibly work now because circumstances are fundamentally different.

3. Seek scapegoats. It's those darn witches. Burn a bunch of them and our troubles will magically disappear.

4. Go take what we need from some other tribe. What's our oil doing under their sand?

5. Consolidate power and wealth in the hands of elites whose failures exacerbated the crisis. Because the obvious solution (to the elites with cushy offices around the palaces and temples) to repeated failures of a leadership that only excels in one thing, squandering rapidly depleting resources on infighting and self-aggrandizement, is to give us all the remaining wealth and power. Hey, this makes perfect sense once you understand #2 above.

6. Demand sacrifices of the many to protect the privileges of the few. The Empire needs some warm bodies to fend off the Barbarians, because it would be a real shame if the Barbarians reached our palatial estates and disrupted the flow of wine and festivities. No worries when you come back on your shield; the bureaucracy will give you a decent burial and your spouse and kids can join the multitude of half-starved beggars waiting for the dwindling distributions of bread and circuses. But never mind that, did you hear about the upcoming games in the Coliseum? Good seats are going fast.

7. Eat your seed corn to keep the party going awhile longer. Not every human group had the luxury of borrowing "money" to keep the fast-unraveling party going awhile longer, so they consumed their seed corn and drained the last of their reserves - which is the same thing as borrowing "money" from a future with diminishing resources and productivity.

8. Maintain supreme confidence that "it will all work out fine because it's always worked out fine" without any sacrifice required of "those who count." What's forgotten is that the luxe greatness that is now teetering on the precipice of ruin was won by the sacrifices of the elites far exceeding the sacrifices of the many.

Back in the day, joining the elite and maintaining one's position required constant sacrifices on behalf of the common good, and strict adherence to public virtue. Now that's all forgotten, and all that remains are elites possessed by the demons of shameless greed and self-interest.

The idea that debt, leverage, speculation, greed, exploitation and parasitic elites can expand exponentially forever is magical thinking. Yet that is precisely what America and the rest of the global economic order insists is true and will always be true, forever and ever.

By all means, reject those horrid, awful doom-and-gloomers who look at systems and cycles. Everything will be fine as long as you secure seats for the next games at the Coliseum - they should be spectacular - but not in the way you expect."

- https://www.oftwominds.com/

"A Time Is Coming..."

The Daily "Near You?"

Cordova, Tennessee, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Truth..."

"Truth: the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity.

Capable of destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities.

Outlawed by all governments everywhere.

Possession is normally punishable by death."

- John Gilmore

A comment: According to statistics compiled by the UN, by the time the sun rises tomorrow morning 30,000 children world wide will have died overnight from starvation and malnutrition, disease, lack of potable water, and lack of basic medical care. That's every night, all year long, 30,000 children dying because no one cared. Trillions of dollars wasted on insane wars, economies destroyed by psychopathic greed, the environment dying in front of our eyes, and no one cares. No wonder Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described humanity as, "Poor silly half-brained things peering out at the infinite, with the aspirations of angels and the instincts of beasts." The "instincts of beasts" is evident for all to see... sometimes all this wears us down, and we look around, hoping to see the "aspirations of angels," hoping desperately that we can somehow awaken from the madness crushing us all, that together we can still rise above the despair and hopelessness and make a better world, where no child dies from hunger, where wars are a distant memory, where everyone can live full, dignified and honorable lives in peace. An impossible, hopeless struggle? Perhaps, but how dare we call ourselves "Human" if we don't try to make that vision real, in any way we can, no matter the price? A dream, you say? Yes, that's all it is... but without those dreams, those aspirations, all that's left is the "instincts of beasts", and we all see very clearly what those have brought this world to...

- CP

Free Download: "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back." - Carl Sagan

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841. The book chronicles its subjects in three parts: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions". MacKay was an accomplished teller of stories, though he wrote in a journalistic and somewhat sensational style.

The subjects of Mackay's debunking include alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetizers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Present-day writers on economics, such as Michael Lewis and Andrew Tobias, laud the three chapters on economic bubbles. Scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan mentioned the book in his own discussion about pseudoscience, popular delusions, and hoaxes.

In later editions, Mackay added a footnote referencing the Railway Mania of the 1840s as another "popular delusion" which was at least as important as the South Sea Bubble. Mathematician Andrew Odlyzko has pointed out, in a published lecture, that Mackay himself played a role in this economic bubble; as leader writer in the Glasgow Argus, Mackay wrote on 2 October 1845: "There is no reason whatever to fear a crash."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/

Freely download "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"

by Charles Mackay, here:
- http://www.cmi-gold-silver.com/

Life's Funny..."

"Life's funny, chucklehead. You only get one and you don't want to throw it away. But you can't really live it at all unless you're willing to give it up for the things you love. If you're not at least willing to die for something - something that really matters - in the end you die for nothing."

- Andrew Klavan

"Why Islam Will Likely Win Its Forever War Against the West" (Excerpt)

"Why Islam Will Likely Win 

Its Forever War Against the West"

by Doug Casey

Excerpt: "Let’s examine Islam and its impact on the West. Here’s the bottom line: the conflict between Islam and the West amounts to a Forever War, a concept from Joe Haldeman’s sci-fi novel of the same name. And the Mohammedan’s are likely to win its next stage.

The Forever War got underway in the early 7th century and has ebbed and flowed since then. It’s now heating up again, as evidenced by the fact that most recent wars and terrorist activities center around places like Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Lebanon, Bosnia, Sudan, and Afghanistan, and organizations with names like Hamas, Black September, and Al-Qaeda.

Why is that? Muslims see their lands and culture as having been under constant attack since the Crusades. The romantic image of knights in armor battling to free the Holy Land from the infidel is reversed in their eyes. They see hordes of European barbarians having invaded their homeland on a pretext, intent on rape, murder, and wholesale looting.

Over the last two centuries, European and now American armies have run roughshod over every Muslim country. The Musselmen don’t like it any more than Americans would if the Houthis were bombing New York and had a “no-fly” zone set up over Alabama to protect a black separatist movement.

Their personal foibles aside, Saddam Hussein and Moammar Khadafi are viewed as heroes by most Muslims for having fought against the Crusaders despite enormous odds.

Islam is probably the world’s largest religion, with 2 billion adherents, certainly, if you consider the number of real, as opposed to just nominal believers. It’s also the world’s fastest-growing. It completely dominates a huge part of the world with lots of poor people, little capital, little freedom, and uniformly repressive governments. To what degree is that the fault of Islam? I’d say to a large degree. But if that’s the case, how can the Mohammedans possibly win the Forever War? I’m going to show why they likely will.

We are told the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him, a phrase the faithful usually appended to mentions of his name, abbreviated to p.b.u.h.) was a merchant until, at age 40, he was visited by the angel Gabriel and became a warlord. Gabriel recited the words of Allah (The Compassionate, The Merciful - perhaps the most common of the many descriptions used by the faithful). Muhammed transcribed those wishes as the Koran. To most scholars, however, it seems more like some vaguely remembered stories he heard from travelers.

Islam attracts people for very understandable reasons: It offers a neat package explaining the meaning of life while promising eternal bliss after death. It has some characteristics and makes promises, rendering it especially attractive to the poor and downtrodden, not least of which is a daily meal if you attend mosque and pray after performing your ablutions. And that means its potential market is about 75% of the world’s people."

Complete, most highly recommended article here:

- https://internationalman.com/

How It Really Is"

 

Gregory Mannarino, "Alert! There Will Be Nowhere To Run"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 4/10/24

"Alert! There Will Be Nowhere To Run,

 Prepare For A Worst Case Scenario!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "Market Crash? Brace for the Unthinkable!"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, AM 4/10/24

"Market Crash? Brace for the Unthinkable!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Adventures With Danno, "Prepper Problems In 2024!"

Adventures With Danno, AM 4/10/24

"Prepper Problems In 2024!"

"Prepper problems that many will have to deal with in 2024."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Israel’s Ultimate Goal Is to Make Gaza Unfit for Human Habitation"

Full screen recommended.

Democracy Now!, 4/10/24

"Israel’s Ultimate Goal Is to Make Gaza Unfit for Human Habitation"

"President Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza a “mistake” and urged Israel to call for a temporary ceasefire to allow in more aid in a televised interview on Tuesday. While Israel has pledged to open new aid crossings, the U.N. said on Tuesday that there has been “no significant change in the volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza,” and the Biden administration has not actually changed its policies or withheld any arms transfers to Israel. “Words are cheap, and statements are a dime a dozen,” says Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani, who explains Israel can safely ignore statements if policy remains unchanged. “What really matters is not what these people say, but what they do.” Rabbani also speaks about the United Nations considering Palestinian statehood, ongoing negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire, and Israel attacking the Iranian Consulate in Syria."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The title is wrong! It really should be 

"Israel’s Ultimate Goal Is to Make Gaza Unfit for Palestinian Habitation"

o

"Jared Kushner says Gaza’s ‘waterfront property could be very valuable’. Donald Trump’s son-in-law also says Israel should bulldoze an area of the Negev desert and move Palestinians there."  - https://www.theguardian.com/

o

"An Israeli real estate company is already advertising

 homes at “presale prices” on Gaza rubble."

- https://www.reddit.com/

34,500 innocent old people, men, women and 14,000 children killed by these psychopathically degenerate monsters and YOU, Americans, allow and support and pay for every single bit of it! 8,000 still missing, buried under the bombed out rubble. What, Kushner, just bulldoze the bodies into the ground so homes for Israelis can be built there? Murderously racist ethnic cleansing happening right in front of your eyes, and the world does nothing... What would YOU call it?

o

Scott Ritter, "Iran's Big Game After Ramadan; Aid Weapons For Hezbollah; Houthis War With Israel"

Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, 4/10/24

"Iran's Big Game After Ramadan;

 Aid Weapons For Hezbollah; Houthis War With Israel"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Israel And Iran Threaten Nuclear EMP Strikes"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 4/10/24

"Alert! Israel And Iran Threaten Nuclear EMP Strikes;

 Gold's WW 3 Warning; France Cuts Russia Talks"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "Biden: 'Bibi You're A Bad Boy!' Bibi: 'I Know, Thanks For The Bombs!'"

Gerald Celente, 4/9/24

"Biden: 'Bibi You're A Bad Boy!' 

Bibi: 'I Know, Thanks For The Bombs!'"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present facts and truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for what’s next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsjournal.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

A Comment

A Comment: I'm quite aware this blog's content has progressively turned into a virtual chamber of horrors - the Covid-19 pandemic hoax, the ongoing total economic collapse and it's inevitable consequences, loss of civil liberties, wars, poverty, climate change, rampant drug use - one disaster or horror after another - everything's going to Hell in a hand-basket and it's clearly displayed here. The world's a complex place, so the articles are sometimes lengthy of necessity. Not by choice - I'd much rather focus on other, better things, or be doing something else, but take a glance at the main-stream liars and propagandists, you won't see any of these things covered there, just more of the sensationalistic garbage and pure propaganda from all those cheaply bought low-life money whores. I've always believed you CAN handle the truth, given the chance to know it. Of course you can find truth, or the best version of it, elsewhere on many sites, if you know where to look (see the Favorites sidebars and the origin links on articles), and I hope you're doing that.

I can only speak to what you'll find here. Please, don't come here expecting all sweetness and light, you'll be rudely disappointed. Anymore the blog article selection is really a threat-analysis and prioritization process, in hopes of keeping you informed about what's really happening behind the smoke screens and lies, and alerting you to imminent crises. We've run out of time, hence the sense of urgency. These things are upon us, they're here now, and you have an absolute right to know and understand how and why it's all happening as it is. That knowing may help you prepare, help you deal more effectively with inevitable changes we can do nothing about, may help you survive. But we will NOT go down without a fight! So, apologies for the sometimes grim article content, but that's real life, just how it really is, whether any of us like it or not. Stay informed, stay aware, and stay strong, always, never give up, and most of all thanks for stopping by!

- CP

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Kindred Spirits"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "Kindred Spirits"

"Once we sailed upon the seas. Now we sail among the stars. This song was composed as a tribute to our friend, harpist Hilary Stagg, who left us far too soon. Hilary loved the sea and he loved the stars."

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Few butterflies have a wingspan this big. The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often named for flowers or insects, and NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the central star of this particular planetary nebula is exceptionally hot though - shining brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust. 

 Click image for larger size.

This dramatically detailed close-up of the dying star's nebula was recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope soon after it was upgraded in 2009. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is near the center of this view, almost edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen has been detected in the hot star's dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111113.html