"When the Sky Is No More Than Remembered Light: Mark Strand Reads His Poignant Poem 'The End'”

"When the Sky Is No More Than Remembered Light:

Mark Strand Reads His Poignant Poem 'The End'”

- by Maria Popova

“Not every man knows what is waiting for him, or what he shall sing, 

when the ship he is on slips into darkness, there at the end.”

“It’s such a lucky accident, having been born, that we’re almost obliged to pay attention,” the Pulitzer-winning poet Mark Strand (April 11, 1934–November 29, 2014) observed in contemplating the artist’s task to bear witness to the universe. And yet this universe in which we live is predicated on impermanence, and the lucky accident of our existence is crowned with the certitude of its end from the start. Why, then, are we always so shocked by the finitude of all we hold dear and, above all, by our own mortality? Few are those who can say with sincerity, like Rilke did an exquisite 1923 letter, that “death is our friend precisely because it brings us into absolute and passionate presence with all that is here, that is natural, that is love.” Instead, we spend our lives shuddering at any reminder of our inevitable end, unsalved by the miracle of having lived at all.

Montaigne articulated the central paradox of being perfectly in 16th-century meditation on death and the art of living: “To lament that we shall not be alive a hundred years hence, is the same folly as to be sorry we were not alive a hundred years ago.” Still, lament we do, and some of our greatest art gives voice to that lamentation.

That paradox is what Strand explores with transcendent courage and curiosity in his poem “The End,” found in his "Collected Poems" (public library) - the trove of truth and beauty that gave us Strand’s love letter to dreams.

In this hauntingly beautiful recording, courtesy of The New York Public Library, an aged Strand reads his poignant poem shortly before he repaid his own debt to mortality:

"The End"

by Mark Strand

"Not every man knows what he shall sing at the end,

Watching the pier as the ship sails away, or what it will seem like

When he’s held by the sea’s roar, motionless, there at the end,

Or what he shall hope for once it is clear that he’ll never go back.

When the time has passed to prune the rose or caress the cat,

When the sunset torching the lawn and the full moon icing it down

No longer appear, not every man knows what he’ll discover instead.

When the weight of the past leans against nothing, and the sky

Is no more than remembered light, and the stories of cirrus

And cumulus come to a close, and all the birds are suspended in flight,

Not every man knows what is waiting for him, or what he shall sing

When the ship he is on slips into darkness, there at the end."

Complement with the lyrical "Duck, Death and the Tulip", Marcus Aurelius on mortality and the key to living fully, and the great Zen master Seung Sahn Soen-sa’s explanation of death and the life-force to a child, then revisit Strand’s celebration of clouds and everything they mean."

- https://www.brainpickings.org/

The Poet: Fitz-Greene Halleck, "Twilight"

"Twilight"

"There is an evening twilight of the heart,

When its wild passion-waves are lulled to rest,

And the eye sees life’s fairy scenes depart,

As fades the day-beam in the rosy west.

’Tis with a nameless feeling of regret

We gaze upon them as they melt away,

And fondly would we bid them linger yet,

But Hope is round us with her angel lay,

Hailing afar some happier moonlight hour;

Dear are her whispers still, though lost their early power.

In youth the cheek was crimsoned with her glow;

Her smile was loveliest then; her matin song

Was heaven’s own music, and the note of woe

Was all unheard her sunny bowers among.

Life’s little word of bliss was newly born;

We knew not, cared not, it was born to die,

Flushed with the cool breeze and the dews of morn,

With dancing heart we gazed on the pure sky,

And mocked the passing clouds that dimmed its blue,

Like our own sorrows then - as fleeting and as few.

And manhood felt her sway too - on the eye,

Half realized, her early dreams burst bright,

Her promised bower of happiness seemed nigh,

Its days of joy, its vigils of delight;

And though at times might lower the thunder-storm,

And the red lightnings threaten, still the air

Was balmy with her breath, and her loved form,

The rainbow of the heart was hovering there.

’Tis in life’s noontide she is nearest seen,

Her wreath the summer flower, her robe of summer green.

But though less dazzling in her twilight dress,

There’s more of heaven’s pure beam about her now;

That angel-smile of tranquil loveliness,

Which the heart worships, glowing on her brow;

That smile shall brighten the dim evening star

That points our destined tomb, nor e’er depart

Till the faint light of life is fled afar,

And hushed the last deep beating of the heart;

The meteor-bearer of our parting breath,

A moonbeam in the midnight cloud of death."

- Fitz-Greene Halleck

Full screen recommended.

Moody Blues, "The Sunset", "Twilight Time"

"What Is The Point?"

"What is the point? We assume that every time we do anything we know what the consequences will be, i.e., more or less what we intend them to be. This is not only not always correct. It is wildly, crazily, stupidly, cross-eyed-blithering-insectly wrong!"

- Douglas Adams, “The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide”

"Just Three Words"

"Life is the hyphen between matter and spirit."

- A.W. and J.C. Hare, "Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers," 1827

"Just Three Words"

by Paul Rosenberg

"The statement I’ll be making today is simple… very simple. Nonetheless, I think it’s of tremendous importance. It’s the type of thing that, if kept sufficiently in mind, can revise your mental universe. It’s the type of thing that makes me want to write, “Meditate on this at least once per day for several years.” This concept can not only revamp you, but could revamp humanity. So, here are those three words: Life reverses entropy. If that sounds too simple or not entirely clear, no problem; I’ll continue. (You can find lengthier discourses in our subscription letters.)

Entropy Versus Life: Entropy (a physics term) is the nature of all inanimate things: rocks, water, air, and so on. These all wind down and wear out eventually. Entropy breaks up concentrations of energy and things; it spreads them out till they are all dispersed and everything is a neutral and useless mass. All inanimate things eventually wind down and wear out. By themselves, they remain tied to entropy.

Living things, on the other hand, reverse entropy. A fruit tree, for example, takes in gasses from our atmosphere, light from the sun, minerals and water from the ground. Then it organizes, concentrates, and harmonizes them… and produces oranges, apples, and so on.

The same can be said for all living things. All of them take material from the entropic, inanimate world and concentrate it, making it useful. This is what life does. And more than the “characteristics of life” we were forced to memorize and repeat in school, this is the nature of life. Truth be told, it should be taught as the central observation of life: Life is recognized by its reversal of entropy.

Mere matter does not organize itself. Life, on the other hand, continues itself only by concentrating, organizing, and productively using mere matter. (There are certain crystals that seem to grow. Properly, however, they accrete rather than grow.)

Plants and animals reverse entropy very effectively. Each, however, is able to reverse entropy in certain ways, but not others. Mankind is the great exception; we can reverse entropy willfully. We choose how we will reverse entropy, and we can choose more and newer ways, seemingly without end… or we can evade such choices.

In this way the old idea of mankind being superior to the beasts is entirely correct; there is nothing on this planet that is remotely like us. We really are “the crown of creation.”

Back to the Three Words: If all of this is true or even just substantially true, there are huge implications:

ͦ  If life is the thing that lies at the center of usefulness and survival (entropy would eventually erase all usefulness and survival), then the function, growth, and positive evolution of life, especially of human life, is a cardinal value… the cardinal value.

ͦ   And if this is so, the restraint of life must be considered a cardinal offense.

ͦ  The subjugation of life and its actions to man-made rules – whether sold as “the wisdom of the ancients,” “the voice of the people,” or whatever – becomes a mass transgression against the functions of life, and thus a transgression against both survival and thriving.

If the three words are true – or anywhere close to true – a great many things are opened to being questioned, and thus to being improved. And so again, I think this is a concept worth holding in your mind and examining over protracted periods of time."

- https://freemansperspective.com/

Freely download "Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers," 

by A.W. and J.C. Hare, here:

- https://ia904500.us.archive.org/

The Daily "Near You?"

Saint Charles, Illinois, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Judge Napolitano, "INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern: Weekly Wrap"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 6/21/24

"INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern: Weekly Wrap"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

Full screen recommended.

Time Of India, 6/22/24

"Israel On High Alert As Hezbollah 

May Launch 'Large-Scale Attack'"

"Latest media reports suggest a massive large-scale attack by Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Israel. According to reports, Hezbollah chief Nasrallah is fearing pre-emptive attack by Israeli Defense Forces and hence is planning to initiate large-scale attack beyond the recent activities."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Times Now, 6/22/24

"What's Hezbollah's 'Grand Welcome' Plan For IDF 

If Israel Attacks Lebanon In Full-Blown War?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The Poet: John Donne, "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

"For Whom the Bell Tolls"

"No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee."

- John Donne

"Mankind's Favorite Pastime..."

Full screen recommended.

Steve Cutts, "A Brief Disagreement"

"A visual journey into mankind's

favorite pastime throughout the ages."

o

"War"

"War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces. Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant suffering and casualties. While some war studies scholars consider war a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, others argue it is a result of specific socio-cultural, economic, or ecological circumstances.

The earliest evidence of prehistoric warfare is a Mesolithic cemetery in Jebel Sahaba, which has been determined to be about 13,400 years old. About forty-five percent of the skeletons there displayed signs of violent death, specifically traumatic bone lesions.

Since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has occurred over much of the globe. Estimates for total deaths due to war vary wildly. For the period 3000 BCE until 1991, estimates range from 145 million to 2 billion. In one estimate, primitive warfare prior to 3000 BCE has been thought to have claimed 400 million victims based on the assumption that it accounted for the 15.1% of all deaths. For comparison, an estimated 1,680,000,000 people died from infectious diseases in the 20th century."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War

Human nature...We just can't help ourselves, can we? And now the totally insane psychopaths in charge are determined to get us all killed in a world-destroying nuclear war. There's something profoundly, tragically wrong with human DNA...

"Russia May be Forced to Launch a Nuclear Attack Preemptively"

"I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

- Vishnu, Bhagavad-Gita

o

Full screen recommended.

Hindustan Times, 6/22/24

"Putin’s Nuke Warning After Biden Allows Ukraine 

To Hit Deep Inside Russia: 'Use All Means Available’"

"Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will upgrade its nuclear arsenal. Addressing graduates from Russian military institutions, Putin also threatened to use all means available to defend itself should the state's existence be at stake. Putin's warning came after the US allowed Ukraine to use American weapons to strike Russian targets across the frontline." 

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Prof. John Mearsheimer, 6/21/24

"Russia May be Forced to Launch a 

Nuclear Attack Preemptively"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Annie Jacobsen and Lex Fridman, 4/23/24

"How A Nuclear War Starts: 

Second-by-Second Timeline"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Nuclear War Expert Annie Jacobsen, 5/13/24

"The First 20 Minutes of a 

Nuclear Attack Looks Like This"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Annie Jacobsen, 3/12/24

"Why Our Nuke Interceptor Missiles Won't 

Save Us From a Nuclear Holocaust"

"Annie Jacobsen is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author. Her newest book "Nuclear War: A Scenario" looks deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment & is based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, have been privy to the response plans, and have been responsible for those decisions should they have needed to be made."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

"The Devastating True Scale of Nuclear Weapons"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! USA Is Going To War! Russia 'Gave Advanced Nuclear Missile' To N. Korea!"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 6/21/24

"Alert! USA Is Going To War! 

Russia 'Gave Advanced Nuclear Missile' To N. Korea!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "We're In Massive Trouble And You Know It; US Economy On Life Support"

Jeremiah Babe, 6/21/24

"We're In Massive Trouble And You Know It; 

US Economy On Life Support"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Inner Light"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "Inner Light"

"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 Great Stagger"

"The Great Stagger"

by The Zman

"One of the curious things about the Roman Empire is how it managed to stagger on for so long after the second century. The third century is actually called The Crisis of the Third Century, because the empire was in chaos. Yet, the empire managed to get through that period and carry on for roughly two more centuries. In time, Historians will probably puzzle over the same question regarding America. How is it that it staggers on despite the obvious problems?

A popular theme in science fiction is one where the human explorers stumble upon alien technology and they are baffled as to what it does. It’s not that they know the purpose but cannot figure out how to make it work. It’s that they don’t understand the purpose of the technology. The implication is that the aliens were so advanced that they were creating tools to solve problems humans have yet to contemplate. The gap between the aliens and humans is so great that it cannot be bridged.

It is a useful thing to keep in mind when thinking about the modern world. The evidence is pretty good that Western man is dumber than his ancestors. We have more overall knowledge than our ancestors, but our ability to add to it is in sharp decline along with our ability to use it. The people in charge now struggle to do the basics of government, like maintain order and the infrastructure. In America, streets are crumbling and there are regular power failures in parts of the country.

A good small-scale example is the city of Baltimore. All of the machinery that was put in place back when it was an important city is still in place. The people running that machinery today are not doing so well. They clearly lack the intellectual firepower to operate that machinery. Baltimore is one of the most dangerous cities in the world and it is suffering from a steady population decline. The political class is so incompetent they can’t even run the graft system properly.

This was all true before the Covid panic. One thing that kept Baltimore afloat was the tourist and sports industry. In the summer, tourists would come to the well-guarded inner harbor. People from the surrounding areas would come in for sports games and the surrounding restaurants. All of that was shuttered by the panic, which means the tens of millions in tax dollars never arrived. Then there was the cost of the Covid panic itself, which had further crippled the city administration.

When you look at many American cities like Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, Newark and so on, the question is not “How did they get to this point?” The question is, “How have they not collapsed by now?” Part of it, of course, is the surrounding infrastructure that keeps them propped up. In the case of Baltimore, the rest of the state is taxed to keep Baltimore City government going. Federal dollars pour in to keep the cops on the streets and the schools open for business.

That’s fine for cities, but that cannot work for the country as a whole. Like those cities, the national government is increasing incompetent. Both official political parties are in such steep decline that the next election will offer a choice between another carny barker and a certified dementia patient. The sober minded will always feels as if the current age sits on the shoulder’s of giants, but the gap between the best we have today and just a few generations ago is breathtaking.

Of course, no one can really know what is happening. The media told us over 50 million people were thrown out of work due to the panic. The empty streets seem to confirm it, but they also tell us unemployment is below 10%. The stock market has returned to the levels it was at before the panic. The media also tells us that the riots we saw were a figment of our imagination. How can anything work when no one can be sure of anything being told to them by the rulers?

Like Rome for close to three centuries, America staggers on, despite the problems and the decline of the ruling class. In the case of Rome, there was no organized force capable of toppling her. In the case of America, the global order assumes America will be the pivot point, the fulcrum on which order balances. As long as people are being fed and have shelter, they will not rise up to challenge the rulers. Like Rome, the great stagger will continue until the corpse of the empire collapses."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

The Poet: Robert Frost, “Acceptance”

“Acceptance”

“When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud

And goes down burning into the gulf below,

No voice in nature is heard to cry aloud

At what has happened.

Birds, at least must know

It is the change to darkness in the sky.

Murmuring something quiet in her breast,

One bird begins to close a faded eye;

Or overtaken too far from his nest,

Hurrying low above the grove, some waif

Swoops just in time to his remembered tree.

At most he thinks or twitters softly, ‘safe!’

Now let the night be dark for all of me.

Let the night be too dark for me to see

Into the future. Let what will be, be.”

- Robert Frost

A Timely Repost: “Neuroscience Says Listening to This Song Reduces Anxiety by Up to 65 Percent”

Full screen highly recommended.

“Neuroscience Says Listening to This Song

Reduces Anxiety by Up to 65 Percent”

By Melanie Curtin

“Everyone knows they need to manage their stress. When things get difficult at work, school, or in your personal life, you can use as many tips, tricks, and techniques as you can get to calm your nerves. So here’s a science-backed one: make a playlist of the 10 songs found to be the most relaxing on earth. Sound therapies have long been popular as a way of relaxing and restoring one’s health. For centuries, indigenous cultures have used music to enhance well-being and improve health conditions.

Now, neuroscientists out of the UK have specified which tunes give you the most bang for your musical buck. The study was conducted on participants who attempted to solve difficult puzzles as quickly as possible while connected to sensors. The puzzles induced a certain level of stress, and participants listened to different songs while researchers measured brain activity as well as physiological states that included heart rate, blood pressure, and rate of breathing.

According to Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson of Mindlab International, which conducted the research, the top song produced a greater state of relaxation than any other music tested to date. In fact, listening to that one song- “Weightless”- resulted in a striking 65 percent reduction in participants’ overall anxiety, and a 35 percent reduction in their usual physiological resting rates. That is remarkable.

Equally remarkable is the fact the song was actually constructed to do so. The group that created “Weightless”, Marconi Union, did so in collaboration with sound therapists. Its carefully arranged harmonies, rhythms, and bass lines help slow a listener’s heart rate, reduce blood pressure and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

When it comes to lowering anxiety, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Stress either exacerbates or increases the risk of health issues like heart disease, obesity, depression, gastrointestinal problems, asthma, and more. More troubling still, a recent paper out of Harvard and Stanford found health issues from job stress alone cause more deaths than diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or influenza.

In this age of constant bombardment, the science is clear: if you want your mind and body to last, you’ve got to prioritize giving them a rest. Music is an easy way to take some of the pressure off of all the pings, dings, apps, tags, texts, emails, appointments, meetings, and deadlines that can easily spike your stress level and leave you feeling drained and anxious.

Of the top track, Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson said, “‘Weightless’ was so effective, many women became drowsy and I would advise against driving while listening to the song because it could be dangerous.” So don’t drive while listening to these, but do take advantage of them:

10. “We Can Fly,” by Rue du Soleil (Café Del Mar)

9. “Canzonetta Sull’aria,” by Mozart

8. “Someone Like You,” by Adele

7. “Pure Shores,” by All Saints

6. “Please Don’t Go,” by Barcelona

5. “Strawberry Swing,” by Coldplay

4. “Watermark,” by Enya

3. “Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix),” by DJ Shah

2. “Electra,” by Airstream

1. “Weightless,” by Marconi Union

I made a public playlist of all of them on Spotify that runs about 50 minutes (it’s also downloadable).”

- http://www.stumbleupon.com/

"A Tale Told By An Idiot.."

○

Freely download "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" here:

- https://www.holybooks.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"It's Never Too Late..."

 

"If Nuclear War Happens, The WEST Will Be Responsible For Starting It"

Health Ranger Report, 6/20/24

"Author And Geopolitical Analyst Andrei Martyanov: 

If Nuclear War Happens, The WEST Will Be Responsible For Starting It"

View video on Brighteon here:

- https://www.brighteon.com/

"Honey Badgers"

"Honey Badgers"

Full screen recommended.

"Scott Ritter has humorously described the Yemeni Houthis as "the honey badgers of the Middle East, absolutely fearless and relentlessly ferocious." They just simply don't care. They've declared war on Israel while all the other Muslim states except Algeria just talk, and daily send missiles and drones to attack Israel and attack any ships connected to Israel in any way. They totally control the 12 mile wide Bab-el-Mandab ("Gate of Grief") strait connecting the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, which transits 40% of the world's oil. Closing that is having catastrophic consequences on global economies, and the Houthis know it. And so it is..."

"Honey Badger Takes Savagery to a Whole New Level"

"Honey badgers are the Italian mafia of the animal kingdom. No one, and I mean no one, wants to mess with these savages. They literally woke up and chose violence on the daily. They are regarded as the most fearless animal in the wild and they back that up every day, all while looking like a ferret on steroids.

Honey badgers woke up and chose violence. They'll combat anything from lions, leopards, hyenas and even cobras and pythons. But how did they become so fearless? How do these compact sized danger-weasels take on the deadliest predators like it was a regular Sunday’s brunch with the girls? These are moments of honey badgers being straight up savages. Let's get into it."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Mahmood OD, 6/21/24

"Yemen Isn’t Playing: 

You Deal With Israel, You Pay The Price"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com

"Collapse: Fast Food Chains Close Down By The Thousands Across The U.S., Restaurant Industry Is Cooked"

"Collapse: Fast Food Chains Close Down By The

Thousands Across The U.S., Restaurant Industry Is Cooked"

Benny Johnson, 6/20/24

View video on Rumble here:

- https://rumble.com/

"How It Really Is"

“The only difference between the Republican and Democratic

parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when

corporations knock on their door. That’s the only difference.”

- Ralph Nader

Gregory Mannarino, "The Worldwide Economic Freefall Accelerates, And This Is What's Coming"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 6/21/24

"The Worldwide Economic Freefall Accelerates, 

And This Is What's Coming"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "Black Swans Are All Around Us"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 6/21/24

"Black Swans Are All Around Us"

"Joining me today is Jack, the CEO of Patriot Gold, and we're breaking down the latest economic chaos, from spiraling inflation and consumer confidence plummeting to the US dollar losing its grip as the world's reserve currency. With the economy in shambles and inflation hitting new highs, it's crucial to prepare for what's coming. Are we already in a recession? How Many Black Swans are coming. It's a Flock of Black Swans. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and other financial giants seem to think so. "

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up for 6/21/24"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up for 6/21/24"

War, Financial Collapse & CV19 Vax Awakening Close

by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Russia has a small fleet off the east coast of the United States. This includes a couple of armed submarines that have state-of-the-art nuclear weapons. These weapons can be launched from under the sea. Now, there is major pushback in Congress about how reckless the Biden Administration has been with arming the Ukrainians with long range missiles and then giving them the go-ahead to shoot them into Russia. Senator JD Vance is sounding the alarm and charges President Biden with “actively endangering our national security” with his new missile policy. How long will Russia allow the U.S., and its proxy Ukraine, to shoot missiles into the Russian mainland? Is it not fair for Russia to shoot missiles into the U.S.? If this is not bad enough, Congress has just passed a bill to register young people for the draft - including women! Tell me we are not close to global war. Keep voting Democrat.

The latest problem to pop up in the shaky global economy is a deeply troubled big bank in Japan that has to raise cash by selling off $63 billion in U.S. Treasuries. Will other banks front-run this trade and cause a cascade of bond selling? How about the 63 banks, earlier this month, that the FDIC said are in financial trouble? These insolvent U.S. banks have more than half a trillion dollars in sour debt. What makes it even more scary is the FDIC will not name the 63 troubled banks. What you are seeing are all the warning signs of a financial collapse. It’s coming, and it’s only a matter of time before the support is knocked out from under these insolvent banks. The question is how much time do we have? Financial writer Bill Holter says, “not much.” He will explain on Saturday.

The deaths and injuries from the CV19 bioweapon vax injections are not waning; they are getting worse each passing week. People continue to “die suddenly” and get heart disease and cancer at an alarming rate. This includes many young people and children who have been CV19 vaxed. Now, there is a new problem. Sky-high bills to go along with sky-high cancer rates. The bills are so extreme, even if you have insurance, you can be financially ruined. Yet another effect of the CV19 bioweapon vax murder and disability attack on “We the People.” Now, a new lawsuit is being filed by the Kansas AG against Pfizer for fraud, and four other states are jumping in, too. Pfizer has 63% of the CV19 vax market. Is this legal action finally going to wake up America to the crimes of the CV19 bioweapon attack that is still ongoing? There is more in the 53-minute newscast."

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these

 stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 6/21/24:

- https://rumble.com/

"The Sage of Baltimore”

"H.L. Mencken, the “Sage of Baltimore” was born in 1880 and is regarded by many as one of the most influential American journalists, essayists, and writers of the early 20th century. To recognize the great political writer here are 12 of my favorite Mencken quotes:

1. Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

2. A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.

3. A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.

4. Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

5. Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.

6. Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

7. Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

8. Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

9. If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.

10. For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.

11. The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

12. As democracy is perfected, the office of the president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

- https://www.brainyquote.com/

And these days...

"Every normal man must be tempted, at times,

 to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." 

- H. L. Mencken

Jim Kunstler, "A Door Closes, A Window Opens"

"A Door Closes, A Window Opens"

by Jim Kunstler

“Almost every headline and what passes as

 ‘news’ in the United States, is a cry for help.” 

-  Karen Kwiatkowski

"Now that the gunplay and colorful flash-mobbery of Juneteenth has concluded, it’s on to next week’s big debate between the two major party candidates - if debate is even the right description for what is more like a joint press conference conducted by one candidate’s PR firm. What does the reality-starved public think it will see? Probably anything but a fair fight.

It’s hard to imagine what possessed “Joe Biden” to decide this was a good idea for him (unless he wasn’t the decider). Since we’re in an era of archetypal psychodrama, the event looks more like a ritual sacrifice. His recent public performances have been, shall we say, less than reassuring in both utterance and physical poise. He comes off as Captain Queeg meets Mr. Magoo. So, you have to wonder if some ancient tropism-of-the-mind steers him to certain destruction, egged on by those of his own faction who will benefit from his exit.

The sordid spectacle of the Alvin Bragg prosecution has backfired spectacularly as even the president’s own cheerleaders begin to perceive the frightful dishonesty of a politicized DOJ that could just as easily be turned on them. Rachel Maddow and Joy Behar rehearsed their persecution fantasies for all to see on air this week - and, of course, and as usual, it was a sheer psychological projection of what their own party has been up to for eight long years.

One supposes that “Joe Biden” will follow exactly that script next Thursday, as he accuses Mr. Trump of being “a dictator,” Adolf Hitler 2.0, seeking to use the levers of power to terrorize the defenders of democracy. It’s hard to see how he might get away with that. All Mr. Trump has to do is aver to the long list of malicious prosecutions, including the ones aimed at himself, launched lately against “JB’s” opponents. And he might throw in the regime’s lust to suppress free speech and truth itself - as in the Hunter Biden laptop monkey-business and hiding the facts around the Covid-19 fiasco.

Speaking of which, this would be the best opportunity for Mr. Trump to come clean, if he can, about his role in the mRNA vaccine roll-out that has now morphed into what looks like the biggest disaster in modern medicine. It appears obvious that, as president, Mr. Trump was buffaloed by “the experts” in a culture that worships expertise. How exactly would he have opposed the White House Coronavirus Task Force headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci? And backed by the combined forces of the CDC, the FDA, the NIAID, the NIH, and every medical board from sea to shining sea? Should he have just said, Nah, we’re not gonna do that? I don’t think so. But there won’t a better moment, or a bigger audience, to explain how all that actually worked, and went wrong.

Since Mr. Trump’s temperament has drawn the most intense objurgation from his detractors, the easiest thing he can do in this debate is just mind his manners, and not allow himself to be baited or taunted. The roster of “Joe Biden’s” failures is so deep that all Mr. Trump has to do is remind the audience what they well-know adds up to an apparently deliberate to wreck the nation: the open border and the growing record of atrocious crimes committed by illegal aliens plus the immense anxiety about the intentions of jihadists and other nefarious foreigners ushered in by Homeland Security; the idiocy of our role in the Ukraine War and how easily the conflict could be concluded by willing negotiation; the cratering on-the-ground economy of goods and services (minus government hand-outs, bail-outs, subsidies, and statistical shell games); the out-of-control Deep State intel blob that is eating away at our basic liberties; the insane race-and-gender hustles aimed at sowing hatred and disordering normal modes of human relations; and much more that has been done to insult and humiliate the people of this land.

In short, the record of “Joe Biden” and the claque behind him is unequaled for demolition of our national principles, institutions, traditions, and aspirations, and if it’s not already plain to see all around you, Mr. Trump is in a position to calmly make the case next Thursday night without resorting to any histrionics. There will also be opportunities for him to use the old Muhammad Ali “Rope-a-Dope” play on “Joe Biden.” Let the old grifter start yapping “convicted felon” and Mr. Trump can offer a review of the many cash gifts from foreign entities received into Hunter Biden’s dozen or so shell corporations, with a recitation of bank records, deal memos, and testimony-under-oath already in evidence, with hearings still ongoing.

There’s also the fair chance that, despite the Adderall lighting up what’s left in his brain-pan, “Joe Biden” will quickly melt down altogether into a pathetic, gibbering zombie, spouting inanities about his Uncle Brosey amongst the cannibals, his victory over the arch-villain Corn Pop, his conquest of Mt. Everest side by side with Xi Jinping, his growing-up Latinx and Jewish in Scranton, PA, his rescuing Martin Luther King from a mob of Ku Kluxers and... well ... the nabobs of the Democratic Party will finally have what they’re longing for: the excuse to dump this perfect ass of a fake president and throw the window wide open for Hillary Clinton to fly in on her leathery wings (Caw! Caw!) and lead the dwindling number of her deranged admirers to another humiliating election loss.

What does this party have to run on besides the utterly empty, mendacious battle cry about saving our democracy? It offers nothing but ruin. The debate might even spell the death of the party itself. Oh, but also don’t rule out “Joe Biden” canceling at the last moment. Reasons."

- https://kunstler.com/

The full name of Kunstler's website is so absolutely true...