"Anyway..."

“People are often unreasonable,
Illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
You will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
People may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
Someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
Others may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
People will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
And it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
It is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway."

- Mother Teresa

"There's Some Good In The World..."

"It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till."

- J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Lord of the Rings”

Sam: "It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing, this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."

- Samwise Gamgee,

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"

"11 Things Everyone Needs You to Know"

"11 Things Everyone Needs You to Know"

by Marc

"A silhouette of a human being stands before you. Perhaps an old friend. Perhaps a neighbor. Perhaps a perfect stranger, like me. Here are 11 things we all need you to keep in mind…

1. You never really know how much the people around you are hurting. You could be standing next to someone who is completely broken inside and you wouldn’t even know it. So never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have. And remember that there are two ways to spread light in this world: You can either be a flame of hope, or a mirror that reflects it. Be one of the two every chance you get.

2. The most important trip you will likely take in life is meeting others half way. You will achieve far more by working with people, rather than against them. Giving someone else a voice, and showing them that their ideas matter, will have a long-lasting, positive impact on the both of you.

3. Relationships don’t create happiness, they reflect it. Happiness is an inside job. Relationships are simply the mirrors of your happiness; they reflect it and help you celebrate it. They are mirrors because they are a perfect reflection of your thoughts and beliefs. To reflect means to encourage you when you feel weak and challenge you when you feel strong, thereby returning you to your center. And to celebrate is to share the natural ease and joy of living from your center – of living in the now with clarity.

4. Compassion comes back around. The son who tends to his chronically ill mother, ignoring his own exhaustion; the neighbor who gives a helping hand, even as his own needs go unanswered; the one who donates a couple dollars to someone in need, even if she has to break her last five dollar bill to do it. Maybe you don’t hear the names of these unsung heroes in the news, but surely the universe hears their names and treats them accordingly.

5. Timing is everything. There is a time for silence, a time to let go and allow your friends to launch themselves into their own destiny, and a time to cheer for their victories, or help them pick up the pieces, when it’s all over.

6. Actions are the loudest form of communication. What you do speaks so loud that others will have a hard time hearing what you say. So practice what you preach or don’t preach at all – walk the talk. And remember that there is often a major gap between what someone says and what they do. Characterize people by their actions and you will never be fooled by their words.

7. A healthy relationship keeps the doors and windows open. Plenty of air is circulating and no one feels trapped. Relationships thrive in this environment. Keep your doors and windows open. If a person is meant to be in your life, all the open doors and windows in the world won’t make them leave.

8. People are more what they keep silent than what they say. Pay attention to their quiet gestures. If you cannot understand someone’s silence, you will have a hard time understanding their words.

9. What others say and do is often based entirely on their own self-reflection. When you have people speaking to you who are angry and upset, and you nevertheless remain very present and continue to treat them with kindness and respect, you place yourself in a position of great power You become a means for the situation to be graciously diffused and healed. A Zen teacher once said, “When somebody backs themselves into a corner, look the other way until they get themselves out; and then act as though it never happened.” Allowing people to save face in this way, and not reminding them of what they already know is not their most intelligent behavior, is an act of great kindness. This is possible when we realize that people behave in such ways because they are in a place of great suffering. People react to their own thoughts and feelings and their behavior often has nothing directly to do with you.

10. Sincerity is giving without expectation. Good character and true friendship is all about how a person nurtures another person who is vulnerable and can give nothing in return. So when you have been through tough times and come out the other side, look around you. The people still standing beside you are your true friends.

11. Not every relationship is meant to last forever. Some people aren’t meant to stay in your life. Some people are just passing through to bring you something – perhaps a lesson you need to learn, or memory that makes you smile years later. When the time comes, it’s okay to let go and move on with your life."

- http://www.marcandangel.com/

The Poet: Maya Angelou, “Alone”

“Alone”

“Lying, thinking

Last night

How to find my soul a home,

Where water is not thirsty

And bread loaf is not stone.

I came up with one thing

And I don't believe I'm wrong,

That nobody,

But nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone,

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires

With money they can't use,

Their wives run round like banshees,

Their children sing the blues.

They've got expensive doctors

To cure their hearts of stone,

But nobody,

No, nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone,

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely

I'll tell you what I know...

Storm clouds are gathering,

The wind is gonna blow.

The race of man is suffering,

And I can hear the moan,

'Cause nobody,

But nobody,

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone,

Nobody, but nobody,

Can make it out here alone.” 

- Maya Angelou

The Daily "Near You?"

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Thanks for stopping by!

"What Others Think About You Is None Of Your Business"

"What Others Think About You 

Is None Of Your Business"

by Lisa Rose Lodeski

"What others think about you is none of your business is the best advice I ever received and here’s why. If you Google it, a bunch of names come up as the author of this statement. It seems like everybody wants to claim this one as theirs. It’s that good. A game changer. A bolt of empowerment.

Other ways to say it are: What others think of me is none of my business. What you think about me is none of my business.

Sounds harsh at first, doesn’t it? That’s because you may not be comprehending it’s true meaning. Sometimes when I lay that phrase on some ears, I get a quizzical look. The insecure think they’ve been insulted. Control freaks feel challenged, and I get that “how dare you” stance complete with hand-on-the-hip pose. Somehow in some brains, the words are perceived as identical to “…none of your business”. Oh that rolls off the tongue with no problem so often that it’s become the default for anything that sounds like it. But, this statement is different, it’s “…none of MY business”. Personal responsibility is present, not blame. No defense required. When I explain how and why I use this statement, thankfully, more lights go on than off and sparks fly around the person with whom I share this teaching followed by the words, “wow, that’s empowering”. Exactly!

Understanding the meaning and power of this statement changed my life. I’m so happy I figured this one out years ago. I know it will transform or change your life for the better when you understand it, believe it, and use it, too.

Let’s clear up any confusion first. Read this and let it soak in for a minute: What you, he/she, they think about me is none of my business. Does this mean that you shouldn’t care about other people? NO! Not at all. It means that you should stop caring about what other people THINK of you. Is that the same thing? NO! Not even close. Is there anyone whose thoughts of you deserve your concern? NO!

There may be a few people in your life who you trust, who are very close to you (or maybe just trusted), whose opinions you respect. However, what they think of you is still none of your business. With one exception which I’ll talk about down the page.

The reason why “what others think about you is none of your business” is because YOU are here on the planet, in your current incarnation, to experience YOUR journey by creating a life that is driven by an AUTHENTIC YOU. I believe our purpose, here on Earth, is to live truly to truly live. We can’t do that when we are concerned about what others might think of us. We can’t do that when we change our behavior, alter our priorities, create reactions and responses, or transform ourselves to please or suit the whims or ideas of others.

When you care about what others think of you, YOU GIVE YOUR POWER AWAY. You effectively disempower yourself. Wondering, worrying or being concerned about what others think of you is the number one reason why people experience stress, anxiety, and fear. And that leads to dis-ease in many forms.

You are in alignment with your divine purpose, your soul purpose, your reason for Being, when you are operating on 100% of your own power. You can’t do that if you are giving it away. Everyone on the planet needs you operating 100% on the POWER OF YOU! Why? Because… "You are an experience that changes other people’s lives." – Julie Newmar, Facebook, 2016. I couldn’t have said it better myself! Julie Newmar was the original Catwoman character in the Batman TV show in the 1960’s for those of you who don’t recognize the name. The quote above is just one sentence from a post she had written on Facebook last year that I just loved called Who Are You?.

“WHO ARE YOU?

I am beauty. What are you? My presentation, walk, voice, demeanor, how I treat people is one of beauty. You could say, it is why I am here. According to my mother and grandmother, the first word I said as a baby was “boo … de … fuh” (beautiful), a three syllable word!!! Everyone brings something desirable, wondrous, to this world. Do you know what that is for you? Your reason for being, what you stand and are admired for, why you are special? What you chose to give this world?

Via the incidents and history that created you, YOU are somebody – much more than you’ve given yourself credit for. You are an experience that changes other people’s lives. So, the revelation in living your life should fill you with courage to keep on perfecting your talents and make what you possess, what you do, better and better. Your goal – is the betterment of you. Therefore, LIVE your gift. Facebook reveals us to ourselves, it is a raw and insightful report card. As Charles McDonald, a YouTube fan curtly wrote to me: “Cream dream babe for all time!” I like it.” – Julie Newmar, Facebook, 2016.

No one in the Universe is just like you. No one has the combination of divine energy and power that you have! When you give your power away, by worrying about what others think of you, you cheat yourself, and us, of the full experience of the TRUE YOU. Instead, we get a little of you and a bunch of someone else’s expectations of you.

When we care about what others think of us, we create an inauthentic version of ourselves: For the purpose of receiving approval; That ends up being projected out into the Universe and reflected back at us; To try to control what others think about us. It’s like going through life with a bunch of masks in your bag and wearing the one that pleases the person in front of you so that they will THINK positively about you and approve of you. Is this you? If so, STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

Here’s why! Everything you THINK has energy. When you are concerned about what another person thinks of you, you send THAT energy out in to the Universe. The Universe receives it as an order from you, just like ordering a burger at a restaurant, and voila! You instantly begin to get more of whatever you were thinking. So, in the end, you receive MORE people and situations in your life that want you to worry about what they think of you.

Sometimes it’s you placing this trauma and drama on yourself. Sometimes it’s people around you who create this drama. Who are these people? What are they like? How can you identify them? The people who want you to be concerned about what they think of you may seem like very nice people on the outside, but what you’ll likely feel at some point with them is a negative vibe or straight-up negative zap. Maybe it will arrive as pressure on you to conform to their way of thinking or to do things their way. Maybe the negativity comes at you as a back-handed compliment, or a good laugh where you are the butt of the joke, again. Often this person is skillfully manipulative in ways that easily push your buttons, and that’s how they exercise control over you.

No, they don’t have to tie you up. They just have to tongue tie you up so you doubt yourself for a minute or concede rather than stand in your own power. If and when you don’t conform, or you resist, they may make fun of you. Or they may take it a step further and talk about you negatively to other people to create a gang mentality solely for the purpose of getting you to care about what they think! Or they may punish you with the all-purpose passive-aggressive treatment of silence. Or that oh-so-hip relationship zinger, the block or un-friending on social media!

These folks may be family members, long-time friends, your kids, your spouse, members of your clubs or groups, your co-workers. The experience may be so subtle that you miss it or dismiss it! What does it sound like when you cave and give in because you are concerned about what another person thinks of you? “Ok, yes, I’ll volunteer for the school play for the kids this year”, when you have no time or interest, is an example. You do it for fear that someone will think you are a “bad mom”, or “selfish”, or “not a team player”.

See how it works?

Paying attention to your body and how those feelings of dread come up when you are in a situation where you start to cave and conform to someone else’s expectations of you is your first sign that you are concerned about what another person will think of you. That’s the danger zone! Here’s why.

You are making their business, your business. Their business is to manipulate and control you on some level, and you are placing your energy into their business helping it to grow. Put another way, you are watering someone else’s garden while yours dries up. There is a way to break that pattern, empower yourself, and be relieved of the stress associated with it. All you need to do is change your perspective, and believe that: What others think about me is none of my business. The only person YOU need to be concerned about is YOU.

Again, this doesn’t mean that you don’t care about other people! It doesn’t mean that you are conceited, narcissistic, self-absorbed, or a bitch! It means that you aren’t going to allow what other think about you to disempower you. That’s it. Let them think what they want! Give them that gift by letting go of trying to control their thoughts of you with a performance. You need all of your energy to take care of you and create a life you love. Practically, worrying about what others think of you is exhausting. Mentally, emotionally, and maybe even physically. It’s a time waster. It’s a drama-creator. But most importantly, it prevents you from living authentically.

"The greatest fear in the world is the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom." – Osho

You are absolutely perfect as is, right now. You may have no idea how amazing you are! You may not be aware that your presence is effective. Somewhere, someone is so grateful to know you. I guarantee you that person has experienced the AUTHENTIC YOU.

Accepting this concept into your life creates big changes. Just altering your perception of yourself often will do the trick. But, sometimes, you may find yourself in a situation with someone who insists you’re this or that and wants you to care so deeply about what they think of you that you have to whip out your new statement like a mantra and say it out loud:

What You Think About Me Is None Of My Business

Sometimes these folks think about what you said, and it causes them more distress when they realize they’ve been short-changing themselves by trying so hard to get you to conform. And then they think about all the times they conformed. So much of our behavior is taught to us or absorbed by us from an early age, and it takes a lot of effort to catch yourself and break that chain.

Think about the people in your life, or an experience that you had where you caved and tried to please someone else. How did that feel? And think about a time when you stood in your power and didn’t care what another thought about you. How did that feel? Trust your feelings. They act as intuitive signs and symbols.

Is there a time that you tried to make someone care about what you thought of them? If you examine that closely, I believe you’ll find that you wanted something from them. Maybe it was something specific or maybe it was just to take some of their power away to make yourself feel better. There may be a few people in your life that you are close to, whose opinion of you matters.

What are these people like? They are people who have your back; love you; want the best for you; and give their opinion ONLY with the best thoughts of you in their heart. They may not agree with you, but you’d never know it because they have your interests first. Everybody else…none of your business, let ‘em go! The next time you find yourself in mixed company, and in a situation where there are people in the room who just don’t like you; who may need to make themselves feel better by putting you down; or maybe they don’t say anything but you feel the negative dart flying through the air at you. Put your shield up with this mantra:

WHAT YOU THINK OF ME IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS

It works wonders. It creates a strong boundary and empowers you! Simply be present and project your radiance outward from 100% Divine You."

- https://www.trulyliving.net/what-others-think/

“Allegory Of The Cave Updated”

“Allegory Of The Cave Updated”

by T4C

"Socrates: “Why do people think philosophy is bullsh*t? Let me put it this way - imagine you’re in a cave, all chained up so you can’t turn your body at all, and all you get to look at is this one wall. Some fools behind you are making shadow puppets using the light from a fire and making echo noises and that’s all you or anyone else chained up has seen or heard all your life. Sounds terrible, right? Except it’s all you’ve ever known, shadows and echoes, and that’s your whole world - there’s no way you could know that, really, you’re watching a slightly-improved M. Night Shyamalan film.

In fact, you get pretty good at understanding how the patterns in the show work, and everyone else chained up is like, ‘Holy sh*t bro, how did you know that that tree was going to fall on that guy?’ and you’re like, ‘It’s because I f*****g pay attention and I’m smart as sh*t.’ You’re the smartest of the chained, and they all revere you.”

Glaucon: “But Socrates, a tree didn’t really hit a guy. It’s all shadows.”

Socrates: “No sh*t, Glaucon, but you don’t know that. You think the shadows are real things. Everyone does. Now STFU and let me finish.

So eventually, someone comes and unchains you and drags you out of the cave. At first you’d say, ‘Seriously, what the f**k is going on?!’ Well, actually, at first you’d say, ‘HOLY SH*T MY EYES’ and you’d want to go back to the safe, familiar shadows.” But even once your eyes worked you wouldn’t believe them, because everything you ever thought was real is gone. You’d look at a tree, and say ‘That’s not a tree. I know trees. And you, sir, are no tree. THAT DOWN THERE is a tree.’ But you’re wrong. Down there is a shadow of a tree.

Slowly, as your eyes got better, you’d see more and more. Eventually, you’d see the sun, and realize that it’s the source of all light. You can’t see sh*t without the sun. And eventually, you’d figure it out. Something would click in your brain: ‘oh, sh*t, that IS a tree. F**k me. So… nothing in the cave was real? I feel like such an assh**e.’

But it’s not your fault, so don’t be so hard on yourself. Finally you’d want to go down and tell everyone about everything you’ve discovered. Except, and here’s the hilarious part, they think you’ve gone f*****g crazy.

You’d say, ‘Guys, real trees are green!’ and they’d say, ‘What the f**k is green? THAT is a tree over there.’ And you’d squint and look at the wall, but you know you’re f***ed because now you’re used to having sunlight, and now you can’t see sh*t. So they’d laugh at you, and agree that wherever it was that you went, no one should go there because it turns people into idiots.

Philosophy, same thing. The soul ascends and apprehends the forms, the nature of everything, and eventually the very Idea of Good that gives light to everything else. And then the philosopher has to go back to the cave and try to explain it to people who don’t even know what Green is, to say nothing of the Good. But the philosopher didn’t make up the Good, it was always there, and the only way to really make sense of it is to uncover it for yourself. You can’t force knowledge into a dumbass any more than you can force sight into a blind man.

So if you want to learn, be prepared for a difficult journey, and be prepared to make some mistakes. That’s okay, it’s all part of the process. True knowledge must be obtained the hard way, and some people just don’t want to see the light.”

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

Put another way...

"In 'The Republic', Plato imagines human beings chained for the duration of their lives in an underground cave, knowing nothing but darkness. Their gaze is confined to the cave wall, upon which shadows of the world are thrown. They believe these flickering shadows are reality. If, Plato writes, one of these prisoners is freed and brought into the sunlight, he will suffer great pain. Blinded by the glare, he is unable to seeing anything and longs for the familiar darkness. But eventually his eyes adjust to the light. The illusion of the tiny shadows is obliterated. He confronts the immensity, chaos, and confusion of reality. The world is no longer drawn in simple silhouettes. But he is despised when he returns to the cave. He is unable to see in the dark as he used to. Those who never left the cave ridicule him and swear never to go into the light lest they be blinded as well."

- Chris Hedges

"Crazy..."

"That's why crazy people are so dangerous. 

You think they're nice until they're chaining you up in the garage."

- Michael Buckley

"Anyone Who Isn't Confused..."

"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation."

- Edward R. Murrow

"How It Really Is"

 

"Just Because It's Accepted..."

 

"Kamala Harris' Proposed Price Controls May Lead To 'Communism, Mass Starvation, & End Of America'"

"Kamala Harris' Proposed Price Controls May Lead To 

'Communism, Mass Starvation, & End Of America'"

by Tyler Durden

"At a rally in North Carolina on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, unveiled her communist-style economic plan of 'price controls.' Her argument has been evil capitalism and corporations for rampant inflation, despite the reality that reckless government spending under her and President Biden is the primary driver of sky-high prices, particularly in the grocery store.

What's hilarious is that even Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell criticized VP Harris' economic plan to implement price controls to stop "price gouging" on groceries. "It's hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is," Rampell wrote. She titled the op-ed, "When your opponent calls you 'communist,' maybe don't propose price controls?"

On Saturday morning, Elon Musk reposted one food industry insider's step-by-step summary of what would happen if Harris' economic price control plan was implemented. Musk wrote, "Accurate conclusion (read the whole post)."

"I worked in M&A in the food industry," Robert Sterling wrote on X. He provided readers with a detailed step-by-step summary of what would happen:

1. The government announces that grocery retailers aren't allowed to raise prices.

2. Grocery stores, which operate on 1-2% net margins, can't survive if their suppliers raise prices. So the government announces that food producers (Kraft Heinz, ConAgra, Tyson, Hormel, et. al.) also aren't allowed to raise prices.

3. Not all grocery stores are created equal. Stores in lower-income areas make less money than those in higher-income areas, as the former disproportionately sell lower-margin prepackaged foods ("center of the store") instead of higher-margin fresh products like meat ("perimeter of the store"). Because stores in lower-income areas aren't able to cover overhead (remember, even if their wholesale costs are fixed, their labor, utilities, insurance, and other operating expenses aren't fixed… yet), grocery chains start to shut them down. Food deserts in rural areas and in low-income urban areas alike become worse.

4. Meanwhile, margins for food producers are also quickly eroding. Their primary costs (ingredients, energy, and labor) aren't fixed, and their shrinking gross profits leave less cash flow available to cover overhead, maintain facilities, and reinvest in additional production capacity.

5. Grocery chains, which have finite shelf space, start to repurpose their stores (those they didn't have to shut down, I should say) to sell more non-price-controlled items—everything from nutrition supplements to kitchenware to apparel—and less price-controlled food products. Your local Kroger or Safeway starts to look and feel more like a Walmart.

6. Food producers stop making products with lower margins. Grocery chain start competing with each other to secure inventory. Since they can't compete by offering stronger prices (remember, producers aren't allowed to raise prices here, and, even if they could, grocery chains no longer have the gross profit to bear price increases), they compete on things like payment terms.

7. Small grocery chains start to shut down entirely, or get sold to larger chains like Kroger. In addition to not being able to cover fixed costs, a major reason for this is because they can no longer reliably secure delivery of products, due to producers prioritizing sales to larger customers, which are able to leverage their stronger balance sheets to offer superior payment terms.

8. Smaller food producers—which typically sell via distributors, rather than directly to grocery chains—start to go out of business. Because these producers have an additional step their value chains, and because they have lower volumes over which to spread their fixed costs, their cost structure is inherently disadvantaged compared to major food producers. When grocery stores aren't able to raise prices, cutting product costs becomes all the more important, and deprioritizing purchases from smaller producers is an easy way to do so.

9. As supply chains break down, lines start to form outside grocery stores every morning. Cities assign police officers to patrol store parking lots, and food producers draft contingency plans to assign armed escorts to delivery trucks.

10. The federal government announces a program to issue block grants for states to purchase and operate shuttered grocery stores. The USDA also seizes closed-down production facilities.

11. The government announces that prices for all key food costs—corn, wheat, cattle, energy, etc.—are also now fixed, to stop "profiteers" from gouging the now-government-operated food industry.

Shockingly, the government struggles to operate one of the most complex industries on the planet. The entire food supply chain starts imploding. Communism, mass starvation, and the end of America quickly ensue. Accurate conclusion (read the whole post) https://t.co/E0JcF2lxoG— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2024

In a separate post, Sterling noted, "The impact on small rural communities would be terrible. I hate driving through small towns in the Midwest and seeing a DG next to a closed-down grocery store that operated from 1900 to 2018."

Really appreciate it, brother. And, to your point, the impact on small rural communities would be terrible. I hate driving through small towns in the Midwest and seeing a DG next to a closed-down grocery store that operated from 1900 to 2018.— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) August 17, 2024

Inflation is experienced at the grocery store, but always manufactured by the government. It's the same story every time. The politicians who create it by printing money, villainize and blame companies that have nothing to do with it — to distract from their reckless spending. https://t.co/EJkng1004Q— Cameron Winklevoss (@cameron) August 16, 2024

Hmm."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

The Real Economy, 8/18/24

"Grocery Prices Have Doubled! Fight Rising Food Prices!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "This is a Tinderbox Economy - History is About to Repeat"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 8/18/24

"This is a Tinderbox Economy - 

History is About to Repeat"

"Buckle up, folks! The "Tinderbox Economy: The Collapse is Imminent!" In today's video, I dive into the perilous state of our economy, where the smallest spark could ignite chaos. Mark Spitznagle's insights on the inverted yield curve signal a grim warning we've seen before every major recession. Is history about to repeat itself?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Alert! Moscow Doomsday Bunker Activates; Lebanon Total Blackout; USA Going To War"

Canadian Prepper, 8/18/24

"Alert! Moscow Doomsday Bunker Activates;

 Lebanon Total Blackout; USA Going To War"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up"

Paris from Hell, NATO Fights Russia, Bankrupt Economy

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

"The 2024 Olympics in Paris were straight out of Hell. What was being signaled was not just “woke” but a not-so-subtle public notice of how things were going to go for years to come. First off, they mocked the Last Supper and the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In doing so, they also mocked Jehovah because in John 3:16, it says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In the future, these wicked demonic globalists will give you a new god. It might be an alien they dream up or Artificial Intelligence (AI). Christians, especially, were put on notice to comply or die, and that is not over-the-top analysis. This is why Christ Jesus will come back.

The reporting says the Ukraine army is penetrating Russia all by itself, but that it not the case. Now, more than ever, NATO is deeply involved in the fighting INSIDE Russia. How long will Russia play along without attacking NATO on its soil. Be on guard as this fight in Ukraine is not heading for peace talks–just the opposite.

The new inflation numbers came out this week, and you would think that 2.9% inflation was a magic economic potion that has fixed the economy. The real inflation rate is much higher, and that is what the general public is feeling while trying to make ends meet. Nothing could be further from the truth. The 10-Year Treasury is still around 4%, and the 30-Year mortgage is 6.5%. Lending standards are tightening, and home prices are at or near all-time highs. This is not going to help the commercial real estate (CRE) market that is in deep debt trouble. On top of that, you are seeing thousands of companies filing for bankruptcy at a dramatically increasing rate from last year. The general economy looks like it’s bankrupt or headed that way. That is a stunning rebuke of how the economy is really doing. There is much more in the 49-minute newscast."

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about

 these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up.

- https://rumble.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Free Money And Handouts Will Destroy The U.S. Economy"

Jeremiah Babe, 8/17/24

"Free Money And Handouts

 Will Destroy The U.S. Economy"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

A 1968 Musical Interlude: Mason Williams, “Classical Gas”; Paul Mauriat, "Love Is Blue"

Mason Williams, “Classical Gas”

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Paul Mauriat, "Love Is Blue"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Beautiful Nebula discovered between the Balance [Libra] & the Serpent [Serpens]..." begins the description of the 5th entry in 18th century astronomer Charles Messier's famous catalog of nebulae and star clusters. Though it appeared to Messier to be fuzzy and round and without stars, Messier 5 (M5) is now known to be a globular star cluster, 100,000 stars or more, bound by gravity and packed into a region around 165 light-years in diameter. It lies some 25,000 light-years away. Roaming the halo of our galaxy, globular star clusters are ancient members of the Milky Way. 

Click image for larger size.

M5 is one of the oldest globulars, its stars estimated to be nearly 13 billion years old. The beautiful star cluster is a popular target for Earthbound telescopes. Of course, deployed in low Earth orbit on April 25, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has also captured its own stunning close-up view that spans about 20 light-years near the central region of M5. Even close to its dense core at the left, the cluster's aging red and blue giant stars and rejuvenated blue stragglers stand out in yellow and blue hues in the sharp color image.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150620.html

Chet Raymo, “The Journey”

“The Journey”

by Chet Raymo

"Here's a deep-deep sky map of the universe from the March 9, 2006 issue of Nature. The horizontal scale is a 360 view right around the sky; the vertical gaps at 6 hours and 24 hours are the parts of the universe that are blocked to our view by the disk of our own Milky Way Galaxy. The vertical scale - distance from Earth - is logarithmic (10, 100, 1000, etc.) measured in megaparsecs (a parsec equals 3.26 light-years). Across the top is the Big Bang, and the oldest and most distant thing we can see, the cosmic microwave background, the radiation of the Big Bang itself. A few relatively nearby galaxies are designated at the bottom. All that stuff in the middle that looks like smoke or dusty cobwebs are quasars and galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

A smoke of galaxies! (2 trillion galaxies according to latest estimates.- CP) A universe cobwebbed with Milky Ways! Each galaxy itself a smoke of stars, hundreds of billions of stars, many or all of them with planets. My book, "Walking Zero," is about the human journey from the omphalos of our birth into the world of the galaxies, a journey many of us are disinclined to make. Here is how the Prologue to the book begins:

"Each of us is born at the center of the world. For nine months our physical selves are assembled molecule by molecule, cell by cell, in the dark covert of our mother's womb. A single fertilized egg cell splits into two. Then four. Eight. Sixteen. Thirty-two. Ultimately, 50 trillion cells or so. At first, our future self is a mere blob of protoplasm. But slowly, ever so slowly, the blob begins to differentiate under the direction of genes. A symmetry axis develops. A head, a tail, a spine. At this point, the embryo might be that of a human, or a chicken, or a marmoset. Limbs form. Digits, with tiny translucent nails. Eyes, with papery lids. Ears pressed like flowers against the head. Clearly now a human. A nose, nostrils. Downy hair. Genitals.
 

As the physical self develops, so too a mental self takes shape, not yet conscious, not yet self-aware, knitted together as webs of neurons in the brain, encapsulating in some respects the evolutionary experience of our species. Instincts impressed by the genes. The instinct to suck, for example. Already, in the womb, the fetus presses its tiny fist against its mouth in anticipation of the moment when the mouth will be offered the mother's breast. The child will not have to be taught to suck. Other inborn behaviors will express themselves later. Laughing. Crying. Striking out in anger. Loving.
 

What, if anything, goes on in the mind of the developing fetus we may never know. But this much seems certain: To the extent that the emerging self has any awareness of its surroundings, its world is coterminous with itself. We are not born with knowledge of the antipodes, the plains of Mars, or the far-flung realm of the galaxies. We are not born with knowledge of Precambrian seas, the supercontinent of Pangea, or the Age of Dinosaurs. We are born into a world scarcely older than ourselves and scarcely larger than ourselves. And we are at its center.
 

A human life is a journey into the grandeur of a universe that may contain more galaxies than there are cells in the human body, a universe in which the whole of a human lifetime is but a single tick of the cosmic clock. The journey can be disorienting; our first instincts are towards coziness, comfort, our mother's enclosing arms, her breast. The journey, therefore, requires courage - for each individual, and for our species.
 

Uniquely of all animals, humans have the capacity to let our minds expand into the space and time of the galaxies. No other creatures can number the cells in their bodies, as we can, or count the stars. No other creatures can imagine the explosive birth of the observable universe 14 billion years ago from an infinitely hot, infinitely small seed of energy. That we choose to make this journey - from the all-sustaining womb into the vertiginous spaces and abyss of time - is the glory of our species, and perhaps our most frightening challenge.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"The World..."

“The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever;

but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter;

and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns.”

- George Santayana

"If You Want To See..."

"If you want to see how far we have not come from the cave and the woods, from the lonely and dangerous days of the prairie or the plain, witness the reaction of a modern suburban family, nearly ready for bed, when the doorbell rings or the door is rattled. They will stop where they stand, or sit bolt upright in their beds, as if a streak of pure lightning has passed through the house. Eyes wide, voices fearful, they will whisper to each other, "There's someone at the door," in a way that might make you believe they have always feared and anticipated this moment  - that they have spent their lives being stalked."

- Alice McDermott

Rodney Atkins, "If You're Going Through Hell"

Rodney Atkins, 

"If You're Going Through Hell"

"Well you know those times

When you feel like there's a sign there on your back.

Says I don't mind if ya kick me,

Seems like everybody has.

Things go from bad to worse.

You'd think they can't get worse than that,

And then they do.

You step off the straight and narrow

And you don't know where you are.

Use the needle of your compass

To sew up your broken heart.

Ask directions from a genie

In a bottle of Jim Beam,

And she lies to you.

That's when you learn the truth,

If you're going through Hell

Keep on going, don't slow down.

If you're scared, don't show it.

You might get out

Before the devil even knows you're there.

Well I been deep down in that darkness,

I been down to my last match.

Felt a hundred different demons

Breathing fire down my back.

And I knew that if I stumbled

I'd fall right into the trap that they were laying, yeah.

But the good news

Is there's angels everywhere out on the street,

Holding out a hand to pull you back upon your feet.

The one's that you been dragging for so long,

You're on your knees,

You might as well be praying.

Guess what I'm saying

If you're going through Hell

Keep on going, don't slow down.

If you're scared, don't show it,

You might get out

Before the devil even knows you're there.

Yeah, if you're going through Hell

Keep on moving, face that fire.

Walk right through it,

You might get out

Before the devil even knows you're ther.

If you're going through Hell

Keep on going, don't slow down,

If you're scared, don't show it.

You might get out

Before the devil even knows you're there.

Yeah, if you're going through Hell

Keep on moving, face that fire.

Walk right through it,

You might get out

Before the devil even knows you're there.

Yeah, you might get out

Before the devil even knows you're there.

Yeah..."

Songwriters: Annie Tate, Dave Berg, Sam Tate 

The Daily "Near You?"

Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. Thanks for stopping by.

Free Download: Howard Zinn, “A People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present”

"Since its original landmark publication in 1980, “A People’s History of the United States” has been chronicling American history from the bottom up. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, “A People’s History” is the only volume to tell America’s story from the point of view of - and in the words of - America’s women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country’s greatest battles - the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women’s rights, racial equality - were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus’s arrival through President Clinton’s first term, “A People’s History of the United States" features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history.

Library Journal calls Howard Zinn’s iconic “A People’s History of the United States” “a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories.” Packed with vivid details and telling quotations, Zinn’s award-winning classic continues to revolutionize the way American history is taught and remembered."

- https://zinnedproject.org/

Freely download “A People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present”,

 by Howard Zinn, here: 
- https://mvlindsey.files.wordpress.com/

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“A lot of the nonsense was the innocent result of playfulness on the part of the founding fathers of the nation of Dwayne Hoover and Kilgore Trout. The founders were aristocrats, and they wished to show off their useless eduction, which consisted of the study of hocus-pocus from ancient times. They were bum poets as well.

But some of the nonsense was evil, since it concealed great crime. For example, teachers of children in the United States of America wrote this date on blackboards again and again, and asked the children to memorize it with pride and joy:



1492

The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them.



Here was another piece of nonsense which children were taught: that the sea pirates eventually created a government which became a beacon of freedom of human beings everywhere else. Actually, the sea pirates who had the most to do with the creation of the new government owned human slaves. They used human beings for machinery, and, even after slavery was eliminated, because it was so embarrassing, they and their descendants continued to think of ordinary human beings as machines.

The sea pirates were white. The people who were already on the continent when the pirates arrived were copper-colored. When slavery was introduced onto the continent, the slaves were black.
Color was everything.



Here is how the pirates were able to take whatever they wanted from anybody else: they had the best boats in the world, and they were meaner than anybody else, and they had gunpowder, which is a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulphur. They touched the seemingly listless powder with fire, and it turned violently into gas. This gas blew projectiles out of metal tubes at terrific velocities. The projectiles cut through meat and bone very easily; so the pirates could wreck the wiring or the bellows or the plumbing of a stubborn human being, even when he was far, far away.



The chief weapon of the sea pirates, however, was their capacity to astonish. Nobody else could believe, until it was much too late, how heartless and greedy they were.”

- Kurt Vonnegut, "Breakfast of Champions"

"Reality Avoidance"

"Reality Avoidance"

by Morris Berman

"It’s quite amazing how the news is endlessly about race, or gender, or an election that is several months away. Filler, is what I call it. Very little of this has anything to do with reality, which the Mainstream Media and the American people avoid like the plague. What then is real?

1. The empire is in decline; every day, life here gets a little bit worse; all our institutions are corrupt to varying degrees; and there is no turning this situation around.

2. A crucial factor in this decline and irreversibility is the low level of intelligence of the American people. Americans are not only dumb; they are positively antagonistic toward the life of the mind.

3. Relations of power and money determine practically everything. The 3 wealthiest Americans own as much as the bottom 50% of the population, and this tendency will get worse over time.

4. The value system of the country, and its citizens, is fundamentally wrong-headed. It amounts to little more than hustling, selfishness, narcissism, and a blatant disregard for anyone but oneself. There is a kind of cruelty, or violence, deep in the American soul; many foreign observers and writers have commented on this. Americans are bitter, depressed, and angry, and the country offers very little by way of community or empathy.

5. Along with this is the support of meaningless wars and imperial adventures on the part of most of the population. That we drone-murder unarmed civilians on a weekly basis is barely on the radar screen of the American mind. In essence, the nation has evolved into a genocidal war machine run by a plutocracy and cheered on by mindless millions.

Most Americans hide from these depressing, even horrific, realities by what passes for ‘the news’, but also by means of alcohol, opioids, TV, cellphones, suicide, prescription drugs, workaholism, and spectator sports, to name but a few. This stuffing of the Void is probably our primary activity. In a word, we are eating ourselves alive, and only a tiny fraction of the population recognizes this."

- https://morrisberman.blogspot.com/