Thursday, September 12, 2024

"Will Russia Push the Button?"

Full screen recommended.
"Will Russia Push the Button?"
By Martin Armstrong

"Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception." 
- Carl Sagan

"Dmitry Konstantinovich Kiselyov (born 1954) is a major TV host, and his latest warning to the West is to issue an ultimatum to the UK and the US. On Russian TV, Kiselyov warned that if a Western power deploys soldiers on the ground in Ukraine to ‘inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,’ it will result in Armageddon. Of course, what I find stunning is how the Western press characterizes him as “Vladimir Putin’s propagandist,” and the implication of those words is that they are not a real threat. The press takes NOTHING said from Russia seriously – it’s all a joke, just propaganda. As they said of Rome when it fell, the Romans were still laughing, watching the games to notice they had been invaded. Not a single journalist has any integrity, for they never consider when they are reading the American/European propaganda that what if they are sleepwalking society into nuclear war?

Kiselyov is not going to say this on national TV without the Kremlin actually delivering this warning. He said: ‘If Nato countries send their troops into Ukraine in order to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, then the very moment about which Putin once said, “Why do we need the world, if there is no Russia in it?” would come.‌

Russia has indeed threatened to ‘turn the US into radioactive ash’ and ‘sink Britain’ below the waves. While some NATO leaders have been more circumspect, this need for war to justify the defaulting on debt that is the real factor behind the West’s desire for war will have far greater consequences than these fake world leaders who are all hand puppets of the Neocons. Kiselyov added: “This is not propaganda.” Yet in the West, the Neocons are saying this is a bluff, and Putin will never use Nukes so the West can completely destroy Russia – their hated enemy for decades, without a shot fired?

I have an old Russian friend who we met back in Tokyo some 20 years ago. She has reiterated to me a question, and she is NOT political or involved in the government. “Why does the world hate us so much?”

This is where my experience with governments and geopolitics clashes with the reality of humanity. I know the answer is that these fake leaders will NEVER admit that borrowing year after year to get votes is coming to an end and they can no longer sustain our present monetary system - which is why they are moving to CBDCs, and many are talking about now taxing even unrealized gains in stocks and real estate. They think they can cover up their disastrous fiscal mismanagement since World War II with war.

NATO is scared to death if there is no threat of war, then they will be irrelevant and defunded with the money going to Climate Change. They should heed the words of Mahatma Gandhi, but of course, they will NEVER listen: “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” If NATO keeps up this propaganda that Russia will invade and seek to conquer Europe, what they are doing is pushing Russia into a corner where they might as well commit the annihilation they have been accused of harboring.

When I went into the Kakadu in North Australia and lived off the land for two weeks, my guide, who was the real live version of Crocodile Dundee, warned me that a wounded snake is far more aggressive and even more vigorous/dangerous, so never approach such a snake or I would be dead in minutes. No amount of “training” can prevent terrified wild animals from behaving instinctively or defensively, and trainers and handlers cannot always protect themselves and the public. This has been documented many times with trainers being attacked.

To think for even one second that a nation will not defend itself when its existence is threatened is absolute stupidity. But we have no real investigative journalists and the mainstream media are just propaganda agents that they are accusing Kiselyov of being. Russia will launch whatever it has, as would China, and so would the United States if it is about to be conquered. A defeated person is ALWAYS far more dangerous, just as that snake I was warned about.

This war would be over in 24 hours. The Minsk Agreement that the West negotiated was to buy time to start this war. The West played Putin for a fool. He has offered peace many times. But the West wants the war to cover up the collapse of this, ending borrowing with no intention of ever paying off any debt. All pensions will collapse when they get to the point that they are unable to sell new debt to pay off the old.

I warned on February 22, 2022, that Volodymyr Zelensky would be the man they hired to create World War III. My sources made it clear that the election was rigged. The oligarch behind Zelensky was the same one who hired Hunter Biden. Our future will be destroyed by this man who takes orders from the American Neocon. There will be no DEFEAT of Russia. For anyone in charge of a country that was about to be destroyed, the natural response is to take everyone else with you – just push the bottom.

(1) Russia won – Ukraine has lost, and NO Amount of Money will win this war
(2) The Administration is pouring money down a black hole where NOBODY knows where it is going
(3) Congress is throwing money into a failed war, and they do not demand any accountability, as was the case with Iraq and Afghanistan. Why?
(4) Those who will benefit are the Western firms that invested in Ukraine and have lost their shirt – Another bailout?

This is why our insane leaders are urging NATO to send in troops to Ukraine, which will start World War III. Russia is warning us NOT to do this, and our Western Press refuses to acknowledge anything our warmonger leaders are doing, no less the risks that they are subjecting everyone to over a civil war the West began with this intention from the outset. Some inside Russia advocate nuking Kyiv in a major display and then showing the world what will happen if we continue to go down this path. They suggest this is the ONLY way to stop World War III and that the people will wake up and overthrow the warmonger leaders pushing us to Armageddon.

Putin is NOT a warmonger despite all the bullshit put out by the Western Press. The West staged the Moscow Nightclub attack and did not even try to hide that they were behind it, hoping Putin would respond. They are desperate to try to get Putin to attack anything in NATO so they can pretend he is the aggressor when it is our Neocons and NATO. What I fear is that Ukraine will try to kill Putin, KNOWING that such an act will replace him with a warmonger, and we will get into World War III. I can confirm that the critics behind Putin have been telling him this war is with the USA and NATO – not Ukraine. The hardliners have told him he should have taken out Ukraine as the US did to Iraq, and this war would have been over in 6 weeks, and Zelensky would not have been able to create his media tour.

If Ukraine killed Putin, it would be at the direction of NATO, and then they will get their World War III. That would be the result if Russia attacked Washington to kill Biden, no matter how unpopular he is. Such an act would galvanize the USA into a single action for war."

"Russia Puts Advanced Sarmat Nuclear Missile System On ‘Combat Duty’"

"Russia Puts Advanced Sarmat 
Nuclear Missile System On ‘Combat Duty’"

"Moscow has put into service an advanced intercontinental ballistic missile that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said would make Russia’s enemies “think twice” about their threats, according to reported comments by the head of the country’s space agency. Yuri Borisov, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said Sarmat missiles have “assumed combat duty”, according to Russian news agency reports.

“The Sarmat strategic system has assumed combat alert posture,” the state-run TASS news agency quoted the Roscosmos chief as saying. “Based on experts’ estimates, the RS-28 Sarmat is capable of delivering a MIRVed warhead weighing up to 10 tonnes to any location worldwide, both over the North and South Poles,” TASS said in its report.

Putin said in February that the Sarmat – one of several advanced weapons in Russia’s arsenal, is deployed now. In 2022, some two months after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Putin said the Sarmat would “reliably ensure the security of Russia from external threats and make those, who in the heat of aggressive rhetoric try to threaten our country, think twice”.

The Sarmat is an underground silo-based missile that Russian officials say can carry up to 15 nuclear warheads, though the United States military estimates its capacity to be 10 warheads. Known to NATO military allies by the codename “Satan”, the missile reportedly has a short initial launch phase, which gives little time for surveillance systems to track its takeoff.

Weighing more than 200 tons, the Sarmat has a range of some 18,000km (11,000 miles) and was developed to replace Russia’s older generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICMBs) that dated from the 1980s. Russia test-fired the Sarmat missile in April 2022 in the Plesetsk region of the country, located some 800km (almost 500 miles) north of Moscow, and the launched missiles hit targets on the Kamchatka peninsula, in Russia’s far east region."
o
RS-28 Sarmat
15 warheads per missile, 11,000 mile range, hypersonic speed of 15,880 mph.
One Sarmat can destroy an area the size of Texas or France.
A hypersonic nuclear missile launched from Russia will hit Washington, DC in 23 minutes.
Do we really want to do this? Pray to God we don't...
o
The Poseidon torpedo with a 100 megaton warhead explodes deep underwater, causing a 1,600 foot high tidal wave which destroys everything on the U.S. East coast as far inland as West Virginia. England would simply disappear beneath the waves...

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Jeremiah Babe, "Beware: The BRICS Will End The Dollar; Stock Market Miracle Today"

Jeremiah Babe, 9/11/24
"Beware: The BRICS Will End The Dollar; 
Stock Market Miracle Today"
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "A World Financial Meltdown Is Already Happening!"

Gregory Mannarino, 9/11/24
"A World Financial Meltdown Is Already Happening!"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Land of Forever"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Land of Forever"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Riding high in the constellation of Auriga, beautiful, blue vdB 31 is the 31st object in Sidney van den Bergh's 1966 catalog of reflection nebulae. It shares this well-composed celestial still life with dark, obscuring clouds recorded in Edward E. Barnard's 1919 catalog of dark markings in the sky. All are interstellar dust clouds, blocking the light from background stars in the case of Barnard's dark nebulae. For vdB 31, the dust preferentially reflects the bluish starlight from embedded, hot, variable star AB Aurigae.
Exploring the environs of AB Aurigae with the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed the several million year young star is itself surrounded by flattened dusty disk with evidence for the ongoing formation of a planetary system. AB Aurigae is about 470 light-years away. At that distance this cosmic canvas would span about four light-years.”

"Time: It’s The Only Thing You Have"

"Time: It’s The Only Thing You Have"
by John Wilder

"Time. Of things that have long fascinated me, time is at the top of the list. Even when I was a little kid, time fascinated me. The idea that time, of all of the physical parameters of the world there was the one that we couldn’t control. Humanity has mastered the power of the atom, at least partially. We haven’t tamed fusion, but we can create it, and have several fewer islands in the Pacific because of it.

Humanity has dammed the largest of rivers, giving us power. We have used technology to shrink the world. The first recorded circumnavigation of the world took 1082 days. Magellan didn’t quite make the whole trip, but he still gets the credit on a technicality. Now? The International Space Station does an orbit in 90 minutes or so at 17,150 miles per hour, which is nearly as fast as Haitians are entering Texas.

Humanity has conquered the riddle of steel – we’ve made steel buildings that reach upwards into the sky to please Crom. We have conquered climate – people live at the South Pole in perfect comfort, as well as managing to live in Houston without melting into puddles of sweat.

We can see at night. We can talk, nearly instantly, with people a continent away. My phone buzzes every time there is motion outside my front door – it’s like having a superpower of sensing where and when there is activity at a distance. Another superpower is being able to access obscure facts anywhere on the planet that can reach a cell signal.

But time remains fixed. It flows only one way. And it is the most subjective of our senses. Even Pugsley notices it: “This summer was so short!” He’s in high school. That’s when the transition from the endless summers of childhood begin to transform into the fleeting, never-ending carousel of years that is adulthood. I’ve long felt that I understood why this was. Let me give it a shot.

For a newborn, the second day it’s outside and breathing is 50% of its entire life. For a six-year-old, half of their life is three years – much more. It’s not a big percentage, but it’s much smaller than 50%. For a sixteen-year-old, half their life is eight years. If you’re forty – half your life is twenty years. 1/8 versus 1/20? It’s amazingly different. We don’t perceive life as a line. We’re living inside of it – we compare our lives to the only thing we have . . . our lives. Each day you live is smaller than the last.

But that’s not everything. As we age, novelty decreases. When we’re young, experiences and knowledge are coming at us so quickly that we are presented with novel (new and unique) information daily. New words. New thoughts. New ideas. That’s why babies keep falling for that stupid “got your nose” thing. They don’t realize that I can reattach it. Over time, though, novelty decreases, as does the percentage of your life that each day represents. Ever drive a new route somewhere? When I do it, I have to focus my attention. It seems like it takes longer because I’m having to deal with novelty.

I’ve had my “new” laptop nearly seven years. I had my old laptop for longer than that, yet my “new” laptop still seems like it’s temporary.

There are only so many routes I can drive to work, so much novelty that I can find in a daily drive. Even a commute of an hour begins to fade into a brief moment in time if it’s the same commute, day after day.

Work is similar. Over time, we gain experience. Experience shows us how to fix problems (and sometimes how not to fix them). But that experience of taking a solution and modifying it to fix the next problem isn’t as hard as fixing the first problem.

The fact that each day is a smaller portion of my life, combined with the fact that as I get older, the possibility that I see something new dims. I’ve solved a bunch of problems in my life. Finding a new one is... difficult. Life goes faster, day by day for me. Every endless summer day of youth is in my rearview mirror.

And yet... Each day is still 24 hours. I can still use each day and live it with all of the gusto of a 10-year-old fishing for trout after building a tree fort, playing with his dog, and building a model of a Phantom F-4 to dogfight with the MiG 21-PF already hanging from the ceiling. Even though those 24 hours seem shorter now than at any time in my life, they are relentless in their exact sameness. I get to choose how I spend those moments in my life. I get to choose what I want to produce, and how hard I work to make it happen.

Humanity may never have the ability to crack time – it appears that even today, outside of sands falling from an hourglass, we can only describe time as a fundamental entity, something we measure against. Does the flow of time vary? Certainly. But only if we’re moving at large fractions of the speed of light or are caught in a huge gravity well, but let’s leave your mother out of this.

I have come to the conclusion that I will likely never understand what, exactly, time is, outside of this: Time is all we have – it is what makes up life. We measure our lives in it, because no man can buy an extra hour of life. We have the hours we have. The only difference is what we do with that time.

I mentioned in a previous post that (during the week) I often get by on scant hours of sleep. That’s because I have more things that I want to do in my life than I can fit in a day that’s less than 20 or 22 hours some days. I choose to try to do more, to try to make use of this time, because each moment is a gift.

Maybe I can settle for that definition of time: a gift. Each moment is a gift. Don’t beg for more, or live in fear of losing them. Just make each moment count. Perhaps that’s the secret and precious nature of time. It is the one thing we should never waste, and never wish away."
The Alan Parsons Project, "Time"

"A Great Kindness..."

“So don’t ask yourself what people want. Ask instead, What is true? What really inspires me, excites me? What will really help people and take away their confusion and suffering? It’s sort of a funny, crazy way to go, but I think it’s the only way to bring water to the wasteland Joseph Campbell described. When I read something truthful, something real, I breathe a deep sigh and say, “Fantastic – I wasn’t mad or alone in thinking that, after all!” So often we are left to our own devices, struggling in the dark with this external and internal propaganda system. At that point, for someone to tell us the truth is a gift. In a world where people all around us are lying and confusing us, to be honest is a great kindness.”
- David Edwards

"If you want to tell people the truthmake them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you." 
- Oscar Wilde 

"Alan Shore Closing Argument On The Abuses Of Government"

"Alan Shore Closing Argument On The Abuses Of Government"
"Epic closing argument from ABC's "Boston Legal" that illustrates the erosion of our Constitutional liberties and abusive government. This can no longer be defined as a Republican versus Democrat issue. Both parties are equally responsible, as are we, the electorate, for we continue to vote the same quality of politician(s) into office over and over."

"The Old Tablecloth Trick"

"The Old Tablecloth Trick"
by Jeff Thomas

"Newton’s first law of motion states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Therefore, if a tablecloth is spread out on a table and an object, such as the fishbowl above, is placed on that tablecloth, the fishbowl will tend to "want" to remain right where it is. If the tablecloth were to be yanked away quickly, the fishbowl would move very little. Inertia, having been overcome by the tablecloth, would then be overcome, but the fishbowl, already at rest, would tend to remain right where it had been before – on the table.

And the same is true of human nature. If a government or an economic system collapses, the populace will experience an immediate shock of change, but their tendency will be to adapt as quickly as possible to maintain their previous situation as much as can be accomplished.

Has the government collapsed? Create a new one, possibly on similar principles as the previous one (hopefully with revisions made, to prevent the next government from making the same self-destructive mistakes a second time.)

Has the economy collapsed? Throw together whatever new form of economy works best until a more solid one can be created. This could mean relying temporarily on barter, but might mean the establishment of a safer form of currency, such as precious metals. And, again, when a new currency is introduced, revisions might be made as to who controls it, in order to assure that the same mistake is not repeated.

But, these are natural calamities that happen from time to time in civilization and, as long as the people dealing with the re-establishment of the government or economy are motivated in the direction of the benefit of the populace, there’s every chance that a solution will be created that would be implemented quickly, might minimize damage and, hopefully, be better than the last version. After all, if left to their own devices, people will come up with whatever system serves them well.

But, of course, we rarely witness the above scenario with regard to governments and economies. What we do see playing out, time after time, in one era or another, in one geographical location or another, is something quite different. Historically, what we’ve seen is that government performs the political and/or economic equivalent of pulling the tablecloth away slowly. And, of course, anyone who’s familiar with the old tablecloth trick understands what will happen. The fishbowl ends up smashed on the floor and the fish are left gasping for their last breaths.

This latter fact illustrates vividly why no one should ever pull away the tablecloth slowly. And yet, in generation after generation, humankind is repeatedly suckered into a situation in which their government does exactly that.

The way it works is that the government first says, "It’s too troublesome for you to run your own lives; leave it to us and we’ll look after you. We’ll take care of all those pesky details of life that are nuisances for you now."

First, they take control of "protection" in the form of a military, to protect the populace from threats from without and, later, create a police force to protect the populace from threats from within. Then, clearly, the people need a central fire service. They also need roads and community buildings. And, of course, these all cost money, so taxes are implemented. Then they are raised, as the costs of such services inevitably increase over time.

Then, an increasingly expansive list of other services is put forward – assistance for the poor, retirement funds, universal health benefits, etc. Soon, it becomes "necessary" to increase taxes to pay for the ever-expanding list of services the government controls. Throughout this process, the populace nods as each new "benefit" is introduced. And, since the process is gradual, they almost invariably fail to worry that the tablecloth is in motion and that their fishbowl is closer to the edge of the table than it was before.

But, in the meantime, the political leaders are continuing to pull the tablecloth and are aware that the fishbowl is nearing the edge. At this point, if they were responsible people, they’d say, "Oh-oh, we’ve been a bit too greedy and we’ve put you folks in danger. But, at this point, it won’t do any good for us to tax you less and cut out the services that have been promised to you. At this point, we need to stop pulling entirely."

And, of course, were they to do that, two things would occur. First, the populace would be up in arms at their entitlements being cut off. Second, the political leaders would be out of a job. With no more services to provide, taxation would cease to have validation. The political leaders would be in far greater danger from a cessation of movement than the people themselves.

What to do? Well, most of us, as we become adults, recognize that, in order to live, we must become productive. That’s what turns us into responsible people. But, remember, political leaders never learn this lesson. They go straight from being parasitical as children to being parasitical as adults. When the jig is up and the fishbowl is nearing the edge, they act the way they’ve always acted – as parasites. Only now, they realise that it’s all about to end very soon. Therefore, it’s time to get a last squeeze of the lemon before it goes dry.

At that point, they ramp up the economy through the creation of debt. They also increase taxation dramatically, with the claim that benefits must be increased. They then do their best to get themselves out of the way as the last pull of the tablecloth sends the fishbowl over the edge.

This, of course, is why it’s so overwhelmingly common for political leaders to take a hike just as their economies and/or governments are collapsing. Regardless of the era, regardless of the geographical locale, whether the leader be Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Shah of Iran, Fulgencio Batista or Idi Amin, those who caused the problem tend to have a well-funded exit plan in place and are rarely themselves trapped in the fishbowl.

Since this has been the nature of governments throughout history, we’d be wise to observe the situation objectively when assessing the country in which we live, and, we’d be wise to concurrently assess how things are going in other countries. If our home country is literally getting close to the edge, we might wish to make a move before the inevitable occurs.
 
Historically, in any era, there are always some countries that are getting near the edge and others that are not. Unfortunately, there's little any individual can practically do to change the course of these trends in motion. The best you can and should do is to stay informed so that you can protect yourself in the best way possible. The choice for anyone whose situation is reaching its expiry date might wish to vote with his feet, rather than to await the final pull of the tablecloth."

The Daily "Near You?"

Burlington, Kentucky, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

“No, You Don’t Have To Care About Any Of This”

“No, You Don’t Have To Care About Any Of This”
by Joe Jarvis

“Lots of people are trying to force you to care about the things they care about. True, some of these issues are really important. But if you don’t care, you don’t care. You don’t have to pretend. And you don’t owe anyone an explanation. Henry David Thoreau summed it up almost 200 years ago when he said: “It is not a man’s duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous, wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him.”

See, a lot of self-righteous people can’t imagine how anyone could make a different calculation about the most important causes in the world. The person who donates to hungry children finds it absurd that others donate to animal shelters while there are still needy kids out there. But this is just another variation of how specializing makes things more efficient. If everyone works on the causes they care about most, their passion and efforts will go the furthest.

But Thoreau continues that even if someone doesn’t want to help eradicate a wrong, it is “his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.” If you’re not contributing to wrong, that is enough. In fact that is MUCH BETTER than acting like you’re saving the world, when in reality you are contributing to evil.

It’s great to care about important causes, but “I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man’s shoulders. I must get off him first, that he may pursue his own contemplations too.” For example, helping poor people is a noble cause. Forcing others to help poor people is pursuing a noble cause “sitting upon another man’s shoulders.” No, he isn’t automatically evil if he doesn’t help the poor, “he may still properly have other concerns to engage him.”

These days you’ll hear people say things like, “it’s not enough to simply not be racist, you have to be actively anti-racist.” Incorrect. It is absolutely enough to simply not perpetuate an evil. They don’t know you. They can’t see inside your head, or into your life. They don’t know what you’re engaged in. But if you are not hurting others, that is enough.

Like imagine if someone told you, it’s not enough to not murder, you have to become a criminologist, and go out there and solve murders. You know I am grateful there are people out there who go into homicide investigation. But it’s not for me.

It’s pretty ironic actually. Because the same people who try to bully you into taking the action that they want you to take would scoff at your demands for a more peaceful and prosperous society.

Because guess what one of my causes is? It’s not enough to simply not steal others money. You must actively oppose the systemic theft the government calls taxes. Oh wait, but they need to steal from me in order to pursue their causes, because they do so “sitting upon another man’s shoulders.” They tell me that a portion of my income, my labor, my time, will be taken without my consent to support the causes they care about, while whatever I had planned for my labor and time will be subordinated to their whims.

But guess what? No one really cares about my cause. So I moved to Puerto Rico to take advantage of tax incentives, and now perfectly legally pay a 4% tax rate. That did a lot more for me than trying to get people to vote – as if there was anyone who would advance my causes anyway. Now, more than ever, as the chaos of the world seems to be reaching a crescendo, it is perfectly reasonable to tune out, and say, you know what, I just don’t care.

All the ships have sailed. It’s much more important to make sure you and your loved ones are in a position of strength moving forward. Everyone is going to tell you that you have to care about this, that your silence on that is as bad as whatever, that you’re either with us or against us…

I care about a lot of things, and have plenty of passionate ideas about how this world should turn out. But now is the time to keep your powder dry, and wits about you. In the board game Risk, you win by building strength while remaining unnoticed. The strongest players fight it out, and weaken each other. It is then, when the smoke clears, that it is easiest to control the board.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Live your life. Be a good person. That’s enough. Ignore the noise.”

"We Like To Think..."

“We like to think that we are rational beings; humane, conscientious, civilized, thoughtful. But when things fall apart, even just a little, it becomes clear we are not better than animals. We have opposable thumbs, we think, we walk erect, we speak, we dream, but deep down we are still routing around in the primordial ooze; biting, clawing, scratching out an existence in the cold, dark world like the rest of the tree-toads and sloths.”
- “Grey’s Anatomy”

"The Sun Is Doing Something That It Is Not Supposed To Do, And That Could Mean Big Trouble In The Months Ahead"

"The Sun Is Doing Something That It Is Not Supposed To Do, 
And That Could Mean Big Trouble In The Months Ahead"
by Michael Snyder

"The giant ball of fire that our planet revolves around has been far more active than scientists originally anticipated this year, and that could have very serious implications for all of us in the months ahead. Fluctuations in solar activity affect our climate more than anything else does, and we also tend to see more earthquakes when solar activity is at elevated levels. The current solar cycle is supposed to reach a peak at some point during the next 12 months, but so far there are no signs that solar activity is slowing down. In fact, the average number of sunspots that we witnessed last month was the highest that we have seen since 2001

"The average number of sunspots reached 215.5 in August, according to the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center at the Royal Observatory in Belgium. It’s the highest number since Sept.-Dec. 2001, according to SpaceWeather.com. July’s total was 196.5. Last month, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a preliminary statement that solar activity is at its highest since March 2001."

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Scientists were originally projecting that we would see about half as many sunspots during the month of August…"Experts had predicted that August would only see half as many sunspots, indicating that the solar maximum is imminent, and it may be more active than anticipated, possibly bringing intense solar flares and coronal mass ejections."

The number of sunspots has been increasing at an exponential rate for the past couple of months. Hopefully we will get a reprieve here in September. Because if we don’t, we could see more severe geomagnetic storms like we did in May…"In May 2024, Earth experienced its strongest geomagnetic storm in over 20 years, with auroras visible much farther south than usual, including regions as far as Florida and Mexico. If another large sunspot appears around the time of the September equinox, it could lead to a similar or even stronger event."

When a very large geomagnetic storm occurs, it can disrupt our lives in countless ways. Back in May, even farm equipment was dramatically affected…"Ronald Rabon, the owner of Double R Farms, said back in May when the G-5 extreme solar magnetic levels occurred, he was out spraying his cotton field when his equipment started acting up.

“I didn’t know what was wrong with it,” Rabon said. “All I knew, it was, and you could get it straightened up and go for a few minutes. And it might go 20, 30 minutes and whatever minutes from then, all of a sudden, you’d be going through the field and it might just take a left.” Rabon said one of the biggest problems with the solar flares is preventing his sprayers from being accurate. His GPS uses precise alignments for spraying, and when knocked out of its track, could overspray his crop and kill it."

Of course if our planet is hit by a large enough storm, it could fry power grids, take down the Internet, and cause massive societal problems all over the world. Hopefully such a scenario will not play out any time soon.

All of the solar activity that we have been witnessing is also the primary reason why there has been so much intense heat this summer…"Summer broke global heat records for the second straight year, scientists have confirmed - putting 2024 firmly on track to be the hottest year in recorded history. The period between June and August - summer in the Northern Hemisphere - was the world’s hottest such period since records began in 1940, according to data published Friday by Copernicus, Europe’s climate change service."

Much more importantly, there tends to be a lot of seismic activity when solar activity is very high, and that is precisely what has been occurring. In particular, a lot of experts are quite alarmed about all of the shaking that we have seen in California lately…"Residents in California experienced a swarm of five earthquakes within the last 48 hours. A 4.4-magnitude was felt in the north around Lake County on Saturday and two more struck the area the following evening, ranked as a 2.7 and 2.8-magnitude. Locals in southern California also reported two more quakes on Saturday, with the largest ranking a 3.9-magnitude."

Within the past 7 days, there have been more than 900 earthquakes in California and Nevada. As I discussed the other day, I am extremely concerned about the instability that we have been witnessing on the west coast. This is something that I will be watching very, very closely during the months to come. In my brand new book, I explain why I believe that we have entered a time when we will see historic earthquakes of absolutely epic proportions.

Of course it isn’t just the U.S. that will be affected. There has also been a lot of shaking south of the border lately too. On September 6th, a gigantic crack in the Earth that suddenly opened up actually swallowed four cows…"A large earth crack opened in Ejido J. Cruz Gálvez, located in the Hermosillo municipality of Sonora, Mexico, on September 6, 2024, swallowing four cows. The crack is reported to be approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) long and 1.5 m (5 feet) wide, with a depth of 4 m (13 feet) in some sections. According to the rancher who recorded a video of the crack, it swallowed four cows. Local authorities have not yet issued any statements regarding the matter."

It is not normal for a crack in the Earth that is 3 kilometers long to appear out of nowhere. When will people finally start to wake up? Our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and this should deeply alarm all of us. Meanwhile, the skies above our heads are becoming increasingly active as well.

For example, a giant space rock that is “approximately the size of two football fields” will come flying by our planet on September 15th…"An asteroid approximately the size of two football fields is set to make a close approach to Earth this month. According to the New York Post, the 720-foot-wide asteroid named 2024 ON, will pass around 620,000 miles from our planet on September 15. While this distance might seem vast, it’s remarkably close in astronomical terms – equivalent to just 2.6 times the distance between our planet and the Moon. However, it poses no threat to Earth."

The good news is that this particular giant space rock is definitely going to miss us. In the future, we may not be so fortunate. So much is happening in the skies above our heads, but most of the population is not paying attention. Unfortunately, it is just a matter of time before major events start to happen that none of us will be able to ignore."

"The War Of Politics"

"The War Of Politics"
by The ZMan

“War is a continuation of politics by other means” is a famous quote attributed to Carl von Clausewitz, a 19th century Prussian military theorist. This line is often used to end discussion about the causes of a war, rather than to understand the motivations of both sides, but that is the way to use it. Wars are not just about geopolitics, the disputes between the combatants, but the internal politics of the parties. In most cases, the parties to a war are in the war due to internal political reasons.

We see this with the Ukraine war. For Russia, decades of meddling around the border of the Russian Federation had reached a critical point internally. The pro-Western wing of the Russian political class had maintained that they could deal with elements in the West to address the concerns of Russia. The realist wing argued that there was no dealing with Washington, as they were implacably anti-Russian. The oligarchs sided with the former for financial reasons.

The provocations by the Biden administration along with the superheated rhetoric aimed at Putin changed the internal dynamics of Russian politics. On the one hand, this vindicated the position of the realists. They said all along that there was no way to make a deal with Washington, because Washington was not honest. It is impossible to deal with people who come to the table in bad faith. Any deal you make with them will fall apart because they will never abide by it.

Proof of this was when Angela Merkel said in an interview that the Minsk agreements over the disputed areas in eastern Ukraine were just a stalling tactic so the West could arm Ukraine for a war with Russia. This statement was done to humiliate Putin within the Russian political elite. This was when the West was sure that sanctions would topple the Russian state, so it was a bit of anticipatory celebration expecting that Putin would be out of power at any minute.

Instead, it had the opposite effect. The reason for this is both wings of the Russian political class wanted a peaceful solution to the Ukraine issue. They just disagreed about the best course. Western behavior leading up to the war and throughout the war has convinced both wings that peace can only come through the defeat of the NATO backed army in Ukraine. In other words, Russian politics brought war to their border, but now Russian politics control the prosecution of the war.

That should have been clear to the West in 2022 when the Russians reorganized their army and military industrial complex in response to the collapse of the Istanbul negotiators that were skuttled by Washington. The competition with the West had changed, so the war with the West was changing. The Russians settled in for a long war of attrition against the Ukraine army, society, and the West. The Ukraine war was now part of a larger global conflict with the West.

This is where the war reveals things about politics in the West. It was clear by the end of 2022 that there was no scenario in which the Ukrainians defeated the Russians militarily, so the set of possible outcomes was limited to a total defeat of Ukraine or some sort of negotiated settlement. This is what realists like John Mearsheimer argued even before the war started. The trouble is, there are no realists in Washington or the European capitals, at least none with influence.

Instead, foreign policy is controlled by a coalition of ideological zealots and infantilized managers who are easily led by the zealots. They do this by creating pleasing narratives that always end with the managerial elite coming out as Churchill in this new version of the last world war. Every new scheme to win the war always ends with some Western political figure giving the great speech announcing the triumph of the forces of good over the forces of evil.

As an aside, it is why the usual suspects broke out in hives when Tucker Carlson had on his show a historian who questions the role of Churchill. They immediately started calling Cooper and Carlson Nazis, not because either of them defended Hitler or the Nazis, but because they questioned the archetypical hero of the modern political narrative, the figure every managerial striver sees in the mirror. Cooper did not just question the narrative, but the point of the narrative.

That aside, we see this political dynamic in the conduct of the war. The Western political class is the audience, demanding a good war narrative. The ideologues are the producers, who collaborate with the writers and show runners in Ukraine. Together they create narratives like the Great Ukraine Counter Offensive of 2023 or now The Great Kursk Offensive for the fans in the political class. The military logic of these schemes does not matter, because it is all about the politics of the West.

Now that The Great Kursk Offensive has turned into a military disaster for Ukraine, the series will be cancelled, so the usual suspects are busy working on a new show to put on for the Western political class. This time it will probably include firing long range missiles into Russia to “humiliate the Putin!” You see, despite it all, the main plot line says that in the end, someone in the West will be the idealized Churchill, triumphing over Putin, who they have bizarrely cast as their Hitler.

This war has also altered geopolitics. The Chinese, who had a similar dynamic in their political elite as the Russians, experienced a similar evolution in thought about how they deal with the West, especially Washington. The Chinese have been quite blunt in their assessment of Washington. They have repeatedly told high ranking Biden officials that the constant lying is an impediment to good relations. If the Chinese think your candor is a problem, you have a serious problem with honesty.

Returning to Clausewitz, this war has allowed Russia and China to reorient global politics away from the unipolar, post-Cold war arrangements toward a multipolar world based in regional interests. This has been made possible by the war exposing the superciliousness of Western political leaders, but also the childish ignorance of the people allegedly making policy in the West. The world is starting to see the West as a setting sun and men close their doors to the setting sun."

Freely download "On War", by Carl von Clausewitz, here:

"How It Really Is"

 

"The Dangers Of Money Printing: Thomas Jefferson And The Financial Panic Of 1819"

"The Dangers Of Money Printing:
 Thomas Jefferson And The Financial Panic Of 1819"
By Mike Maharry

"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before morning."
- Henry Ford

"To steal a phrase from Thomas Jefferson, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government have buried us under a "deluge of paper money." We deal with the consequences of this monetary malfeasance every time we go to the grocery store or the gas station. Our rapidly deprecating money buys less and less every single day. Central bankers and politicos claim to be fighting this inflationary monster, but the ugly truth is that inflation is by design. The political class is destroying your money as a matter of policy.

This is nothing new. Government people have been ruining our money for their gain since the Republic's earliest days. Sadly, most people don't realize what's happening. They believe price inflation is due to greedy corporations, Putin's price hikes, or voodoo.

As Thomas Jefferson warned, “The evils of this deluge of paper money are not to be removed until our citizens are generally and radically instructed in their cause & consequences.” Looking at the past can inform us about the present. As the saying goes, history doesn't necessarily repeat. But it often rhymes. With that in mind, the first American boom-bust crisis in the early 19th century is informative. During this period. Jefferson’s chilling warnings about unchecked fiat, paper money proved prophetic.

In an 1814 letter to Thomas Cooper, Jefferson wrote, “Every thing predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper as we were formerly by the old Continental paper.” Just one year later, a depression gripped the United States kicked off by financial panic. This economic downturn lasted until 1821 and is widely viewed as the first boom-bust period in U.S. history. It was exactly what Jefferson predicted.

The depression was rooted in an all-too-familiar problem – excessive money printing. The economic downturn came on the heels of the War of 1812, which officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on Feb. 18, 1815. After the war, banknotes began to rapidly depreciate due to the exponential increase in the amount of paper in circulation.

The First Bank of the United States charter ended in 1811 and was not renewed. The Second Bank of the United States (SBUS) wasn’t created until 1816. This led to a proliferation of state-chartered banks.

As economist Murray Rothbard explained in his book, "The Panic of 1819", to fund the war, the federal government turned to these state-chartered banks, and they issued large numbers of paper money banknotes far exceeding the amount of gold to back them. This caused gold to drain from these banks. To keep the money flowing, the U.S. government agreed to a suspension of specie payments from state banks and the situation persisted after the war ended. This allowed banks to make loans with little to no regard for gold reserves to bank them. It was a formula for disaster.

Jefferson understood this all too well, making his views clear in his letter to Cooper. “I am an enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for any thing but coin. but our whole country is so fascinated with this Jack lanthern wealth, that they will not stop short of its total and fatal explosion”

On March 23, 1815, the U.S. entered a period of financial panic. It was followed by several years of mild depression culminating in a sharp economic downturn known as the Panic of 1819. The panic was exacerbated by financial conditions in Europe in the wake of the Napoleonic wars, but it was fundamentally a domestic problem caused by money printing.

Whenever the money supply rapidly expands, as it did during the war years, it creates all kinds of malinvestments in the economy. The expansion of credit fueled land speculation in the West, that likely would not have happened in a more sound monetary environment. Historian George Dangerfield argued that the entire postwar American economy was “based on a land boom.” Since the U.S. Treasury accepted payments for land in the form of state-issued bank notes, state-chartered banks helped fund this land boom. The problem was most of them lacked sufficient specie to back their paper.

After it opened for business in 1817, the Second Bank of the United States (SBUS) jumped right in to further expand money and credit. The SBUS had 18 branches. They were supposed to operate with oversight by the main bank in Philadelphia, but the oversight was lax. Meanwhile, the SBUS was supposed to regulate state banks. This oversight was also lax.

Meanwhile, western branches of the national bank got caught up in the land boom mania and began issuing SBUS banknotes at a dizzying pace. In his book "The Awakening of American Nationalism," Dangerfield noted that SBUS banks tried to restock their insufficient gold reserves by redeeming their notes for hard money at eastern and northern SBUS branches. The result was, as Jefferson called it, “a deluge of bank paper” without sufficient gold backing.

According to Rothbard, by 1818, the Second Bank of the United States had demand liabilities exceeding $22.4 million. Its specie fund stood at a mere $2.4 million – a 10:1 ratio. A 5:1 ratio was considered sustainable. That year, the SBUS tried to rein in the problem by curtailing loans by its western branches. When state banks began presenting their banknotes for redemption at the Second Bank of the United States, it refused to provide gold specie from its reserves. There was simply too much paper and not enough gold. The state banks did the only thing they could do; they began foreclosing on heavily mortgaged farms and business properties. This led to widespread bankruptcies, bank failures, a collapse in real estate prices, and spiking unemployment. It was just what Jefferson predicted.

In an 1819 letter to John Adams, Jefferson lamented that the situation would never change or even improve until people understood the root cause of the economic malaise – paper money. “The evils of this deluge of paper money are not to be removed until our citizens are generally and radically instructed in their cause & consequences.”

Jefferson went on to pinpoint the root of the problem with paper money, “want of a stable, common measure of value, that now in use being less fixed than the beads & wampum of the Indian.” Jefferson was responding to a letter penned by Adams discussing Chapter 6 of the 1817 Treatise on Political Economy by Destutt de Tracy. Adams cited a passage calling the printing of paper money more ruinous and a greater theft than empires of old shaving off a little gold from their coins and passing them off as full-weight. In other words, Tracy called it stealing.

“A theft of greater magnitude & still more ruinous is the making of paper. It is greater because in this money there is absolutely no real value. It is more ruinous because by its gradual depreciation during all the time of its existence it produces the effect which would be produced by an infinity of successive deteriorations of the coin.”

Adams put it in even harsher terms, writing to Jefferson: “That is to say an infinity of successive felonious larcenies. If this is true as I believe it is we Americans are the most thievish people that ever existed, we have been stealing from each other for an hundred & fifty years.” 

How much worse are things today? We can accurately predict another economic meltdown in the future because, after more than 200 years, the problem of paper money remains. The people still have not become radically instructed as to the cause and consequences of the boom-bust cycle that’s fueled by printing massive amounts of paper (and today, electronic) money.

The government continues to print it at a dizzying pace. Just consider that the Federal Reserve created nearly $9 trillion out of thin air since the 2008 financial crisis through quantitative easing alone. That was on top of the expansion of money and credit due to more than a decade of artificially low interest rates.

Economic principles don’t change with the times. In 1788, Jefferson wrote, “Paper is poverty … it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself.” It’s still true today. In other words, Jefferson called it. His foresight underscores the enduring danger of paper money and government excess, echoing through history’s economic crises."

Bill Bonner, "Pet Cemetery"

"Pet Cemetery"
America is the biggest single consumer market in the world. But if exporters
 want to access US customers, they’ll have to stick with the dollar... or face a 100% tariff.
by Bill Bonner

"They’re eating our pets.’"
- Donald Trump last night, talking about immigrants.

Normandy, France - It’s an election year... when brightly-colored campaign promises fall to the ground like autumn leaves... and rot. We didn’t get much out of the Harris-Trump debate. One candidate seemed like a big, old, angry, tired dummy. The other... younger... more conniving... appeared as a smooth, but empty, pantsuit. Based on that performance alone, our betting money would be long Kamala... and short US assets, including the dollar.

Faced with debt up the kazoo, and deficits from here to eternity, US policy makers only have two choices. Tighten up - with spending cuts. Or loosen up - with interest rate cuts. The first pill is hard to swallow. It causes immediate discomfort. The second is a happy pill - at least, for a while. It makes the bubble economy even more bubblicious. Neither candidate has any intention of taking the hard pill.

Yesterday, we looked at Donald Trump’s proposal to stick foreigners with a big part of the losses from US inflation. America is the biggest single consumer market in the world. But if exporters want to access US customers, they’ll have to stick with the dollar... or face a 100% tariff. The idea is simple: Force foreigners to keep using the dollar as it wastes away.

But wait... here comes another dumbass proposal... this one endorsed by both parties. The Wall Street Journal: "Republicans and Democrats seem to agree on very little these days. But officials from both parties are intrigued by the idea of the U.S. deploying a new economic tool: a sovereign-wealth fund. White House officials say they have been working for several months on the design of such a fund. The fund would provide capital to advance strategic interests such as early-stage technology and energy security as competition with China heats up.

The disclosure comes after former President Donald Trump in an appearance last week called for a sovereign-wealth fund to “invest in great national endeavors for the benefit of all of the American people,” such as infrastructure and medical research."

We wish we had been in the room at the Economic Club of New York when Donald Trump suggested it. We would have liked to see the mouths water and the eyes bulge. Trump: “We’ll be able to invest in state-of-the-art manufacturing hubs, advanced defense capabilities, cutting-edge medical research and help save billions of dollars in preventing disease in the first place. And it is many of the people in this room who will be helping to advise and recommend investments for this fund.”

Washington and Wall Street both live on OPM - other people’s money. Both have gotten rich thanks to post-1971 credit money and the Fed’s manipulation of interest rates. And now The Donald dangles billions - trillions! - more in fees, commissions, and inside deals before the Wall Street crowd.

But help us out here, dear reader. What was the last ‘great national endeavor’ that paid off? AMTRAK? The war on poverty? The War on Drugs? The invasion of Iraq? The War on Terror? The F-35? The zero interest rate policy? $2 trillion budget deficits? If these ‘investments’ were so profitable, how come, now, we have a $35 trillion debt fund... and not a $35 trillion ‘wealth fund?’

Pity the TV interviewers don’t ask more questions. Who would run such a program? The same elites who run the rest of the government, of course. How could they invest the public’s money better than private investors with their own skin in the game? Why would they do a better job of this than they do of handling the border crisis, downtown San Francisco or the federal budget itself? And, since so much wealth has already been squandered on previous ‘investments,’ where would the new wealth fund cash come from?

A modest prediction: If the feds keep ‘investing’ more and more of our money, pretty soon we’ll be eating our own pets."

Dan, I Allegedly, "It's All on Fire!"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 9/11/24
"It's All on Fire!"
"Southern California's inferno nightmare is unfolding, and you're right here with me, Dan, on IAllegedly as five relentless fires rage across Southern California, threatening upscale communities like Dove Canyon and Hidden Ridge. The severity is unimaginable; roads are blocked, and insurance woes are mounting as insurers shy away from high-risk areas."
Comments here:

Judge Napolitano, "Scott Ritter, US to Attack Russia"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 9/11/24
"Scott Ritter, US to Attack Russia"
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "7 Day Countdown Begins, U.S. Dollar Collapse Accelerates"

Gregory Mannarino, 9/11/24
"7 Day Countdown Begins,
 U.S. Dollar Collapse Accelerates"
Comments here:

"Iran & Hamas Vow Revenge After Israel Flattens Gaza Tents In Al-Mawasi; 'Insane...Nazi Policies...'"

Full screen recommended.
Times Of India, 9/10/24
"Iran & Hamas Vow Revenge After Israel Flattens 
Gaza Tents In Al-Mawasi; 'Insane...Nazi Policies...'"
"Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani denounced Israel’s Al-Mawasi strike in strongest terms. He said the deadly attack on a tented encampment in southern Gaza near Khan Yunis shows Israel has no respect whatsoever for legal and international standards as well as moral principles. The Al-Mawasi attack killed at least 45 and injured 60 other people."
Comments here:

See the size of that bomb crater? That's from a 6,000 lb. bomb YOU, America, paid for and sent to these psychopathic, bloodthirsty degenerates called Israel! They're totally incapable of feeling shame and disgrace...Hell is not hot enough and eternity not long enough for these Zionist monsters. And THIS is who and what WE are now, America! - CP

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

"Wars And Rumors Of War, 9/10/24"

Full screen recommended.
Schiller Institute, 9/10/24
"Does the U.S. Intend to Fight a Nuclear War?"
"Dr. Ted Postol, MIT Professor Emeritus and one of the world’s leading experts on nuclear weapons, addressed the meeting of the International Peace Coalition on September 6, 2024. Dr. Ted Postol characterized recent U.S. upgrading of nuclear weapons systems as “prompt preemptive strike forces.” The U.S. has, at great cost, produced “super fuse” weapons, designed to preemptively destroy silo-based missiles. One would only pursue this approach if planning to fight and win a nuclear war, an extraordinarily delusional mindset. A Russian military officer would be forced to conclude that the U.S. intends to attack."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Douglas MacGregor, 9/10/24
 "Israel Preps 60,000 Troops for War with Iran - 
Middle East Break Out!"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Jeffrey Sachs, 9/10/24
 "Israel Will Attack Lebanon in 72h - 
Iran Threaten Launch Sonic Missiles to Tel Aviv"
Comments here:

Gerald Celente, "Politicians Want War, People Want Peace"

Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 9/10/24
"Politicians Want War, People Want Peace"
"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."
Comments here:

Jeremiah Babe, "We Had Attempted Home Invasion This Morning, It's Getting Bad Out There"

Jeremiah Babe, 9/10/24
"We Had Attempted Home Invasion This Morning,
 It's Getting Bad Out There"
Comments here: