Monday, September 30, 2024

John Wilder, "Yuri Bezmenov’s 1980's Prediction Of 2024"

"Yuri Bezmenov’s 1980's Prediction Of 2024"
by John Wilder

"Yuri Bezmenov was a KGB agent who defected to the West in the 1970’s. Bezmenov told everything he knew to the CIA, and was set up in Canada. He did several interviews which are available on YouTube®, which I’ll link to in a bit. Most recently, "Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War™" brought Bezmenov back into the public consciousness by cutting in clips of his interviews in. You can watch it below. It’s only a minute or so.
During interviews, Bezmenov made the quote that only 15% of the KGB’s activity was tied to James Bond® stuff. Their primary goal wasn’t to find out which parts of an F-15E jet fighter were made out of titanium and which parts were made out of paper-mâché.

Matching the United States in weapons systems was important, but it wasn’t number one. Besides, the KGB generally had a spy class of ideological communists built into numerous classified projects. Bezmenov said that 85% of the KGB’s efforts were spent in destroying culture in the West. Why fight an actual war, if you can get your enemy to become you?

Bezmenov even set out the mechanisms that they were in the process of using. It wasn’t a complicated process, and it was just four steps. They called this process, “active measures” and it was nothing less than subverting the ideology that made America great.

The first step was Demoralization. Demoralization is based around removing the moral framework of the country you’re attacking. The easiest way to do this is to co-opt the education system. Bezmenov said that this took 15-20 years, but his number was low. First, the educational institutions needed to be captured. The people who train the teachers, the people who are the “guiding lights” in educational theory must buy into Marxism.

I don’t have a direct measure of the ratio of Leftist to Rightist in those that teach education, but I’d imagine it’s no less than journalism, which is at 20:1. It may exceed history, which is 33.5:1. Regardless, the educational academy is now firmly in the hands of the Left. This leads to the production of teachers in a Leftist pedagogy (fancy word for teaching), with bad Leftist theory sometimes even enshrined into law. No Child Left Behind? Yes, that was bad. Common Core appears to be worse. Here’s one example:
Yes, this is really what they tried to teach little kids.
 From the Heartland Institute.

I have to wonder if the idea is that such simple things like addition and subtraction can be made so complicated that parents won’t be able to teach them to their children. In essence, it’s a way to further sever the ties between parent and child, while strengthening the ties between child and state educator.

Certainly, not all educators are Leftists. Here in Modern Mayberry, there are a few, but I think we likely have a more healthy balance. But there are those who look at the remote classes from COVID-19® as a potential threat to their attempts to indoctrinate children:
Is Demoralization 100% complete? Not as long as we have those pesky parents standing up for the customs, culture, ideas, and values of the West. Is it complete enough to take over society? Maybe.

The goal of Demoralization is a lot of what we see now on the streets of Portland or Seattle or any other major Leftist city. Bezmenov described the end product of Demoralization as: “They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change the basic perception and the logic of behavior.” In other words? Leftist robots.

Destabilization is the next step. This is the destruction of the systems that define the country. The economy. Social relations. Defensive systems. In the last few months, the economy has been put into the most precarious state within living memory. The United States is more divided politically, ideologically, linguistically and ethnically than at any time in history. Naval vessels ram freighters. Senior officers are fired due to ideology. Women are brought into combat operations despite proof that their inclusion lowers fitness for mission. Bezmenov said that Destabilization took two to five years.

Destabilization leads to Crisis. Crisis in this system is necessary to get people to accept a new government, new systems, and to give up the old system. There’s been a great deal of experience in creating Crisis by the Left. Think the Color Revolutions that have taken place all over the world, from Georgia to Ukraine to Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.

What does Crisis look like in the United States? How about open violence encouraged by receptive District Attorneys that refuse to prosecute? Does it look like the dollar losing 7% of its value in three months?
Crisis leads to promises by the Left. High minimum wages. Free healthcare. Guaranteed basic income from the government. “Equality” in housing, in education, in policing. Are the promises real? Of course not. The promises are whatever it takes to get enough support for the Left so they can take control. If we are not in the Crisis, you can certainly see it from here. Ideally, for the Left, Crisis leads to control, or Normalization.

Normalization is the end game. It’s consolidating the country under the Leftists. It’s the creation of new institutions. In the Soviet Union and in China, it consisted of killing farmers and replacing them with people from the cities and expecting these collective farms will feed the nation. Of course, all of the Leftists burning Kenosha and Portland think that they’ll be the ones in charge. In the new Socialist Utopian States they’ll be the ones who will write poetry and conduct gender reeducation camps, right?

No. The reality is that they’ll be most likely to be put up against the wall and shot or sent to the convenient leisure gulags. Why? They will be disillusioned when the actual power structure emerges. The reality of every communist paradise in history is that the intellectuals are shot first, especially the intellectuals that are communist. Why? Dissent is a thing of the past. Here are Yuri Bezmenov’s ideas, in his own words:

"Our First October Surprise! The East Coast Port Strike Could Throw U.S. Supply Chains Into A State Of Chaos"

"Our First October Surprise! The East Coast Port Strike
 Could Throw U.S. Supply Chains Into A State Of Chaos"
by Michael Snyder

"If there is something that you really need to buy, you might want to get it now, because it might not be available later. The International Longshoremen’s Association port workers are on the verge of initiating a strike which would shut down ports all over the East Coast and the Gulf Coast, and if that strike lasts long enough it will throw U.S. supply chains into a state of complete and utter chaos. Needless to say, this could have a huge impact on the upcoming election. If store shelves are quite bare in early November, millions of Americans will be in a very bad mood when they go to vote.

If it happens, the strike will begin on Tuesday. This is the first time that we have seen a strike of this nature in nearly 50 years…"Thousands of longshoremen at ports from New England to Texas are set to strike early Tuesday in the first walkout of its kind in almost half a century, freezing commercial shipping on a massive scale and disrupting the national economy weeks before the presidential election.

A strike would be the biggest disruption to the flow of goods in and out of the country since the height of the pandemic. Even a short-lived work stoppage would snarl shipping and create havoc in supply chains for weeks. Cargo ranging from cars to electronics, from food to furniture, would be stuck on ships offshore. Each day a strike lasts could cost the U.S. economy up to $1 billion, according to analysts."

If the strike only lasts for a few days, it won’t really be a big deal. But if it is an extended strike, major retailers such as Walmart and Home Depot will be facing massive supply chain headaches…"As the International Longshoremen’s Association port workers move closer to a strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, the union is warning that major importers such as LG Electronics, Walmart, Ikea, Samsung, and Home Depot will find no options to divert trade to Canada or the West Coast as other unions close ranks in support of its labor battle.

These companies are among the leading importers at the 14 major ports that an ILA strike would impact, according to ImportGenius. Overall, between 43%-49% of all U.S. imports and billions of dollars in trade monthly are at stake as the union moves closer to the Oct. 1 deadline for a new contract, over which talks between the union and ports management broke down in June and have not resumed. Cruise operations at ports would continue."

Joe Biden could have used a provision in federal law to delay the strike until after the election, but he has chosen not to do that…"U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he did not intend to intervene to prevent a port strike on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico if dock workers failed to secure a new contract by an Oct. 1 deadline. “It’s collective bargaining. I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” he told reporters."

Presidents can intervene in labor disputes that threaten national security or safety by imposing an 80-day cooling-off period under the federal Taft-Hartley Act. This could end up being a colossal strategic mistake on Biden’s part.If an extended strike causes serious economic turmoil as Americans head to the polls, that will not be good for the Democrats.

According to CNN, if there is an extended strike we could soon experience “shortages of chocolate, alcohol, popular fruit, including bananas and cherries, and even certain cars”…"Businesses have been nervously watching the 12:01 am Tuesday strike deadline approaching with little sign of progress toward a deal to avoid a strike of tens of thousands longshore workers. Many have been doing what they can to prepare for the shutdown – but there are limits. It doesn’t make economic – or logistical – sense to ship many of the goods that come into East Coast ports by alternative ports of entry – or by plane.

That means America could see some shortages of chocolate, alcohol, popular fruit, including bananas and cherries, and even certain cars if the strike lasts a long time. That could mean higher prices for the goods that are available."

Of course that would just be the tip of the iceberg. As we witnessed during the COVID pandemic, thousands of different products can be in short supply when there are major supply chain disruptions. And once the strike is over, it may take some time to get supply chains back to normal…"As everyone discovered during the COVID-19 pandemic, container ports are a choke point in a supply chain as essential to daily life in the United States as water, electricity and telecommunications. Disruptions have a ripple effect throughout the economy and are exponentially compounded as goods pile up at ports, terminals, warehouses and other distribution points. So it takes longer to restart the flow of goods than it does to stop it. Considerably longer."

The devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is also going to have an enormous impact on supply chains. Sadly, the storm caught the vast majority of the population off guard as it carved a path of “apocalyptic chaos” all over the South…"Apocalyptic chaos has struck down in the South as millions are left without power with desperate families lining up at gas stations and roving mobs steal generators. The southeastern United States has been plunged into crisis as the aftermath of Hurricane Helene continues to wreak havoc across multiple states. The storm has left a trail of destruction in its wake with the death toll rising to 64."

This is being called a “once in a generation” storm, and at this moment hundreds of roads in North Carolina and South Carolina are closed…"About 300 roads are closed in North Carolina and another 150 are closed in South Carolina, acting Federal Highway Administrator Kristin White of the US Department of Transportation said Sunday. North Carolina officials on Sunday acknowledged those closures have hampered delivery of water supplies to communities in need, like the city of Weaverville in Buncombe County, which is without both power and water, Mayor Patrick Fitzsimmons said."

Even the largest highways in the region have been devastated. In fact, it is being reported that Interstate 40 is “impassable” right now…"Interstate 40 is impassable between Tennessee and Asheville, North Carolina, and beyond, because of catastrophic floods from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. A mudslide and flooding have shut down the route."

What a nightmare. As I shared with my core supports on Friday, recovery is going to be measured in years in some areas. One official in North Carolina is even comparing the storm to Hurricane Katrina…"Towns throughout western North Carolina, including Swannanoa, were transformed overnight by the massive storm. Muddy floodwaters lifted homes from their foundations. Landslides and overflowing rivers severed the only way in and out of small mountain communities. Rescuers said they were struggling to respond to the high number of emergency calls. Anxious relatives took to Facebook to search for loved ones they hadn’t heard from. “This is looking to be Buncombe County’s own Hurricane Katrina,” said Avril Pinder, the manager of the county, which includes Asheville."

This storm wasn’t supposed to be this powerful. But after everything that we just witnessed, it is now being projected that the total damage from Helene could exceed 100 billion dollars…"Helene, a Category 4 hurricane when she hit the Big Bend of Florida on Thursday night, is forecast to leave behind between $95 billion and $110 billion in damage and economic loss. Property damage alone is forecast by Moody’s to run $15 billion to $26 billion."

Last year, the number of “billion dollar disasters” established a brand new record. It appears that we will break that record this year. But of course what we have been through so far is nothing compared to what is coming. We really are living in apocalyptic times, and the chaos is just getting started…"

Bill Bonner, "When Hell Breaks Loose"

"When Hell Breaks Loose"
We’ve seen that the West stopped the peace initiative between Russia
 and Ukraine in May 2022. We’ve seen too that the US foreign policy
 elite seem almost desperately eager to avoid a Trump-led set.
by Bill Bonner

"What's the point of having this superb military that
 you're always talking about if we can't use it?"
- Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State

Dublin, Ireland - "The Daily Mail quotes UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres: 'Hell is breaking loose' as Israel rejects calls for ceasefire . Today we look at where Hell goes from here. We have no original research on the matter. We just pass along what we believe to be sensible scuttlebutt from our own ‘intel’ contacts.

We’ve seen that the West stopped the peace initiative between Russia and Ukraine in May 2022. We’ve seen too that the US foreign policy elite seem almost desperately eager to avoid a Trump-led settlement now. We’ve seen too, that the Biden Team’s calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon appear to be fake. They insist that Israel stop the killing; but then, Israel continues... and the US sends more weapons. Seeking Alpha:

"The Middle East continues to be on edge, as Israel bombed Houthi targets in Yemen and ramped up strikes in Lebanon after killing Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last week. Israel carried out airstrikes on Yemen's port of Hodeidah on Sunday, which it said were in response to recent Houthi attacks on Israel. Houthis on Saturday launched a missile attack on the Ben Gurion Airport when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving."

From what we can tell, Russia, Iran, and Lebanon appear ready to stand down...if given a reasonable opportunity. This is not necessarily because they have flowers in their hair... or are any more peace-loving than the West. More likely, it is simply a good strategy for nations facing a much more powerful enemy; they want to avoid conflict...or at least postpone it.

If that is so, it also suggests a motive for the West’s aggressiveness. In the 1930s, Hitler and Mussolini wanted war. The Allies didn’t. They hadn’t prepared for it. Today, the West is prepared to a fault... brimming with weapons and ruled by a foreign policy elite that is eager to use them. They think they can win a war, now. Later, victory will be less certain. Each 24 hours, the West grows ‘another day older and deeper in debt.’ The East, meanwhile, gets bigger... more technologically advanced... and more aggrieved.

On the steppes, our guess is that Hell will have to wait. Both sides appear to be worn out. The western press cheered and fawned over Zelensky’s bold attack on the Russian motherland. It was heralded as a ‘game changer’ by the Russophobes. But it didn’t seem to change much at all - except that Ukraine used up more of its vital supplies of manpower and materiel. This makes Zelensky’s ‘Victory Plan’ seem less and less plausible. And now, unless some new ‘red line’ is crossed, the conflict is likely to wind down, with the Russians still in control of the Russian-speaking eastern provinces.

But there is another front in the East-West forever war; this is where the demons are more likely to run loose. Israel’s problem seems to be that it wants a war... but it can’t find anyone to have a war with. Hamas (supported by the Netanyahu government) provided a casus belli when it attacked Israel last year. But that ‘war’ is pretty much over. Gaza has been flattened. Its hospitals, schools, roads, and other public services are mostly destroyed. And they won’t be rebuilt, not as long as Israel controls the border and can stop incoming steel and cement.

The leadership of Lebanon, Iran, and even Hezbollah have largely avoided the temptation to strike back in a meaningful way. The little striking they have done seems to have been more for show than for any real military advantage.

Until now, Israel’s enemies have not shown much imagination or energy. They’ve been remarkably restrained. And one of the chief restrainers of Hezbollah was its head, Sayyed Nasrallah. But Israel just killed him. A possible outcome: like ISIS took the place of Al Qaeda, more daring leadership may take his place... and may provide Israel with a reason to launch another major war (if it hasn’t done so already). The objective? To create a buffer zone in Lebanon? To dismantle Hezbollah completely? Or regime change in Iran? Israel can bomb, bomb, bomb...but can it win a ground war against a determined opponent? Stay tuned..."

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Canadian Prepper, "Warning! People Will Start Losing It Soon"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 9/29/24
"Warning! People Will Start Losing It Soon"
Comments here:

Jeremiah Babe, "Families Living In Sheds/Tiny Homes Being Repossessed"

Jeremiah Babe, 9/29/2
"Families Living In Sheds/Tiny
 Homes Being Repossessed"
Comments here:

There but for the grace of God go us... for now.

Bonus Musical Interlude: Glen Campbell, "It's Only Make Believe"

Glen Campbell, "It's Only Make Believe"

I just always loved this song...

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Feast of Immortals"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Feast of Immortals"
"In Irish folklore, Manannán Mac Lir hosted
 banquets at which those who ate never grew old."

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This colorful skyscape features the dusty, reddish glow of Sharpless catalog emission region Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula. About 2,400 light-years away, the scene lies along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus.
Astronomical explorations of the region reveal that it has formed at the boundary of the massive Cepheus B molecular cloud and the hot, young, blue stars of the Cepheus OB 3 association. The bright rim of ionized hydrogen gas is energized by the radiation from the hot stars, dominated by the bright blue O-type star above picture center. Radiation driven ionization fronts are likely triggering collapsing cores and new star formation within. Appropriately sized for a stellar nursery, the cosmic cave is over 10 light-years across.”

"Assumptions..."

 

The Poet: Czeslaw Milosz, "A Song on the End of the World"

Full screen recommended.
Czeslaw Milosz, 
"A Song on the End of the World"

Kahlil Gibran, “The Farewell”; “The Prophet”

“The Farewell”

“Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you.
It was but yesterday we met in a dream.
You have sung to me in my aloneness,
and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.
But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over,
and it is no longer dawn.
The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day,
and we must part.
If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more,
we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.
And if our hands should meet in another dream
we shall build another tower in the sky.”

- Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet”
o
“The Prophet: On Good and Evil”
by Kahlil Gibran

“Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.
For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?
Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, 
and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.

You are good when you are one with yourself.
Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.
For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house.
And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among
perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom.

You are good when you strive to give of yourself.
Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.
For when you strive for gain you are but a root
that clings to the earth and sucks at her breast.
Surely the fruit cannot say to the root,
“Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance.”
For to the fruit giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the root.

You are good when you are fully awake in your speech,
Yet you are not evil when you sleep 
while your tongue staggers without purpose.
And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.

You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.
Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping.
Even those who limp go not backward. 
But you who are strong and swift, 
see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness.

You are good in countless ways, 
and you are not evil when you are not good,
You are only loitering and sluggard.
Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to the turtles.

In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: 
and that longing is in all of you.
But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to the sea, 
carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest.
And in others it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles and 
bends and lingers before it reaches the shore.
But let not him who longs much say to him who longs little, 
“Wherefore are you slow and halting?”
For the truly good ask not the naked, 
“Where is your garment?” 
nor the houseless, “What has befallen your house?”

Freely download “The Prophet” here:
o

The Daily "Near You?"

Robstown, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Could Be Worse..."

"I'd been in hairier situations than this one. Actually, it's sort of depressing, thinking how many times I'd been in them. But if experience had taught me anything, it was this: No matter how screwed up things are, they can get a whole lot worse."
- Jim Butcher
Dig your way out, they said...

"Peter Schiff: The Middle Class is Broke"

Full screen recommended.
LifeWorthLiving, 9/29/24
"Peter Schiff: The Middle Class is Broke"
"Peter Schiff deep dives into the current economic landscape. He shares his expert insights on the looming dollar crisis, hyperinflation, and the Federal Reserve's policies that may be steering the economy towards a meltdown."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Freenvesting, 9/29/24
"What's Coming Is WORSE Than A Recession"
Comments here:
o
"When people pile up debts they will find difficult and perhaps even impossible to repay, they are saying several things at once. They are obviously saying that they want more than they can immediately afford. They are saying, less obviously, that their present wants are so important that, to satisfy them, it is worth some future difficulty. But in making that bargain they are implying that when the future difficulty arrives, they’ll figure it out. They don’t always do that.” 
– Michael Lewis, “Boomerang”

"Major US Banks Start Dumping EVERYTHING!"

Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, 9/29/24
"Major US Banks Start Dumping EVERYTHING!"
"The financial situation in the United States is experiencing a significant change as major banks are selling off assets at an unprecedented rate. This move is caused by the imminent commercial real estate crisis, bad loans, and high interest rates. This situation is not just a financial maneuver but a response to deep-seated issues affecting the stability of the banking sector. As banks hurry to get rid of assets, the consequences are widespread, affecting everything from the availability of credit to confidence in the financial system itself."
Comments here:

How It Really Is"

"IRS Wants YOU to Snitch for $$$ - Turn Your Boss In for Cash!"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 9/29/24
"IRS Wants YOU to Snitch for $$$ - 
Turn Your Boss In for Cash!"
"Today we're diving into a wild topic—how to turn your boss into the IRS and get paid for it! That's right, the IRS is dishing out big bucks to whistleblowers, with commissions up to 30% of collected taxes. With $688 billion in unpaid taxes from 2021, there's a lot at stake, and the IRS is serious about cracking down. Got a boss dodging taxes or someone bragging about their scheme? Well, now's the time to act!"
Comments here:

"The Stage Is Being Set For The Greatest Period Of Chaos In U.S. History"

"The Stage Is Being Set For The
Greatest Period Of Chaos In U.S. History"
By Michael Snyder

"If chaos is what they intended, everything is coming together beautifully. Major wars threaten to throw the entire planet into a state of turmoil, criminals are running wild in our streets, and in a little over a month the outcome of the presidential election is likely to cause an unprecedented explosion of anger. If all of this wasn’t bad enough, our politicians have been allowing millions of desperate people to come pouring over our wide open borders. Some of these “new arrivals” belong to international criminal gangs, and members of these gangs are being arrested for violent acts, theft, drug dealing and sex trafficking all over America. Other “new arrivals” belong to terror groups in the Middle East, and you would think that this would be a major national security concern. Russians have also been crossing the border illegally, as have very large numbers of military-age Chinese men. The stage is being set for the greatest period of chaos in U.S. history, and this should deeply alarm all of us.

Since Joe Biden has been in the White House, we have witnessed a spike in migration that is absolutely unprecedented in our history. Millions of people have been allowed in, and once they get into this country they can go wherever they want. Most of them have come in through the southern border, but what most people don’t realize is that migration over the northern border is also wildly out of control

"There has been growing attention from northern-state lawmakers in recent years over increased attempted illegal border crossings as migration from Latin America grows due to economic and political conditions. In 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered almost 190,000 individuals attempting to cross from Canada to the United States. That’s almost seven times more than in 2021."

Unfortunately, the number of people coming in through the northern border has just continued to rise in 2024…"This year, the number of illegal crossings along the northern border is hitting record levels, and northern New York, with its proximity to Montreal and Toronto, is the epicenter of the influx. In August alone, the Border Patrol reported 19,000 migrant encounters along the border with Canada, with nearly half entering through New York."

It is so easy to come across the northern border. The U.S. border with Canada is 5,525 miles long, and there aren’t many border agents covering it. Fox News recently interviewed a property owner in northern New York that says that migrants are constantly entering this country through his land…"Chris Oliver’s property in Fort Covington, New York has become an unintended gateway for a stream of illegal immigrants crossing the Canadian border into the United States, leaving him dismayed and wondering if the problem will ever be resolved. He told “Fox & Friends First” he “absolutely” blames “border czar” Kamala Harris and President Biden for the issue. “You have no control over it. You don’t know who these people are. Not everybody is a good person,” Oliver said on Wednesday."

He is right. We need to know who these people are, because not everyone is coming here with good intentions. In fact, during that same interview Oliver mentioned a recent case where a man was arrested that was planning “an ISIS-style attack in New York City”…“They had a guy up in Ormstown not too far away from us, get arrested. He was planning an ISIS-style attack in New York City. That was just recently. That same night, I still had people come across my cameras. That should be stopped.”

For those that are crossing the northern border, New York City is the number one destination. According to NPR, transporting “new arrivals” from India to New York City has actually become a very lucrative business…"A group of immigrants from India pile out of a taxi minivan beside the Clinton County, New York, government building in this small upstate city half an hour from the Canadian border. They are quickly swarmed by a half a dozen fellow Indian immigrants who’ve waited hours for this business opportunity. This fleet of jitney taxis offering migrants rides south to New York City is one clear example of the informal economy that’s sprung up following a significant increase in unauthorized crossings across the usually sleepy northern border over the last year and a half."

Needless to say, some people are coming to the United States because they want a better life. But in many other cases, people are crossing the border for very nefarious reasons. According to the New York Post, children that are as young as 8 years old “are being drugged and smuggled into the US by traffickers”…"Border Patrol agents are warning that kids as young as 8 are being drugged and smuggled into the US by traffickers posing as their parents or family members - and nobody knows how common the horrifying practice is.

Authorities have rescued children caught up in two different instances of such smuggling in recent weeks - including one instance in which the alleged traffickers had birth certificates for multiple kids to whom they weren’t related, according to the Border Patrol. Border Patrol sources have told The Post they’ve observed increasing numbers of smugglers posing as family units in order to “recycle” children." Stopping the exploitation of children should be a good enough reason all by itself to secure our borders. But our politicians refuse to do it.

Others are crossing our borders because they intend to commit acts of violence. Recently, a very alarming discovery of weapons was made very close to the southern border…"Republicans are outraged at the Biden-Harris administration for ignoring an escalating security crisis at the southern border after rocket-propelled grenades and explosives were found near Arizona. A bombshell report indicated that at least 4 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and 8 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were discovered in Mexico close to the U.S.-Mexico border. Huge amounts of ammunition were also found in the ‘scout site’ that was around 700 feet from the border wall in Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, according to an internal memo first reported by NewsNation." At this stage, we don’t know exactly who those weapons belonged to or what they intended to do with them.

But it is being reported that Iran “is trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump”… "Iran has made it “clear” that it is trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump, as well as members of his administration – and the current Biden administration – as payback for the killing of an Iranian general and other hardline policies, U.S. officials and lawmakers said Wednesday. The comments came after Trump’s dramatic disclosure Tuesday night that he had been briefed earlier in the day by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence about Tehran’s “real and specific threats” against him."

As I shared with my core supporters recently, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz has admitted that a top official with the Department of Homeland Security has told him that there are at least five assassination teams inside this country right now that are targeting Trump. It really will be a miracle if Trump makes it to the election. If Trump ultimately ends up winning, the left will go completely nuts and the millions upon millions of “new arrivals” that the left has brought into our major cities will go completely nuts. It certainly won’t take much to unleash an unprecedented tsunami of civil unrest, and perhaps that was the plan all along."

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Stillpoint"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Stillpoint"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Why doesn't the nearby galaxy create a gravitational lensing effect on the background galaxy? It does, but since both galaxies are so nearby, the angular shift is much smaller than the angular sizes of the galaxies themselves. The featured Hubble image of NGC 3314 shows two large spiral galaxies which happen to line up exactly. The foreground spiral NGC 3314a appears nearly face-on with its pinwheel shape defined by young bright star clusters. Against the glow of the background galaxy NGC 3314b, though, dark swirling lanes of interstellar dust can also be seen tracing the nearer spiral's structure. Both galaxies appear on the edge of the Hydra Cluster of Galaxies, a cluster that is about 200 million light years away.
Gravitational lens distortions are much easier to see when the lensing galaxy is smaller and further away. Then, the background galaxy may even be distorted into a ring around the nearer. Fast gravitational lens flashes due to stars in the foreground galaxy momentarily magnifying the light from stars in the background galaxy might one day be visible in future observing campaigns with high-resolution telescopes."

"Live All You Can..."

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much
matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life.
If you haven't had that, what have you had?"
- Henry James

"Hell..."

"Many people don't fear a hell after this life and that's because hell is on this earth, in this life. In this life there are many forms of hell that people walk through, sometimes for a day, sometimes for years, sometimes it doesn't end. The kind of hell that doesn't burn your skin; but burns your soul. The kind of hell that people can't see; but the flames lap at your spirit. Heaven is a place on earth, too! It's where you feel freedom, where you're not afraid. No more chains. And you hear your soul laughing."
- C. JoyBell C.

I believe it was Sartre who said, "This is Hell, cleverly disguised just 
enough to keep us from escaping." Look at the world... look around.
I believe he may be right...

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Total War Begins In Middle East, Iran; Russia Prepares For Nuclear War With Israel,USA"

Canadian Prepper, 9/28/24
"Alert! Total War Begins In Middle East, Iran;
 Russia Prepares For Nuclear War With Israel,USA"
Comments here:

Jeremiah Babe, "People Just Don't Want To Work, Lazy People Will Fail"

Jeremiah Babe, 9/28/24
"People Just Don't Want To Work,
 Lazy People Will Fail"
Comments here:

The Daily "Near You?"

Kinsman, Ohio, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: David Romano, "If Tomorrow Starts Without Me"

David Romano, "If Tomorrow Starts Without Me"
Read by Tom O'Bedlam
o
"Dog's Last Day"
So sadly beautiful...

"I Am Done"

"I Am Done"
by OHMama

"I was born at the end of Gen X and the beginning of the Millennial Generation, and grew up in a middle class town. Life was good. Our home was modest but birthdays and Christmas were always generous, we went on yearly vacations, had 2 cars, and there was enough money for me to take dance classes and art lessons and be in Girl Scouts.

My 1940s born Dad raised me to be patriotic and proud, to love the war bird airplanes of his era as much as he does, and to respect our flag and our country as a sacred thing. I grew up thinking that being an American was the greatest gift a person could have. I grew up thinking that our country was as strong, and honest and true as my Dad. I grew up thinking I was free.

As an adult, I have witnessed the world I grew up in fall to ruin. I have watched as our currency and our economy have been shamelessly corrupted beyond redemption. Since we’ve been married, my husband and I TWICE had our meager investment savings gutted by the market that we were told to invest in, now that pensions no longer exist and we working stiffs are on our own. We will be working until we die, because the Social Security we’ve been forced to pay into has also been robbed from under us.

I have watched as our elected officials enter Congress as ordinary folks and leaves as multi millionaires. I have watched my blue collar husband get up at an ungodly hour every day and come home with an aching back that we pray will hold out long enough to get him to old age in one piece. Outside of shoes, socks and underwear, almost everything my family wears was bought used. We’ve been on one vacation in 12 years.

We don’t have cell phones, or cable, or any sort of streaming services, just a landline and internet. We hardly ever eat out. Our house is 1400 square feet, no air conditioning. I cook from scratch and I can and I garden and I raise chickens for eggs and meat and I moonlight selling things on Etsy. Still it is barely enough to pay the bills that go up every year while service quality and the longevity of goods goes down. What I just described is the life you can live on 60K a year without going into debt.

At last calculation, when you consider all of the federal, state and local taxes plus registration and user fees, Medicare and SS payroll taxes, almost a third of what my family earns is stolen by the govt each year. What’s left doesn’t go far, just enough to cover the basics and save a little for when the wolf howls at the door.

I watched as my family’s health insurance was gutted and destroyed. Our private market insurance, which we had to have because my husband’s employer is too small to have a group plan, was made illegal. We were left with the option of either buying an Obamacare plan with unaffordable deductibles and insanely ridiculous out of pocket maxes, or paying the very gov’t that destroyed our healthcare a fine for not buying the gov’t mandated plan that we cannot afford. We now have short term insurance that isn’t really insurance at all, and I live in fear of one of us getting injured or sick with anything I can’t fix from the medicine cabinet.

I have watched as education, which was already sketchy when I was a kid, became an all out joke of wholly unmathematical math, gold stars for all, and self-loathing anti-Americanism. My family has taken an enormous financial hit as I stay home to home school our child. At least she’ll be able to do old-fashioned math well enough to see how much they are screwing her. A silver lining to every cloud, I guess.

I’ve sat by and held my tongue as I was called deplorable and a bitter clinger and told that I didn’t build that. I’ve been called a racist and a xenophobe and a chump and even an “ugly folk.” I’ve been told that I have privilege, and that I have inherent bias because of my skin color, and that my beloved husband and father are part of a horrible patriarchy. Not one goddamn bit of that is true, but if I dare say anything about it, it will be used as evidence of my racism and white fragility.

Raised to be a Republican, I held my nose and voted for Bush, the Texas-talking blue blood from Connecticut who lied us into 2 wars and gave us the unpatriotic Patriot Act. I voted for McCain, the sociopathic neocon songbird “hero” that torpedoed the attempt to kill the Obamacare that’s killing my family financially. I held it again and voted for Romney, the vulture capitalist skunk that masquerades as a Republican while slithering over to the Democrat camp as often as they’ll tolerate his oily, loathsome presence. And I voted for Trump, who, if he did nothing else, at least gave a resounding Bronx cheer to the richly deserving smug hypocrites of DC. Thank you for that Mr. President, on behalf of all of us nobodies. God bless you for it.

And now I have watched as people who hate me and mine and call for our destruction blatantly and openly stole the election and then gaslighted us and told us that it was honest and fair. I am watching as the GOP does NOTHING about it. They were probably relieved that upstart Trump was gone so they can get back to their real jobs of lining their pockets and running interference for their corporate masters. I am watching as the media, in a manner that would make Stalin blush, is silencing anyone who dares question the legitimacy of this farce they call democracy. I know, it’s a republic, but I am so tired of explaining that to people I might as well give in and join them in ignorance.

I will not vote again; they’ve made it abundantly clear that my voice doesn’t matter. Whatever irrational, suicidal lunacy the nanny states thinks is best is what I’ll get. What it decided I need is a geriatric pedophile who shouldn’t be charged with anything more rigorous than choosing between tapioca and rice pudding at the old folks home, and a casting couch skank who rails against racism while being a descendant of slave owners.

I’m free to dismember a baby in my womb and kill it because “my body my choice”, but God help me if I won’t cover my face with a germ laden Linus-worthy security blanket or refuse to let them inject genetically altering chemicals into my body or my child’s. I can be doxed, fired, shunned and destroyed for daring to venture that there are only 2 genders as proven by DNA, but a disease with a 99+% survival rate for most humans is a deadly pandemic worth murdering an economy over. Because science. Idiocracy is real, and we are living it. Dr. Lexus would be an improvement over Fauci.

I am done. Don’t ask me to pledge to the flag, or salute the troops, or shoot fireworks on the 4th. It’s a sick, twisted, heartbreaking joke, this bloated, unrecognizable corpse of a republic that once was ours.

I am not alone. Not sure how things continue to function when millions of citizens no longer feel any loyalty to or from the society they live in.

I was raised to be a lady, and ladies don’t curse, but f**k these motherf**kers to hell and back for what they’ve done to me, and mine, and my country. All we Joe Blow Americans ever wanted was a little patch of land to raise a family, a job to pay the bills, and at least some illusion of freedom, and even that was too much for these human parasites. They want it all,  mind, body and soul. Damn them. Damn them all."

"How It Really Is"

 

"Russian Supermarket After 950 Days of Sanctions"

Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell, 9/28/24
"Russian Supermarket After 950 Days of Sanctions"
"What does a Russian typical supermarket look like inside, after 950 days of sanctions? Join me as I walk inside Perekrestok, one of Russia's most well-known supermarkets. How have sanctions affected the retail market? Are there shortages?"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "The Drive Of Shame"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 9/28/24
"The Drive Of Shame"
"RV Sales CRASH: What Dealers Won't Tell You! Hey, it's Dan from IAllegedly, and today we're diving into the shocking truth about the RV industry's collapse. The RV sales are plummeting at an alarming rate - 31% month over month! So, what’s really going on behind the scenes? From the drive of shame to the jaw-dropping inventory levels, we're exposing it all. With smaller motorhomes not selling and industrial equipment auctions booming, is the RV market truly over? Join me as we explore these burning questions and more. "
Comments here:

Friday, September 27, 2024

"America Scheduled to Shut Down in 3 Days!"

Full screen recommended.
ThisisJohnWilliams, 9/27/24
"America Scheduled to Shut Down in 3 Days!"

"The Looming Catastrophe in the Middle East"

The Chris Hedges Report, 9/27/24
"The Looming Catastrophe in the Middle East"

"It has become quite rare to hear any meaningful accountability for Israel’s actions from Israeli citizens themselves. Israeli journalist Gideon Levy is an anomaly in Israel by today’s standards, as for his entire career he has challenged the apartheid and occupation of the Israeli state. On today’s episode of The Chris Hedges Report, Levy joins host Christ Hedges to discuss his book, The Killing of Gaza: Reports on a Catastrophe, and explain the spiritual destruction, both of Israel and Palestine, that the current genocide in Gaza is causing as well as the implications of new military operations in Lebanon.

The worst change, according to Levy, is that Israel has lost its humanity. “Everything is acceptable,” Levy tells Hedges as he describes the ongoing slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the brutal killing of prisoners, the censorship at the hands of the state and the overall indifference to it all. “There is practically only one camp in Israel, the camp which supports apartheid and occupation,” Levy says.

There isn’t even any room left for empathy of the innocent victims in Gaza, according to Levy. Teachers have been subject to interrogation and termination because they “expressed empathy with the children of Gaza, with the victims of Gaza. Even this is not legitimate anymore in Israeli society 2024,” Levy contends.

Although the horrors following October 7 are devastatingly unprecedented, Levy asserts that this entire catastrophe was years in the making and the meaningless gestures of advocating for a two-state solution, for example, will perpetuate it further. In the first years following the war in 1967, the occupation of Palestinians as a way of life quickly became normalized, according to Levy. “Palestinians clean our streets, they build our buildings, they pave our roads and they will never have citizenship. The only people in the world without any citizenship of any state,” Levy says.

As Israeli society attempts to continue this way of living, only disruptive movements and moments, such as the First Intifada, the Yom Kippur war and now October 7, will bring meaningful attention to the Palestinian struggle most of the world is okay with ignoring.

As Levi writes in his book, “The way of terror is the only way open to the Palestinians to fight for their future. The way of terror is the only way for them to remind Israel, the Arab states and the world, of their existence. They have no other way. Israel has taught them this. If they don't use violence, everyone will forget about them, and then a little later, only through terrorism will they be remembered. Only through terrorism will they possibly attain something. One thing is certain, if they put down their weapons, they are doomed.”

Levy says that history has told the Palestinians and the world something crucial about Israel: “the message is, if you want to achieve anything from us, only by force. And the message for the world is the same, if you want the world to care about you, raising your voice is not enough. You have to take measures. You have to take actions, and unfortunately, many times violent ones, aggressive ones, and many times even barbarian ones, like on the seventh of October.”

"Beautiful Relaxing Music - Calming Piano & Guitar Music"

Full screen recommended.
Soothing Relaxation,
"Beautiful Relaxing Music - Calming Piano & Guitar Music"
"Beautiful relaxing music by Soothing Relaxation. Enjoy calming piano and guitar music composed by Peder B. Helland, set to stunning nature videos."