Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 12/19/24
"Kroger Shopping,
Holiday Sales Week Before Christmas"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Cash Jordan, 12/19/24
"NYC Thieves Steal So Much Food…
Families Starve"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Bill Bonner, "Starve the Beast"
"Starve the Beast"
The US Constitution put limits in place. The peoples’ representatives
in the House were to be held responsible for the budget.
And ‘only gold and silver’ were to be used as money. What could go wrong?
by Bill Bonner
"Democracy... nothing better than an Utopian theory, a splendid
chimera, descriptive of a state of society that never did,
and never could exist; a republic not of men, but of angels."
- Alexander Fraser Tyler
Baltimore, Maryland - "In the 1970s a young man walked into our office at the National Taxpayers Union in Washington. Grover Norquist was his name. Fresh out of Harvard, bright eyed and bushy tailed, he came to work for us. Little did either of us realize; it would be a hopeless battle. The primary political trend was running against us. To make a long story short, small-ish groups control governments. Their main aim is to transfer power and money from ‘The People’ to themselves. They do so until they run out of other peoples’ money. In the 1970s, they were barely getting started.
It was clear, even from the writings of the early Greeks, that democracies need restraint. Like sugar, debt, alcohol... or the Devil himself... they need limits. When you can vote to spend other people’s money - even money they haven’t earned yet - the danger is that you will spend too much. And then, your over-indebted democracy will tumble into bankruptcy, inflation and dictatorship.
The US Constitution put limits in place. The peoples’ representatives in the House were to be held responsible for the budget. And ‘only gold and silver’ were to be used as money. What could go wrong? But seat belts and airbags could not compensate for bad drivers. US debt increased 100 times since 1969. And the dollar has lost 85% of its value.
In the 1970s, we were still in our 20s. And our naïve approach to avoiding this catastrophe, led by a state senator from Maryland, James Clark, was to ask the states to approve a balanced budget amendment, forcing the feds to spend only what they could raise in taxes. Had we succeeded, the US would have avoided $35 trillion in debt... along with the mischief it paid for.But the effort fell short and was abandoned when Ronald Reagan was elected.
Young Grover Norquist, exceptionally smart and energetic, had another idea. It was to ‘starve the beast.’ Grover asked members of Congress to sign on to a Taxpayer Protection Pledge, wherein they swore on their mothers’ graves that they would under no circumstances raise taxes. Back then Republicans still had a residual respect for balanced budgets. Restricting tax revenue looked like a reasonable way to restrain the grasp of government. That effort failed too. Republicans soon realized that - thanks to fake money and the Fed’s low rates - they could cut taxes and still increase spending.
Today, Grover is still at it... trying to turn off the feds’ taps. But we moved on. We became cynicalists (our word). We are not merely ‘cynical,’ about the man coming into the White House... nor about his ability to MAGA the country. We just don’t believe that is the way it works. Even if he were smart, earnest, and competent, he couldn’t overcome the Primary Political Trend. Government is a taker, not a maker. It takes and takes... as much as it can get away with.
People are not angels. They are not devils either. But they are subject to influence, and when they realize that they can use the government to vote themselves ‘benefits’ that someone else, sometime in the future, will have to pay... they are happy to do so. These facts are not really in dispute. But many people believe that Donald Trump is an exceptional leader. Or they think a DOGE led by billionaire geniuses will turn things around.
Today, it almost seems possible. The Wall Street Journal: "Musk Draws First Blood With Spending Bill Bombshell." "With a 4:15 a.m. ET social-media post on Wednesday, Elon Musk declared that a must-do spending bill “should not pass.” By early evening, the bill was dead, leaving the government barreling toward a weekend shutdown just before Christmas. Lawmakers who might have underestimated Musk’s ability to shake up Washington were suddenly having second thoughts."
This is one for the record books. Mr. Musk, not Mr. Trump, seems to be in control of US spending. “Stop the steal,” said Elon’s post. But stealing is what governments do. Most likely, Donald Trump and the elites will have to bring Mr. Musk to heel...and the stealing can continue. And while there is never any guarantee that day will follow night... or that prices will fall when they are super high... or rise when they are super-low - that’s still the best way to bet."
"Christmas Mood In Moscow"
Full screen recommended.
Window to Moscow, 12/19/24
"Christmas Mood In Moscow"
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Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell , 12/19/24
"Russian Typical Brand New Apartment:
Could You Live There?"
"I had a chance to tour a Russian typical apartment in Moscow, Russia.
Yuri and I had a chance to see what it's like to live in a brand new apartment."
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Wednesday, December 18, 2024
"Alert! Christmas Rally Cancelled, Markets Implode, Is The Crash Beginning?"
Jeremiah Babe, 12/18/24
"Alert! Christmas Rally Cancelled,
Markets Implode, Is The Crash Beginning?"
Comments here:
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Market Data Center, Live Updates:
"Doug Casy: Syria's Collapse and Global Geopolitical Shifts"
"Doug Casy: Syria's Collapse
and Global Geopolitical Shifts"
by International Man
"International Man: After nearly 14 years of brutal conflict, various jihadist groups backed by Turkey, the US, and Israel finally toppled the Assad government in Syria. What is your take on this?
Doug Casey: I’ve been to Syria twice over the years for about a week at a time. I drove around the country, even including what passes for beach resorts on the small Syrian coast - not that that gave me any special insight into the current situation. Though the country was viewed as a dangerous bastion of evil, I had a great time. Except for active war zones, you can almost use the State Department’s "no go" list as a travel advisor. FWIW, even when I applied for my visa at the Syrian consulate in Beirut, I remember being impressed with their friendly and competent staff.
People forget that Syria is an artificial country. The region called "Syria" has been around for thousands of years, since pre-Roman times. But today’s Syria only came into existence with the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. It’s not an organic country. Like most Third World countries, it was put together in the drawing rooms of Europe, with zero consideration of local ethnic or religious sensitivities. That’s a guaranteed formula for perpetual chaos in a highly tribal region, where governments are mainly vehicles for theft.
For the last 50 years, it’s been run by the Assad family. Even if you’re a nice guy, or used to be a nice guy, like Bashar al-Assad, when you’re surrounded by lots of nasty people who are holding together a pressure cooker that’s looking to explode, it can’t end well.
International Man: With Syria now fragmented, major powers hold strategic portions of the country:Turkey controls large swathes of northern Syria. Kurdish forces occupy about one-third of the country. Israel has seized additional Syrian territory, with their tanks closing in on Damascus. US puppets hold oil-rich regions and critical border crossings. Russia maintains air and naval bases. Is Syria still viable as a nation-state?What are the implications for the Middle East?
Doug Casey: It was never viable as a nation-state, nor is it now. That’s because the country is no more than a conglomerate of many religious, political, and ethnic groups, all mutually antagonistic. It’s one of the worst possible candidates for being a nation-state.
The best case is that it breaks up into two, three, four, or five new countries that might have more internal cohesion and consistency. What’s going to happen? That’s impossible to predict. We’re looking at chaos. We’re looking at a dogfight between a bunch of rabid dogs. It’s exactly the type of thing the US loves to stick its nose into.
It is strange that Bashar Assad is now supposed to be one of the most evil people in the world. Along with Putin, of course, now that Washington doesn’t have Saddam or Gaddafi to kick around anymore. Neither of them was much worse than the type of dictators that the US has supported everywhere.
The US will likely wind up missing Assad’s more-or-less stable regime. It made black sites available to the CIA in a desperate effort to curry Uncle Sam’s favor. But in the world of realpolitik, no good deed goes unpunished. I suspect Bashar is relieved to be out of office and living in Moscow with his family, where he may go back to practicing ophthalmology. Unless he made off with a few hundred million, which is the minimum for a national leader these days.
As for the Russians, what’s the point of their having naval and air bases on the Mediterranean? They’re indefensible as military propositions. A base may be useful as a refueling station and a jumping-off point for Russian mercenaries in Africa, but there are other options. And if they want to, they can rent it, much the way the US rents naval bases all over the world. It’s just a question of what kind of deal the Russians can cut with whichever Syrian group controls the area.
International Man: Assad was a key ally of Russia and Iran while opposing the US, Israel, and their regional partners. How does Syria’s collapse affect the global balance of power? Does his overthrow give the US Empire a new lease on life?
Doug Casey: I certainly hope not. But the US will almost certainly stay involved in Syria. It will turn into another tar baby to entrap them at great expense and with great risk. On the bright side, it might be useful for stealing and laundering US Government funds, like the Ukraine. The best thing that the US empire can do is totally disinvolve itself from Syria and, for that matter, from Israel and Iran as well. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. Like all declining empires, the US is "on tilt."
As to how Syria’s collapse will affect the global balance of power, we may yet wind up with a new country called Kurdistan. The Kurds, an ethnic group, occupy parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran but have never had their own nation-state. It’s possible that they’ll secede from Syria and then combine with the Kurds in Iraq, who are semi-autonomous. And eventually with those in Iran and Turkey. That could be a template for the rest of the artificially constructed nation-states in the region.
But a better question is: Why should we care what happens to Syria? It’s a concern for the locals but not for a bankrupt power on the other side of the globe that doesn’t have a clue about who’s who in that zoo. You should be much more concerned about what happens with your neighbor across the street.
International Man: Will the US and Israel now be emboldened to take on a more formidable opponent like Iran? How do you think a potential war with Iran would unfold?
Doug Casey: At this point, after its long adventure in Gaza and with enemies on all sides, Israel may be approaching bankruptcy. As is its patron in Washington. It’s pointless, foolish, and dangerous for the US to get involved in the Middle East. There’s nothing to be gained and a lot to be lost. If it does get involved, it’s going to be as Israel’s puppet. A war with Iran could be much more serious than the Korean, Vietnam, Afghan, or Iraq wars, all four of which were expensive disasters fought against primitive countries on the other side of the world.
But a war with Iran amounts to hunting big game. The only possible beneficiary is Israel. And that’s dubious. Because Iran is on the cusp of getting nuclear weapons. If provoked, they might use them pre-emptively against Israel. For what it’s worth, Israel has already annexed about 700 square miles of Syrian territory on the Golan Heights, while the Israeli Air Force destroyed huge amounts of Syrian arms. These are rather bold moves, amounting to unprovoked aggression. Maybe they viewed it as abandoned property since the 200,000-man Syrian Army had just melted away and gone home when Islamic rebels ramped up their attacks.
In today’s world - as always, actually - governments are basically fighting each other. Then, they draw their subjects into the conflict. Ordinary people don’t want war and don’t care about wars. I suggest that, instead of war, governments should just designate hit squads to take out the leaders of whichever opposing government they don’t like. The citizens of both countries would benefit. But they never do. It’s a kind of professional courtesy between rulers.
The Israelis have come close to this ideal with their targeted assassinations, cell phone explosions, and missile strikes on leaders. It’s too bad we can’t put these psychopaths in an octagon to fight it out between themselves, as opposed to giving them the command of huge militaries and letting them draw their people into it."
"The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting
each other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals."
- Edward Abbey
Musical Interlude: 2002, "The End Is a Beginning"
Full screen recommended.
2002, "The End Is a Beginning"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Is our Milky Way Galaxy this thin? Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky, in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. This sharp, colorful image reveals the spiral galaxy's boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane.
An assortment of other background galaxies is included in the pretty field of view. Thought similar in shape to our own Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 4565 lies about 40 million light-years distant and spans some 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier missed.”
The Poet: Robinson Jeffers, "We Are Those People"
"We Are Those People"
"I have abhorred the wars and despised the liars,
laughed at the frightened
And forecast victory; never one moment's doubt.
But now not far, over the backs of some crawling years, the next
Great war's column of dust and fire writhes
Up the sides of the sky: it becomes clear that we too may suffer
What others have, the brutal horror of defeat -
Or if not in the next, then in the next - therefore watch Germany
And read the future. We wish, of course, that our women
Would die like biting rats in the cellars,
our men like wolves on the mountain:
It will not be so. Our men will curse, cringe, obey;
Our women uncover themselves to the grinning victors
for bits of chocolate."
- Robinson Jeffers
"If You Look..."
"We have got some very big problems confronting us and let us not make any mistake about it, human history in the future is fraught with tragedy. It's only through people making a stand against that tragedy and being doggedly optimistic that we are going to win through. If you look at the plight of the human race it could well tip you into despair, so you have to be very strong."
- Robert James Brown
"Col. Douglas Macgregor: America’s Next War of Choice"
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 12/18/24
"Col. Douglas Macgregor: America’s Next War of Choice"
"Are we on the brink of another catastrophic conflict? In this must-watch conversation, Col. Douglas Macgregor delivers an unflinching analysis of America’s relentless pursuit of war. From reckless foreign policies to the hidden agendas driving Washington’s decisions, Macgregor exposes the alarming truth behind what could become America’s next war of choice. As tensions escalate with global powers, are we being led into a conflict that could shatter the lives of millions? What lessons have we failed to learn from past wars, and how can we stop this dangerous trajectory before it’s too late?
Prepare for a sobering, thought-provoking discussion that will leave you questioning the true cost of empire. Col. Macgregor doesn’t hold back - he lays bare the realities most in power would rather you didn’t know. Are we ready for the consequences? Or are we sleepwalking into disaster?"
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
Redacted New, 12/18/24
"Emergency! This Is Heading For All Out War
As Putin Warns Red Line Being Crossed!"
"Well it's happening right before Trump takes office and this is all on purpose - NATO and the U.S. deep state are actively pushing Russia beyond its red line while setting America up for a no-win scenario. What does this mean for America, our economy and President Trump's 2nd term?"
Comments here:
Gerald Celente, "Judge Andrew Napolitano: Drone Warfare? U.S. Govt. Silent On Drone Surge"
Gerald Celente, 12/18/24
"Judge Andrew Napolitano: Drone Warfare?
U.S. Govt. Silent On Drone Surge"
"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:
"Alert! Russian Nuclear Forces On Standby After NATO Assassination"
Canadian Prepper, 12/18/24
"Alert! Russian Nuclear Forces On
Standby After NATO Assassination"
Comments here:
"1,000’s Of Retail Closures - The End Of In Person Shopping"
Snyder Reports, 12/18/24
"1,000’s Of Retail Closures - The End Of In Person Shopping"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Orlando Miner, 12/18/24
"Macy's Closing 65 Stores and Firing Thousands"
Comments here:
"The Housing Market Is A Bubble Full Of Fraud, And It’s Going To Pop"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 12/18/24
"The Housing Market Is A Bubble
Full Of Fraud, And It’s Going To Pop"
"The U.S. housing market is currently in a complete fix, and an unsustainable bubble around it could make things crash as severely as it happened in 2006. A new study shows that not only this bubble is completely fraudulent, but the Federal Reserve, - which has actually created it due to its flawed policies over the past two decades, - isn't able to fix it anymore.
The situation has snowballed and several markets are already entering a crash stage right now. The latest data shared by financial experts and real estate analysts shows that this trend is rapidly spreading to other areas of the country. Today, we're going to share a very important warning about the impending housing bubble burst, so stay tuned until the end of the video and share this message with anyone who may be interested to hear it!
Comments here:
"A Year Of Chaos: Does A Shocking Magazine Cover Reveal What The Global Elite Have Planned For 2025?"
"A Year Of Chaos: Does A Shocking Magazine Cover Reveal
What The Global Elite Have Planned For 2025?"
by Michael Snyder
"Are we heading into a year that will be characterized by great turmoil? Every year, a magazine known as “the Economist” publishes an issue that is dedicated to what is coming in the year ahead. In the past, many of these issues have turned out to be eerily accurate. For example, the cover of last year’s issue featured images of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin with very large missiles standing next to each of them. Of course this ended up being one of the biggest news stories of 2024. Ukraine started firing long-range missiles provided by NATO deep into Russian territory, and the Russians responded with long-range missiles of their own. Unfortunately, it appears that the cover for this year’s issue could be previewing some very alarming events that are coming in 2025.
The Economist has been one of the most important mouthpieces for the western elite for decades. It has offices all over the globe, but it is based in the city of London…"Based in London, the newspaper is owned by the Economist Group, with its core editorial offices in the United States, as well as across major cities in continental Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The ownership list of the magazine includes prominent families such as Rothschild, Cadbury, Agnelli, Schroder and Layton…Aside from the Agnelli family, smaller shareholders in the company include Cadbury, Rothschild (21%), Schroder, Layton and other family interests as well as a number of staff and former staff shareholders.
Ordinary people don’t read the magazine much." It is truly a magazine by the elite and for the elite, and so it provides a tremendous amount of insight into what the elite are thinking. Below, you can see what the cover for their 2025 preview issue looks like…
The first thing that stands out is how dark and ominous this cover is. Are they expecting 2025 to be a dark and ominous year? A black and white image of Donald Trump outlined in red is right in the center of the cover. Obviously they expect him to be the center of attention. Interestingly, a raised red fist that is outlined in red can be seen near the bottom of the cover. Needless to say, a raised fist is often used as a symbol of “resistance” to Trump. There are several other world leaders on the cover as well. Just like in 2024, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin are featured, and this year Chinese President Xi Jinping also appears.
It is already clear that the conflict in Ukraine will continue to be a major theme in 2025. Are the elite expecting war with China to break out too? Right next to Trump, you can see a very tall white missile, and right beneath Trump there is something that looks like a mushroom cloud. In addition, there are a couple of other symbols on the cover that are related to nuclear war.
This sort of imagery should deeply alarm all of us. Are they trying to warn us that we are getting dangerously close to nuclear war? Or could it be possible that they are suggesting that nuclear weapons could actually be used in combat at some point in 2025? 2024 was certainly a year of war, and I fully expect things to go to an entirely new level in 2025. But let us hope that nuclear weapons are not used any time soon.
Switching gears, directly next to the very tall white missile is an image of a syringe that is more than half-filled with red liquid. That can’t be related to the previous pandemic, because the previous pandemic has been behind us for quite some time. So what are they trying to communicate with this image? Are they suggesting that the world could soon be facing another major pestilence? Red is a color that is often associated with death. So the fact that the liquid inside the syringe is red is more than just a little bit creepy.
As I have detailed in previous articles, at this moment global health authorities are dealing with an outbreak of a mystery illness that is being referred to as “Disease X” in Africa, a new strain of the monkeypox that has started to pop up all over the world, an eruption of the Marburg virus in Rwanda, and a bird flu crisis that never seems to end and that has now jumped into humans. I am convinced that pestilence will be a major theme in 2025, and apparently the Economist does too.
On the cover of the magazine, we also see a dollar sign appear twice, and there are numerous arrows that are pointing both up and down. Are they anticipating that there will be economic and financial turmoil during the year ahead? Of course economic problems have already begun in the U.S., in Europe, and in China. The global economy is rapidly heading in the wrong direction, and many are warning that 2025 is going to be a very hard year.
That is really bad news for those that are on the bottom levels of the economic food chain. Here in the United States, demand at food banks is already at all-time record highs. So what will things look like if a full-blown global economic crisis suddenly erupts in 2025? There are other images on this cover that also seem rather odd. There is an image of Saturn, there is an image of an all-seeing eye, and there is an image of an hourglass. An hourglass is often used to depict the fact that time is running out. And I certainly agree with that.
The truth is that we have been living on borrowed time for quite a while. The elite love to create order out of chaos, and based on this magazine cover they certainly seem to believe that 2025 will be a year of chaos. Perhaps the elite hope that the chaos that is approaching will represent an opportunity for them to regain some of the control that they have lost in recent years. I think that they are starting to understand that the system that they have worked so carefully to construct is beginning to crumble, and now they are desperate to regain the upper hand any way that they can."
o
"Super Creepy: "The World Ahead 2025" Magazine Cover
Published By The Economist This Is Scary!"
"It's Extraordinary..."
“It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.”
– Joseph Conrad, “Lord Jim”
Dan, I Allegedly, "Warning - Your Dollar is About to Crash - Do This Today"
Dan, I Allegedly, 12/18/24
"Warning - Your Dollar is About to Crash - Do This Today"
Comments here:
Bill Bonner, "Send in the Clowns"
The greatest little whorehouse, well, anywhere...
"Send in the Clowns"
Even at the top, lawmakers are going with the DODGE, the Department
of Deceiving the public about Government Efficiency. Its fantasy goal is
to make sure the brightwork is polished and the chow is hot.
by Bill Bonner
Baltimore, Maryland - "Another day. Another dope trying to make sure the DOGE is neutered. Fox News: "Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said federal employees will help with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts by sharing their ideas for changes within the government. “We are reaching out to federal employees. They see it firsthand. Many of these employees are frustrated, as well. They are taxpayers, as well. They want to see it be more efficient. We are asking them to also share their ideas with us so we can actually get this thing fixed,” Lankford said on Fox News."
The DOGE has its work cut out for it. It aims to cut $2 trillion in spending. Every dollar goes to someone, so that represents as many as 20 million $100,000 paychecks. Musk and Ramaswamy are going to need all the help they can get. But really? Get the feds to prune off the branches where they rest their own plump derrieres? How likely is that?
If they were seriously interested in cutting costs, senators could simply vote against unfunded, reckless appropriations bills. There’s one in front of them right now. The Western Journal: "History appears to be repeating itself this week as Congress has brokered an agreement on a massive year-end catch-all spending bill - something it has often done in recent years just before leaving Washington for Christmas break."
But these clowns rubber stamp every jackass piece of legislation that comes down the pike; that’s why we have a $36 trillion national debt. Now they bow their heads and cross their fingers, claiming to be dead set on ‘efficiency.’ Donald Trump reportedly said he wanted the ‘kind of generals that Hitler had.’ We presume he was impressed by their ability to get things done. Maybe he was thinking of the way they put down the Warsaw uprising... maybe not the Battle for Stalingrad or WWII itself.
Whatever was going through his head, Mr. Trump is in a better position than anyone to batten down the hatches and tighten up the ship. But he’s way off course. Here’s Barrons: "Donald Trump’s tax-and-tariff economic policies and the U.S.’s mounting deficit could drive yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes to their highest level since 2000, T. Rowe Price has warned. The investment manager’s CIO for fixed income Arif Husain said in a report that the yield could top 5% early next year, then rise even higher.
In other words, Cap’n Trump is set to increase deficits, not shave them. A shame, because all he would have to do is what Javier Milei did, tell his generals, lieutenants, and housekeepers that that he will not tolerate any more debt. But even at the top, lawmakers are going with the DODGE... the Department of Deceiving the public about Government Efficiency. Its fantasy goal is to make sure the brightwork is polished... the chow is hot... and the uniforms are pressed. Just don’t turn the ship around!
Keeping the lounge tidy didn’t keep the Titanic from sinking. Nevertheless, tidiness is the new objective... and it is so important that even the Democrats are coming up the gangplank. Fox continues: "Some Democrats have jumped on board, as well: Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) have said they will join the DOGE Caucus. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) took aim at the U.S. defense budget for potential cuts doled out by DOGE in an op-ed published last week. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) earlier this month said Musk was “right” about defense spending, because the Pentagon has “lost track of billions.”
Hey, anybody can lose a few bucks here and there. But it takes talent and skill to misplace billions. That’s the kind of expertise we need on the DODGE team, right? Here’s the latest from Duffel Blog (believed to be tongue-in-cheek): "New Department of Gov. Efficiency seeks majors and staff NCOs as military liaisons." The new agency is seeking military-grade efficiency.
According to sources in the White House who spoke on the condition of possible future book deals, Musk and Ramaswamy are seeking highly capable military personnel to support the new agency’s mission and bring military-grade efficiency to the often slow and bogged-down federal government.
[Theo] Redding, a Virginia-based defense contractor, was one of the early hires for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He hit the ground running by publishing a 732-slide PowerPoint presentation outlining critical elements of new efficiency methodologies.
The next steps are obvious. Convene a series of meetings with other agencies involved with the efficiency drive. Dig into the details. Study the ‘ideas’ put forward by the feds themselves. Put out the call for bids to develop a new, AI-enhanced multi-million-dollar cost-buster program. Compare the bids... perhaps putting a few procurement specialists on the case to help analyze them. Then, await the report.
After all the obvious inputs, through-puts, and put options have been put into it, the AI report can be put to the DODGE and to a special committee of Congress... which can then draw its own conclusions, make its own recommendations, and put it in the trash. This whole process will, of course, take time. When it is complete... that is to say, after Hell freezes over... the budget cutting can begin.
Meanwhile, Congress aims to avoid a government shutdown on Friday by passing a more than 1,500 page spending bill later today. You can read a draft of the bill (if you dare) by going here. What’s in it? Only the lobbyists who wrote it know!"
Too bad the joke's on us...
Adventures With Danno, "Is Sam's Club Even Worth It Anymore?"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 12/18/24
"Is Sam's Club Even Worth It Anymore?"
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Tuesday, December 17, 2024
"Bombshell! Putin Tells NATO Prepare for War as Top General Slain, Turkey Invades Syria"
Danny Haiphong, 12 17/24
"Bombshell! Putin Tells NATO Prepare for War
as Top General Slain, Turkey Invades Syria"
"Vladimir Putin has issued a dire warning to NATO as tensions spiral out of control following a new attack on Moscow which took out a top general of Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense. Geopolitical analyst and journalist Ben Norton returns to break down the latest developments in the multipolar world, including its geopolitical and economic trajectory following the fall of Syria and a coming invasion from Turkey which has the world bracing for war."
Comments here:
"Millions Are Going Bankrupt As Credit Crisis Reaches Critical Level!"
Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, 12/17/24
"Millions Are Going Bankrupt
As Credit Crisis Reaches Critical Level!"
"Today, we're going to expose the darkest side of the American credit crisis. American households are spending a thousand dollars more every month just to purchase the same goods and services as three years ago. It's no wonder why so many people are turning to credit cards to make ends meet. But the situation is becoming so extreme that now almost half of all Americans are on a hamster wheel of credit card debt, according to a new report. That includes children, Gen Z, Millennials, and pretty much every future generation. Recent data shows that there are millions of children in the U.S. drowning in debt. At the same time, seniors are literally unretiring to be able to pay off their balances, and conditions are growing worse with each passing month. Today, we uncover the dark side of the Credit Crisis in America."
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"Alert! Drones Looking For A Nuclear Weapon In Neighborhoods"
Jeremiah Babe, 12/17/24
"Alert! Drones Looking For A
Nuclear Weapon In Neighborhoods"
Comments here:
Adventures With Danno, "I Don't Even Know How To Explain This, Here We Go"
Adventures With Danno, PM 12/17/24
"I Don't Even Know How To Explain This, Here We Go"
Comments here:
Gerald Celente, "DOW Is On Worst Losing Streaks Since 1978 - Crash Coming?"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 12/17/24
"DOW Is On Worst Losing Streaks Since 1978 -
Crash Coming?"
"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."
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"Walmart Is Closing Stores Ahead Of The Busiest Shopping Season As Sales Continue To Drop"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 12/17/24
"Walmart Is Closing Stores Ahead Of The
Busiest Shopping Season As Sales Continue To Drop"
"For a massive chain like Walmart to be closing stores right as we enter the busiest shopping season of the year, something really bad must be going on. A few weeks ago, the company’s CEO Doug McMillion shared a bleak outlook for holiday sales, and warned investors about a profit squeeze. But the fact that the retailer is closing multiple locations and leaving several communities without their local grocery stores just before Christmas is suggesting that the situation is far worse than they are telling us. The truth is that even the biggest retail chain in the U.S. and the world is bleeding money right now. And today, we're going to expose how deep Walmart’s wounds really are."
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Musical Interlude: Moby, "Love Of Strings"
Full screen recommended
Moby, "Love Of Strings"
"Life is the hyphen between matter and spirit."
- A.W. and J.C. Hare,
"Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers," 1827
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait, though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars.
Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in gigantic bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past."
Chet Raymo, “At Home In An Infinite Universe”
“At Home In An Infinite Universe”
by Chet Raymo
“They are questions that bedeviled thinkers for thousands of years: Is the universe infinite or finite, eternal or of a finite age? It is certainly hard to imagine a universe that extends without limit in every direction, or a universe without a beginning or end. It is equally difficult to imagine a finite universe; what is beyond the edge? Or a beginning or end in time; how can something come from nothing? how can what is cease to be?
The problems are so intractable philosophically that their resolution has generally been left to the theologians, which from a philosophical (or scientific) perspective offers no solution at all. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for proposing a philosophical resolution (an infinite universe) that offended theology.
An escape from befuddlement is provided by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which - for example - can describe a finite universe without a boundary, as the “two-dimensional” surface of a sphere is finite and without an edge. Unfortunately, multi-dimensional curved space-time is so counterintuitive that it is difficult to get one’s head around it without mastery of the mathematics. Given a choice between the ancient myths of your local preacher and the obtuse mathematics of the physics professor, it’s not hard to guess what most folks will opt for.
I have reviewed a book by physics professor Chad Orzel called “How To Teach Relativity To Your Dog.” It’s a fun romp, and clever pedagogy, but I can’t imagine it making the best seller list, much less displacing “Heaven Is For Real.”
Meanwhile, I’m reading a meditation on infinity by physics professor Anthony Aguirre, in a collection of essays called “Future Science.” He discusses contemporary cosmological theories based on general relativity, and in particular the rehabilitation of the idea of an infinite and eternal universe, or, more precisely, that our universe might be just one of an infinity of infinite universes. He writes in conclusion: “What seems clear, however, is that infinity can no longer be safely ignored; beautifully constructed, empirically supported, self-consistent theories have brought infinity from idle curiosity to central player in contemporary cosmology. And if correct, the worldview these theories represent constitutes a perspective shift unlike any other: in comparison to the universe, we would be not just small but strictly zero. Well, I can’t imagine many folks racing to embrace that conclusion."
Oh, but wait. Aguirre adds one final sentence: “Yet here we are, contemplating – if not quite understanding – it all.”
"Huxley vs. Orwell"
"Huxley vs. Orwell"
by Neil Postman
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one...
Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism...
Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us.
Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance...
Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we
would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent
of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy...
As Huxley remarked in 'Brave New World Revisited', the civil libertarians and the rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In '1984,' Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In 'Brave New World,' they are controlled by inflicting pleasure...In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."
Huxley was quite obviously correct...
The Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, "I Want A Lot"
"I Want A Lot"
"You see, I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything:
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.
So many live on and want nothing
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgments.
But what you love to see are faces
that so work and feel thirst...
You have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
"Russian General Assassinated In Front Of His Home; Moscow Vows To Avenge Death Of Officer Who Blew The Whistle On U.S. Biolabs Operating In Ukraine
"Russian General Assassinated In Front Of His Home; Moscow Vows To
Avenge Death Of Officer Who Blew The Whistle On U.S. Biolabs Operating In Ukraine"
Ukraine claims credit for targeted assassination of
Lt. General Igor Kirillov but this bears all the hallmarks of CIA hit job.
by Leo Hohmann
"Reuters reports that a top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops was assassinated in Moscow by Ukraine's SBU intelligence service on Tuesday morning near his residence.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, (pictured above) was chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops. He was killed outside an apartment building along with his assistant when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter went off, according to Russia's top criminal Investigative Committee. The scooter containing an improvised explosive device was remotely detonated, killing both Kirillov and his aide as they stepped out of a building on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow, Russian media reported.
A source within the Ukrainian secret police, or SBU, told Reuters that it was behind the hit, stating “The liquidation of the chief of the radiation and chemical protection troops of the Russian Federation is the work of the SBU.” The U.K.-based Reuters news outlet conveniently failed to mention that the Ukrainian SBU operates as a virtual arm of the CIA and was unlikely to pull the trigger on such a high-profile assassination without the approval of the U.S. intelligence agency.
Sputnik International, a Russian media outlet, speculated that the real reason the Russian general was killed had nothing to do with unverified reports about the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops. Sputnik says Kirillov was targeted because he was the one responsible for the discovery of more than a dozen biolabs operating in Ukraine under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of State. These biological experiments allegedly started under former President Barack Obama. According to Sputnik, the U.S. State Department has been directly involved in these biological programs, despite its repeated denials.
It is a fact that under Obama, U.S. biological warfare programs were advanced on foreign soil at the recommendation of the State Department because they were considered too risky to continue in the U.S. These experiments in bioweaponry typically are carried out under the auspices of developing “vaccines” against certain pathogens, when in fact they are “gain of function,” making the pathogens more deadly to humans and more easily spread among humans. The development of U.S. bioweapons allegedly has taken place at biolabs in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Ukraine and Africa.
The U.S. government engages with third-party contractors as intermediaries to further disguise its involvement in this illegal and destructive bioweapons development. This is how Dr. Anthony Fauci could lie in the face of Senator Rand Paul a couple of years ago when he said the U.S. is absolutely not engaging in deadly gain of function research. He was afforded plausible deniability by the fact that his agency had outsourced the work to NGOs such as EcoHealth Alliance.
The bottom line is this: Both the U.S. and Russia are accusing each other of violating international norms on the experimentation, deployment and/or use of biological and/or chemical weapons. No doubt both countries are up to their ears in this nasty business. But at least you will have both sides presented here, unlike in the mainstream media, which will feed you only one side of the story, telling you only what the U.S. government wants you to know.
Reuters reports that Kirillov is the most senior Russian military officer to be assassinated inside Russia by Ukraine and his murder is likely to prompt the Russian authorities to review security protocols for the army's top brass and to find a way to avenge his killing.
Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now a top advisor to Putin on issues of national security, was cited by the state RIA news agency as saying that Ukraine's military and political leadership now faced imminent revenge for Kirillov's assassination. But Russia knows who is really in charge of the Kiev regime, so I would not rule out a further act of revenge against the United States or its assets around the world."
"Christmas Tree Hunting in a Luxury Moscow Shopping Mall"
Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell, 12/17/24
"Christmas Tree Hunting in a Luxury Moscow Shopping Mall"
"What is it like to spend Christmas in Russia? Join me on a tour of the GUM Shopping Center in Red Square, Russia. Every year, the store hosts a Christmas tree-decorating exhibition. 2025 is also the year of the snake. Can we find some decorations to match the holiday season?"
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