StatCounter

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

"The Insurance Industry Is Going To Be Absolutely Devastated By The Los Angeles Fires"

"The Insurance Industry Is Going To Be Absolutely
 Devastated By The Los Angeles Fires"
by Michael Snyder

"Will the insurance industry be able to survive tens of billions of dollars in losses from the Los Angeles fires? There have been catastrophic fires in California before, but never anything quite like this. So what is going to happen to homeowners if their insurance companies go bankrupt and cannot pay? Even the ones that do not go bankrupt are really going to struggle. I have a feeling that some of them will delay payouts for an extended period of time and will deny as many claims as they possibly can in a desperate attempt to survive. In the end, it is likely that vast numbers of homeowners that were counting on their insurance companies to bail them out will be left holding the bag.

It is being projected that total economic losses from these fires could reach 150 billion dollars, and the insurance industry will be hit with approximately 20 to 25 billion dollars of those losses…"Analysts at Evercore ISI have estimated that insurance industry losses from the Los Angeles wildfires will be in the $20 billion to $25 billion range, and also expect the fires to be treated as one event which could help primary carriers reach their reinsurance coverage."

That is going to be a really tough pill to swallow. One expert is warning that we are literally “on the edge of a major financial crisis for the insurance industry”…“I think we’re on the edge of a major financial crisis for the insurance industry,” says Daniel Aldrich, a Northeastern professor, director of the university’s Resilience Studies Program and co-director at the Global Resilience Institute."

I agree with him. I don’t see how the industry is going to avoid a historic crisis in the aftermath of these fires. In particular, Politico is telling us that this “could be the final straw that breaks California’s insurance market”…"Wednesday’s firestorm in a wealthy area of Los Angeles could be the final straw that breaks California’s insurance market. The state’s insurance market has been teetering on the edge of insolvency for years thanks to catastrophic wildfires that have driven many insurers to stop writing new policies and drop existing ones."

Insurance companies are generally well capitalized, but there is only so much they can take. I think that it is probably inevitable that some insurers will not make it, and that would be extremely bad news for homeowners that are holding policies from those companies…"My concern is that the insurance companies won’t be able to handle all the claims and file for bankruptcy and that’s that. It’s scary,’ Los Angeles construction worker Ivan De La Torre, 32, whose uncle and sister both lost their houses in a fire that consumed half of Altadena, a suburb of some 40,000 people north of Los Angeles.

As hundreds of Los Angeles residents return to find homes reduced to ashes due to a devastating wave of wildfires, many are fearful that their insurance policies may not cover the rebuild cost and that future premiums will be astronomical."

Rebuilding costs are going to be insane. Just think about how much it would cost to rebuild the home that you are living in right now. If you are a homeowner, could you rebuild your home for what you originally paid for it? In the vast majority of cases, the answer would be no.

In recent years, home building costs have gone into the stratosphere…"The situation is further complicated by elevated construction costs. Both material prices and labor costs have remained high since the pandemic, which could amplify the final insurance payouts. Insurers will also face additional living expense claims, typically capped at 30% of a dwelling’s value, and business interruption losses for commercial properties."

Of course many homeowners in the Los Angeles area did not have any insurance at all, and so now they have lost everything. Here is just one example…"The family of Chad Comey, a local musician and community organizer who’s been taking care of his disabled parents for the past several years, lost their home in Pacific Palisades to the fire. “Chad is one of the best people I know,” wrote friend Tom Rhalter in the fundraiser he organized through GoFundMe for Comey. “Chad’s mom is paralyzed by Neuromyelitis Optica, a rare autoimmune disease, and his dad is blind. Chad is the best boss I’ve ever worked for and one of the kindest people I know. The fire took everything: clothes, possessions, and memories,” Rhalter continued. “His parents didn’t have insurance on the home. Chad and his family need immediate financial assistance to help recover from the fire.”

Can you imagine being in that situation? How would you feel? State Farm is taking a lot of heat for removing coverage from tens of thousands of homeowners last year…"State Farm said in 2023 that it would stop accepting new homeowners-insurance applications in California and then added last year that it would stop covering 72,000 homes across the state due to the growing frequency and severity of wildfires. Comedic actor Rob Schneider ranted against State Farm last week, saying they were ‘a pile of crap for cancelling insurance policies’."

Actor James Woods, whose Pacific Palisades home was engulfed by flames and destroyed, also confirmed in a post that ‘one of the major insurance companies canceled all the policies in our neighborhood about four months ago’, an apparent reference to State Farm.

Sadly, approximately 1,600 homeowners in Pacific Palisades had their policies canceled by State Farm about six months ago…"About 1,600 policies in Pacific Palisades were dropped by State Farm in July, California Department of Insurance spokesman Michael Soller said in an Thursday email to CBS MoneyWatch. An analysis of insurance data by CBS San Francisco last year found that State Farm also dropped more than 2,000 policies in two other Los Angeles ZIP codes, which include the Brentwood, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Monte Nido neighborhoods." State Farm has very entertaining commercials, but this is going to be a blow to their reputation that will be very difficult to recover from.

Unfortunately, this crisis is far from over. High winds have returned to the region, and that is going to make things very challenging for those that are fighting these fires…"Ominous winds were expected to regain strength Monday, howling through fire-blackened trees, picking up plumes of ash and smoke and further tangling efforts to tamp down the explosion of fires across Los Angeles County that have killed at least 24 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses."

From a big picture point of view, this disaster is yet another devastating blow in a long series of devastating blows to the U.S. economy. How many blows can we possibly take? Unfortunately, I have a feeling that it won’t be too long before we find out."

"Let Me Tell You Why You're Here..."

"Let Me Tell You Why You're Here..."
"Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about? But remember: I didn't say it would be easy. I just said it would be the truth." 
- Morpheus

"How It Really Is"

 

"Middle East Geopolitics 1/14/25"

Full screen recommended.
Times Of India, 1/14/25
"Israel Bows Down After Hamas Accepts Ceasefire? 
Netanyahu Govt Says Ready To Pay Heavy Price"
"Israel has expressed willingness to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including convicted terrorists, for the release of 98 remaining hostages held by Hamas. While a ceasefire deal mediated by Qatar and the U.S. is reportedly accepted by Hamas, Israel’s government faces backlash from far-right ministers who threaten to topple the coalition. Opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered conditional support to stabilize the government if needed."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Times Of India, 1/14/25
"'Yes, We Didn't...': Israeli Minister's Shocking Confession 
As Gaza Ceasefire Deal Set To Be Sealed"
"Israeli far-right minister Ben Gvir has made a shocking admission, claiming he repeatedly blocked a Gaza hostage deal over the past year. In a video circulating on social media, Gvir is seen discussing the matter with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, reportedly urging him to join forces in warning Prime Minister Netanyahu against finalizing the deal. This revelation has ignited outrage among opposition leaders and families of hostages."
Comments here:
o
Ahh, yes, Ben-Gvir...
"All Palestinian Prisoners To Be 
Executed And Shot In The Head"
"The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir, says he plans to introduce legislation in the Knesset which reads: "All Palestinian prisoners to be executed and shot in the head." – The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir
Watch this monster say it himself!

Make it a LAW mandating murdering prisoners?! WTF?!
OMG... God damn these psychopathically degenerate monsters to Hell!
And YOU, Americans, pay for it all, every bullet, every bomb, every tank, everything! 
All that blood's on YOUR hands too! Are you proud of this?

"Israel is Evil personified. Israel is Evil embodied."
- Scott Ritter
o
Critically essential truthful context:
OpenmindedThinker Show, 1/14/25
"Jeffrey Sachs: Iran's Explosive Nuclear Military 
Move Shakes the Middle East, Israel in Panic!"
Comments here:
o
"American Is a golden calf, and we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it off piece by piece until there is nothing left but the world's biggest welfare state that we will create and control...This is what we do to countries we hate, we destroy them very slowly."
- Benjamin Netanyahu, 1990

Dan, I Allegedly, "Proof It Is All Broken - Shocking Revelations Uncovered"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 1/14/25
"Proof It Is All Broken - 
Shocking Revelations Uncovered"

"LA's fire crisis reveals a broken system affecting thousands of families. From months-long permit delays to FEMA complications, this investigation exposes the harsh realities facing fire victims and the mounting challenges in rebuilding efforts. Inside this eye-opening report, we examine how permitting backlogs are creating unprecedented delays, with some applications sitting untouched for over 5 months. Learn why GoFundMe campaigns are being scrutinized by FEMA and how seemingly simple rebuilding efforts have turned into bureaucratic nightmares. We also look at Southern California Edison's class action lawsuit, the impact on local communities, and why experts warn this crisis could have long-lasting effects on LA County's recovery efforts. Plus, discover why local officials' promises of quick solutions may not match the reality on the ground."
Comments here:

Bill Bonner, "Smothering the Natives"

Purple loosestrife, an invasive perennial from Europe 
destroying North American wetland native plants.
"Smothering the Natives"
At this stage, either group – mainstream or ‘Big Man,’ neither of
which will cut spending - can be counted on to lead America into financial chaos.
by Bill Bonner

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited 
by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
- The Tenth Amendment

Baltimore, Maryland - "Last week...Amid all the excitement about invading Panama and strong-arming Greenland...A milestone passed with little notice: Jean-Marie Le Pen died. The BBC: "French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died aged 96." Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died at midday on Tuesday "surrounded by his loved ones", the family said. Le Pen - who repeatedly played down the Holocaust and was an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration - founded the French far-right National Front party in 1972.

The Daily Telegraph reports: "Funeral of Jean-Marie Le Pen takes place amid heavy security. Dozens of police were deployed to implement a ban against any demonstrations that could disturb services for Le Pen, whose death at a care facility in Garches sparked celebrations by those who opposed him."

What does ‘far right’ mean? Maybe a closer look at France’s rabble rouser will help us understand Donald Trump... both what he is... and where he is likely taking us.

Le Pen was born in 1928. Then, in 1942, his father was killed by a mine. From the very beginning the young man from Brittany showed a remarkable fondness for aggression. A street brawler, he was convicted of assault several times. Generally, the victims were ‘cocos’ – communists. He was a ‘political’ guy... always trying to get elected (often successfully) or to direct this or that organization... and start new ones.

There is no record of his doing anything other than trying to force other people to bend to his will. He joined the French Foreign Legion in Vietnam, but missed the catastrophe of Dien Bien Phu. He was sent to the Suez... but that was called off after Eisenhower refused to support it. And then, he went to Algeria, where he supported France’s right to govern the North African department. That came to an end, too, when de Gaulle brought the French home. Le Pen criticized de Gaulle as “helping to make France small.” He wanted a big France.

Back in Paris, full of youthful vigor and confidence, Le Pen started a new political party named ‘the National Front.’ And he was lucky. A rich donor supported him... and even gave him his prominent house in a Paris suburb from which to organize.

Le Pen despised the old conservatives, with their faith in the Church, the army, and the codes of the old aristocracy. The feeling was mutual. He was more of the Mussolini variety - a man of action... eager for change... eager to engage... eager for a fight. Le Pen wasn’t fond of immigrants or ‘minorities.’ He was convicted more than once of ‘inciting hatred’ as well as downplaying the holocaust. (He said the Holocaust was an ‘historical detail’ rather than the main feature of WWII.)

In our political taxonomy, there are those who take the 10th Amendment seriously and those who don’t. Now largely forgotten, the 10th Amendment is prehensile and useless. Still, the ‘old conservatives’ think it gives them the right to decide for themselves which bathroom would be most appropriate, whether to sign up for TikTok, or from whom they buy their EVs. In America today, occasionally, one of these traditional conservatives is sighted; but they are almost extinct.

The other main political branch has become ubiquitous. It believes in a central government with almost unlimited power. Like purple loosestrife, it has smothered the native varieties. Its adherents want more government so as to cure whatever they think ails our society. Prohibition! Climate control! Feed the poor... succor the sick... deport immigrants or give homes to them. Whatever. Le Pen, Trump, Mussolini, Harris, Obama - all fit into this second phylum. They do not want to restrain the power of government; they want to use it.

But there are subgroups. Hillary Clinton, Biden, and Kamala are ‘mainstream’ – they take their cues from the ruling elites. Trump, on the other hand, like Le Pen, is in the “Vir Magnus” family, who rely on their own genius for policy decisions. Historically, these ‘Big Man’ politicians make good opposition candidates but disastrous leaders. Waterloo, Stalingrad, the Cultural Revolution, the Gulag – all are products of Big Man leaders. But at this stage, either group – mainstream or ‘Big Man,’ neither of which will cut spending -- can be counted on to lead America into financial chaos.

As he got older, Le Pen’s daughter, Marine, tried to make the National Front more respectable. She urged him to stop saying things that would get him into trouble. He replied that it was the things that got him into trouble that had made him so popular. She eventually ousted her father from the party he founded. "Maybe by getting rid of me she wanted to make some kind of gesture to the establishment," Le Pen explained.

Jean-Marie Le Pen said what he thought... and his thoughts were greeted favorably by millions of his fellow Frenchmen. He was a rabble rouser; he had to rouse the rabble. Jean-Marie, R.I.P."

Gregory Mannarino, "Inflation Rises Again As The Global Liquidity Crisis Worsens"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 1/14/25
"Inflation Rises Again As 
The Global Liquidity Crisis Worsens"
Comments here:

Adventures With Danno, "Complete Shock At Meijer, Incredible Grocery Deals"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 1/14/25
"Complete Shock At Meijer, 
Incredible Grocery Deals"
Comments here:

Monday, January 13, 2025

"Biden Forgives $183 Billion In Student Loans As California Burns And North Carolina Victims Freeze"

Jeremiah Babe, 1/13/25
"Biden Forgives $183 Billion In Student Loans As 
California Burns And North Carolina Victims Freeze"
Comments here:

"Remember The Children"

"Remember The Children"
This is a 90 second video posted today on Sonar21.com
Warning!! The images are extremely graphic and disturbing!!

“When Ray McGovern read this poem by Michael Rosen on one of our recent chats with Judge Napolitano, I realized the need for a video to bring the message of the poem home. My friend, Marcello, who hosts the video podcast, Press of Mass Destruction, put my audio together with videos I sent him. He did a fantastic job. Thanks Marcello.”

"Genocidal Scorecard"
by Mr. Fish

"A United Nations report, published on October 28, lays out in chilling detail the advances made by Israel in Gaza as it seeks to eradicate “the very existence of the Palestinian people in Palestine.” This genocidal project, the report ominously warns, “is now metastasizing to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

The Nakba or “catastrophe,” which in 1948 saw Zionist militias drive 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, carry out more than 70 massacres and seize 78 percent of historic Palestine, has returned on steroids. It is the next and, perhaps, final chapter in “a long-term intentional, systematic, State-organized forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians.”

Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, who issued the report, titled “Genocide as colonial erasure,” makes an urgent appeal to the international community to impose a full arms embargo and sanctions on Israel until the genocide of Palestinians is halted. She calls on Israel to accept a permanent ceasefire. She demands that Israel, as required by international law and U.N. resolutions, withdraw its military and colonists from Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

At the very least, Israel, unchecked, should be formally recognized as an apartheid state and persistent violator of international law, Albanese states. The U.N. should reactivate the Special Committee Against Apartheid to address the situation in Palestine, and Israel’s membership in the U.N. should be suspended. Short of these interventions, Israel’s goal, Albanese warns, will likely come into fruition. You can see my interview with Albanese here.

“This ongoing genocide is doubtlessly the consequence of the exceptional status and protracted impunity that has been afforded to Israel.” she writes. “Israel has systematically and flagrantly violated international law, including Security Council resolutions and [International Criminal Court] ICJ orders. This has emboldened the hubris of Israel and its defiance of international law. As the ICC Prosecutor has warned, ‘if we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, if it is seen as applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions of its complete collapse. This is the true risk we face at this perilous moment.’”

The U.N. report comes amid an Israeli blockade of northern Gaza where over 400,000 Palestinians are enduring a starvation siege and constant airstrikes in an attempt to depopulate the north. Israeli forces have killed 1,250 Palestinians in the assault, launched on October 5, a medical source told Al Jazeera. Reports from northern Gaza are difficult to obtain as internet and phone services have been cut and the few journalists on the ground continue to be killed. Israel’s ground and aerial assaults are centered on Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. Civil defense units say they have been barred by Israeli forces from reaching the sites of recent strikes and their crews have been attacked.

Israel has ordered Palestinians to flee to designated “safe zones,” but once in these “safe zones” they have been attacked and ordered to move to new “safe zones.” “Displaced people have been systematically chased down and targeted in shelters, including in United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools, 70 percent of which Israel has repeatedly attacked.”

In May, Israel’s Rafah invasion caused the displacement of nearly one million Palestinians, driven into southern Gaza because of Israeli evacuation orders, into “uninhabitable wastelands of rubble, sewage and decomposing bodies,” Albanese notes.

By August, 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians were displaced “under dire conditions,” according to the U.N. The months of “relentless shunting of weakened humans from one unsafe area to another — fleeing bombs and bullets, with minimal chances of escape, amid loss, fear and grief, and with little access to shelter, clean water, food and healthcare — have inflicted incalculable harm, especially on children,” the report reads. “The movement of displaced Palestinians resembles the death marches of past genocides, and the Nakba. Forced displacement severs connection with the land, undermining food sovereignty and cultural belonging, and triggering further displacement. Communal bonds are broken, the social fabric shredded and reserves of resilience depleted. Systematic forced displacement contributes to ‘the destruction of the spirit, of the will to live, and of life itself.’”

The constant displacement — many Palestinians have been displaced nine or 10 times — from one part of Gaza to another is accompanied by calls from Israeli officials to “renew settlements in Gaza” and encourage the “voluntary transfer of all Gazan citizens” to other countries.

Israel has killed at least 43,163 people in Gaza and wounded 101,510 in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed – some by Israeli forces – in Israel during the incursion by armed Palestinian fighters into Israel and more than 200 were taken captive. In Lebanon, at least 2,787 people have been killed and 12,772 wounded since the Israeli assault on Gaza began, with 77 killed in strikes across the country on Tuesday alone.

The report found evidence that Israel has carried out “more than 93 massacres.” U.N. investigators concede the numbers of dead in Gaza are probably a vast undercount given that at least 10,000 people, including 4,000 children, are missing, probably buried under the rubble, where “the voices of those trapped and dying are often audible.” Other Palestinians, an “uncertain number,” have been seized by Israel forces and “disappeared.”

Israel has repeatedly attacked aid distribution sites, tent encampments, hospitals, schools and markets “through the indiscriminate use of aerial and sniper fire.” The report notes that “at least 13,000 children, including more than 700 babies, have been killed, many shot in the head and chest” while approximately “22,500 Palestinians have sustained life-changing injuries.”

“The disturbing frequency and callousness of the killing of people known to be civilians are ‘emblematic of the systematic nature’ of a destructive intent,” the report reads. “Six-year-old Hind Rajab, killed with 355 bullets after pleading for help for hours; the fatal mauling by dogs of Muhammed Bhar, who had Down’s Syndrome; the execution of Atta Ibrahim Al-Muqaid, an older deaf man, in his home, later bragged about by his killer and other soldiers on social media; the premature babies deliberately left to die a slow death and decompose in the intensive care unit at Al-Nasr Hospital; the elderly man, Bashir Hajji, killed en route to southern Gaza after appearing in a propaganda photograph of a ‘safe corridor;’ Abu al-Ola, the handcuffed hostage shot by a sniper after being sent into Nasser Hospital with evacuation orders. When the dust settles on Gaza, the true extent of the horror experienced by Palestinians will become known.”

The genocide has turned the landscape into a toxic wasteland. “Nearly 40 million tons of debris, including unexploded ordnance and human remains, contaminate the ecosystem,” the report goes on. “More than 140 temporary waste sites and 340,000 tons of waste, untreated wastewater and sewage overflow contribute to the spread of diseases such as hepatitis A, respiratory infections, diarrhea and skin diseases. As Israeli leaders promised, Gaza has been made unfit for human life.”

In a further blow, the Israeli parliament on Monday approved a bill to ban UNRWA, a lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, from operating on Israeli territory and areas under Israel’s control. The ban almost certainly ensures the collapse of aid distribution, already crippled, in Gaza. As of Oct. 20, 233 UNRWA workers have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, making it the deadliest conflict for U.N. workers.

Israel has expanded its “buffer zone” along the Gaza perimeter to 16 percent of the territory, in the process leveling homes, apartment blocks and farms. It has pushed over 84 percent of the 2.3 million people in Gaza into “a shrinking, unsafe ‘humanitarian zone’ covering 12.6 percent of a territory now reconfigured in preparation for annexation.” Satellite imagery indicates that the Israeli military has built roads and military bases in over 26 percent of Gaza, “suggesting the aim of a permanent presence.”

The blockade of food is accompanied by the destruction of water treatment plants, sewage systems, reservoirs, aid convoys, healthcare facilities and food distribution points — crowds of desperate people waiting for food “have been massacred” by Israeli soldiers.

Israel has all but obliterated medical facilities and services in Gaza. It has damaged 32 of 36 hospitals, with 20 hospitals and 70 of 119 primary healthcare centers incapacitated. By this August it had attacked healthcare facilities 492 times. Israel besieged Al-Shifa Hospital for the second time in March and April, killing more than 400 people and detaining 300, including doctors, patients, displaced persons and civil servants. It carried out a forced evacuation of all but 100 of 650 patients in Al-Aqsa hospital.

“In August,” the report reads, “entry permits for humanitarian organizations nearly halved. Access to water has been restricted to a quarter of pre-7 October levels. Approximately 93 per cent of the agricultural, forestry and fishing economies has been destroyed; 95 per cent of Palestinians face high levels of acute food insecurity, and deprivation for decades to come.” “In recent months, 83 percent of food aid was prevented from entering Gaza, and the civilian police in Rafah were repeatedly targeted, impairing distribution,” the report notes. “At least 34 deaths from malnutrition were recorded by 14 September 2024.” These measures “indicate an intent to destroy its population through starvation.”

Palestinians detained by Israeli forces “have been systematically abused in a network of Israeli torture camps. Thousands have disappeared, many after being detained in appalling conditions, often bound to beds, blindfolded and in diapers, deprived of medical treatment, subjected to unsanitary conditions, starvation, torturous cuffing, severe beatings, electrocution and sexual assault by both humans and animals. At least 48 detainees have died in custody.”

The report cites the role of the Israeli media in “inciting” the genocide “by helping to foster an unchecked genocidal climate.” The report criticizes the Israeli media for platforming “proponents of genocide” and withholding “facts from the Israeli public.” At the same time, the Israeli military has killed over 130 Palestinian journalists. Palestinians are equated with the Amalek, the Biblical enemies of the Israelites, as well as Nazis, to justify their extermination.

Albanese’s report, in a section titled “Risk of genocide in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” notes that Israel has accelerated its lethal attacks, detentions and land seizures in the West Bank. “Genocidal conduct in Gaza set an ominous precedent for the West Bank,” it notes. In May 2024, the governance of the West Bank was “officially transferred from military to civilian authorities — further de jure annexation — and placed under [Bezalel] Smotrich, a committed Eretz Yisrael politician,” the report reads. “The largest single land appropriation in 30 years was then approved.”

Smotrich, the Minister of Finance, claims there are “two million Nazis” in the West Bank. He has threatened to turn parts of the West Bank into “ruined cities like in the Gaza strip” and stated that starving the entire Gaza population was “justified and moral,” even if two million people died. Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz has also called for the West Bank to receive the same treatment as Gaza.

Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank towns of Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tubas and Tulkarem live for days under curfew, making it difficult to access food and water. As in Gaza, the Israeli army, during its Operation Summer Camps, has “targeted ambulances, blocked entrances to hospitals and laid siege to Jenin Hospital. Bulldozers destroyed streets and electricity and public health infrastructure.”

Drones and war planes carry out airstrikes. Israeli roadblocks, checkpoints and blockades make travel difficult or impossible. Israel has suspended financial transfers to the Palestinian Authority, which nominally governs the West Bank in collaboration with Israel. It has revoked 148,000 work permits for those who had jobs in Israel.

“The gross domestic product (GDP) of the West Bank contracted by 22.7 percent, nearly 30 percent of businesses have closed, and 292,000 jobs have been lost,” the report reads. Over 692 Palestinians — “10 times the previous 14 years’ annual average of 69 fatalities,” have been killed and more than 5,000 have been injured. Of the 169 Palestinian children who have been killed, “nearly 80 percent were shot in the head or the torso.”

Since August, in the Jenin refugee camp “approximately 180 homes were levelled and 3,800 structures damaged, destroying or damaging power supplies, public services and amenities, displacing thousands of families and causing widespread disruption. More than 181,000 Palestinians have been affected, many multiple times.”

The report dismisses the claim that Israel is carrying out the assault in Gaza and the West Bank to “defend itself,” “eradicate Hamas” or “bring the hostages home,” charging that these claims are “camouflage,” a way of “invisibilizing the crime.” Genocidal intent, as Judge Dalveer Bhandari from the ICJ points out, “may exist simultaneously with other, ulterior motives.”

Rather, the incursion into Israel by Hamas and other resistance fighters on Oct. 7 “provided the impetus to advance towards the goal of a ‘Greater Israel.’” “In the context of Israel ignoring the ICJ directive to end the unlawful occupation, the aim to eradicate resistance contradicts the rights to self-determination and to resist an oppressive regime, protected by Customary International Law,” the report reads. “It also portrays the entire population as engaged in resistance and therefore eliminable. By continuing to suppress the right to self-determination, Israel is replicating historical instances in which self-defence, counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism were used to justify destruction of the group, leading to genocide.”

It notes that Israel, rather than abiding by the 1993 Oslo Accords, which were supposed to lead to a two-state solution, increased its colonies in the West Bank from 128 to 358 and the numbers of Jewish settlers “have grown from 256,400 to 714,600.” Israel passed the 2018 Nation State Law that asserts exclusive Jewish sovereignty over “Eretz Yisrael” and names “Jewish settlement” on occupied Palestinian land a “national priority.” It cultivates “a political doctrine that frames Palestinian assertions of self-determination as a security threat to Israel” and uses it “to legitimize permanent occupation.”

“The current intent to destroy the people as such could not be more evident from Israeli conduct when viewed in its totality,” the report states. A leaked Israeli Ministry of Intelligence “concept paper” from October 2023 outlines the plan to expel the entire Gaza population to Egypt and recolonize Gaza. It is a plan Israel appears to be following.

Albanese writes that Israel is replicating the patterns of past genocides. It creates through its rhetoric a “vengeful atmosphere” that conditions soldiers to be “willing executioners.” It claims it is acting in self-defense while targeting a civilian population. It is obliterating the infrastructure that sustains life, a process of “genocide by attrition.” It uses starvation as a weapon. It is attempting to hide its crimes by killing Palestinian journalists and U.N. workers and blocking international agencies and the international media from Gaza. We have seen genocide before. We have also seen the complicity or silence of nations that have the power to intervene. History doesn’t repeat itself, but too often it rhymes."

I Samuel 15: 3-4: "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."

50,000 known dead Palestinians, including 18,000 CHILDREN, 110,000 wounded, with at least 10,000 more known buried under the rubble of their homes by bombs YOU, Americans, gave these genocidal monsters!

Hashem...What kind of "God" could command such a horrifying atrocity, which the psychopathically degenerate inbred Israeli ZioNazi monsters are now all too eager to carry out? What kind of people could allow and support this nightmare, and pay for every single bullet and bomb, every tank and airplane, knowing full well what genocide is happening in Gaza? YOU did, and do, America, paid for every goddamned bit of it. What kind of person are YOU, American? Every drop of blood is on your hands, too...What's that make YOU, and all of us? Hang your head in eternal shame and disgrace... - CP

"Rent Prices Spike By 60% And Now Americans Are Spending Their Entire Paycheck On Housing Costs"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 1/13/25
"Rent Prices Spike By 60% And Now Americans Are 
Spending Their Entire Paycheck On Housing Costs"
"It's more expensive than ever to rent. In fact, rents were unaffordable in 2024 for almost 25 million households in the United States, an all-time high, according to a report on America’s Rental Housing by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University released this month. The most astonishing finding highlighted by analysts in the Harvard report is that a huge number of renters are spending their entire paycheck on housing. Are you one of them?

A common guideline advises against spending more than 30% of your earnings on housing costs. If you spend more than a third of your income on rent, you're considered to be “moderately rent burdened,” if you spend 50% of your paycheck on rent you're considered “severely rent burdened” by federal standards. However, amidst the worsening housing crisis, millions of Americans are dedicating 100% of their monthly pay towards rent. Can you believe that? That's a tough pill to swallow."
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Believe"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Believe"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The southern Milky Way appears spectacular in this composite image taken from Mangaia, the most southerly of the Cook Islands. Few sources of light pollution exist here, home to only 500 people.
The two bright stars at the Milky Way’s center are Alpha (left) and Beta Centauri. They point to Crux the Southern Cross. Near the horizon, two of the satellite galaxies of our Milky Way, the Small (left) and Large Magellanic Clouds are easy to spot.”

“One Last Smile For My Old Friend”

Full screen recommended.
“One Last Smile For My Old Friend”
by Iain Burns

“This is the magical moment a dying chimpanzee recognizes her old friend and gives him an emotional farewell. Mama, the 59-year-old former matriarch at Royal Burgers Zoo in the Netherlands, was curled up in a ball and refusing food until the arrival of Professor Jan van Hooff, who she had known since 1972. At first she did not realize that her old friend had come to see her and remained on the floor as he stroked her. But her bond with Professor van Hooff – who co-founded her chimp colony at the Arnhem zoo – was deep enough to shake her from her gloom. The terminally ill chimp, who was fast approaching the end of her life, can be seen reacting with pure joy when she realizes who has come to see her. Mama screeched with delight and beamed with a smile while greeting the professor. Screeching with pleasure and smiling in delight, Mama can be seen stretching out her hand and stroking Professor van Hooff’s head in greeting. The video was filmed in April 2016. Mama died just a week after giving her old friend a heartfelt farewell.”

"The Molten Pit Of Human Reality..."

"Friedrich Nietzsche in ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ holds that only a few people have the fortitude to look in times of distress into what he calls the molten pit of human reality. Most, studiously, ignore the pit. Artists and philosophers, for Nietzsche, are consumed however by an insatiable curiosity, a quest for truth and a desire for meaning. They venture down into the bowels of the molten pit. They get as close as they can before the flames and heat drive them back. This intellectual and moral honesty, Nietzsche wrote, comes with a cost. Those singed by the fire of reality become ‘burnt children’ he wrote, eternal orphans in empires of illusion."
- Chris Hedges
o
"We work in the dark. We do what we can to battle the evil that would otherwise destroy us. But if a man's character is his fate, it's not a choice but a calling. Sometimes the weight of this burden causes us to falter from the fragile fortress of our mind, allowing the monster without to turn within. We are left alone staring into the abyss, into the laughing face of madness."
- Fox Mulder, "X-Files"
o
o
Freely download "Beyond Good And Evil", 
by Friedrich Nietzsche, here:

"You May Think..."

"To show mercy is not naive. To hold out against the end of hope is not stupidity or madness. It is fundamentally human. Of course... we are all doomed; we are all poisoned from our birth by the rot of stars. That does not mean we should succumb to the seductive fallacy of despair, the dark tide that would drown us. You may think I'm stupid, you may call me a madman and a fool, but at least I stand upright in a fallen world."
- Rick Yancey

The Daily "Near You?"

Athens, New York, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Gregory Mannarino, "The Economy Is Being Taken Apart Deliberately"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 1/13/25
"The Economy Is Being Taken Apart Deliberately,
 Be Ready And Expect Anything"
Comments here:

The debt market sell-off continues. MMRI hits new record high.
Crypto, gold, silver, and stock futures all lower @6:35AM Eastern.
o
Gregory Mannarino, PM 1/13/25
"They Just Shut Me Off!"
Comments here:

"Middle East Geopolitics, 1/13/25"

Danny Haiphong, 1/13/25
"Scott Ritter: Israel Will Be Wiped Out, IDF Losing 
Yemen & Gaza Fronts as Hezbollah & Iran Regroup"
Comments here:
o
OpenmindedThinker Show, 1/13/25
"Scott Ritter: Iran’s Earth-Shattering Military Move 
on Israel Sparks Panic Across Middle East!"
Comments here:
o
Mahmood OD, 1/13/25
"Final Draft Leaked, Hours Left; 
Resistance Escalates In Last 72 Hours"
Comments here:

Stipendium peccati mors est, Israel...
And it's coming.

"The War Behind The War: What World War III Is Really Being Fought Over"

"The War Behind The War: 
What World War III Is Really Being Fought Over"
As usual, the official narrative, as put forth in the corporate media, about the West's beef with Putin bears no resemblance to the truth about why the West cannot accept a Putin-led Russia.
by Leo Hohmann

"World War III, like all 21st century wars, is not being fought over ideologies. It’s being fought over energy and natural resources. Because he who controls the world’s resources will be free to impose whatever ideology he wants.

Washington and London, the epicenter of the Western liberal world order that thinks its admirable and virtuous to redefine God-created genders and appropriate to unleash deviant transvestites on innocent school children, is seeking to neutralize the massive resources of Russia as it ramps up its “net zero” sustainable development model of economic progress. This economic model is really just a scam designed to pilfer what remains of the middle class and further subjugate them under AI-powered government-corporate control. Hence the need for more massive data centers, which Donald Trump is being used to build across the United States with $8 billion in foreign investment from a billionaire in the United Arab Emirates.

The surveillance state cannot be built out without these data centers scooping up, processing and storing highly personal information on every citizen. But Trump is either too dumb to know this or doesn’t care because he is blinded by a naive belief that without an expanded AI America will lose its global hegemony.

The modern technocratic state is going to be based on energy and carbon credits. Fiat currencies will become a thing of the past, if these global predators succeed in their plans for a one-world surveillance state, where freedom of movement becomes a distant memory. Our healthcare and even our diets will also be tightly controlled by the elitist globalist predator class, whose interests are exemplified by the World Economic Forum and other elitist organizations.

With an understanding of the ongoing war over who controls the global food and energy supplies, it becomes easy to see how the NATO-Russia war (with Ukraine as NATO’s proxy) will blow up into World War III.

Moscow accused Ukreaine Monday of conducting "energy terrorism" after what the Kremlin described as a failed drone attack against a Black Sea gas-compressor station that forms part of the major TurkStream gas pipeline linking Russia and Turkey.

This following report is from the France 24 media outlet: "The Kremlin accused Ukraine of conducting "energy terrorism" and posing a danger to Europe's energy security, after an attempted drone attack on part of a major gas pipeline that carries Russian supplies to Turkey. The allegation comes amid an escalating energy war between the two countries, almost three years after Russia launched its military offensive. Ukraine has not commented on the alleged attack."

Ukraine halted the transit of Russian gas to third countries via Ukraine on January 1, ending decades of energy cooperation that had brought billions of dollars to both countries, in a bid to cut off revenue for Moscow's army. The United States last week rolled out fresh sanctions on Russia's oil sector in another blow to Moscow's vital hydrocarbon industry.

The Russian defense ministry said on Monday that Ukraine had fired nine attack drones on Saturday at a gas-compressor station in the village of Gai-Kodzor, near Russia's southern coast on the Black Sea. The site is across from the Crimean peninsula - which was unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014 and has been heavily targeted by Kyiv throughout the three-year war. Moscow said the facility was part of the TurkStream pipeline and accused Ukraine of trying to "cut off gas supplies to European countries.”

The Moscow Times further reported as follows: "The Defense Ministry said all the drones were shot down but some "minor damage" was recorded from falling debris. Gas deliveries were unaffected. According to Russian state news agencies, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the attack a "continuation of the line of energy terrorism that Kyiv has been pursuing, under the curation of its overseas friends, for a long time.” He called it "very dangerous for European consumers" and said Russia's foreign minister and the head of Gazprom had discussed it in a call with their Turkish counterparts on Sunday." Moscow's forces have bombarded Ukraine's energy sector with repeated aerial strikes since February 2022, causing major damage and power outages across the country.

The Western puppet politicians would have us believe the war is being fought over “democracy.” They say Putin is a dictator who wants to take over all of Europe. This is preposterous. The Soviet Empire collapsed because it could not handle the financial burden of keeping the Eastern European countries under its thumb, and Putin knows this. Russia is not capable of conquering and occupying Eastern Europe, let alone all of Western Europe, too. So these Western leaders are lying through their teeth, and unfortunately the Western press is all too happy to parrot thier fear-mongering narratives about Putin.

But even if Putin was as bad of a dictator as they tell us, the U.S. and NATO have in the past had no problem with dictators as long as they trade in dollars and follow the rules of the post-World War II liberal world order.

Don’t buy the hypocritical and self-righteous lies so prevalent throughout the Western media, including much of the conservative media. The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with democracy. It’s being fought for the sole purpose of detaching Putin from his position in control of a vast store of natural gas, oil, gold, uranium, and other valuable natural resources that the West wants to control and profit from. They can’t profit from it as long as Putin is in charge of Russia. And the last thing Washington wants to see is Putin plowing those oil and gas profits into his military/defense/industrial sector at a time when the West is seeking to eliminate so-called “fossil fuels” and convert to unreliable, less efficient and more expensive wind and solar energy.

The Kremlin on Monday also accused the United States of "destabilizing" the world energy market through fresh sanctions on Russian oil producers. The United States and Britain on Friday announced sanctions against Russia's energy sector, including oil giant Gazprom Neft and 180 ships it says are part of Moscow's "shadow fleet." The move came just days before U.S. President Joe Biden leaves office."

"How It Really Is"

 

Judge Napolitano, "Larry Johnson: Will the Palestinians Surrender? NO"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 1/13/25
"Larry Johnson: Will the Palestinians Surrender? NO"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "The Fires Rage On - Major Failures Exposed"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 1/13/25
"The Fires Rage On - Major Failures Exposed"
"LA's hidden water crisis exposed! Empty reservoirs reveal major failures in water management. Join me as we dive into this shocking situation and its implications. Today we're uncovering the truth about LA's water crisis and the empty reservoirs that are causing major concern. We'll also touch on the ongoing fire situation, credit card payment issues during emergencies, and the latest economic news. "
Comments here:

John Wilder, "Trump, Greenland, And The Caesar Offramp"

"Trump, Greenland, And The Caesar Offramp"
by John Wilder

"Greenland. All of this post started by thinking that pretty soon we might be handed the keys to Greenland, so we should get up there quickly to measure to see if our stuff fits.

I’ve written several times about the coming political/economic crisis that the United States is facing, and back in 2018 I said the earliest year would be 2025, and the latest would be 2040. I’m sticking by those figures. The most likely period for this crisis I’m still putting at 2030-2035 because things tend to go on a lot longer than we think they will – inertia is real in physics, and it’s just as real in political economic systems. Things go on a lot farther than they should, and in hindsight people say, “Well, how in the heck did that last so very long.”

History is filled with many such examples:
• The Ottoman Empire,
• the system under Czarist Russia,
• the Chinese Emperors, and
• my first marriage.

Watching history unfold right now with the dawn of the second Trump Administration, I wanted to give a quick glimpse in what might be an offramp to the collapse. I’m calling it, “The Caesar Offramp.”

It is very clear that the political situation more than rhymes with problems taking place in the very late Roman Republic. Cicero (the dead Roman, not Porky Pig’s® nephew) even gave a speech about groups called the Optimates and the Populares. The Optimates were the elite of the day – think the people who take jets from their Aspen house to their superyacht that they just had shipped in to Port Hercules in Monaco so they could be with all the other people who had their superyacht shipped to Port Hercules in Monaco. These are the princes of the world, the folks who fly to Davos to get together to tell you that you’re using too many hydrocarbons and probably shouldn’t be legally allowed to have air conditioning.

The Populares? Let’s be real – these were also the elite of the day, but they at least pretended that the rank-and-file people were important. They had superyachts, too, but pretended they didn’t like them and also ate cheeseburgers. Hmmm. All of this is sounding familiar.

Let’s skip forward, a bit. At the end of the Republic, Rome was on the verge of civil war, and Julius Caesar, certainly the most famous Roman identified as a Populare, broke the system, and became the prototype for what would become an Empire that would last for the next five hundred years in the West, and the next nearly 1,500 years in the East.

What really made me think about this is the very real possibility that the United States will become the controller of Greenland. Yup. Whereas the United States has had territorial expansions, the last really big one was over 150 years ago when Seward negotiated for Alaska, and the last significant territorial acquisition were some islands we got after World War II, but they’re tiny.

Regardless, it’s been nearly 80 years since we added territory to the United States, and it certainly wasn’t the largest island in the world, rather batches of small islands in the Pacific that were taken from the Japanese after, um, some nuclear persuasion. To me, this is a symbol of a world in flux, where nothing should be taken for granted. And, it provides the basis for an offramp – a Caesar.

Trump is certainly not that man. Trump is about, as he told us plainly, The Art of the Deal. Trump didn’t seize power, he talked himself into it. His Populare sentiment contrasts with the Optimate culture of the RINOS and GloboLeftElite, and he used exactly that to springboard himself into power. Twice.

The sentiment is there, and given the relative polarity and unpopularity of the various members of the Optimate class, there exists a big opening, right now, for a Populare leader to rise up, seize power, and completely overhaul our systems. Just the fact that we’re talking about absorbing Greenland to better surround Northern India (formerly known as Canada), the idea that our institutions, both financial and political can be remade is also on the table.

I think that this isn’t the most likely scenario, a Caesar without a civil war – I still think that Civil War 2.0 is the mostly likely outcome. Here are the variations that immediately spring to mind:

• Civil War 2.0 followed by regional Balkanization
• Civil War 2.0 followed by Ceasar 2.0 (and likely a North American Unification)
• Civil War 2.0 followed by a Revitalized Republic
• World War 4.0 (counting Cold War as 3.0) followed by some version of regionalized Balkanization, Caesar 2.0, or a Revitalized Republic

I find the regional Balkanization the most likely, still, since people are already self-segregating away from the Red/Blue state they don’t like, and that the polarization has essentially already created two countries within a single border.

Caesar 2.0 after Civil War 2.0 would require an extraordinary man with a military background, but also one of public service to step up at the right time with a message of unification. Think Napoleon, but taller and with a better public speaking voice. I’m betting Napoleon sounded like a mouse squeaking when he talked.

The Revitalized Republic, while most personally desirable to me, seems the least likely since we don’t like each other very much, any more and the residual community that created the space for the Republic seems missing. I’m not sure that the resolve exists for the mountains of skulls that would need to be stacked in order for the Republic to be reconstituted. So, an off ramp may exist. There’s a vanishingly short time for that to occur, so if it doesn’t happen by 2030, I’m betting that it’s not in the cards. But, we’ll always have Greenland."

Bill Bonner, "Full Speed Ahead"

"Full Speed Ahead"
They argue over the details and often duck real differences. 
But it didn’t matter what song they played in the bar. 
When the icy water rushed through the corridors, the Titanic was doomed.
By Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland - "We came back from snowy Ireland to snow covered Maryland. And this morning, we sit in front of the fire, and take a break from our customary rigorous analysis and air-tight logic to make some guesses.

As reported last week, the Musk/Ramaswamy DOGE group has already admitted that it can’t really eliminate the deficit. Not even half of it. But it only took just a little math to see that coming, not a lot of guesswork. They would have to cut into the muscle of the Pentagon and into the guts of the transfer payments (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) to really make much of a difference. They aren’t going to do that because the politicians are in control, not the ‘efficiency’ guys. Politicos get power for themselves by spending money, not saving it. So, it was inevitable that Musk would fall out with the MAGA crowd.

Steve Bannon was on the case over the weekend. New York Post: "Days after fawning over what tech magnate Elon Musk’s deep pockets could do for the MAGA movement, Steve Bannon went berserk on the world’s richest man and vowed to limit his White House influence. Bannon, 71, who hosts the “War Room” podcast and has a penchant for plotting all-out brass-knuckled political warfare, suggested Musk “should go back to South Africa” and decried his stance on H1-B visas."

A bit more guessy is our hypothesis that the Trump phenomenon doesn’t mark a real break with the past... but merely an acceleration in the rate of degeneration. More spending. More debt. More blatant corruption. More foreign adventures. More inflation... and so forth.

The press confuses the issue. It says Trump represents the ‘extreme right’ as opposed to the mainstream ‘enlightened liberals.’ In the minds of many, the Trump win represents a whole new thing... a new era in US politics. And in some ways it does. But not the important ones.

Perhaps less in practice than in theory, traditional party politics pitted the ‘progressives’ against the ‘conservatives.’ The improvers - a role played by the democrats - wanted to use the strong arm of the feds to build a better world. Spend, spend, spend... for better schools, welfare for the poor, make the world safe for democracy, save the planet - you name it.

The role played by conservative republicans was avuncular... dragging their feet to slow them down... and using the Constitution to impose restraints. But over time, the wily old Republican uncles realized that they could use the government’s ‘free’ money to buy votes and gain power too. And now, is there a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties?

Both spend trillions they don’t have, knowing that it will lead to higher prices for their own voters... Both approved the invasion of Iraq... and the attack on Libya... and the bombs and cash that get sent to the Ukraine and Israel (much of which comes back to the US firepower industry... where a portion of it is then spent to guarantee more spending).

Where they disagree is not on the direction of the ship, but the color of carpet and the wine served at the captain’s table. Like married couples, they argue over the details...and often duck real differences. But it didn’t matter what song they played in the bar...when the icy water rushed through the corridors, the Titanic was doomed.

Bush, Obama, Trump I, Biden - none departed from the Big Empire course. And now Trump II is promising even more glorious expansion - to Greenland, Mexico, Canada... and perhaps teaming up with Mr. Musk... to the stars! We’re all passengers on this ship, whether we like it or not. Where will we end up? East, West, South or North? The best guess is that it will go down. More to come..."