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Monday, January 20, 2025

"The Sky is Falling"

"The Sky is Falling"
by Jeff Thomas

"Governments are in the flimflam business. Pared down to the bare essentials, governments can be very useful in passing and enforcing a small number of very basic laws. These laws should be limited to policing those who would seek to aggress against others, or their property. Governments may also have a value in providing protection from invasion – organizing an army of able-bodied people to address this collective problem, if and when it occurs.

And that’s about it. Beyond that, the private sector can, and almost always does, do a better job at virtually everything else. Therefore, a government should be small, cost very little to run and do as little as possible.

But since a government already exists, why not have it do more? Why not assign to it some of those tasks that tend not to attract businessmen? Well, the simple, but almost universally little-understood, reason is that governments do not actually produce anything. They are, in fact, a parasitical construct that consumes money but creates nothing of worth. Unlike businesses, they don’t operate on a profit basis. In fact, few politicians or civil servants have any grasp of the concept that prosperity is only created when someone invests his money in a venture, creates a profit and saves or re-invests the difference.

Although this may seem like a harsh criticism, it’s borne out by the fact that all governments consume money and are more wasteful than any business would be. Worse, politicians and civil servants typically fail entirely to understand that this is a fundamental problem. And, yet, like all people, people in governments wish to personally advance, both in position and financial worth. And here is where the perennial bugbear of governments appears.

Since governments, by rights, should never expand unless absolutely necessary, and since this is never enough for those who people any government, they must somehow con the public into believing that government expansion is "for the good of the people."

Ergo, even the smallest of governments, in the smallest of jurisdictions, will learn to cajole the public. As the government grows, the con-game grows and duplicity, trickery and skullduggery become the lifeblood of the government – any government. The con-game becomes, "Vote for me and I’ll provide you with something at the expense of someone else." "It is the primary business of any government to grow its own power and wealth at the expense of its people."

At some point, all governments figure out that the greatest way to expand their own power and personal wealth is through fear. If a people can be made afraid, the government can bypass reason and appeal to emotion – always an easier sell.

For millennia, governments (like organized religions and for the same reason) have peddled the fear of a demon – usually in the form of an aggressive opponent from outside the jurisdiction who can be regarded as wishing to aggress against the country. In modern times, however, the spin doctors have done this concept one better – they’ve learned to peddle, not an individual, country or army as the demon, but a concept.

As the reader will know, in recent decades, all any government has needed to do is claim that something that they oppose is related somehow to terrorism and they will be given carte blanche to crush it, however implausible the given reasoning may be.

Another highly successful demon is Climate Change. The Climate Change concept was invented out of whole fabric by the Club of Rome, which was created in 1968 by David Rockefeller. It was originally called "Global Cooling," as, at that time, the earth was passing through one of its cyclic cooling periods. However, that period soon came to an end and the earth entered a global warming period. So, the same "science" that was used for Global Cooling was then attributed without any change whatever to the new "Global Warming."

When that cycle ended and the proponents of Global Warming again had egg on their faces for pushing warming during a new periodic cooling cycle, the proponents finally got clever and renamed it "Climate Change." From that day forward, any flood, drought, hurricane, tornado or variation in the ice caps has immediately been blamed on "increased Climate Change," even though such occurrences have been with us forever and will be with us forever.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly polled scientists as to whether they agree that climate change exists, and the IPCC states that over 97% agree. What is not asked is whether Climate Change is a direct result of man’s intervention. Asked if climate changes from time to time, the answer is, of course, "yes." In fact, 100% of scientists should agree, based upon the wording of the question. But, of course, this is not science at all, but deception. Always phrase the question in such a way that you will receive the desired answer.

So, the outcome is that the great majority of people are sold on the idea that Climate Change is due to man’s creation of CO2 and that mankind has to be controlled, or he will destroy the planet with CO2 emissions. Since "scientists" are represented as agreeing on this, people tend not to question the logic. The fact that all plants breathe CO2 and would die without it and that, if all plant life were to expire, all animal life would then expire, does not occur to the listener. His government has spoken and he needs to be afraid.

Since the mid-1970s, politicians have periodically claimed that life on earth will come to an end in a decade or so if emissions are not eliminated globally. Whenever one of these deadlines passes, the presenters simply move up the date another decade or so, maintaining the fear, but never actually reaching the end of the world.

Of course, the Great Lie should be exposed, due to the fact that governments do not actually pass laws to eliminate CO2 emissions; they merely create taxation and fines for those manufacturers who create CO2. So, apparently, it’s all right to end the world, if you pay a hefty tax, instead of cutting CO2.

"The Jews will destroy Germany"… "The Iranians will destroy the world if they can make a nuclear bomb"… "Your car will destroy the earth"… but Air Force One, which creates 336 times the CO2 of a car, will not. With government propaganda, the sky is always falling. All the best propaganda appeals at a gut level. If people can be made to abandon reason and accept government-created fear, they can be controlled.

This doesn’t mean that governments can’t ever be trusted, but it means that they shouldn’t ever be trusted. They should always be questioned, not only as their propaganda is so often false, but as they are, inherently, in the flimflam business."

The Daily "Near You?"

Metamora, Michigan, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"A Primer For The Propagandized: Fear Is The Mind-Killer"

"A Primer For The Propagandized:
Fear Is The Mind-Killer"
by Margaret Anna Alice

“Totalitarianism, if not fought against, 
could triumph anywhere.”
- George Orwell

"The noose is dangling gently around our necks. Every day, they cinch it tighter. By the time we realize it’s strangling us, it will be too late. Those who – gradually and gleefully – sacrifice their freedoms, their autonomy, their individuality, their livelihoods, and their relationships on the altar of the “common good” have forgotten this is the pattern followed by every totalitarian regime in history.

Everyone wonders how ordinary Germans could have been manipulated to participate or stand dumbstruck while their government was transformed into a genocidal juggernaut. This is how. Read Sebastian Haffner’"Defying Hitler" memoir to see how this can happen anywhere - including here.

Everyone wonders how Russians could have permitted and even zealously reported fellow citizens for imprisonment and execution under "Article 58", the penal code invented to incarcerate anyone who dared express the slightest whisper of noncompliance under Stalin’s homicidal state. This is how. Read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s meticulously documented "The Gulag Archipelago" to witness this progression of authoritarian lunacy.

Everyone wonders how Hutus could have suddenly started axing their Tutsi neighbors to death after being inundated with waves of anti-Tutsi propaganda from "Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines." Read Philip Gourevitch’"We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda."

The list goes on. And on. And on. From Machiavelli’"The Prince" to Étienne de la Boetie’s "The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude" to Edward Herman’s and Noam Chomsky’s "Manufacturing Consent" (and accompanying documentary) to BBC’s "The Century of the Self," mechanisms of mass control have been chronicled for millennia.

George Orwell wrote, "As far as the mass of the people go, the extraordinary swings of opinion which occur nowadays, the emotions which can be turned on and off like a tap, are the result of newspaper and radio hypnosis.”

Can you imagine what master propagandist Edward Bernays would have done with access to today’s mainstream media conglomerate combined with the global surveillance infrastructure of Big Tech? And you really think that’s not happening now - with another century of psychological, neurological, and technological research under their belts?

The present ability to curate reality and coerce obedience is unprecedented, far beyond what Orwell envisioned in "1984", Bradbury in "Fahrenheit 451", Huxley in "Brave New World," and Burgess in "A Clockwork Orange."

A textbook example of "Problem Reaction Solution", the tsunami of worldwide Covid hysteria was the latest and potentially most threatening example of mass control in history. The recipe is simple. Take a naturally occurring phenomenon, say a seasonal virus, and exaggerate its threat far beyond every imagining - despite exhaustive evidence to the contrary. Suppress, silence, ostracize, and demonize every individual who dares present facts that expose the false mono-narrative.

Whip up a witches’ brew of anger, envy, and, most importantly, fear, escalating emotions to a boil so as to short-circuit our faculties of reason and logic. Isolate us from one another, supplant real-world interactions with virtual feuds, label nonconformists as a threat to the group, and pump the public with a disinformation campaign designed to confuse and atomize. In essence, foster a cultlike mentality that shuts down thought to guarantee assent.

Cultivate and wield our cognitive biases - especially ingroup biasconformity bias, and authority bias - against us in a comprehensive divide-and-conquer policy that keeps us too busy squabbling amongst each other to recognize and unite against those corralling us into a Matrix-like collective delusion that enables the powerful to extract our resources for their own gain.

This ideological mass psychosis is religion - not science. If this were about science, the Media–Pharmaceutical–Big-Tech complex would not be memory-holing every dissenting voice, vilifying every thought criminal, and censoring every legitimate inquiry in quest of the truth.

Mark Twain said, “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” He also said: “In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.”

The next time you’re watching the news, reading a social media post, listening to a friend repeat a scripted talking point, pay attention. Learn to identify the earmarks of propaganda, the clickbait used to trigger your emotions, the mechanisms employed to engineer your cognitive biases.

Don’t let your pride prevent you from seeing - and admitting - the Emperor is naked. We are losing our last sliver of opportunity to resist authoritarianism. This is not a partisan issue. Those who wish to control us have made it such because disunited lemmings are easier to steer than independent, critical thinkers.

This is a human issue. This is about crushing the middle class - the backbone of a democratic republic - and transferring trillions from the middle and lower classes to the ruling plutocracy. This is about demolishing the foundations of a free society and building it back - not better, but better-controlled.

I will close by recommending a series of illuminating videos on menticide (“the systematic effort to undermine and destroy a person’s values and beliefs … to induce radically different ideas”) throughout history by "Academy of Ideas." This analysis of mass psychosis is nonpartisan and of value to every thinking human being.


"Dare to question. Dare to disbelieve.
Dare to defy ideology in favor of science while you still can."

"Human Beings..."

 

"Message From the Future: Your Acceptance of Evil Has Condemned Us All"

"Message From the Future:
Your Acceptance of Evil Has Condemned Us All"
by Chris Floyd

"Sometime in December 2016, a strange transmission began bleeding through, ghost-like, on various computers around the world. It would suddenly appear for a few flickering moments while people watched movies or shopped on-line or looked at social media, then it would fade away. It purported to be a message from the future and showed an aged man who claimed he was a chrono-quantum technician whose work had been banned by the authorities to prevent me from doing exactly what I am doing now, at long last - sending a warning to our ancestors. The message was brief, but it was usually badly garbled by visual and aural static; it took weeks to compile, through crowd-sourcing, the full text. For what it's worth, the message - minus the brief intro - is presented below.

"You are taking a path into darkness. It began years ago, with your acceptance of crimes and inhuman practices on a vast scale. In the late 20th century, your leaders once confessed on national television that they had killed 500,000 innocent children with death-dealing sanctions - then declared this atrocious massacre was worth it. Yet there was no outcry, no outrage, no uprising, not even a peep of protest. Your new leaders lied brazenly to start a war that killed a million innocent people and led directly to decades of murderous instability in numerous countries. They too ended their days in wealth and comfort and public regard. Your new leaders refused to prosecute the crimes of aggression and torture openly committed by their predecessor; instead, they continued his practices, enshrining many of the heinous practices into settled law, waging undeclared war in more than half a dozen countries and personally signing off on extrajudicial murders every week.

By this time, the moral degradation of the people was so complete - they had countenanced, cheered or ignored so many crimes and so much corruption on so many levels - that they easily fell prey to a voracious, half-crazed demagogue and the forces of fascism, feudalism and lawless rule that he brought into power. This was the nominal end of your democracy, but it was already deeply rotted from within - rotted by your years of turning a blind eye to monstrous crimes committed in your name by both factions in your power structure.

Because of your shameful acquiescence, your shallow understanding of the forces that ruled you and used you and manipulated you, your bedazzlement by public image, your astonishing credulity at the transparent lies and hollow, sinister pieties you were fed, we, your descendants, have lived in squalor, rancor, violence and despair all our lives, for generations. There is no hope for us unless you abandon your slavish ignorance, your adherence to partisan fantasies about the factions of the power structure that rules you and rise up to overthrow it. Instead bring fearless clarity to bear on the reality of what you have accepted. The murder of 500,000 children. The millions murdered in the wars you started and the wars bred by your wars. Assassination. Torture. Dehumanization and demonization of your fellow human beings, both at home and abroad.

It is your acceptance of these things that has brought you to the final turning point. Now there is nothing left for you to do but resist: resist with all your might, with every means at your disposal - but always, always, with the full knowledge of how you came to this place, and your own connivance and collusion in this descent. Keep this in mind as you fight, so that it doesn't happen again. You are not exceptional, you are not plucked out by God for special favor: you are human beings like all the rest, and like so many human beings in so many societies down through the ages, you have failed to look your own evil in the eye, you have failed to confront and condemn acts that make you shudder with horror when you hear of them committed by other nations.

Own this knowledge - this terrible, tragic knowledge - and let it guide as you fight the putrescence that past crimes have now brought gushing forth, and as you build something better in the aftermath. Otherwise, you are lost, and we are lost, the world itself is lost."

"Shocking New Drone Footage Shows Extent of Destruction in Gaza"

Full screen recommended.
On Demand News, 1/20/25
"Shocking New Drone Footage 
Shows Extent of Destruction in Gaza"
"This is Khan Younis, Gaza’s second biggest city, or at least what’s left of it. 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas has reduced the city, and many other parts of the Gaza strip, to rubble. Major roads have been blown up, water and electricity infrastructure is in ruins, and most hospitals no longer function."
Comments here:

Don't look away Good American! You paid for ALL of this, every bullet, every bomb, every airplane, every tank... every goddamned bit of it, ALL of it. You supported and allowed this horror to go on! 50,000 dead, including 18,000 CHILDREN, and at least 10,000 more buried under the bombed out rubble and unrecovered. Are you proud of the blood on your hands? Hang your head in eternal shame and disgrace... And Israel, "Stipendium peccati mors est,"and it's coming...
o
Full screen recommended.
Mahmood OD, 1/20/25
"Despite The Destruction Palestinians 
Begin Construction Work All Across Gaza"
Comments here:
o
Full screen  recommended.
Times of India, 1/20/25
"Hamas Takes Over, Deploys Police On Gaza Streets; 
'Shame For Israel's After 15-Months...'
"Hamas-run police forces have been deployed across the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire, aiming to restore order. Uniformed police were seen in both southern and northern Gaza, ensuring safety and distributing humanitarian aid. The interior ministry has cooperated with government and municipal agencies to re-establish services, particularly in areas from which military forces withdrew."
Comments here:

"5 Historic Emergencies That Trump Will Be Confronted With Immediately As He Returns To The White House"

"5 Historic Emergencies That Trump Will Be Confronted 
With Immediately As He Returns To The White House"
by Michael Snyder

"Buckle up and hold on tight, because things are about to get really wild. Immediately after taking the oath of office, Donald Trump is going to be faced with incredibly difficult decisions which could have enormous implications for every man, woman and child in this country. There will be all sorts of people giving him all sorts of advice, and it won’t always be easy to distinguish the good advice from the bad advice. So let us pray that he makes his choices wisely. The following are 5 historic emergencies that Trump will be confronted with immediately as he enters the White House…

#1 A Major War: Iran has gotten extremely close to being able to build nuclear weapons, and once they are able to do that it is inevitable that the Iranians will distribute such weapons to Hezbollah and other terrorist proxies. Joe Biden had been considering a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear program, but he ultimately decided not to pull the trigger. Now it is Donald Trump’s turn. According to the Wall Street Journal, a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities has been under “serious review by some members of his transition team”…

"President-elect Donald Trump is weighing options for stopping Iran from being able to build a nuclear weapon, including the possibility of preventive airstrikes, a move that would break with the longstanding policy of containing Tehran with diplomacy and sanctions. The military-strike option against nuclear facilities is now under more serious review by some members of his transition team, who are weighing the fall of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad - Tehran’s ally - in Syria, the future of U.S. troops in the region, and Israel’s decimation of regime proxy militias Hezbollah and Hamas."

Needless to say, if the U.S. and/or Israel takes out Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Iranians will go ballistic and there will be a major war in the region.

#2 A New Pandemic: If you thought the last one was bad, just wait until you see what is coming next. According to NBC News, the Biden administration and Trump’s team have been working together to formulate a response to the “escalating bird flu outbreak spreading in the United States”…"Amid an escalating bird flu outbreak spreading in the United States, federal health officials have begun to brief members of the incoming Trump administration about how they’ve responded to the crisis so far. “We sent them all of the information on our work,” said a Biden administration health official familiar with transition briefings within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s the first indication that the two administrations appear to be working together to prioritize the H5N1 response.

Apparently part of that response is 590 million dollars in additional funding “to push Moderna’s messenger RNA-based pandemic flu vaccine towards approval”…"The federal government has committed an additional $590 million to push Moderna’s messenger RNA-based pandemic flu vaccine towards approval, as the Biden administration, in its waning hours, ramps up preparations for a potential H5N1 avian influenza pandemic."

#3 Economic Trouble: Inflation is starting to really accelerate once again, and this is particularly true for food prices…"There isn’t one factor. Bird flu is killing chickens, cutting egg supplies and sending wholesale prices to a record. Extreme heat and dry weather in the world’s coffee-growing regions have sent the cost of brews surging. Chocolate and cereal makers have raised prices for their products, too.

It is a problem for consumers, who are still acclimating to a stretch of bruising inflation following the Covid-19 pandemic. Shoppers are picking up more store-branded groceries and scouring multiple stores for the best deals. Grocery prices in December were roughly 28% higher than they were five years ago, according to the Labor Department."

No president can magically zap the bird flu out of existence or cause it to rain in areas where it isn’t raining. The truth is that there is no easy solution on the horizon, and prices on some key staples such as eggs are expected to go much higher in 2025…During his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump repeatedly made the promise that “prices will come down,” BBC reports, but according to two experts, that won’t be happening any time soon - at least when it comes to the price of eggs.

While eggs are already “40% more expensive now than they were a year ago,” KTLA notes, according to the Department of Labor, the raging avian flu epidemic means “it’s about to get even worse.” The epidemic - which “has already led to the death of more than 100 million egg-laying hens” - according to the report, is expected to spike egg prices “as much as 20% more in 2025.”

#4 A Historic Natural Disaster: It is now being projected that the fires in the Los Angeles area will be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history by a wide margin. Unfortunately, this is a crisis that is far from over, because extremely high winds are expected to return to southern California this week…"Los Angeles is bracing itself for more catastrophic wildfires this week as weather forecasters predict the return of gusting Santa Ana winds of up to 100 miles per hour. More than 27 people have died and 22,000 buildings have burned in at least six wildfires since the first fire erupted on January 7."

#5 A Government At War With Itself: Donald Trump says that he wants to “drain the swamp” and make major changes to how the federal government operates. That is great. Unfortunately, about half of the people that run our federal agencies intend to resist what Trump will be trying to do…"When asked if they would most likely be supporting or resisting the Trump administration over the next four years, government managers were almost evenly split with 44% saying they would support the administration and 42% saying they would resist."

But the divide between those federal managers who would resist and those who would support the incoming Trump administration grew much sharper when respondents were questioned along party lines. 89% of Republican federal employees said they would either “somewhat support” or “strongly support” the administration, while 73% of Democrat bureaucrats surveyed said they would either “somewhat resist” or “strongly resist.”

Our federal government is literally going to be at war with itself. If you think that transforming the largest government bureaucracy in the history of the world is going to be easy, you are just kidding yourself. We are moving into a time of tremendous turmoil, and it won’t be pretty. The good news is that 2025 is certainly not going to be boring. The news cycle will be speeding along at a breathtaking pace, and I believe that we will witness one historic event after another during the next 12 months."

"How It Really Should Be"

 

Dan, I Allegedly, "Get Ready for Shock and Awe"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 1/20/25
"Get Ready for Shock and Awe"

"Get ready for shock and awe as I break down Donald Trump’s shocking first 100 days in office! From signing up to 100 executive orders on day one to tackling immigration reform, the economic crisis, crypto policies, and healthcare affordability - this administration promises to shake things up in ways that will impact everyone. Whether it’s the skyrocketing costs of living, the push to lower interest rates, or a bold approach to foreign policy, we’re diving into what this means for you and your future. You won’t believe what’s on the horizon! I also talk about the staggering impact of inflation, rising mortgage rates, and the challenges facing everyday Americans. From regulatory rollbacks to a push for pro-business policies, this video covers it all. And don’t miss my thoughts on the potential changes in healthcare reform with RFK Jr. and the revolutionary advances in mental health treatments like the groundbreaking psilocybin research by Cybin Inc. (#CYBN). This is a game-changer you need to hear about!"
Comments here:

"Russia Hits Back: $280 Billion In US And EU Assets In Trouble!"

Full screen recommended.
The Global Narrative, 1/20/25
"Russia Hits Back: $280 Billion
 In US And EU Assets In Trouble!"

"In a bold move, Russia has struck back against Western sanctions, putting $280 billion worth of U.S. and EU assets in jeopardy. As tensions escalate, the global financial landscape is on edge, and the consequences could be far-reaching.
• The details of Russia’s retaliatory measures against the U.S. and EU.
• What this means for the future of the West’s strategy against Russia.
• The ripple effects on international trade and diplomatic relations.
• What this means for the future of the West’s strategy against Russia.
As the geopolitical and economic showdown intensifies, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the global community. Is this the start of a new financial crisis?"

Adventures With Danno, "Eggs Disappearing & Skyrocketing Prices"

Adventures With Danno, AM 1/20/25
"Eggs Disappearing & Skyrocketing Prices"

Bill Bonner, "Trump America II"

"Trump America II"
The nation owed $20 trillion when Trump first came into the 
White House in 2017 and $27 trillion when he left in 2021. 
There was little appreciable change of direction in domestic or foreign policy.
by Bill Bonner

"Together we will determine the course of America,
 and the world, for many, many years to come."
- Donald Trump, Inauguration 2017

"A nation finds the leader it needs when it needs him. England found Churchill. France found Bonaparte. The Soviet Union found Stalin. And now... what have we found... the perfect president for the job ahead? Maybe. Mr. Trump seems to be in tune with the financial gimcrackery of our era. Truth Social didn’t seem to have a prayer as a real company. In September, the stock was at $12... and CNN reported: "Trump has lost $4 billion in Truth Social wipeout."

But hold on. Then, Trump won the election; the shares now sell for $40. The company is still losing millions, making the world a poorer place, but Trump is getting richer than ever. Forbes:
"Trump’s Net Worth Surges To $7 Billion - As Truth Social Parent Rallies."

Want to know how much you can make betting on Trump’s unprofitable media company? Just ask Pam Bondi, below..."In a whole ‘nuther category is Trump’s new $Trump. It’s a ‘meme’ crypto, not intended to have any value. But it follows Fartcoin (up 4,012% in the last 12 months) and Butthole Coin (up 46%, 50% and 75% every 24 hours) and is taking the lead for scatological glory.

Trump’s coin, launched over the weekend, was worth as much as $74 billion on Sunday. Now it is worth $10.5 billion (although moving fast). The ledger shows one holder owns 80% of the tokens. Assuming the holder of the large mystery wallet is Donald J. Trump himself, it means he increased his own wealth (on paper!), between Friday night and Monday morning, by about $8 billion.

Our pulse races. Our palms sweat. Our head swims. If Trump is $8 billion richer... who is $8 billion poorer? But there is where Trump’s peculiar skills may be most valuable to the nation: he is an expert at bankruptcy…and making failed businesses work, at least for him.

Trump University. Trump Mortgage. Trump Airline. Trump vodka. Trump steaks. Trump Magazine. Trump Taj Mahal. Trump: The Game.

The Trump Shuttle opened to great fanfare in 1989. Classic Trump. He borrowed $365 million to get it going. In 1992 it crashed... defaulting on its loans, more than $100 million of them guaranteed personally by Donald Trump. In later negotiations and a subsequent sale, Trump was able to clear away much of that obligation and said he made money on the deal.  The timing on the Trump Mortgage company couldn’t have been worse. But on CNBC, Trump told the world: “I think it's a great time to start a mortgage company... who knows about financing better than I do?” Launched in 2006, Trump predicted it would soon be the biggest mortgage lender in the country. Instead, it went out of business in the mortgage finance crisis a year later.

And then there was Trump Vodka. Begun the same year as the mortgage business, it followed a similar trajectory. Said Trump: "By the summer of '06, I fully expect the most called for cocktail in America to be the T&T or the Trump and Tonic." It was not to be. Instead, the vodka disappeared... except in Israel where an unauthorized version is apparently on offer.

2006 was a busy year for the Trump team. They even started a travel service, called GoTrump. The Donald explained the business strategy. “When you get millions of people using your service, and you get X dollars per person, it adds up to a lot of money.” GoTrump didn’t go far. It shut down in 2007.

“Excuse me... ” said Donald Trump defiantly. In one bankruptcy proceeding he claimed to the court that it wasn’t his fault. He had nothing to do with the management, he said. “Then, how come you’re on the company payroll?” the judge wanted to know. “For my genius,” he replied.

That was one of four bankruptcies he suffered in his resort businesses. The Taj Mahal in 1991. Another Trump Entertainment Resorts voluntary bankruptcy in 2004... another in 2008... and finally in 2014. The default amounts, put together, top $5 billion. What went wrong? Bad timing. Bad judgement. Bad management. Bad luck. It could happen to anyone.

Trump University was not much different. It offered a variety of courses... but no college credit. National Review called it a ‘massive scam.’ Students sued... including a class action suit against Trump and others in charge. Texas, New York and Florida were on the case. Florida, however, pulled out of the lawsuit. Wikipedia explains why: "The office of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in September 2013 that it was considering joining a New York lawsuit against Trump University. Four days later, the Donald J. Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to "And Justice for All", a 527 group supporting Bondi's reelection campaign. After that, Bondi declined to join New York."

But wait. Ms. Bondi is back in the news. ABC News reports; "President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general pick, Pam Bondi, made at least $3 million from the merger that formed the parent company of Trump's Truth Social platform, her new personal financial disclosure filing showed. In all, Bondi, together with her spouse, reported a net worth of up to $20 million…"

And this isn’t the first time Donald J. Trump is sworn in as Commander-in-Chief. The nation owed $20 trillion when he first came into the White House in 2017 and $27 trillion when he left in 2021. Otherwise, there was little appreciable change of direction, either in domestic or foreign policy. It may or may not have been good for the country. But it worked for him. Welcome to Trump America II."

Jim Kunstler, "Another Door Opens"

"Another Door Opens"
by Jim Kunstler
"Thus spake one Shawn McCreesh of The New York Times, America’s all-wise, all-knowing font of everlasting rectitude. But to answer his question, why blah blah: Donald Trump is glaring because he means bidness. His bidness is to shift the paradigm on the mendaciously sanctimonious managerial class of the USA, of which The New York Times is the principal mouthpiece. DJT looks stern, does he? All that really tells you is how nervous the Old Gray Lady is. A million or more brains, from sea to shining sea are about to get vacuumed out and redecorated

Readers of The New York Times — in their various C-suites, ivory towers, ateliers, yoga parlors, tasting rooms, bioweapon labs, and other haunts — remain utterly baffled about what is to begin today. No amount of ‘splainin’ seems to suffice. They behold the Golden Golem of Greatness (DJT) doing his dance onstage behind the cop, the Indian chief, and the cowpoke and all they can really see are their own careers going up in smoke (along with vested pensions, reputations, possibly even chattels, marriages, and health).

As I write, long before dawn, “Joe Biden” remains President of the US. You must wonder, as the hours dwindle to noon, what pardon power magic he’s saving for the final minutes of his term, while the whole nation is distracted by the spectacle in the Capitol Rotunda, the moiling dignitaries and celebrities, the solemn arrival of the elect, the snarky palaver of the cable news jockeys, the electric charge of history in the large room...

It is a fact, perhaps missed by some of you, that Rep. James Comer’s House Oversight Committee just last week issued criminal referrals on James Biden (“Joe’s” brother) and First Son Hunter. Wait-a-minute, was not Hunter already pardoned for Gawd-knows how many misdeeds dating back to 2014, and (supposedly) preemptively for any alleged crimes to come ever hereafter? Part B of that may yet have to be adjudicated. A pardon is not intended to be a get-out-of-jail-free card. Anyway, would it be difficult for a federal attorney of average ability to draw a connection between the newly referred crimes of those two and the departing President? Hence, will “Joe Biden” pardon “Joe Biden” at 11:30 this morning?

Not to mention about 1000 other current and former public officials quaking in their Beltway McMansions this frosty morning. This is part and parcel, you understand, of the massive Cleanup in Aisle Four that must happen if the agencies of our federal government can ever be trusted again. For instance, the Department of Justice.

At the end of the workday, Friday, AG Merrick Garland made a triumphal final exit from the building past a throng of cheering and clapping employees, including dozens of federal attorneys who zealously persecuted their fellow citizens under color-of-law for no good reason, or real legal predicate, and ruined many lives and households in the process. Do you suppose they get a free pass on that? And what of the three bears of Lawfare: Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, and Mary McCord, all of them present at the creation of serial affronts against the Constitution (and decency) lo this past decade. Do they just skate? I doubt it, though it might take a while to shine a light on their turpitudes.

Will “Joe Biden” wave his pardon wand over Tony Fauci, Francis Collins, Scott Gottlieb, Deborah Birx, Rochelle Walensky, and dozens of other public health officials who sprung the Covid-19 operation and the deadly vaccinations on the country? Or Ralph Baric, hunkered out of sight in his Carolina lab? You realize, of course, that the orgy of illness and death from that is hardly over. For four years under “JB” the truth has been obfuscated and buried, because none of those characters has really had to answer for anything.

So, today another door opens. The To-Do list for Mr. Trump and his aides-de-camp is dauntingly long, the corrections needed are monumental. You might have even noticed that such corrections are badly needed all over the other countries of Western Civ, and strangely many are already following suit. The WEF-inflected governments of France, Germany, and the UK are already a’wobble, and Justin Trudeau threw in the towel two weeks ago. An Arctic blast could not be more fitting for what will move through the DC Swamp at high noon today. That is, if Mr. Trump manages to survive the hours until his swearing-in. Godspeed Number 47! And everybody else: put your tray tables up! A patch of turbulence ahead!

Update: I posted the above blog ten minutes before “Joe Biden” issued his raft of pardons for Fauci, the J6 Committee members, and others. We will have to stand by to see whether a “preemptive” pardon is a legitimate legal instrument. My guess is that it is not."
o

"President Biden, as one of his last acts as president, issued preemptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley and the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee."

"Economic Market Snapshot 1/20/25"

"Economic Market Snapshot 1/20/25"
Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
o
Market Data Center, Live Updates:
Comprehensive, essential truth.
Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: creditequity valuationfunding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United Statesother advanced economies, and emerging markets."
Job cuts and much more.
Commentary, highly recommended:
"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
And now... The End Game...
o

Sunday, January 19, 2025

"Alert! National Emergency Declared; Israeli Strike On Iran After Trump; US Moves Nukes"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 1/19/25
"Alert! National Emergency Declared; 
Israeli Strike On Iran After Trump; US Moves Nukes"
Comments here:

"Shock And Awe Begins Tomorrow - 200 Executive Orders Signed Monday"

Jeremiah Babe, 1/19/20
"Shock And Awe Begins Tomorrow - 
200 Executive Orders Signed Monday"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Adrift In A Memory"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Adrift In A Memory"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Over 400,000 light years across NGC 6872 is an enormous spiral galaxy, at least 4 times the size of our own very large Milky Way. About 200 million light-years distant, toward the southern constellation Pavo, the Peacock, the remarkable galaxy’s stretched out shape is due to its ongoing gravitational interaction, likely leading to an eventual merger, with the nearby smaller galaxy IC 4970. IC 4970 is seen just below and right of the giant galaxy’s core in this cosmic color portrait from the 8 meter Gemini South telescope in Chile.
The idea to image this titanic galaxy collision comes from a winning contest essay submitted to the Gemini Observatory by the Sydney Girls High School Astronomy Club. In addition to inspirational aspects and aesthetics, club members argued that a color image would be more than just a pretty picture. In their winning essay they noted that “If enough color data is obtained in the image it may reveal easily accessible information about the different populations of stars, star formation, relative rate of star formation due to the interaction, and the extent of dust and gas present in these galaxies.”

The Poet: William Stafford, ”Today”

”Today”

“The ordinary miracles begin. Somewhere
a signal arrives: “Now,” and the rays
come down. A tomorrow has come. Open
your hands, lift them: morning rings
all the doorbells; porches are cells for prayer.
Religion has touched your throat. Not the same now,
you could close your eyes and go on full of light.
And it is already begun, the chord
that will shiver glass, the song full of time
bending above us. Outside, a sign:
a bird intervenes; the wings tell the air,
“Be warm.” No one is out there, but a giant
has passed through town, widening streets, touching
the ground, shouldering away the stars.”

- William Stafford