"If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity."
- Albert Einstein
"Wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it.
Right is right even if only you are doing it."
- Author Unknown
So, we rise from the rubble...
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Sunday, March 2, 2025
"The Crowd Never Thinks..."
“Nobody does. The crowd never thinks. People are only comfortable in
a pack, and they’re most comfortable in one that’s racing off a cliff.”
Deacon Bainbridge to Daniel Durand,
"The Golden Pinnacle," by Robert Gore
"A Primer For The Propagandized: Fear Is The Mind-Killer"
"A Primer For The Propagandized:
Fear Is The Mind-Killer"
by Margaret Anna Alice
“Those who can make people believe absurdities,
can make people commit atrocities.”
- Voltaire
"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’s "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’s "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’s "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 current tsunami of worldwide hysteria is 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 bias, conformity 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.
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"Dare to question. Dare to disbelieve.
Dare to defy ideology in favor of science while you still can."
"It's Not A Lie If You Believe It" (Excerpt)
"It's Not A Lie If You Believe It" (Excerpt)
by Jim Quinn
“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten,
the lie became the truth.” – George Orwell, "1984"
“Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical
point of view, is silence about truth.”
- Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"
Excerpt: "I wish I could go through a day without having to reference Orwell and Huxley when observing how the ruling class is able to manipulate, subjugate, and propagandize the willfully ignorant masses through lies, deceptions, disinformation, and fear. But here we are, living through a dystopian nightmare blending the worst aspects of Orwell’s "1984" and Huxley’s "Brave New World."
It’s as if O’Brien and Mustapha Mond are running the show, using behavioral conditioning, restricting freedom of speech, adhering to a strict caste system, surveilling everything we say or do, using our fears to control us, utilizing propaganda to produce false narratives, and ultimately threatening to stomp a boot on our faces forever if we do not obey and conform. Virtually everything we are told by politicians, government bureaucrats, military brass, “esteemed” journalists, medical “experts”, bankers, and corporate executives is lies. They do not believe their lies, but they know it benefits themselves financially to lie, and as long as they work together, they know the ignorant masses will believe them.
George tells Jerry “It’s not a lie if you believe it” as he is going to take a lie detector test. I wonder how Fauci, Biden, Hillary, Obama, Comey, Wray, Pelosi, and the slew of other Deep State coup conspirators would fare on a lie detector test about Russiagate, Covidgate, J6 Insurrectiongate, and Vaccinegate. Based on the titanic volume of lies they have spewed over the last several years, I’m sure the machine would overheat and explode if hooked up to any of this traitorous vile scum.
The humorous phrase uttered by George Costanza on a sitcom twenty-seven years ago captures a significant kernel of truth about the mindset of the vast majority of non-critical thinking drones roaming the aisles of WalMarts and waiting in the drive-thru at McDonalds across our dystopian states of America. The lies run so deep you need hip-boots to wade through them on a daily basis. The reason our leaders lie is because we let them lie. The majority prefer comforting lies to unpleasant truths, because accepting unpleasant truths would require them to act and they prefer being distracted by trivialities like sports, reality TV, social media likes and otherwise being addicted to their technological gadgets."
Full, recommended must-read article is here:
"Exploring The Madness Of The System With Insights From Scott Adams And Elon Musk"
"Exploring The Madness Of The System With
Insights From Scott Adams And Elon Musk"
By CWR
"Ever felt like the more you understand about how things work, the more insane it all seems? Scott Adams recently touched on this, highlighting how the system protects itself by being so outrageously flawed that those who start to see through it are often labeled as crazy. It’s like stepping into a “crazy zone” where you realize that what you once thought was reality might just be a facade.
Elon Musk chimed in too, calling it a battle against the anti-civilizational woke mind virus. But here’s the thing - this battle isn’t about left or right; it’s about common sense. Musk outlined his centrist positions, from securing borders to addressing racism and responsible spending. These are ideas that resonate with many, regardless of political affiliation.
"Have you noticed the "system" protects itself by being so outrageously bad that by the time you understand what is happening it makes you look insane to people who haven't begun the journey to awareness? I recently evolved into the "crazy zone," in which I understand too much…"- Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) March 21, 2024
George Orwell nailed it! “In a way, the world−view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.” -1984
- MichaelG (@Michael888G) March 21, 2024
This is a battle to the death with the anti-civilizational woke mind virus. My positions are centrist:
- Secure borders.
- Safe & clean cities.
- Don’t bankrupt America with spending.
- Racism against any race is wrong.
- No sterilization below age of consent.
Is this right-wing? t.co/QgRkoem2u4
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024"
Greg Hunter, "Europe is Falling & Needs War with Russia"
"Europe is Falling & Needs War with Russia"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is back with a new warning about war coming to Europe. You may have seen the heated exchange between President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday. If not, you should. Some of the Trump highlights are: “President Zelensky is not ready for peace. (Zelensky is) gambling with WWIII, and you either make a deal or we are out.” It looks like Zelensky intentionally started a fight with Trump in the White House. It also looks like every country in Europe is backing more war in Ukraine. And now, there is renewed talk of an EU army. Armstrong says, “Why? Because they all are facing the collapse of the European Union. The debt is just unbelievable. They never consolidated. Between Covid, Climate Change and sanctions on Russia, the German economy has shrunk 3% to 5%. The economic growth (of the EU) is appalling. Europe is falling, and this is why they need war. So, they are backing Zelensky.”
In a new report released yesterday, Armstrong lays out the case why war in Europe is coming and coming soon. Armstrong points out, “In this report, I gathered a bunch of headlines: London Financial Times, what’s the headline? ‘America is Now the Enemy of the West.’ This is why Trump is saying ‘We are out.’ Zelensky has admitted that 58% of the $350 billion the US gave him is missing. You cut the funding, and you are going to find out the truth. Trump should cut every single penny. Bring it all out. Zelensky is counting on Europe to replace the United States. This is why he’s so arrogant. Trump should get the hell out of NATO - ASAP.”
So, why are all these reports coming out in the last few months about gold coming to America from Europe? Armstrong says, “Last week, I was on the phone, and I can’t tell you how much, but when you are about to go into war, capital moves. Right now, I am concerned from about May 15th on. Our computer (Socrates) says Europe is going into war, and I put it into this report, Europe will lose. This is why the gold is coming to America.” Armstrong also contends you can forget about predictions of the US dollar collapsing anytime soon - it won’t. Armstrong says, “The Euro will become extinct.”
Armstrong also predicts, “I published what the computer “Socrates” put out on Ukraine. It’s a flatline, and I have never seen that on any other country. It’s a flatline. It’s going dead. That’s it.” Did the election of President Trump stop a thermonuclear exchange with Russia? Armstrong says, “Absolutely! You had Dick Cheney endorsing Kamala. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were on the J6 Committee. Both of them are Neocons. Adam Kinzinger said ‘We could defeat Russia in three days.’ They put out nothing but propaganda all the time.” There is much more in the 70-minute in-depth interview.
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with Martin Armstrong as he gives his analysis on war coming to the EU, which ties into Armstrong’s new report called “The Neocon Coup of Europe – Why Zelensky does not want Peace.”
Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead: Alert! US Debt Crisis Is Rapidly Worsening, The Economy Is Failing"
Gregory Mannarino, 3/2/25
"Markets, A Look Ahead: Alert!
US Debt Crisis Is Rapidly Worsening, The Economy Is Failing"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Market Gains, 3/2/25
"32,000 Workers Just Got Fired From Amazon"
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "Big Bank Troubles Are Here - Is Your Bank Safe?"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 3/2/25
"Big Bank Troubles Are Here -
Is Your Bank Safe?"
"Banks are hiding nearly $500 BILLION in unrealized losses, and it’s time we talk about what this means for you and your money. In this video, I break down two shocking stories in the banking world – from the FDIC’s latest report on failing banks to a bizarre case of insider fraud where a bank employee forged signatures to steal over $1 million from the vault! Are these signs of more trouble ahead for the financial system? Let’s uncover the truth about what’s really happening.
We also dive into how interest rates, mortgages, and the current state of real estate are putting more pressure on banks. Remember the 2008 crisis? It feels like we’re heading down a similar path, and the numbers don’t lie. Plus, hear about layoffs at major companies like Flagstar Bank and Autodesk, and even the end of an era for Skype. So much is happening, and you don’t want to miss a minute of this!"
Comments here:
Saturday, March 1, 2025
Jeremiah Babe, "Zelensky Reality Check: Kicked Out Of White House"
Jeremiah Babe, 3/1/25
"Zelensky Reality Check: Kicked Out Of White House"
Comments here:
Musical Interlude: Melanie, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)"
Full screen recommended.
Melanie, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)"
Once upon a time...
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Why does this galaxy have such a long tail? In this stunning vista, based on image data from the Hubble Legacy Archive, distant galaxies form a dramatic backdrop for disrupted spiral galaxy Arp 188, the Tadpole Galaxy. The cosmic tadpole is a mere 420 million light-years distant toward the northern constellation of the Dragon (Draco). Its eye-catching tail is about 280 thousand light-years long and features massive, bright blue star clusters.
One story goes that a more compact intruder galaxy crossed in front of Arp 188 - from right to left in this view - and was slung around behind the Tadpole by their gravitational attraction. During the close encounter, tidal forces drew out the spiral galaxy's stars, gas, and dust forming the spectacular tail. The intruder galaxy itself, estimated to lie about 300 thousand light-years behind the Tadpole, can be seen through foreground spiral arms at the upper right. Following its terrestrial namesake, the Tadpole Galaxy will likely lose its tail as it grows older, the tail's star clusters forming smaller satellites of the large spiral galaxy."
"Never More Frightening..."
"Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than
when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right."
~ Laurens van der Post
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“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.
It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”
- Mark Twain
"Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity"
Full screen recommended.
"Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity"
"Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil people, against stupid ones we are defenseless - reasons fall on deaf ears. Bonhoeffer's famous text, which we slightly edited for this video, serves any free society as a warning of what can happen when certain people gain too much power."
Related:
"A Strange Game..."
“A strange game.
The only winning move is not to play.”
- "War Games"
"This is the "lesson" scene from the movie "War Games" where we learn that the only way to win in Nuclear War is not to play.
The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the 1983 science fiction thriller, "WarGames." In the film, all of the United States nuclear launch capabilities is given to a computer called “Joshua” or WOPR, which stands for War Operation Plan Response. It is programmed to consistently run military simulations to concoct the best plan of an attack if nuclear retaliation is needed. David Lightman (played by Matthew Broderick) unwittingly hacks into Joshua and causes the computer to think that the Soviet Union has launched missiles at the United States.
The quote comes from the very end of the film. David forces Joshua to play tic-tac-toe against itself in the attempt to make it understand the concept of mutually assured destruction. As Joshua obtains the final launch code, it runs through all the possible scenarios in an attempt to find a winning plan. After cycling through all of them and not finding one where anyone survives, the machine delivers the quote."
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"It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump."
- David Ormsby-Gore
The Poet: Mary Oliver, "What I Have Learned So Far"
"What I Have Learned So Far"
"Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don't think so.
All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of - indolence, or action.
Be ignited, or be gone."
~ Mary Oliver
Free Download: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince"
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Free Download:
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince"
by Kirstie Pursey
“‘The Little Prince’, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is a children’s story with some very profound meanings and some quotes that will really make you think. I have to admit that I never read the ‘Little Prince’ as a child. I think I wouldn’t have known what to make of it if I did. Even reading it as an adult I didn’t know what to make of it!
However, it is clear that “The Little Prince” touches on some very deep themes about the nature of life, love, friendship and more. The following Little Prince quotes show just how many philosophical themes are discussed in this small, but profound work.
The story tells of a pilot who crashes into the Sahara desert. He is attempting to fix his damaged plane when a little boy appears as if from nowhere and demands that he draws him a sheep. Thus begins a strange, enigmatic friendship that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. The Little Prince, it turns out, comes from a small asteroid where he is the only living being apart from a rather demanding rose bush. The Little Prince decides to leave his home and visit other planets to find knowledge. The story tells of these encounters with rulers of strange worlds and de Saint-Exupéry has opportunities to demonstrate some philosophical themes that will make readers think.
On earth, as well as meeting the pilot, The Little Price meets a Fox and Snake. The fox helps him to truly understand the rose and the snake offers him a way to return to his home planet. But his return journey comes at a high price. The book’s bittersweet ending is both thought-provoking and emotional. I would definitely recommend that you read “The Little Prince” if you haven’t already.
It is one of the most beautiful and profound children’s books there are. If you have older children, then you might like to read it with them as it can be a little overwhelming for them to read alone. In the meantime, here are some of the best and most thought-provoking Little Prince quotes:
• “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
• “A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”
• “All grown-ups were once children… but only a few of them remember it.”
• “Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
• “Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”
• “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”
• “It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.”
• “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
• “I am who I am and I have the need to be.”
• “No one is ever satisfied where he is.”
• “One day, I watched the sun setting forty-four times……You know…when one is so terribly sad, one loves sunsets.”
• “People where you live, the little prince said, grow five thousand roses in one garden… Yet they don’t find what they’re looking for… And yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose.”
• “But the conceited man did not hear him. Conceited people never hear anything but praise.”
• “What matters most are the simple pleasures so abundant that we can all enjoy them…Happiness doesn’t lie in the objects we gather around us. To find it, all we need to do is open our eyes.”
• “Where are the people?” resumed the Little Prince at last. “It’s a little lonely in the desert…” “It is lonely when you’re among people, too,” said the snake.”
• “What makes the desert beautiful,’ said the Little Prince, ‘is that somewhere it hides a well…”
• “For me, you are only a little boy just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. For you, I’m only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we’ll need each other. You’ll be the only boy in the world for me and I’ll be the only fox in the world for you.”
• “To forget a friend is sad. Not everyone has had a friend.”
• “Only the children know what they are looking for.”
• “Sometimes, there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day.”
• “I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words.”
• “Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself.”
• “The one thing I love in life is to sleep.”
• “The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.”
• “And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me.”
Closing thoughts: I hope you have enjoyed these ‘Little Prince’ quotes. Admittedly, they are sometimes difficult to fathom at first. However, like many things in life, the more you think about them, the more they begin to make sense. This is not an easy book to read and the bittersweet ending may leave you feeling a little heartbroken. However, the book offers so many insights into the human condition that it is well worth the time spent thinking about the philosophical ideas contained between the covers.”
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Freely download “The Little Prince”, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, here:
"I'd Still Swim..."
"If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told
the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim.
And I'd despise the one who gave up. "
- Abraham Maslow
"What Foolish Forgetfulness..."
“You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, so all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last. You have all the fears of mortals and all the desires of immortals… What foolish forgetfulness of mortality to defer wise resolutions to the fiftieth or sixtieth year, and to intend to begin life at a point to which few have attained.”
- Denis Diderot
Dan, I Allegedly, "Builders Are Panicking - Massive Business Failures Ahead"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 3/1/25
"Builders Are Panicking -
Massive Business Failures Ahead"
"Good people are struggling financially like never before, and in this video, I break down why it’s happening and what we can do about it. From skyrocketing costs at the grocery store to auto loan delinquencies hitting even those with great credit, it’s clear we’re all feeling the squeeze. Big names like Walmart and Amazon are seeing shifts in sales, while industries like retail and commercial real estate face massive challenges. Are we on the brink of something bigger?"
Comments here:
"Alert! The Economic Numbers That We Are Getting Now Are Absolutely Staggering"
"Alert! The Economic Numbers That We Are
Getting Now Are Absolutely Staggering"
by Michael Snyder
"We haven’t seen an economic shift of this magnitude in a long time. Four years of “Bidenomics” absolutely devastated the U.S. economy, and that is one of the primary reasons why Kamala Harris lost the election. The American people truly hate what has happened to the economy, and they are desperate for change. Unfortunately, our long economic slide just continues to get even worse. In fact, we just got some new numbers that are simply staggering.
Let me start with the housing market. On Thursday, we learned that pending home sales in the United States have dropped to the lowest level ever measured…"High mortgage rates and elevated home prices combined to crush home sales in January. Pending sales, which are based on signed contracts for existing homes, dropped 4.6% from December to the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors began tracking this metric in 2001. Sales were down 5.2% from January 2024. These sales are an indicator of future closings."
Just think about this for a moment. Pending home sales were not this low at any point during the Great Recession. And pending home sales were not this low when everybody was being locked down during the pandemic. Nobody can deny that the housing market is in a depressed state, and there is no indication that this is going to change any time soon.
Meanwhile, jobless claims spiked even more than expected last week…"First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose much more than expected last week, a likely indication of some “noisy” data, but also a potential worrisome hint that cracks may be forming in America’s long-solid labor market. There were an estimated 242,000 jobless claims filed last week, according to seasonally adjusted data released Thursday by the Department of Labor. That’s an increase of 22,000 from the prior week’s tally and a figure that landed well above economists’ expectations for 220,000 claims."
It’s the largest weekly spike in claims in more than four months and the weekly claims — a proxy for layoffs — are at their highest level since early December, Labor Department data shows. As I discussed the other day, we are witnessing mass layoffs all over the country right now. So I expect jobless claims to continue to spike in the months ahead.
Of course what is currently going on in Washington D.C. will just add fuel to that fire. Last week, jobless claims in D.C. jumped another 26 percent…"In Washington, D.C., new claims totaled 2,047, an increase of 421, or 26%, according to numbers not adjusted for seasonal factors." It appears that a tsunami of federal layoffs is just getting started, and so this is a developing story.
At the same time, we are being told that inflation “is moving in the wrong direction again”…"No matter what metric you’re looking at, US inflation is moving in the wrong direction again. Whether it’s a house or a carton of eggs, price growth is once again intensifying across a broad range of indicators. Much of that has to do with the same supply and demand factors and labor-market pressures that led to the initial inflation surge in the pandemic, while planned tariffs from President Donald Trump are heightening concerns that prices will rise even more."
What a mess. Last month, beef prices moved significantly higher once again…"It’s not just eggs getting expensive. Beef prices have also been on the rise, with executives at various companies noting in recent earnings calls that it’s creating significant challenges. In January, prices for beef and veal rose 5.5%, outpacing the entire food-at-home category, which rose 1.9%, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index. Courtney Schmidt, Sector Manager at Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, told FOX Business the uptick in beef prices is driven by tighter U.S. beef production with consistent consumer demand."
And egg prices have risen to absolutely absurd levels…"Shoppers are reeling from sticker shock as egg prices hit an all-time high at stores like Walmart, with some joking that they might need a loan just to afford breakfast, while other angry Americans have been caught stealing the product. One frustrated customer took to X to vent about the soaring costs, revealing that in Bakersfield, California, a 60-pack of eggs now costs $43. “$9 – $15 a dozen. It’s ridiculous,” she wrote. “I have to take out a loan just to buy eggs.”
Overall, the USDA is projecting that egg prices will increase by 41 percent by the end of this calendar year…"Egg prices are already at an all-time high, and, according to a USDA estimate, they’re only likely to get more expensive as the year continues. According to a US Department of Agriculture projection, egg prices are expected to increase by 41 percent this year. Skyrocketing egg prices are largely the result of a widespread bird flu outbreak that forced a mass culling of egg-laying birds. With fewer birds, there are fewer eggs, and with scarcity comes increased cost.
I wish that I could tell you that things will soon get better. But I can’t. Every single day, more businesses that were once thriving are shutting their doors for good. For example, the only factory in the town of Liberty, New York is permanently closing, and 287 workers will have to find something else to do with their lives…"PepsiCo will soon lay off 287 employees of a Frito Lay manufacturing plant in Liberty, New York, likely devastating the small upstate town of about 10,000 residents.
The employees, who were not represented by a union, will officially lose begin losing their jobs on May 21 with the layoffs expected to conclude on June 6, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed with the New York Department of Labor. The Frito Lay factory, which produces PopCorners brand snacks, has employed hundreds of locals over its almost 30 years of operation." Similar scenarios are playing out over and over again all over the nation.
And now enormous tariffs on Mexico and Canada threaten to cause yet another shockwave for the economy…"President Donald Trump on Thursday said his proposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada will go into effect March 4 and that China will be charged an additional 10% tariff on the same date. The sweeping 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada had been paused on Feb. 3 for one month. But the Trump administration has recently sown confusion about whether they would go back into effect when the delays expired. In a Truth Social post Thursday morning, Trump clarified that they would."
Sometimes people write to me and attempt to convince me that everything is just fine. But does everything seem just fine to you? Just look around. Everywhere around us stores are being boarded up, restaurants and shutting down, factories are closing, businesses are laying off workers, delinquencies are spiking, families are going broke, prices are skyrocketing and debt levels are soaring. This is what we have been warning about all these years.
The U.S. economy is coming apart at the seams, and those that refuse to acknowledge what we can all see are in a deep state of denial. Our long-term economic slide really is threatening to become an avalanche, and I fully expect our economic numbers to get even worse in the months ahead."
Musical Interlude: The Moody Blues, "The Story In Your Eyes"
The Moody Blues, "The Story In Your Eyes"
Friday, February 28, 2025
Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Zelensky is Finished But Russia Isn't Buying It!"
Canadian Prepper, 2/28/25
"Alert! Zelensky is Finished But Russia Isn't Buying It!"
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Jeremiah Babe, "Living In A Fake World Of Economic Illusion"
Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 2/28/25
"Living In A Fake World Of Economic Illusion"
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A Rousing Musical Interlude: Outlaws, “Green Grass And High Tides”
Outlaws, “Green Grass And High Tides”
Turn it up!
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Galaxies don't normally look like this. NGC 6745 actually shows the results of two galaxies that have been colliding for only hundreds of millions of years. Just off the above digitally sharpened photograph to the lower right is the smaller galaxy, moving away. The larger galaxy, pictured above, used to be a spiral galaxy but now is damaged and appears peculiar. Gravity has distorted the shapes of the galaxies.
Although it is likely that no stars in the two galaxies directly collided, the gas, dust, and ambient magnetic fields do interact directly. In fact, a knot of gas pulled off the larger galaxy on the lower right has now begun to form stars. NGC 6745 spans about 80 thousand light-years across and is located about 200 million light-years away."
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