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Saturday, May 17, 2025

"Many Americans Are Not Prepared To Deal With Depression Level Living"

"Many Americans Are Not Prepared
 To Deal With Depression Level Living"
by Milan Adams

"The forces are mounting that will eventually overwhelm most Americans and send their standard of living to unknown depths. Americans that have only known the post WWII prosperity are ill equipped and educated to deal with depression level living. Easy credit and instant gratification have created a nation of whining, self absorbed, entitlement minded people with no moral or mental toughness.

Doug Casey believes we are headed for what he calls a super depression created by the ending of a debt super cycle. The bigger the debt cycle the bigger the depression that follows. That’s how reality works and most people are not prepared for reality.

When this depression, which has already started, gets momentum, it will overwhelm the plans of a society that is expecting to get things like social security, pensions and payouts from retirement plans they have paid into for many years. All of those things will disappear almost overnight and leave society gasping and stupefied over what to do. Their reactions will be to yell and scream and try to identify who to blame but the only person they should blame is the one in the mirror.

Many very smart people have raised the alarm and done their best to warn the sleeping public, but those slumbering masses have ignored the warnings and hit the snooze button one more time. The masses do not understand economics, do not want to understand economics and they will pay dearly for that ignorance in the coming days.

When the real unemployment rate becomes common knowledge as it increases substantially, people will be left to survive on what resources they have saved up outside the banking system that cannot be stolen by the politicians and bankers. That is a key point here. The assets you have outside the system that cannot be stolen from you with a few key strokes on some computer.

Those hoping for some miraculous event that will send the U.S. back to the days of manufacturing might and jobs for all will never see it happen. Those days are gone. The west line theory tells us our economy will slow down and become more modest as the shipping center of the world moves west to the next powerhouse region which is Asia. This is what history teaches us.

When people suddenly wake up one morning and they have no job, their retirement is gone and they need to care for their family, what will they do? When government services have collapsed and they suddenly realize they are now living in a third world country with few government services, what will they do? When the banks are closed and only a select few connected people have any type of money or access to goods, what will they do?

This is the reality that many people will face in the future and they have no idea how bad it can get. They refuse to contemplate the harsh reality they will be living in and take steps to mitigate the effects. To do so would be to acknowledge it could happen and they are taking personal responsibility. Personal responsibility is a dirty phrase in today’s entitlement society. To see some of the effects one only has to look at the collapse of society in Venezuela today to see what awaits.

When it happens it will all fall back to you to take responsibility for your family and take care of them for the duration. To do that you need to plan now for that eventuality and build up the resources you will need to provide food, shelter, clothing and security when the system fails to do it for you. You need to be Noah on his ark not the people watching as he floated away.

Having resources stored up is a must but it may not get you all the way through if the situation lasts for many years. That is why you need some type of plan to replace those resources as time goes by and have some way to generate some type of income or at least items to trade. Usable goods are for the short term and things like gold ,silver and production equipment are for the long term to help you get through the crisis with the least amount of pain.

Even with proper planning the days ahead will not be easy as the standard of living of society will fall substantially to levels only seen in failed third world countries or old pictures. The assets actually owned by people today is very small compared to how they live. They will default on their home loan, their car loan, and their credit card debt leaving them with very few real possessions and few ways to move what they have left even if they have some place to go. Ultimately these people will become the new serfs to the wealthy class that will take possession of anything of value. Feudalism will once again rule.

The lack of planning by society will make this a reality if it is allowed. What will you do when everything you have worked a lifetime for is suddenly taken away? Do you have a plan to keep what you have? Do you have a plan to make money when you cannot find a job? Do you have a way to take care of your family until things stabilize? Do you have a home you will not lose if the whole system breaks down? What will you do if electricity or fuel is too expensive to buy or not available to the general population? These are the questions you should be asking yourself now and you better have a good answer because your family will be asking them when the greater depression sets in."

Dan, I Allegedly, "We Are Collapsing From Within - The American Dream Is Dead"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 5/17/25
"We Are Collapsing From Within -
 The American Dream Is Dead"

"California is spiraling into an economic crisis, and I’m here to break it all down for you. From skyrocketing living costs to a massive $15 billion deficit, things are getting worse before they get better. Over 35% of Californians can’t afford basic necessities - despite most households having at least one working member. The struggles don’t stop there: rising property taxes, fuel prices, and even car insurance are pushing families to the brink. And when it comes to EVs? Tesla’s inventory issues and the shocking truth about their lifespan are just the beginning.

Businesses are collapsing too - stores like JC Penney and high-end brands like Burberry are closing locations and cutting jobs. Even resorts like Sunseeker in Florida can’t stay afloat with dismal occupancy rates. Meanwhile, shady practices from companies like T-Mobile and utility providers are squeezing every last dollar from consumers. This isn’t just a California problem; it’s a snapshot of a nation on the edge."
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"US States in Big Trouble as Major Retailers Pull Out Fast"

Full screen recommended.
Downturn Report, 5/17/25
"US States in Big Trouble as Major Retailers Pull Out Fast"

"This documentary reveals the top 15 U.S. states in crisis as the retail apocalypse sweeps across America. From small towns to entire regions, we investigate how big retailers are quietly retreating - and why they’re doing it faster than ever. In this deep dive, we examine the top 15 states where retailers cut back fast, leaving working-class families in economic uncertainty. As the retail crisis deepens, the retail chain landscape is changing. You’ll see how big retailers closing is not just about empty stores - it’s about lost jobs, food deserts, and a vanishing sense of stability. These are the top 15 U.S. states in the eye of the storm, each facing a different kind of collapse. But is it too late to reverse course?

With exclusive insights into which U.S. states in crisis are suffering the most from the retail apocalypse, this video gives you a clear picture of how big retailers affect not only the economy - but your neighborhood. Learn which top 15 states are losing access to affordable goods, local jobs, and even basic services as retailers cut back fast.

We don’t just report - we ask the hard questions: What happens when a retail chain vanishes overnight? Which top 15 U.S. states in the country are now ground zero for economic decline? How can we prepare for what comes next? This isn’t just a list - it’s a wake-up call. The retail crisis is real, the retail apocalypse is accelerating, and these top 15 states are only the beginning. This is the Downturn Report – where the truth gets personal."
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Judge Napolitano, "INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson & McGovern: Weekly Wrap 16-May"

Full screen recommended.
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 5/16/26
"INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson & McGovern:
 Weekly Wrap 16-May"
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"Jim Rickards: 'Central Banks Are About To Collapse The Economy and Here's How'"

Full screen recommended.
Plain Finance Reborn, 5/17/25
"Jim Rickards: 'Central Banks Are About 
To Collapse The Economy and Here's How'"
"Jim Rickards talks about the U.S national debt that is going up and up forever and how the Central Bank will blow up the economy with it, then talks about MMT or Modern Monetary Theory, which doesn't make any sense to him."
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"As The Sun Goes Nuts, Unusual Natural Disasters Are Occurring All Over The Globe"

"As The Sun Goes Nuts, Unusual Natural 
Disasters Are Occurring All Over The Globe"
 by Michael Snyder

"Why is the mainstream media in the United States being so quiet about what is happening on the Sun? The giant ball of fire that we revolve around makes life on this planet possible, and it has started to behave very erratically. This should definitely be getting a lot more attention, because the link between solar activity and seismic activity has been well established by now. Some scientists still try to dispute this, but the truth is that when the Sun becomes more active we tend to see more large earthquakes and more volcanic eruptions. And of course if a large enough solar storm erupts, it could fry our power grids and throw our entire society into a massive state of chaos.

This week, the giant ball of fire that we revolve around “unleashed the strongest solar flare of the year”…"The sun has unleashed the strongest solar flare of the year, triggering strong radio blackouts across the globe. Just after 11:30 a.m. ET, a massive X2.7-class solar flare erupted from a newly emerging dark region known as AR4087. X-class flares are the most intense in the solar storm scale  - capable of disrupting communications, damaging satellites, and even threatening power grids on Earth."

Subsequently, there was another very large solar flare on Wednesday…"Just before 7:20am ET Wednesday morning, sunspot AR4087 emitted yet another solar flare: an M7.74. Sunspot AR4087 is absolutely enormous, and there is concern that more solar flares could be unleashed as it “rotates into direct alignment with Earth in the coming days.” Experts warn that more flares may be on the way as sunspot AR4087 rotates into direct alignment with Earth in the coming days, increasing the chances of further solar storms.

What we are witnessing right now is definitely not normal. A solar filament that erupted from the Sun’s northern hemisphere earlier this week was more than 600,000 miles long. That made it over twice as long as the distance from the Earth to the moon…"On Tuesday, astronomers watched as a vast ‘bird wing’ eruption sent waves of superheated plasma surging across the sun’s northern hemisphere. At over 600,000 miles long (one million km), the filament of solar material was more than twice as long as the distance from the Earth to the moon."

Nobody can deny that the Sun has been extremely active this month. So have we seen a corresponding increase in seismic activity? Well, this month we did see a magnitude 7.4 earthquake strike just off the coast of Argentina…"A powerful earthquake has struck off the southern coasts of Chile and Argentina, triggering a tsunami warning. The 7.4 magnitude quake struck 136 miles off the coast of the city of Ushuaia, Argentina on Friday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Authorities in Chile issued an evacuation alert for the entire coastal section of the Strait of Magellan in the country’s south."

Here in the United States, California has been rattled by hundreds of earthquakes over the past week, and that includes three sizable earthquakes right along the San Andreas fault…"California has experienced three earthquakes in the last 24 hours in an area being closely monitored for a major quake. The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the seismic activity along the San Andreas Fault, which spans 800 miles from Cape Mendocino in the north to the Salton Sea in the south. Scientists warn this fault is overdue for a ‘Big One’ - a magnitude 7.8 earthquake or higher.

Of course it isn’t just the state of California that has been getting shaken. In Nevada, a magnitude 4.0 earthquake just hit an area of the Earth’s crust that is “gradually being pulled apart”…"Nevada was rocked by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday in a region where the Earth’s crust is slowly tearing apart. The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the tremor at 5:35 am local (8:35am ET) near Valmy that sits on top of the Basin and Range Province, which stretches across much of the western US. In this area, the Earth’s crust is gradually being pulled apart, causing faulting and frequent earthquakes."

And Salt Lake City was recently rattled by a magnitude 3.9 earthquake…"A 3.9 magnitude earthquake hit just outside of Utah’s capital city Thursday morning. The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the tremor at 6:11am ET, with the epicenter located in Independence, about 43 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. More than 2,200 people within a 45-mile radius reported feeling the shaking."

Meanwhile, we continue to see unusual volcanic activity all over the globe as well. In fact, scientists are warning that a mile-wide volcano near the coast of Oregon could literally erupt at any moment…"Scientists have issued a stark warning about the most active volcano in the Pacific Northwest, cautioning that it could erupt as soon as tomorrow. The Axial Seamount is a mile-wide underwater volcano that sits 300 miles off the coast of Oregon and more than 4,900 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Researchers with the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative say there has been massive uptick in the number of earthquakes under the seamount, caused by magma pushing to the surface."

On the other side of the world, the largest supervolcano in Europe has been shaking like crazy…"Fear in Campi Flegrei where since 12:07, as reported by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, a seismic swarm has been underway. The most intense event had a magnitude of 4,4 and an epicenter 3 kilometers deep in the port of Pozzuoli. Following the event, the Italian Situation Room of the Civil Protection Department contacted the local structures of the National Civil Protection Service. An uninhabited building in Via Campana collapsed. There is a lot of fear in Pozzuoli where citizens have poured into the streets for fear of being surprised at home by another strong shock. Over ten shocks have been recorded since this morning, two of which with a magnitude greater than 3, following the strongest."

If a full-blown eruption of the Campi Flegrei supervolcano were to happen, it could cause a nuclear winter which would devastate global food production and plunge us into a multi-year worldwide famine. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “Is One Of The World’s Largest Supervolcanoes About To Erupt?” I expect that the Sun will continue to behave erratically in the months ahead, and I also expect to see plenty of major natural disasters. So buckle up and hold on tight, because it is going to be a bumpy ride."

"40 to 60 Million Tons of Poison a Year Sprayed in our Skies"

"40 to 60 Million Tons of Poison a Year Sprayed in our Skies"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Renowned climate engineering researcher Dane Wigington is finally waking up the public to the profound damage being done to them while collapsing the environment. Florida’s Governor DeSantis has signed a law making geoengineering (aka chemtrails) illegal in his state. New HHS Secretary Bobby Kennedy Jr. has recently admitted geoengineering is real and DARPA, a secretive government agency, is doing it. Dark government forces are spraying toxic chemicals such as aluminum, radioactive coal ash, mercury, graphene, polymer fibers and nano particles. All are deadly poison over the skies in America. Many in the Trump Administration know this destructive policy is going on but are doing nothing to stop it. Wigington says, “The bees are dying of symptoms resembling Alzheimer’s and dementia because they are packed full of aluminum. They can’t even find their way back to the hive. It’s happening to us, all of us, as well. It’s not normal or natural to assume you are going to get Alzheimer’s or dementia when you get up in your years. We are being trained, taught and programmed to think this is normal. It’s not normal. 

This whole MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement, I want people to stop and consider that MAHA anything means absolutely nothing, zero, if we don’t stop the contaminants raining down from our skies. 40 to 60 million tons annually are contaminating everything. Focusing on food dyes while this is going on is absolutely ludicrous. That’s way worse than polishing the rails on the Titanic as it sinks. How is this not a real right now fight-for-life?”

The weird weather you are seeing with high winds, hail and wild temperature swings are not normal and do not come from nature. Much of it is caused by geoengineering. Wigington says, “They are all using terms like ‘weather whiplash’ all the time as if this is normal. They use the term ‘Mother Nature’ to try to associate those two, and they have nothing to do with each other. These radical swings in weather are absolutely engineered. We have record high temperatures. We just had that happen in Minnesota and Montana. One location in Montana has a record high and broke the record by 14 degrees. That’s almost 40 degrees above normal. Then, it snows two days later. Seriously? People think that is normal or natural?”

In closing, Wigington warns, “I don’t see us making it to the end of this year without seeing major links to the chain breaking. Those in power will be trying to feed normalcy bias in any and every way they can. It will be mass distraction with societal division with outrageous social issues always being pushed into the media. It will be mass distraction while all hell is breaking loose all over the world.” There is much more in the 50-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with climate researcher Dane Wigington, founder of GeoEngineeringWatch.org, with an update on how people are waking up to the evil of geoengineering. 

"I Learned Long Ago..."

 

Friday, May 16, 2025

"Warning! Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: WW3 Negotiations Have Failed, Prepare For The Next Phase"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 5/16/25
"Warning! Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: WW3 Negotiations
Have Failed, Prepare For The Next Phase"
Comments here:

"I Visited the Most Sanctioned Country in the World! Moscow"

Full screen recommended.
Window to Moscow, 5/16/25
"I Visited the Most Sanctioned Country in the World! Moscow"
Comments here:
OMG...
o
Full screen recommended.
Lisa With Love, 2/1/25
"Trying New Russian Metro - 
The Best Transport In The World?"
Comments here:

Incredible what a sane, civilized society can achieve, isn't it?

"The Rich Get Richer While The Middle Class Move Into Tiny Cars"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/16/25
"The Rich Get Richer While 
The Middle Class Move Into Tiny Cars"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, "The Calling"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "The Calling"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Some spiral galaxies are seen nearly sideways. Most bright stars in spiral galaxies swirl around the center in a disk, and seen from the side, this disk can appear quite thin. Some spiral galaxies appear even thinner than NGC 3717, which is actually seen tilted just a bit. Spiral galaxies form disks because the original gas collided with itself and cooled as it fell inward. Planets may orbit in disks for similar reasons.
The featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a light-colored central bulge composed of older stars beyond filaments of orbiting dark brown dust. NGC 3717 spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 60 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water Snake (Hydra)."

"I Think..."

"I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be “happy.” I think
the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate.
It is, above all, to matter and to count, to stand for something,
to have made some difference that you lived at all.”
- Leo C. Rosten

Bill Bonner, "In the DOGE House"

“I'm shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here."
- Casablanca

"In the DOGE House"
by Bill Bonner

Gualfin, Salta Province, Argentina - "We interrupt our regular coverage, minute by minute, of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs confrontation with the justice system…to bring you these updates.

First, we have a tense and dangerous situation developing here at the ranch. Our son-in-law, who runs the place, came back from a round-up in the high valley with some distressing news. He reports: “It looks like one of our cowboys has been riding more than horses, if you know what we mean. It’s a long story. But Ariel [another of the cowboys, names changed to protect privacy] was handed a court order to stay away from his girlfriend, the mother of his two children. She accused him of domestic violence,” explained our informant. “What could I say? I don’t know what was really going on. And I didn’t expect to be a marriage counselor or police officer. There was probably more to the story. Rumor is that Ariel was fooling around too. Remember last year, he had been accused of raping the Ebenisto’s daughter [Ebenisto is another employee]…The charge was dismissed after the woman said it was consensual.”

But tensions were already running high yesterday. Then came this new twist. “People accuse each other of domestic violence a lot around here. And when Ariel had to move out [the other cowboy] moved in. This is a disaster. They’re all related. And they’re ready to go at each other with knives. And what can we do? We can’t have this kind of thing…it’s too dangerous and disruptive. They all work with each other every day. But we can’t fire the whole team. Nobody else is going to come up here to do this work.” Stay tuned…

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is jangling international trade, jittering international institutions, and jumbling customary arrangements at home and abroad. They’ve also brought public discourse to a new low. The president routinely describes public figures as ‘fools’ or ‘low IQ’ or ‘losers.’ Not surprisingly, other commentators and political leaders retort that Trump is an ‘idiot’ or ‘demagogue’ or ‘dictator.’

For our part, here at the Bonner Private Research headquarters, we stick to the high road. We won’t indulge in such low-brow attacks. “Jackass” describes most of them all fairly well; no need to go further.

But the thing the Great Disruptor is not disrupting is the thing that most needs it — the Deep State’s control over the empire…and its downward slide. The budget tells the tale. As we saw yesterday, the interest on US debt is already more than the entire ‘security’ budget. Niall Ferguson pointed out that this is generally the ‘point of no return.’

But instead of raising the alarm, Mr. Trump proposes a big jump in money to the firepower industry, as if spending more on ships and tanks would make the interest payments appear smaller. And instead of focusing his energy on serious budget cuts, Mr. Trump brought in Elon Musk, who made an astonishing discovery: the feds are wasting money!

We watched an amusing news show in which the Fox TV commentator joined a DOGE board meeting. Musk and his earnest young lieutenants dutifully told what they had found: dysfunctional accounting systems…loans to people who had not been born yet… scammy foreign aid programs where almost all of the money never left the DC area.

We were shocked…SHOCKED! DOGE claims $160 billion in savings… down from the original $2 trillion target. But researchers have only been able to verify about $60 billion in real cuts. And while this DOGE looks under the seat cushions, the trajectory of the last 25 years — towards more debt, more government, and bigger deficits — continues undisturbed.

Spending is running 10% ahead of the last year of the Biden team…with a deficit for the last twelve months above $2 trillion. There is so much razz-ma-tazz in the Republicans’ ‘Big, Beautiful’ budget numbers – treasures and booby traps buried in its 1,116 pages -- analysts are still studying it.

The Congressional Budget Office’s baseline figures told us the feds will collect $67 trillion in revenue over the next ten years and spend $89 trillion. That would give us a debt of $58 trillion…and annual deficits edging up to $2.5 trillion a year. If everything goes according to plan. But everything won’t go according to this plan. Instead, something truly shocking is likely. The 2017 tax cuts will be extended, while many of the Republicans’ cost reductions will never happen. And then, investors and savers – seeing federal debt turn upward in a ‘hockey stick’ pattern, will demand higher rates of interest. The debt will likely soar past $60 trillion, with deficits over $3 trillion per year.

Dan, I Allegedly, "Ford’s Deadly Recall, Are You Driving a Death Trap?"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 5/16/25
"Ford’s Deadly Recall, 
Are You Driving a Death Trap?"
"Ford’s latest recall is shocking: 274,000 vehicles, including Expeditions and Navigators, are flagged for brake failure risks that could lead to catastrophic accidents! Are you unknowingly driving a death trap? In today’s episode, I break down what this means for drivers, why recalls like these keep piling up, and how the National Highway Traffic Safety Bureau is responding to these alarming complaints. It’s another reminder that nothing lasts like it used to!But that’s not all – we’re also diving into dangerous driverless taxis like Whimo and their massive recall after hitting barriers, plus a bizarre eye-care product recall. These issues show how safety and reliability seem to be taking a backseat lately. My take? Enough is enough – it's time for accountability."
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"The Daily "Near You?"

Boerne, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Time To Go..."

“How do the geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans, know when it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us; there is a voice within, if only we would listen to it, that tells us so certainly when to go forth into the unknown.”
- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

"What Keeps You Going..."

"What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive. You keep your eyes open, you see this damned-to-hell world you got born into, and you ask yourself, 'What life can I live that will let me breathe in and out and love somebody or something and not run off screaming into the woods?'"
- Barbara Kingsolver

“For this is what we do. Put one foot forward and then the other. Lift our eyes to the snarl and smile of the world once more. Think. Act. Feel. Add our little consequence to the tides of good and evil that flood and drain the world. Drag our shadowed crosses into the hope of another night. Push our brave hearts into the promise of a new day. With love: the passionate search for truth other than our own. With longing: the pure, ineffable yearning to be saved. For so long as fate keeps waiting, we live on. God help us. God forgive us. We live on.”
- Gregory David Roberts, “Shantaram”

"Is President Trump About To Pull Off The Deal Of The Century?"

"Is President Trump About To Pull Off 
The Deal Of The Century?"
by Michael Snyder

"If President Trump can get the Iranians to agree to a deal that will permanently prevent them from producing nuclear weapons, it really will be the deal of the century. The Iranians absolutely hate us, and so just getting them to talk was a major achievement. But now we could be on the verge of something truly remarkable. If a peace deal can be achieved, we can avoid an apocalyptic military showdown in the Middle East, and that would be a wonderful thing for all of humanity. So let’s hope that this actually happens. According to President Trump, the Iranians have “sort of agreed to” the terms of a potential deal…"Donald Trump says Iran has “sort of” agreed to the terms of a deal on the future terms of its nuclear program.

On a visit to Doha, the US president said: “I want them to succeed. I want them to end up being a great country. But they cannot have a nuclear weapon. It is very simple really. It’s not like I need to give you 30 pages worth of details. It is only one sentence – they cannot have a nuclear weapon.” Referring to the possibility of a US attack on Iran, he added: “We are not going to make any nuclear dust in Iran. I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this. You probably read today the story about Iran. It’s sort of agreed to… the terms.”

I don’t know what “sort of agreed to” actually means, and I don’t know exactly what has changed, but I am going to take this as a positive sign. A few days ago, a formal written proposal for a deal was delivered to the Iranians by Steve Witkoff…"The Trump administration gave Iran a proposal for a nuclear deal during the fourth round of negotiations on Sunday, a U.S. official and two other sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.

Why it matters: It was the first time since the nuclear talks started in early April that White House envoy Steve Witkoff presented a written proposal to the Iranians. We do not know what was in that formal proposal. But according to NBC News, one top Iranian official is indicating that Iran would be ready to sign a deal as long as certain conditions are met…"Ali Shamkhani, a top political, military and nuclear adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is one of the most senior Iranian officials to speak publicly about the ongoing discussions.

He said Iran would commit to never making nuclear weapons, getting rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium which can be weaponized, agree to enrich uranium only to the lower levels needed for civilian use, and allow international inspectors to supervise the process, in exchange for the immediate lifting of all economic sanctions on Iran. Asked if Iran would agree to sign an agreement today if those conditions were met, Shamkhani said, “Yes.”

But another official, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, is making it clear that enriching uranium is an issue that the Iranians will absolutely not compromise on…Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, called the negotiations “difficult but useful.” “Enrichment is an issue that Iran will not give up, and there is no room for compromise on it,” he said. “However, its dimensions, levels or amounts might change for a period to allow confidence-building.”

Araghchi is also claiming that the U.S. military simply does not have the ability to destroy Iran’s underground nuclear facilities…"Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday that the country’s military strength has served as a key deterrent against potential U.S. military action, arguing that Washington has only engaged in nuclear negotiations because it cannot impose its will through force. “If the other side - whether during the earlier talks with the P5+1 or now with the United States - were able to destroy our nuclear facilities through military means, they would have done so,” Araghchi said. “They came to the table because they cannot impose their will by force.”

If the Iranians have no intention on backing down on the most important issue, does that mean that the Trump administration has decided to back down? Up to now, President Trump and members of his administration have insisted that Iran must give up enriching uranium and must destroy all facilities where uranium was being enriched or there will be no deal. If a potential deal really is close, that would seem to indicate that President Trump and his team have decided to compromise. But if the Iranians will be allowed to continue to enrich uranium, the threat posed by the Iranians will still exist.

Something is not adding up. Hopefully we will get more details soon. For now, President Trump is stressing the need for the Iranians to accept the offer that is on the table…"He had stressed while speaking in Saudi Arabia that “this is not an offer that will last forever. The time is right now for them to choose.” President Trump followed up on Thursday by saying from Qatar, “We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” according to AFP. He said, “We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this… there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second.”

Personally, I am rooting for peace. Because a military showdown with Iran would be horrifying. The moment we start bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iranian missiles would start flying toward Israeli cities and U.S. military bases all over the Middle East. Once we get to that stage, there will be no turning back. We stand on the brink of a major turning point in history, and the decisions that are made in the days ahead will have very serious implications for all of us."

"Life Is Hard?"

"Life is hard? True - but let's love it anyhow,
though it breaks every bone in our bodies."
- Edward Abbey
"When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard,"
I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?"
- Sydney Harris

John Wilder, "Stoics, A Bikini, Families, And The Truth"

"Stoics, A Bikini, Families, And The Truth"
by John Wilder

“First principles, Clarice, simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing, 
ask what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?” 
– "The Silence of the Lambs"

"Marcus Aurelius, who is dead, wrote: “Those obsessed with glory attach their well-being to the regard of others, those who love pleasure tie it to feelings, but the one with true understanding seeks it only in their own actions . . . “

Marcus wrote that in his book, "Meditations," though I doubt that he referred to the book by that name. More likely, he referred to it as “where the hell did I put my notebook?” when he talked about it at all. Heck, since he was Caesar, Marcus probably had a guy whose only job was to schlep the book around while Marcus moved from place to place. Probably his name was Antonius Carriumbookus, or something like that.

The quote from Marcus that I started this post begs some questions: Why do we do the things we do? What are our underlying motivations?

For me, I write these never-ending series of blog posts because I’m trying to think and learn, to uncover what’s really True. Why? So that I can share it, because knowledge exists to be shared. As I’ve mentioned in the past, there are plenty of times I’ve started writing a post and found after research that my underlying premise was wrong. Those are great days, because when I found out that I was wrong then, it helps me from not being wrong now. This has led to changes in my thoughts as I chip away at the Truth.

One example is that I used to think that the atom of society was the individual, and that individual freedom was an unmitigated good. I believe now that I was utterly incorrect. Instead, I now believe that the atom of society is the family.

Why? Because having humanity exist is a good thing. Since people have stopped dividing like amoeba or engaging in the suspect practice of parthenogenesis after the Council of Trent in 1563, we’re stuck with the fact that only families can reproduce. That, for those keeping score, requires a biological man and a biological woman.

Is the nuclear family of one man and one woman the only way? What about harems, or societies where people exist in a constant smuck-fest with no fixed relationships? Those generate children, after all. A stable nuclear family, however, is superior because thousands of years of human practice shows that it clearly is the best way to create a stable, functioning society.

The implications of this are fairly big: just as individuals give up freedoms to live in a society (i.e., you can’t just steal your neighbor’s PEZ™ for no reason unless you’re the government), individuals should also give up rights to support those stable nuclear families.

Whenever we’ve acted against that idea, society gets worse and laws restricting individual behavior are the direct consequence. It’s an odd paradox: giving up some individual freedoms (no-fault divorce, adultery without consequence) actually leads to a stronger and freer society with greater respect for things like property rights. I didn’t believe that consciously when I was in my twenties, but now I see it fairly clearly, and all the research and writing I’ve done has helped lead to that conclusion.

To be clear, it’s not what’s True, Beautiful, or Good that has changed, it’s merely that I get closer to understanding what’s True, Beautiful, and Good. I’m the one that has to catch up. So, that’s part of why I write. Now why I publish?

That’s because people in the commentariat are far from shrinking violets, and will call me out if they think I’m wrong. Rarely does anyone attack me personally, rather, it’s the idea that I’m presenting that gets engaged. That’s invaluable, because it keeps me on my toes – I can’t tell you how often I put one wrong fact in the post, decide, “Meh, it’s 11:30PM, I’m pretty sure that’s right”, and then, boom, the first comment points out my error. I love that. I mean, I hate being wrong. Everyone does. But I love the chance to be right in the future.

The other reason I publish this is to hold myself accountable by making a commitment. Self-discipline is great and all, but I assure you I wouldn’t put the effort into writing all this just for it to sit on a hard drive somewhere. I mean, why would I do that? But since I see that some people come by and check it out, well, I don’t want to disappoint them. Is that external? Yeah, a little.

Next, there is also the fact that I like telling jokes. I love it. But I really don’t tell them for you, I tell them for me. Scott Adams said something like: “Tell six jokes. If reader gets two, they’ll think you’re a genius.” Since I like telling jokes, well, that’s why I do that.

Finally, I’m sure that blogging is cheaper than therapy. I’m betting that’s why Marcus did it in the first place. Here he was, the undisputed most powerful man on the planet, with the ability to crush entire nations at a whim, and yet he spent time writing in his book about what he thought the True, the Beautiful, and the Good were. But, given all of the power Marcus had, I’d rather be John Wilder than Marcus Aurelius. I mean, he’s dead."

"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality. 
You want to live but do you know how to live? 
You are scared of dying but tell me, 
is the kind of life you lead really any different to being dead?"

"Dog Diary, Cat Diary"

"Dog Diary, Cat Diary"
- Author Unknown

"Dog Diary:
7:00 AM - Outside! My favorite thing!
8:00 AM - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 AM - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 AM - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 AM - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 PM - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
2:00 PM - Looked out the window and barked! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
4:00 PM - Chased a bird out of the tree! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
6:00 PM - Watched my people eat! My favorite thing!
6:20 PM - Table scraps! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM -Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Cat Diary:
Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. B*st*rds!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow - but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog continues to receive special privileges. He is regularly released and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded."

"How It Really Is"

 

"Top 10 Big Retail Chains Collapsing Fast as Boycotts Of American Goods Sweep"

Full screen recommended.
Discovery Globe Collapse, 5/16/25
"Top 10 Big Retail Chains Collapsing Fast 
as Boycotts Of American Goods Sweep"

"In this eye-opening documentary, we reveal how retail chains across America are facing a massive downturn. With the rise of the boycott movement, many are witnessing a historic wave of economic boycott and American goods boycott that is accelerating the downfall of once-iconic businesses.  From sudden store closures to irreversible retail decline, the U.S. is now grappling with a deepening retail crisis 2025. These falling retail chains are more than just headlines - they’re signs of a major transformation in our economic landscape. As we examine each collapsing retail case, we also highlight the broader social and political context behind the economic boycott and the spread of American goods boycott sentiments.

This video explores how retail collapse is connected to both global trade tensions and shifting consumer values. We discuss the implications of the ongoing boycott movement for workers, communities, and national identity. Can these retail chains survive? Or will the trend of falling retail chains continue without meaningful intervention?

This video is both a warning and a call to reflect. The retail crisis 2025 is not just a news headline - it's reshaping how we live, shop, and think. Whether you're concerned about collapsing retail, intrigued by the growing boycott movement, or simply want to understand the ripple effects of store closures, this documentary offers vital insights into a story that affects us all."
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "Without Warning Something Is Going To Break"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/16/25
"Without Warning Something Is Going To Break"
Comments here:

"Please look this up for yourselves. The Federal Reserve, in just over four days, bought up $43.6 billion in U.S. Treasuries. That’s $8.8 billion in long-dated 30-year bonds on May 8 alone, plus another $34.8 billion earlier in the week. Quietly returning to quantitative easing. Lets dig deeper. Here’s what it really means… The Treasury Market Is Fracturing. The Fed doesn’t buy $43.6 billion in Treasuries in four days unless liquidity is drying up. That $8.8 billion in 30-year bonds? That’s not random, they’re propping up the long end of the curve.

Translation? No buyers, except the Fed. Foreign buyers are pulling back. US demand is weak. The Fed is now the buyer of last resort. Again. They are monetizing debt. They are suppressing yields artificially. They are injecting liquidity into a system. This is the classic QE playbook, just done covertly. Why the Secrecy? Because the moment that the public hears “QE,” the illusion of some kind or normally functioning system dies."
- Gregory Mannarino

Adventures With Danno, "Strange Price Increases At Walmart, What's Next?"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 5/16/25
"Strange Price Increases At Walmart, What's Next?"
Comments here:

Jim Kunstler, "Cool?"

"Cool?"
by Jim Kunstler

“I’m very concerned for [the president's] life. And James Comey, 
in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this." 
- DNI Tulsi Gabbard

“Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” Jim Comey, former FBI Director wrote on Instagram about the message “86 47” laid out in seashells on the sand that he came across, innocently. You’d have to ask yourself: what was “cool” about that, exactly? Especially if, as Mr. Comey claimed on X soon after, that he didn’t know what it meant. Are things that you don’t understand “cool”? Is it just “cool” to learn that you can spell stuff out with seashells? (Who knew?)

Maybe he was surprised to learn that people other than Jim Comey fans might see his cute coded clip and conclude that it wasn’t such an innocent little gag. “47,” of course, refers to Donald Trump in the cavalcade of US presidents. Among the not-strictly-fans was DNI Tulsi Gabbard, who went on TV hours later and said that Mr. Comey should go to prison for it — in so many words. You must suppose she meant after the appropriate procedures: an FBI deposition, a grand jury, an indictment, a trial. After all that, we’d probably get to the bottom of what JC meant by “cool.”
Now, it happens that in this new milieu of memes flying around every which way, the code “86 47” is not a complete mystery. It is apparently employed casually in settings where angry citizens gather to denounce the president. “86” is a term in restaurant kitchens when there is no more of an item that a waiter just brought in an order for. “Eighty-six on the monkfish, Carla,” the line-cook might yell. Apparently, mobsters like the phrase, too, for its pithiness: “Ay, somebody, go eighty-six that stronzo Rocco Vaselino, already! He ain’t paid da vig in a munt.” Soon, there will be no more of Rocco, you see. He will be food for the hellgrammites in the soil of the Jersey pine barrens...

As DNI Gabbard pointed out - in case no one noticed - there have been two recent assassination attempts on Mr. Trump. It is a fact well-known to police psychologists that would-be assassins are curiously suggestible to prompts floating around in the zeitgeist. They tend to take them as commands. Go do this. And if anyone was a commanding figure, it would be Jim Comey, towering hero of the early anti-Trump resistance. Thus, it appears that Mr. Comey called for there to be no more of Mr. Trump. Not cool.

Also, not so cool, in the grand annals of the resistance, is the new book "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again", by journalists (cough cough) Jake Tapper (of CNN) and Alex Thompson (Axios). The book purports to explain how the entire governance apparatus of the USA hid the mental decline of “Joe Biden,” the phantom president. Realize, please, that the news media is a vital part of that apparatus, and has been since the invention of the printing press, with its crucial role (until lately) as a regulating mechanism on the engine of public affairs.

In fact, it is precisely the role of the news media to notice things that public officials try to hide, so as to keep citizens apprised of what is really going on. And that is exactly what the news media intentionally declined to do during the four years of “Joe Biden.” But then, at least half the country, seeing “Joe Biden” in action on video, did not fail to notice his ever-worsening feeble bewilderment. Tapper and Thompson seek to shift the blame for this game of Pretend onto the gremlins behind the scenes in the White House who ran the “Joe Biden” show.

Tapper and Thompson are lying, of course, and in exactly the same brazen way as the bigwigs in the Democratic Party who sponsored this treasonous fraud. Jake Tapper, for one, stated repeatedly on-the-air from 2021 onward that “Joe Biden” was a capable and effective chief executive and denounced anybody who tried to argue otherwise. Just as Thompson, while accepting the Award for Overall Excellence at the White House Correspondents’ Annual Dinner in April, lied saying, “We, myself included, missed a lot of this story.” Really? Then what, exactly, was “excellent” about his reporting?

They also missed the story as to how the White House gremlins behind “Joe Biden” were wrecking the country with open borders, election fraud, drag queens in kindergarten, censorship, lawfare, and a colossal stream of secret grift from taxpayers through USAID-linked NGO’s to Democratic Party foot-soldiers like Stacey Abrams. The more plausible story - the truth, actually - is that the companies many reporters worked for, the old big newspapers like The New York Times and the WashPo, and the cable-news channels such as (especially) CNN and MSNBC were losing their audiences until they discovered that Trump Derangement was the only way to stave off complete failure.

Once they got going with that business model in 2016, they wrecked the news media’s credibility. And virtually everything after that has been an ongoing cover-up for their dishonorable malfeasance and the crimes of the party they fronted for. But the levers of power are in other hands now. There will be consequences for government officials who go to war against the people of this land, committing sedition and treason. Suggesting the murder of a president on social media is no light matter. By the time this blog is up, officers of the Secret Service may be visiting Mr. Comey at home. No need to batter down the front door with guns drawn, though. That would be so un-cool."
o
Full screen recommended.
Fox News, AM 5/16/25
"Trump Addresses Comey's '8647' Message:
 'He Knew Exactly What It Meant'"
Comments here:

Thursday, May 15, 2025

"Delinquencies On Debt Are Soaring At A Record Level, FED Says Economy Is Great"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/15/25
"Delinquencies On Debt Are Soaring At A Record Level, 
FED Says Economy Is Great"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"

Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait, though.
Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in gigantic bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past."

"Fellows, You Had Your Day..."

“Times goin' change again an' things too, and that great British Empire goin' change too, 'cause time ain't got nothin' to do with these empires. God don't like ugly, an' whenever these big great empires starts to get ugly with the thing they does the Almighty puts His hands down once an' for all. He tell them without talkin', fellows, you had your day.”
― George Lamming, "In the Castle of My Skin"