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Tuesday, November 25, 2025

"The Elite Are Moving Into High Security ‘Fortress Communities’ Guarded By Teams Of Armed Professionals Because They Realize What Is Coming"

"The Elite Are Moving Into High Security ‘Fortress Communities’ Guarded
By Teams Of Armed Professionals Because They Realize What Is Coming"
by Michael Snyder

"The elite aren’t stupid. They can see that our society is coming apart at the seams all around us, and so they want to live some place safe. In fact, for many among the elite security has become the number one priority when choosing a new home. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us do not have the resources to move into high security communities guarded by teams of armed professionals. When things really start hitting the fan, most Americans are just going to have to deal with the chaos that is suddenly erupting all around them. But for the ultra-wealthy, one of the benefits of having so much money is being able to shut yourself off from the rest of the world.

In Delray Beach, Florida a community known as Stone Creek Ranch has become extremely trendy among the elite for one particular reason. It has a heavily armed security unit that watches over it 24 hours a day…"On paper, Stone Creek Ranch - a “prestigious” enclave made up of less than 40 luxury homes - is a world away from Miami, Manalapan, and Palm Beach: It offers no beaches, no celebrity-approved nightlife, and no glitzy designer shopping.

Yet it offers one very particular luxury that is proving to be quite the draw among the one percent: total and absolute privacy that is safeguarded by a team of armed professionals who watch over the community 24/7 - a majority of whom come from previous jobs in law enforcement or the military. Prospective residents’ entry into the community is policed just as carefully: Any homebuyers seeking to purchase one of just 37 private residences within Stone Creek are required to go through rigorous criminal background checks before they can even attempt to secure a home there.

Considering how fast conditions in our society are deteriorating, it sounds like a wonderful place. But you will never get to live there unless you have tens of millions of dollars… Just last month, Hollywood A-lister Mark Wahlberg made headlines when he dropped $37 million on a newly constructed megamansion inside the enclave - only to be followed weeks later by Rockstar energy drink founder Russ Weiner, who is in contract on two properties in the community, worth a total of $43 million.

Indian Creek Village is another high security community in southern Florida. The island boasts “a high-tech security system that’s straight out of a spy movie”, and the list of residents includes Tom Brady and Jeff Bezos… Indian Creek Village, known as the “Billionaire Bunker,” isn’t just another gated community. It’s the ultimate fortress for the ultrarich. Nestled in South Florida’s Biscayne Bay, this private island is where some of the world’s wealthiest people, including Jeff Bezos and Tom Brady, have decided to stake their claim. But living here isn’t just about luxury. It’s about security and lots of it.

You can’t just stroll onto Indian Creek. Not a chance. The island is locked down with a high-tech security system that’s straight out of a spy movie. “The wealthier you become, the more you want perfect security,” Setha Low, director of the Public Space Research Group at CUNY, told Business Insider recently. And Indian Creek delivers. An Israeli-designed radar system rings the island. It’s a system that can detect anyone approaching half a mile away. Cameras are everywhere: hidden in hedges, mounted on poles and linked to a command center that monitors every move.

The police force here? They’re more like personal bodyguards for the residents. With 19 officers for just 89 residents, Indian Creek has a cop-to-citizen ratio that makes New York City look understaffed. And these aren’t your average officers. They’re trained in tactical operations and armed with fully automatic weapons. They also spend most of their time patrolling the island’s perimeter, ensuring no one gets too close.

Once upon a time, the ultra-wealthy preferred living in large cities such as Los Angeles or New York City. But now everything has changed. On Twitter, New York City Council Member Vickie Paladino shared a very disturbing incident that just occurred in her area…"Last night in Malba, a large group of individuals from outside my district conducted an illegal ‘takeover’ of a quiet residential street at approximately 12:30am. This is not the first time it’s happened. A private security guard attempted to calm the situation - he was assaulted by the mob and his vehicle was set on fire. He suffered significant injuries. A local resident was also assaulted.

Response to this incident was less than ideal. Residents reporting the incident to 911 were told that ‘quality of life team’ and 311 should handle the situation. Unacceptable. In fact, these violent street takeovers should be met with maximum force by the police department."

We have NEVER had these problems before. Now it’s an epidemic. What changed? We stopped arresting criminals. I am meeting this morning with the chief of department and the local precinct at the scene to discuss exactly what happened last night. I have already been assured that Malba will receive four dedicated patrol cars from this point forward, as well as additional security upgrades that we cannot disclose.

However, the city MUST do something to stop this lawlessness. All the speed cameras in the world do absolutely NOTHING to prevent these incidents - we need police response and the most severe consequences for these criminals, not to simply allow them to drive away after they’ve completed their mayhem. These incidents are happening citywide, and they’re happening because there are no longer any real consequences to this kind of criminality. But let me make something very clear to the criminals - you are risking your lives bringing this chaos into our neighborhoods.

Why would the elite want to live in a place where this sort of thing is happening? Why would anyone want to live in a place where this sort of thing is happening? Of course conditions are not just deteriorating in our core urban areas. In southeastern Wisconsin, thieves from South America are systematically looting home after home… "A wave of high-end residential burglaries across southeastern Wisconsin has prompted a coordinated law enforcement response and drawn political attention at both the local and national levels. The Mequon Police Department (MPD) says the burglaries share striking similarities, suggesting a professional operation. The suspects, dressed head to toe in black, with faces covered and gloves on, have entered homes through wooded backyards, often targeting cul-de-sacs or properties near golf courses. Stolen items include jewelry, designer handbags, watches and cash, all consistent with organized theft groups that target affluent neighborhoods nationwide."

All over the nation, crime and violence are out of control. If you have the resources to move somewhere more secure, that is probably a good idea. But of course most of the population doesn’t have the resources to move somewhere more secure. In fact, we have reached a point where millions upon millions of Americans are just trying to figure out a way to keep the lights on

"Misty Pellew’s family lived in the dark for several days this month. Pellew’s power was shut off Nov. 13 because of $602 in unpaid bills, the latest in a string of financial humiliations that began six months ago after her husband lost his $20-an-hour excavation job in northeastern Pennsylvania. The recent government shutdown dealt another blow, delaying federal funding for programs that helped the family pay for food and utilities. Although Pellew’s lights were temporarily turned back on last week, they were set to be disconnected again if she didn’t pay another $102. With an overdrawn bank account, she was bracing to be without power again. Last time, her family ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner and slept in hoodies and gloves to keep warm."

This is what life looks like for so many people out there right now. In New York City, residential power shutoffs are up fivefold compared to one year ago… "In some areas, such as New York City, the surge has been dramatic - with residential shutoffs in August up fivefold from a year ago, utility filings show."

Needless to say, Americans aren’t just getting behind on their power bills. As economic conditions have steadily gotten worse, delinquency rates have risen to historic levels… "Credit card balances alone jumped $24 billion, reaching an all-time high, while the share of balances in serious delinquency - 90 days past due - climbed to a nearly financial-crash level of 7.1 percent.

Auto loans tell a similar story, with serious delinquency rates at 3 percent, the highest since 2010. And a spike in resulting defaults has triggered a wave of repossessions in 2025, with 2.2 million vehicles already repossessed, per figures from the Recovery Database Network (RDN), and forecasts of a record 3 million by year’s end. “Delinquencies, defaults, and repossessions have shot up in recent years and look alarmingly similar to trends that were apparent before the Great Recession,” the Consumer Federation of America said in a recent report."

When you are drowning in debt, relocating to a better place that will be more secure for your family is nothing but a pipe dream. Most Americans will have to deal with whatever is ahead wherever they are located right now. But the ultra-wealthy have enough money to live wherever they want, and the fact that so many of them are choosing to live in “fortress communities” says a lot about where things are heading."

Monday, November 24, 2025

"WW3Alert! The Genesis Project, US Plan To Build Skynet!"

Prepper News, 11/24/25
"WW3Alert!
 The Genesis Project, US Plan To Build Skynet!"
Comments here:

"People Are Different Today; WTF, $4 French Fries At MCDonalds?"

Jeremiah Babe, 11/24/25
"People Are Different Today; 
WTF, $4 French Fries At MCDonalds?"
Comments here:

The Poet: gk thomas, “Wretched of the Earth”

“Wretched of the Earth”

“Poor kids,
wretched of the earth,
why should we feed you?
Why shouldn't we empty our sea of
bullets into your swollen bellies or
poison you with toxic chemicals
or depleted uranium?
Why should we care,
we who are living well?

Where is it written in stone
that you deserve better?
Or that we are not animals
subject to the law of nature:
kill or be killed?

You suspect us of being cruel,
but we are kind.
Our god tells us so.
It is yours that lies.

So you cry at night,
shivering in the cold
or sell yourselves
for a slice of bread.
What is that to those of
us who are living well?”

- gk thomas

In remembrance of the 20,000 Palestinian children slaughtered in Gaza by the psychopathically degenerate inbred Israeli monsters. And here's the proof:
Full screen recommended.
James Blunt, "No Bravery"
o
Full screen recommended.
TRT World, 10/7/25
"This Is Gaza, Unfiltered"
A land under Israeli siege. A people fighting to survive a genocide. 
Experience Gaza as it is - not as it’s told.This is Gaza, unfiltered.
Comments here:
o

Musical Interlude: 2002, “Where The Stars And Moon Play”

Full screen recommended.
2002, “Where The Stars And Moon Play”
“Pamela and Randy Copus are the duo known as 2002. Randy Copus plays piano, electric cello, guitar, bass and keyboards. Pamela Copus plays flutes, harp, keyboards and a wind instrument called a WX5. Both musicians also provide all of the vocals on their albums, recording their voices many, many times and layering them to create a "virtual choir" with a celestial, angelic quality.”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This colorful skyscape features the dusty, reddish glow of Sharpless catalog emission region Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula. About 2,400 light-years away, the scene lies along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus.
Astronomical explorations of the region reveal that it has formed at the boundary of the massive Cepheus B molecular cloud and the hot, young, blue stars of the Cepheus OB 3 association. The bright rim of ionized hydrogen gas is energized by the radiation from the hot stars, dominated by the bright blue O-type star above picture center. Radiation driven ionization fronts are likely triggering collapsing cores and new star formation within. Appropriately sized for a stellar nursery, the cosmic cave is over 10 light-years across.”

Chet Raymo, “Trying To Be Good”

“Trying To Be Good”
by Chet Raymo

“A few lines from Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese":

    "You do not have to be good.
    You do not have to walk on your knees
    for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
    You only have to let the soft animal of your body
    love what it loves."

"I've quoted these lines before, if not here, then elsewhere. When I first read them back in the late 80s, they resonated with what I felt at the time. I had spent part of my earliest adulthood walking on my knees, both literally and metaphorically, seeking to tame what I took to be the animal within. Saint Augustine was whispering in my ear, and Bernanos' gloomy country priest walked at my side. I was ready to follow Thomas Merton into the desert; indeed, I once took myself briefly to the monastery at Gethsemane, Kentucky, where Merton was in residence. That was a journey of more than a hundred miles, and I was busy repenting, although of what I don't know.

As I read those lines from Mary Oliver in middle age, I had long been cultivating the "soft animal" within, immersing myself in the is-ness of things, the flesh and blood, the gorgeously sensual. No more walking on my knees, repenting. I walked proudly upright, with my sketchbook and my watercolors, my binoculars and my magnifier, sniffing the world like an animal on the prowl. I was letting my body learn to "love what it loves." Those were the years I wrote "The Soul of the Night" and "Honey From Stone" - the most intensely creative years of my life. The world offered itself to my imagination, if I may borrow another line from "Wild Geese."

And now, another half-lifetime has passed. The soft animal dozes, the body seeks repose. And I think of the first line quoted above: "You do not have to be good." What could the poet have possibly meant by that? Of course one has to be good. In a cell at Gethsemane or on the bridge over Queset Brook, one has to be good. And so one tries, one tries. The soft animal of the body that nature has contrived for us is not fine-tuned for goodness.”
“Wild Geese”

"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."

- Mary Oliver

The Universe

“There are no accidents. If it's appeared on your life radar, this is why: to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have the power to fix what's broken and heal what hurts; to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you're already the person you dreamed you'd become. There are no accidents. And believe me, that was one heck of a dream.”
“Tallyho,”
The Universe

“Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!”

"The Ultimate Crime"

"The Ultimate Crime"
by Paul Rosenberg

"The biggest crimes stand in the open; what prevents people from seeing them is simply their size and the fact that they are crimes. We can’t believe that such large evils are possible. They have to be explicable some other way. And so we notice them for only the blink of an eye, immediately conjuring a rationalization to save ourselves from the sight.

It’s really terribly impressive: Toss a fact at a human who can’t bear to see it and he/she will devise a passable escape in a fraction of a second. Cut the first escape down and a second will follow in another second or two. Humans are brilliant thinkers when things get serious, and not just the “smart” ones – a merely mundane intellect can do this shockingly well. Can you imagine what we could do if we applied that brain-power to something better than defending our blindness?

But rather than running you straight into a difficult sight, I’ll just explain that these crimes nearly always share a core component, which is the restraint of human abilities. And I’ll paint a background for you with a quote I’ve used before, from G.K. Chesterton’s book, "The Defendant:" "There runs a strange law through the length of human history – that men are continually tending to undervalue their environment, to undervalue their happiness, to undervalue themselves. The great sin of mankind… is the tendency, not towards pride, but towards this weird and horrible humility. This is the great fall, the fall by which every man… in the fullest and most literal sense, forgets himself."

If Chesterton was right and if I’m right, we have failed to see ourselves, and the fact that this is so very large, is what keeps us down. The question then becomes, What are we really? That is a question I can answer.

We Are Engines of Creation: Just about everyone in the modern West is bombarded with assertions that mankind is nasty, stupid, unfit, and disgusting. We’ve heard them for so long that we define ourselves as being different than the vile herd. In other words, we take humanity being bad as a given and portray ourselves as “other” in one way or another. And yet, the people we know are mostly decent. They have their errors and shortcomings, but most days and in most ways, they are reasonably reliable and humane. We’ve been made to not see the good.

I say this because I want you to consider that this deep bias has been foisted upon us by those who reap from it. I’d also like you to consider that humanity is, by nature, far, far better than advertised. Here are the basics in four quick points:

• All inanimate things are entropic. Eventually they all wind down and wear out.

• Living things reverse entropy. A fruit tree, for example, takes in gasses from our atmosphere, light from the sun, minerals and water from the ground. Then it organizes, concentrates, and harmonizes them… and produces fruit. This is perhaps the central characteristic of life.

• Plants and animals reverse entropy in defined channels. Each is able to reverse entropy in certain pre-programmed ways, but not in others.

• Humans can reverse entropy willfully. We choose how we will reverse entropy, and we do so almost infinitely. Or, we can evade such choices.

Humans, then, are inherently creative beings. We cannot create matter out of nothing, but we can mold it to an infinite number and variety of uses. We are fountains of new and beneficial action in the universe. Human life, then, is a cardinal value, making the restraint of human life a cardinal offense. I could go on about this at length, but what’s noted above is sufficient. The restraint of human creativity is the ultimate crime, and it is so pervasive, so huge, that allowing ourselves to see it is a major challenge.

I’ll close with another passage from the same book by Chesterton: "Every one of the great revolutionists, from Isaiah to Shelly, have been optimists. They have been indignant, not about the badness of existence, but about the slowness of men in realizing its goodness." We are more and better than we have imagined, and once we allow ourselves to see it, we’ll become more and better in actual fact."

Freely download "The Defendant", by G.K. Chesterton, here:

The Daily "Near You?"

Madisonville, Kentucky, USA. Thanks or stopping by!

The Poet: Theodore Roethke, “The Geranium”

“The Geranium”

“When I put her out, once, by the garbage pail,
She looked so limp and bedraggled,
So foolish and trusting, like a sick poodle,
Or a wizened aster in late September,
I brought her back in again
For a new routine -
Vitamins, water, and whatever
Sustenance seemed sensible
At the time: she’d lived
So long on gin, bobbie pins, half-smoked cigars, dead beer,
Her shriveled petals falling
On the faded carpet, the stale
Steak grease stuck to her fuzzy leaves.
(Dried-out, she creaked like a tulip.)
The things she endured!
The dumb dames shrieking half the night
Or the two of us, alone, both seedy,
Me breathing booze at her,
She leaning out of her pot toward the window.
Near the end, she seemed almost to hear me -
And that was scary -
So when that snuffling cretin of a maid
Threw her, pot and all, into the trash-can,
I said nothing.
But I sacked the presumptuous hag the next week,
I was that lonely.”

- Theodore Roethke

"Don't Imagine..."

"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. Do remember that dishonesty and cowardice always have to be paid for. Don't imagine that for years on end you can make yourself the boot-licking propagandist of any régime, and then suddenly return to mental decency."
- George Orwell

"The Addiction to Entertainment: The Cause of Intellectual and Cultural Decline"

Full screen recommended.
The Psyche, 11/24/25
"The Addiction to Entertainment: 
The Cause of Intellectual and Cultural Decline"

"In a world drowning in constant noise, instant stimulation, and endless scrolling, have we unknowingly become addicted to entertainment? And more importantly - what is this addiction doing to our minds, our culture, and our ability to think? This video explores the profound psychological and cultural consequences of living in an era where silence feels uncomfortable and distraction feels necessary. Inspired by insights from Kierkegaard, Postman, Huxley, Adorno, Nietzsche, and modern neuroscience, we reveal how entertainment has evolved from a source of joy into a subtle form of control - one that shapes our attention, weakens our intellect, and erodes our inner world. In this deep and eye-opening journey, you will discover:

• How infinite entertainment rewires the brain and destroys focus.
• Why boredom is the birthplace of creativity - and why we avoid it.
• How algorithms hijack our dopamine systems.
• Why overstimulation creates emptiness instead of fulfillment.
• The cultural decline that begins when entertainment becomes a lifestyle.
 • How silence, reflection, and depth are becoming rare - and revolutionary,
• The hidden psychological mechanisms that make distraction addictive.
• How to reclaim your mind in a world built to steal your attention.

This is not just a video - it’s a wake-up call. If you’ve ever felt mentally exhausted, emotionally numb, or trapped in endless consumption… this message will show you why - and how to break free. Stay until the end - the final revelation may change the way you see entertainment, culture, and even your own life."
Comments here:

"Oh How It Really Is"

 

"What’s Really Happening to the Job Market Right Now"

Full screen recommended.
The Unfolded States, 11/24/25
"What’s Really Happening to the Job Market Right Now"
"Americans once believed that the job market would always recover - that steady hiring, low unemployment, and reliable work were permanent features of the economy. But as 2025 unfolds, that confidence is fading. Behind official headlines and upbeat forecasts, a deeper shift is spreading across the country. Layoffs are rising, job openings are thinning, and more workers are discovering that the market they trusted is no longer behaving the way it once did.

Across major industries, from transportation to tech to retail, companies are slowing hiring while quietly reducing staff. Temporary roles are replacing full-time positions. Wages are rising on paper but falling behind in real life. And as federal data continues to face delays, revisions, and gaps, the picture of the labor market becomes harder for everyday Americans to interpret. This isn’t just about job losses - it’s about how the structure of work itself is changing underneath the surface. A new reality is emerging - one where even a “strong” job market can hide deep vulnerabilities."
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "Over 1 Million Jobs Lost in 2025 - Layoffs Everywhere!"

Full screen recommended.
11/24/25
"Over 1 Million Jobs Lost in 2025 - 
Layoffs Everywhere!"
"Over 1.1 million jobs lost in 2025 - this shocking trend is changing industries forever. From automation replacing workers to stagnant hiring and economic challenges, this video dives into the massive layoffs affecting tech, retail, food, and even telecommunications. Home Depot and Lowe’s predict minimal growth, Verizon is cutting 13,000 jobs, and small businesses are closing down. What does it mean for our future? I’m sharing insights, studies, and stats that paint a troubling picture. Plus, thoughts on automation, real estate trends, and beef prices skyrocketing due to processing."
Comments here:
o
And since Dan above is wandering through Caeser's Palace...
Full screen recommended.
Vegas Vault, 11/22/25
"Caesars' $25B Disaster - 
The Biggest Casino Bankruptcy Ever"
"In 2008, Apollo and TPG borrowed over $20 billion to buy Caesars Entertainment. They saddled the company with massive debt right before the financial crisis. Seven years later, Caesars filed for bankruptcy with $18-25 billion in debt. An examiner found $3.6-5.1 billion in potentially fraudulent asset transfers. Creditors claimed the company created "Good Caesars and Bad Caesars" - stripping assets to protect private equity while screwing creditors. The bankruptcy took 3 years. Lawsuits piled up. Apollo and TPG got their money back. Half the creditors got nothing. This is the story of one of the largest and most corrupt bankruptcies in American history."
Comments here:

Bill Bonner, "Free Money to Change Your Life"

"Free Money to Change Your Life"
by Bill Bonner

‘You get honest people when they have
 to do honest work for honest money.’
- Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland - "There’s something wicked about ‘printing press’ money. It is corrosive...phony...impermanent. No one owns it; like a public housing project, it invites trash, graffiti, and police sirens.

Back in 1971 when the Funny Money Era began, US debt-to-GDP stood at just 34%. That is only government debt. Private debt was at 90% of GDP. Today, the figures are 120% and 140%. That represents approximately $38 trillion (a number suspiciously like US government debt itself)...of extra money. Money spent, but never earned, derived from credit, not from work - not from paychecks, not from savings, nor from sales or profits. And since no one broke a sweat to earn it, it might be said that it belonged to no one; is it any wonder that it ended up in the most grasping, ruthless, and conniving hands?

Foreign aid money, for example, is the kind of easy cash that slides into the pockets of the rich and powerful. Perhaps it is just an urban myth, but top-of-the-line Mercedes sales were said to go up immediately after a poor country got a dollop of aid money.

And just look at what is going on in the Ukraine. The US has provided $130 billion over the last four years. (Donald Trump said it was $359 billion.) Where did that money go?

Solidarity: "Treason, $100 million stolen cash and Zelensky’s kleptocratic inner circle. Timur Mindich, known to some as “Zelensky’s wallet”, got tipped off just in time of a raid on his Kiev apartment by officers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). A luxury limo, supplied by a senior official of Ukraine’s border control, picked him up and raced him to the Polish border where he was waved through. Hours later he was in Israel where he holds citizenship, reportedly with hundreds of millions of dollars in loot secured in bitcoin.

When anti-corruption police burst into Mindich’s apartment...they stood in awe at the gold-plated toilet and gold bidet in his bathroom. They gasped when the large safe was opened and saw stacks of brand new $100 bills still in their plastic [US] Treasury sleeves."

You may say: ‘How awful...ripping off the government like that.’ But that money was sour from the get-go. Destined to prolong the war...and kill Russians…a gold bidet may be the least harmful use to which it was put. And now that Mindich is in Israel, surely the Israelis will use some of the money for their own project - slaughtering Palestinians.

But you don’t have to go overseas to see the funny money curdle. Last week, a member of Congress was indicted. NBC News: "Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., was indicted Wednesday in connection with stealing and laundering $5 million in federal relief funds, and using the money for her congressional campaign, the Justice Department said."

And she wasn’t the only one. Associated Press looked at Covid -related scams: "Fraudsters used the Social Security numbers of dead people and federal prisoners to get unemployment checks. Cheaters collected those benefits in multiple states. And federal loan applicants weren’t cross-checked against a Treasury Department database that would have raised red flags about sketchy borrowers.

An Associated Press analysis found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represents 10% of the $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has so far disbursed in COVID relief aid."

Again, dear readers are likely to shake their heads. Stealing from a relief program; what could be worse? But the money was handed out all over town; what difference did prison bars – or even a pulse -  make?

Besides, when the feds give away ‘free’ money; it hardly seems like stealing to take it. And who are you stealing from? The fake money came from no one. No one has a genuine ‘right’ to it. And neither need nor merit had anything to do with the feds’ Covid Era giveaways. They simply came up with a plan for doling out cash. And why not? It wasn’t their money. And the whole idea was to get money into the economy...so it could be spent. The fraudsters were just doing the jackasses in Washington a favor.

But in that great orchestra of fake-money performers, Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick is little more than a three-chord musician, busking on a ratty street-corner. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the real virtuosos of rip-off. These are the cads who play the Kennedy Center (perhaps to be renamed after Melania Trump) and pick the public’s pocket so artfully...they get applause, not jail time. Stay tuned…"

Jim Kunstler, "Sedition Before Tradition"

CIA Director John Ratcliffe in a pensive moment.
"Sedition Before Tradition"
by Jim Kunstler

“Appear weak when you are strong, 
and strong when you are weak."
 - Sun Tzu

"You understand, don’t you, what the aim was of the “Seditious Six” politicians who made last week’s now-notorious video suggesting that US military personnel should refuse the president’s orders if they deemed them to be “illegal?” This was the old Lefty game of provoking the authorities to react intemperately so they can be labeled “fascist.” It’s like the old schoolyard game of the kid who goes I’m touching you... I’m touching you... until the touched kid explodes... so the toucher can then say, look, he’s hitting me! And they certainly succeeded in pissing-off the president enough for Mr. Trump to suggest they could be hanged for their little prank - though he was probably incorrect about the legal niceties therein.

That members of the out-party in Congress and the Senate must resort to this kind of skylarking japery tells you how desperate they are. The organizer, Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, is a former CIA officer. Is she in communication regularly with any of her former colleagues at the Agency? And did she coordinate any part of her prank with them? I bet DNI Tulsi Gabbard could find out and let CIA Director John Ratcliffe know so he can fire their ass.

The intel bureaucracy remains a hotbed of resistance to the swamp-draining project underway since 01/20/25. The swamp creatures like their swamp fecund and fetid as it has been, with the rich revenue stream it is used to feeding on, and Mr. Trump has done much to change that. Alas, the CIA remains the most implacably opaque major operation in government. It insists that its activities require secrecy, and the awful downside is that the Agency has run without real oversight since its inception after the Second World War. Gawd knows how many John Brennan clones are still lodged over in the Langley, VA, HQ.

Of all the celebrated new appointees in the agencies, Mr. Ratcliffe has been the least visible. He went into the job with very promising credentials, having served as DNI in the last months of Trump 1.0. He must know where a whole lot of bodies are buried (some of them actual bodies) but the public has heard squat from him all year.

Surely Mr. Ratcliffe must also know by now who in the CIA was scheming along with John Brennan to perpetrate RussiaGate, and who was on the leak-line to the news media. He must know how Adam Schiff coordinated impeachment No. 1 with CIA agent Eric Ciaramella, then Intel Inspector-General Michael Atkinson, Col. Alexander Vindman, and Lawfare ninjas Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, and Andrew Weissmann. He must know who in “Joe Biden’s” White House was coordinating the 92 felony prosecutions against Mr. Trump with DA Alvin Bragg and AG Letitia James in New York and DA Fani Willis Fulton County, GA.

He must know how BLM and Antifa were allowed to burn down Minneapolis in 2020, and riot in scores of other places. He must know what agencies and what persons in them coordinated the Covid-19 operation and which foreign entities were involved. (Was it the US military, as many suspect, and how, if at all, did freelance players such as Bill Gates and George Soros’s myriad organizations fit in the picture?) And how is the machinery of the Democratic Party entangled in the workings of US intel? (Prime suspects: Sen. Mark Warner and his staff.)

You can say much the same thing about FBI Director Kash Patel and his Deputy Director, Dan Bongino. They were apparently horrified by the rot they encountered there on taking office earlier this year. What is so difficult about firing people, even a whole lot of people? And why wouldn’t you say you are doing it? Likewise, Pam Bondi, at her resistance-infected DOJ?

Mr. Trump had a rough week working through his “divorce” from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Both of them behaved rather badly; he the usual name-calling; she playing up to the cluster-B ignoramouses on The View, and then resigning from Congress in a snit (walking away from Daddy). The Epstein Files legislation she was twanging on the president about got passed in a flash and signed, but it contained rules that can easily be used to keep key documents suppressed. The suspicion will linger that it’s all about protecting Israel, and thereby stir-up continued animus against the Jews.

Mr. Trump had a ju-jitsu session in the Oval Office with NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, the avowed communist jihadi - putting the young insta-celebrity pol off-balance by acting all nice and accommodating. “I want him to do a great job... “ “We agree on a lot more than I would have thought...” “It was a great honor [to meet him]... ” the president declared on his Truth Social account. Stand by on what any of that means.

And now, as we plunge into Thanksgiving week, comes the Ukraine peace proposal. Everybody knows it is a recognition that Russia is grinding toward victory in any case, and carrying-on further slaughter and destruction on-the-ground is insane. But then, Ukraine’s ruler, Mr. Zelenskyy, is insane (probably high on drugs, too), and the EU leadership is insane seeking to start a war with Russia that it has zero ability to prosecute - and never mind whatever the obdurate defenders of the UK’s sclerotic empire think they’re doing to keep the Ukraine War going. But, bottom line: there’s a good possibility that the war will be over before Christmas, and the world will be better off for that.

With all the above going on, America needs a break. Enjoy a turkey, if you can afford to buy one, and count your blessings - for we are still a blessed people in a blessed land, and we should all show a little gratitude for the privilege of just being here on a planet so superbly suited to our needs."

Adventures With Danno, "Unbelievable Prices At Meijer"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 11/24/25
"Unbelievable Prices At Meijer"
Comments here:

"Economic Market Snapshot 11/24/25"

"Economic Market Snapshot 11/24/25"

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:
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, November 23, 2025

"The Uproar Over 4 Dollar Fries Shows Just How Severely America’s Standard Of Living Has Eroded"

"The Uproar Over 4 Dollar Fries Shows Just How
 Severely America’s Standard Of Living Has Eroded"
by Michael Snyder

"Once upon a time potatoes were what the poorest people in society would eat because they were so inexpensive. But now we are being charged an average of $4.19 for a carton of medium fries at McDonald’s. There are many that are very upset about the rapidly rising cost of fries, and this is yet another example that shows that our standard of living is being absolutely shredded. As costs rise, the labor market just continues to get even weaker. So we are being hit with much higher prices at the same time that paychecks are stagnating and mass layoffs are occurring all over the nation. So what is going to happen to our standard of living if these trends continue to intensify during the months ahead?

By about a two to one margin, middle-income Americans feel like their financial situations have gotten worse over the past year…"The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey showed that 44% of middle-income respondents said their financial situation was worse than it was a year ago, while 23% said it was better, based on a three-month average ending in September. Those who feel worse off overwhelmingly said it was because of higher prices."

Federal bureaucrats continue to insist that inflation is low, but everyone can see that is simply not true. Compared to the year just prior to the pandemic, so many of the things that Americans regularly spend money on have gone up dramatically. During a recent segment on Fox Business, viewers were shown how much some of the most popular menu items at McDonald’s increased in price from 2019 to 2024

McDonald’s Price Increases from 2019 to 2024:

Medium French Fry $1.79 -> $4.19
McChicken $1.29 -> $3.89
Big Mac $3.99 -> $7.49
10 McNuggets $4.49 -> $7.58
Cheeseburger $1.00 -> $3.15

Some of this is over a 200% increase in price. This isn’t inflation — it’s legalized robbery. $4.19 for a carton of medium fries is obscene!

For years, many of us warned that the very foolish decisions that our leaders were making would lead to very painful inflation. Needless to say, that is precisely what happened. A cheeseburger at McDonald’s is now more than three times as expensive as it was in 2019. How are young families supposed to afford that? How is anyone supposed to afford that? We have never seen the price of cheeseburgers go up so rapidly. Not even during the Carter administration did we see this sort of “burger inflation”.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning, because the size of the U.S. cattle herd has dropped to the lowest level in about 75 years…"Tyson Foods will close a major beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska, with about 3,200 employees in January after U.S. cattle supplies dropped to their lowest level in nearly 75 years, the meatpacker said on Friday. The closure in the heart of cattle-feeding country signaled that supplies will remain tight, forcing meatpackers to pay steep prices for cattle to process into steaks and hamburgers."

You may think that you will just switch to turkey. Well, the price of a frozen turkey is 40 percent higher than it was last year…"The USDA recently projected that wholesale prices for frozen whole turkey hens will reach $1.32 per pound in 2025. That’s a 40 percent increase from 2024’s price of 94 cents per pound. “The 2025 rise in price is a response to lower production with HPAI pressures combined with steady demand,” according to a report from the American Farm Bureau Federation."

When talking heads on television tell us that “inflation is low”, I just want to scream. Since 2019, the annual income needed to afford a median-priced home in rural U.S. counties has more than doubled…"Homeowners need an annual income of $74,508 to afford a median-priced home in rural U.S. counties, up a staggering 105.8% from before the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, rural buyers only needed to earn $36,206, according to Redfin’s analysis, which compares the third quarter of 2025 with the third quarter of 2019.

The income needed to afford a median-priced home in suburban counties rose 90.9% to $102,120 during that same period. Previously, potential buyers only needed an annual salary of $53,482. The income needed to afford a home in urban counties climbed 87.5% to $118,300. Buyers needed an annual salary of $63,103 prior to the pandemic."

Take a close look at those numbers again. They are completely and utterly outrageous. Let me ask you a question. Has your income doubled since 2019? If not, you are falling behind.

Vehicle prices have soared into unprecedented territory too…"Car prices are trending up and the average cost of a new car is at an all-time high, approaching the $50,000 mark for the first time. The average transaction price for a new vehicle in October was $49,105, according to data from Edmunds." In the old days, you could buy an entire house for $50,000. But now thanks to the widespread adoption of “planned obsolescence”, $50,000 will just get you a “new vehicle” that has been designed to start breaking down shortly after the warranty expires.

Meanwhile, the employment market just keeps getting weaker and weaker. At this point even the government is admitting that the unemployment rate just reached the highest level that we have seen since the early days of the last pandemic. Young people are being hit particularly hard, and we are being told that this is the toughest market for college graduates in a very long time…"Rising youth unemployment could be an “early indicator that the economy is slowing down or maybe even heading towards a recession,” said Anders Humlum, assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

A college degree is often considered the best pathway to a well-paying job, but that may no longer be as true as it once was, experts say. “For the first time in modern history, a bachelor’s degree is no longer a reliable path to professional employment,” Gad Levanon, chief economist at the Burning Glass Institute, told CNBC." I feel very badly for college graduates that are searching for work in this very tough environment. In fact, I feel very badly for anyone that is searching for work in this very tough environment.

Nobody can deny that economic activity is slowing down all around us…"There are not as many goods moving around the country. Ship counts from Asia to the US are down roughly 30% from last year. Railcar loadings are down roughly 6% against last year. The trucking industry also continues to see shrinking capacity. If there are fewer things to move around the country, then the industry will likewise need fewer drivers, loaders, and various workers. Idle trains and empty containers don’t need a lot of people to mind them." When less stuff is being moved around the country, that means that the economy is slowing down. We can all feel it.

Looking ahead, an alarmingly high percentage of Americans are convinced that they will be even worse off next year…"A report by Primerica found that in the third quarter of 2025, just 21% of middle-income Americans believe they’ll be better off financially in the next year, while 34% believe they’ll be worse off and 33% expect their situation to remain the same.

Those figures are notably more pessimistic than the firm’s data from the third quarter of 2020 showed, when 33% of middle-income Americans thought they would be better off financially in the next year versus just 17% who thought they would be worse off and 40% expected they would be about the same."

The mood of the entire country has changed dramatically. I have heard from so many people that have cut back everywhere that they can, but it still isn’t enough. Even many households that are bringing in six figure incomes have shifted into survival mode…"The effort to keep up with higher prices feels relentless to Teri Kopp, who lives in Southbury, Conn., and works as an administrator at a synagogue. “I’m tired,” she said.

Kopp and her husband Bill, an HVAC technician, earn a combined $115,000 a year. They often sit in the dark with only strings of LED lights on to save on electric costs. She is considering painting rocks to send to friends as Christmas gifts. Their biggest vacation this year, a road trip to Maine, was mostly covered by cash back from a shopping-rewards program.

Kopp, 59 years old, doesn’t see any way to quickly pay off the $15,000 in credit-card debt the family took on largely to cover medical bills for knee surgeries. She also has $30,000 in debt from her daughter’s undergraduate degree in biology, which has yet to yield any job offers in a tough labor market for new graduates."

It took a long time for us to get here. We borrowed and spent tens of trillions of dollars that we did not have, and the Federal Reserve just kept shoveling more cash into the financial system. As a result, the cost of living is out of control and our system is reaching a breaking point. Our leaders kept kicking the can down the road, but in the process they kept making our long-term problems even worse. Now a carton of medium fries is more than 4 dollars, and America’s middle class is being systematically destroyed."

Musical Interlude: Neil H, "Echoes From The Mist"

Neil H, "Echoes From The Mist"
"Echoes from the Mist" was inspired by dreams and journeys, past and future – to move on and create your own destiny in life. The album contains ten songs each with its own story, journey and connection, using natural sounds of bird life, wind through the trees and thunder storms. Instrument samples include flute, piano, guitar, strings and choir. "Echoes from the Mist" is a restful and inspirational album."

Chet Raymo, “We Are Such Stuff...”

“We Are Such Stuff...”
by Chet Raymo

“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices,
That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again.”

"Caliban is talking to Stephano and Trinculo in Shakespeare's “Tempest”, telling them not to be "afeard" of the mysterious place they find themselves, an island seemingly beset with magic, strangeness, ineffable presences. And you and I, and, yes, all of us, find ourselves inexplicably thrown up on this island that is the world, and we too, if we are attentive, hear the strange music, the sounds and sweet airs, that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere

No, I'm not talking about the usual ubiquitous clamor, the roar of internal combustion, the blare of the television, the beeping of mobile phones. I'm not talking about the Limbaughs and the Becks, the televangelists, the blathering politicians, the twitterers and bloggers (including this one). I'm not even talking about the exquisite music of Mozart, the poetry of Wordsworth, the theories of Einstein.

I'm talking about the sounds we hear in utter silence, in moments of repose, in the heart of darkness, when we are a little bit afraid, disoriented, off kilter. A strange music that comes from beyond our knowing, a felt meaning. You've heard it. I've heard it. You'd have to be deaf not to have heard it. 

Where we differ is how we describe it. Mostly, we give its source a name. Angels. Fairies. Gods or demons. Yahweh. Allah. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nixies, E.T.s, shades and shadows. Naiads, dryads, Ariel and Puck. A host of invisible creatures who are, in one way or another, images of ourselves. And, in naming, we are a little less afraid.

And some of us are just content to listen, to take delight. Having woken to the inexplicable mystery of the world- the sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not- we let the music lull us back into a sweet slumber, a kind of dreamless dream, a reverie. Does reverie share a deep root with reverence? I don't know.”
                                             - http://blog.sciencemusings.com/