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Wednesday, December 31, 2025

"The Backdoor to Immortality"

"Immortality in Passing: Poet Lisel Mueller, Who Lived to 96,
On What Gives Meaning to Our Ephemeral Lives"
by Maria Popova

“When you realize you are mortal you also realize the tremendousness of the future. You fall in love with a Time you will never perceive,” the poet, painter, and philosopher Etel Adnan observed as she beheld impermanence and transcendence at the foot of a mountain. “By the grace of random chance, funneled through nature’s laws,” the poetic physicist Brian Greene wrote in his beautiful meditation on our search for meaning in a cold cosmos, “we are here.” And then we are not.

We die. All of us - atoms to atoms, stardust to stardust, the mountain to the sea - you and I. The dual awareness of our improbable life and our inevitable death is what allows us to animate the interlude with love and beauty, with poems and fairy tales and poems, with general relativity and Nina Simone. It is what puts into perspective just how fleeting and vacant and self-embittering all of our angers and blames and resentments are in the end - what beckons us, instead, to “leave something of sweetness and substance in the mouth of the world.”

That is what the late, great Lisel Mueller (February 8, 1924–February 21, 2020) - one of the most original, deepest-seeing poets of our time - explores with great subtlety and profundity disguised as levity in the poem “Immortality” from her final poetry collection, the Pulitzer-winning masterpiece "Alive Together" (public library).

"Immortality"

"In Sleeping Beauty’s castle
the clock strikes one hundred years
and the girl in the tower returns to the world.
So do the servants in the kitchen,
who don’t even rub their eyes.
The cook’s right hand, lifted
an exact century ago,
completes its downward arc
to the kitchen boy’s left ear;
the boy’s tensed vocal cords
finally let go
the trapped, enduring whimper,
and the fly, arrested mid-plunge
above the strawberry pie,
fulfills its abiding mission
and dives into the sweet, red glaze.

As a child I had a book
with a picture of that scene.
I was too young to notice
how fear persists, and how
the anger that causes fear persists,
that its trajectory can’t be changed
or broken, only interrupted.
My attention was on the fly;
that this slight body
with its transparent wings 
and lifespan of one human day
still craved its particular share
of sweetness, a century later.

- Lisel Mueller

“Immortality” by Lisel Mueller (read by Maria Popova) 

(Two centuries earlier, William Blake explored the same eternal subject though the same creature in his short existentialist poem “The Fly.”)

In the front matter of this altogether miraculous book, where an epigraph would ordinarily appear, Mueller offers a short poem that becomes a kind of chorus line for the entire collection, but emerges as an especially harmonizing counterpart to “Immortality” in particular:


Complement these fragments of the wholly transcendent Alive Together with physicist Alan Lightman on our yearning for immortality in a universe governed by decay, Pico Iyer on finding beauty in impermanence, and Marcus Aurelius on mortality as the key to living fully, then revisit Barbara Ras’s bittersweet, buoyant, perspective-calibrating poem “You Can’t Have It All” and Marilyn Nelson’s magnificent ode to how we fill our impermanence with importance, “Faster Than Light.”
"The Backdoor to Immortality: Marguerite Duras 
on What Makes Life Worth Living in the Face of Death"

“What exists, exists so that it can be lost and become precious,” Lisel Mueller wrote as she weighed what gives meaning to our mortal lives in a stunning poem - one of the hundreds that outlived her as she returned her borrowed stardust to the universe at ninety-six. And yet, by some felicitous deviation from logic - perhaps an adaptive imbecility essential for our mental and emotional survival, one of the touching incongruences that make us human - the moment something becomes precious to us, we quarantine the prospect of its loss in some chamber of the mind we choose not to enter. On some deep level beyond the reach of reason, we come to believe that the people we love are - must be, for the alternative is a fathomless terror - immortal.

And so, when a loved one dies, this deepest part of us grows wild with rage at the universe - a rage skinned of sensemaking, irrational and raw, unsalved by our knowledge that the entropic destiny of everything alive is to die and of everything that exists to eventually not, even the universe itself; unsalved by the the immense cosmic poetry hidden in this fact; unsalved by the luckiness of having lived at all against the staggering cosmic odds otherwise; unsalved by remembering that only because ancient archaebacteria were capable of dying, as was every organism that evolved in their wake, we and the people we love and the people we lose came to exist at all."
- Maria Popova

Prepper News, "Goodbye"

Full screen recommended.
Prepper News, "Goodbye"

"A Musical How It Really Is"

Full screen recommended.
The Temptations, "Ball of Confusion" (1970)
Prophetic...
“My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and
dumping ground by a superior civilization, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit.
I can’t prove it, but you can’t disprove it either.”
- Christopher Hitchens

"A Ripoff Of Historic Proportions: The Amount Of Money Involved In The Minnesota Fraud Scandal Is Absolutely Staggering"

"A Ripoff Of Historic Proportions: The Amount Of Money 
Involved In The Minnesota Fraud Scandal Is Absolutely Staggering"
by Michael Snyder

"I have been digging into the fraud scandal in Minnesota, and what I have learned has absolutely floored me. It isn’t just millions of dollars or hundreds of millions of dollars that we are talking about in this case. The fraudsters have literally stolen billions of taxpayer dollars, and they have been spending it on luxury vehicles, expensive homes and all sorts of other things. This is something that has been going on for many years, and finally something is being done to stop it.

We owe Nick Shirley a tremendous amount of gratitude, because his investigative video is the reason why so many people are talking about the Minnesota fraud scandal this week…"As Homeland Security agents were in Minnesota conducting what DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called a “massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud” on Monday, many of their targets came not from tips from the FBI, but from a video posted on social media over the weekend.

The video, posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, alleged nearly a dozen day care centers in Minnesota that are receiving public funds are not actually providing any service. As of Monday, the video had been viewed more than 1 million times, according to YouTube’s metrics, and was seen by tens of millions more on X. “While we have questions about some of the methods used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously,” said Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families commissioner Tikki Brown. If you have not watched his video yet, I would very much encourage you to do so.

Why can’t our law enforcement agencies operate like this? Shirley says that he was able to uncover 110 million dollars in fraud in just a single day…"We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable We ALL work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for this to be happening, the fraud must be stopped."

This is one of the reasons why citizen journalists such as Nick Shirley and myself work tirelessly to expose the truth. Because in so many cases our government officials will never take action until people start demanding it. Apparently those that live in the vicinity of the “Quality Learing Center” in Minneapolis never see any kids around. But now that this scandal is blowing wide open, suddenly there were quite a few kids at the facility on Monday

"The Quality “Learing” Center Minneapolis, a purported day care flagged in a viral video designed to expose fraud, may have been bustling with kids Monday, but it is typically such a ghost town that it appeared closed, a local told The Post. The resident called the kiddie scene at the site Monday - a few days after explosive footage called it out and suggested it was part of widespread state fraud - “highly unusual. We’ve never seen kids go in there until today. That parking lot is empty all the time, and I was under the impression that place is permanently closed,” the person said.

Sadly, the fraud at daycare centers in Minnesota has apparently been going on for a very long time. In fact, surveillance footage at one daycare center in 2015 shows parents signing in their kids “so providers could bill the state for full days of care for children who didn’t actually attend”…"Shocking unearthed video from a 2018 state fraud case shows Minnesota parents dropping their children off at a day care center and then leaving with the kids moments later - as authorities probe a rampant billion-dollar fraud scheme in Minneapolis. In the surveillance footage, dated 2015 and obtained by Fox 9, parents are seen signing their kids into the facility so providers could bill the state for full days of care for children who didn’t actually attend. On some days, no families would even show up at all, but the day cares would still claim reimbursements from the government, the outlet reported at the time."

Needless to say, this sort of thing is not just going on in Minnesota. Hopefully this scandal will cause the federal government to take a very close look at taxpayer-funded programs all over the nation. Earlier in December, CBS News reported that hundreds of millions of dollars was being stolen through a nonprofit entity in Minnesota known as “Feeding Our Future”…

"Earlier this month, CBS News detailed how a group of convicted fraudsters allegedly spent some of the millions of taxpayer dollars stolen by people associated with a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, which was meant to help feed vulnerable children during the pandemic. Investigators say fraudulent payouts to the Feeding Our Future program alone were estimated at $250 million, making it the nation’s costliest COVID-era aid scam. Walz, a Democrat, previously agreed with an estimate from First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson that fraud across all programs, including the Feeding Our Future scheme, which is not a DHS-administered program, could total $1 billion."

Vast amounts of money that was supposed to go toward feeding needy children ended up in the pockets of fraudsters instead. And apparently they spent that money on vehicles, homes and other luxuries…"Luxury cars, private villas and overseas wire transfers: CBS News obtained dozens of files and photos that reveal how Minnesota fraudsters blew through hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars as part of one of the biggest COVID-era fraud schemes.

The files document a spending spree in which defendants, many of Somali descent, took taxpayer money meant to feed hungry children and used it to buy cars, property and jewelry. Videos show them popping champagne at an opulent Maldives resort. In a text message, one defendant boasts: “You are gonna be the richest 25 year old InshaAllah [God willing].”

Remember, this was just one nonprofit entity. Fraud has been discovered at countless others as well. Overall, prosecutors are telling us that the total amount of fraud that they have uncovered in Minnesota now comes to a grand total of 9 billion dollars…"Monday’s DHS visits come amid what prosecutors allege is a $9 billion COVID-era fraud scandal in Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials have disputed that figure and defended their handling of the crisis."

There are 14 specific Medicaid-funded programs in Minnesota currently under federal investigation, although child care isn’t one of them. 9 billion dollars in just one state! Just think about that.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that 98 individuals involved in the fraud in Minnesota have been arrested so far…"@NickShirleyyy’s work has helped show Americans the scale of fraud in Tim Walz’s Minnesota. @TheJusticeDept has been investigating this for months. So far, we have charged 98 individuals – 85 of Somali descent – and more than 60 have been found guilty in court. We have more prosecutions coming…BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!"

But what about all of the other states? An investigative journalist has discovered that rampant daycare fraud is also happening in Ohio. And apparently fraudsters in Ohio are raking in massive amounts of cash by engaging in a widespread “home health” scam…"Ohio attorney Mehek Cooke CONFIRMS MASSIVE fraud in Ohio, another hotbed for Somalis They run fake “home health” and bill $250,000 PER YEAR, per FAMILY, when no work is actually being done

She says it also happens in PENNSYLVANIA “Audit America. Audit Ohio now. And I’m pushing for that in every single state!” “The state will, as long as the doctor has approved it, continue to pay you. It could be for 10 hours, 12 hours, up to 24 when it’s critical care.” “So you could sit at home without caring for an elderly parent who really doesn’t need it, make about $75,000 to $90,000 a year. Now you add two parents, that’s $180,000. Now you add your in-laws $250,000.”

We all knew that the level of fraud in the system was off the charts. Now we are finally starting to get some of the details. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, over 5 billion dollars in federal rental assistance was sent to ineligible recipients last year alone…"A new report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has found that more than $5 billion in federal rental assistance during fiscal year 2024 went to potentially ineligible recipients, including nearly 30,000 deceased individuals and thousands of non-citizens, according to MSN and the NY Post.

The audit, conducted by HUD’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, reviewed nearly $50 billion in housing aid and identified $5.8 billion - about 11% - as “questionable.” More than 200,000 tenants were flagged, including 29,715 listed as deceased, 9,472 non-citizens, and 165,393 households receiving payments above local eligibility limits, particularly in large metro areas such as New Orleans. Officials said suspicious payments appeared nationwide, with heavy concentrations in New York, California and Washington, DC.

“A massive abuse of taxpayer dollars not only occurred under President Biden’s watch, but was effectively incentivized by his administration’s failure to implement strong financial controls resulting in billions worth of potential improper payments,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said. “HUD will continue investigating the shocking results and will take appropriate action to hold bad actors accountable.”

U.S. taxpayers are being ripped off over and over again. It is truly a national disgrace. If we make enough of a stink about it, and if enough people start going to prison, hopefully we will start to see real change. Enough is enough.

We are 38 trillion dollars in debt, and we simply cannot afford to keep sending billions of dollars to the hordes of lawless predators that are eagerly taking advantage of the rest of us."

Adventures With Danno, "Birthday Shopping at Walmart"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 12/31/25
"Birthday Shopping at Walmart"
"Shopping at Walmart, trying a delicious breakfast from Dunkin Donuts, and having an awesome Chicago Style deep dish pizza at my Aunt's for her birthday. Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you tomorrow with another video!"
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
Travelling With Russell, 12/31/25
"Russian Supermarkets
 A Few Hours Before New Year"
"What do Russian supermarkets look like ahead of New Year's Eve in Moscow, Russia? Join me on a tour of a typical Russian shopping mall to discover the German-owned Globus Hypermarket and see in person how busy it is."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Scottish Guy In Moscow, 12/31/25
"Searching For Scottish Whiskey 
In Slavic Supermarket On NYE!"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "Are All the Banks in Trouble?"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 12/31/25
"Are All the Banks in Trouble?"
"Are all the banks in trouble? Over the last several days, billions of dollars have quietly moved through emergency lending facilities, margin pressure has intensified in commodities markets, and stress signals inside the banking system are flashing once again. In this video, I break down what’s really happening behind the scenes, why liquidity is suddenly so important, and how these warning signs connect to the broader economy. This isn’t fear-mongering - it’s about understanding the financial system, the risks building beneath the surface, and what it could mean for everyday people moving forward."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Michael Bordenaro, 12/31/25
"Major Banks Confirm: The Job Market is Broken"
"Both Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are admitting that this is the worst job Market since 2011 and when you really dive into the data and after all of the downward revisions, it's probably actually worse."
Comments here:

"The 'American Stasi' Is Watching Everyone, Everywhere, All The Time" (Excerpt)

"The 'American Stasi' Is Watching
Everyone, Everywhere, All The Time"
by State Of The Nation

Excerpt: "When my wife and I first moved into our very middle class subdivision here in North Florida, I knew that something was very wrong from the get-go. Of course, because of my extremely impactful personal experiences with family and ‘close friends’ since early childhood, as well as several highly consequential events within various communities over the course of my lifetime briefly described HERE, I had always known that I was a Targeted Individual (TI), but not in the way that most TIs talk about being targeted. In my case, it was literally like the Truman Show where I was the target but the many watchers were VERY careful about revealing that fact.

Hence, the day we moved in to this typical Florida neighborhood over 30 years ago, I told my wife three things: (i) we don’t know who any of these people really are, (ii) we have no idea who they work for, (iii) and any one or several of the homeowners and their families in the HOA could be paid government agents or intel operatives or Stasi snoops. After all, my life experiences had proved to me decades before that the whole place (i.e. the entire USA) was completely locked down post World War II exactly as East Germany was by the Stasi in 1950, only here in America no one knew it."
Full article is here:

John Wilder, "Penultimate Day 2025"

"Penultimate Day 2025"
by John Wilder

"Penultimate Day. This is a particular and peculiar institution of the Wilder family. It started over a decade ago, my guess is 2011 or 2012. The Mrs. was having problems with her Blackberry® phone (the one with the cool trackball and the tiny keyboard and complete inability to innovate after Apple® showed up) and wanted a new cell phone. I was on vacation, and the closest place that sold phones with our carrier (which no longer exists) was 90 miles away.

We popped the kids in the car, and headed south to buy a phone. We went to Best Buy®. We ended up not buying the phone (the deal was awful) and decided to eat at Olive Garden™. As I drove home, I decided to have fun with the kids, and told them that this was a Wilder family holiday. They bought it, and we had a lot of phone fun. The day before New Year’s Eve would therefore be forever known to us as Penultimate Day. The next year, we remembered, and did the exact same thing.

What are the rules of Penultimate Day?
Wait for December 30,
Drive 90 miles south,
Look at cell phones,
Under no circumstances whatsoever actually buy a cell phone, and,
Have some Italian food at a casual-dining chain.

While it’s not a tough holiday, we’ve missed one year entirely (2023) and only Pugsley and I celebrated on 2022. Oh, yeah, and then there was COVID, where being afraid of everything was encouraged.

So, we try to observe it when we can. This year we had two exceptions:
Wait for December 30 (check),
Drive 90 miles south (a new restaurant opened nearby),
Look at cell phones (check),
Under no circumstances whatsoever, buy a cell phone (check), and,
Have some Italian food that incorporates pasta at a casual-dining chain (mostly check: The Mrs. was tired and took a nap, so we brought her a to-go entrée back).

So, while we did keep it, we didn’t manage to keep it wholly, so I guess still doesn’t count as a wholly holiday. I’m okay with that, because life is change. I’m fortunate that The Boy and Pugsley could both make it and spend time with the family. I’m also very, very thankful for that. I realized sometime around the time a kid gets 10 or 11, in the way the world works now, that I had spent half of the days I’d ever get to spend with that kid, so I did my best to be memorable.

But the holiday has changed for us. Back then the kids were little. Now, not so much. Time goes by very quickly. Don’t wish even a minute or an hour away. And don’t forget to enjoy the things and people that you have in your life. Heaven is being grateful for what you have, Hell is being envious for what you don’t.

You can choose Heaven, and you can also still work to make it better. I have more full-family Penultimate Days behind me than in front of me, and that’s okay. I’ve had the ones that we’ve had, and hopefully we’ve made a memory or two and in fifty or so years, one of my children will look back on December 30 and smile at the thought of Penultimate Day. But that’s their choice, and that’s for them in the world that they make.

For me? I’m glad we have this silly holiday. I’ve always thought that the New Year holidays (Eve and Day) were contrived. They were (and are, mainly) meaningless to me. But Penultimate Day? I also use that as a time to think about the passage of time and one of its most important elements, the time I spend with family and the memories that we’ve made.

That being said, then is my wish that all of us have a wonderful and prosperous 2026, but don’t feel the need to wish it away too quickly. And when midnight hits you, I hope you have a Happy New Year!"

Tuesday, December 30, 2025

"Alert! They're About To Do It! Get Your Affairs In Order!"

Prepper News, 12/30/25
"Alert! They're About To Do It! 
Get Your Affairs In Order!"
Comments here:

Gerald Celente, "2026: Markets Will Bust, Wars Will Explode And Precious Metals Will Spike"

Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 12/30/25
"2026: Markets Will Bust, Wars Will 
Explode And Precious Metals Will Spike"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Richard Harris, “MacArthur Park”, 1968

Richard Harris, “MacArthur Park”, 1968

Musical Interlude: Tim Hicks & Alan Doyle, "The Night Patty Murphy Died"

Full screen recommended.
Tim Hicks & Alan Doyle, "The Night Patty Murphy Died"

"A Look to the Heavens"

Full screen recommended.
The Secrets of the Universe, 12/30/25
"NASA Releases 25 Jaw-Dropping Space Images of 2025"
"Take a journey across space and time through the best space images of 2025, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble, Chandra, and other powerful observatories. From newborn stars hidden inside dusty nebulae to the shattered remains of supernovae, and from distant galaxies to interstellar visitors passing through our solar system, each image reveals a different chapter of the universe’s story. Webb’s infrared vision, Hubble’s clarity, and Chandra’s X-ray perspective come together to show how stars form, how galaxies evolve, and how unseen forces shape the cosmos."
Comments here:

"After All..."

“The acceptance of ambiguity implies more than the commonplace understanding that some good things and some bad things happen to us. It means that we know that good and evil are inextricably intermixed in human affairs; that they contain, and sometimes embrace, their opposites; that success may involve failure of a different kind, and failure may be a kind of triumph.”
- Sydney J. Harris

And, of course, the universal and inevitable excuse…
“A person who is going to commit an inhuman act invariably 
excuses himself to himself by saying, “I’m only human, after all.”
- Sydney J. Harris
I've always wondered...
Everyone says “Only human…” compared to what?

Free Download: Jiddu Krishnamurti, "The Book of Life "

"You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. 
That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, 
that is why you must sing and dance, 
and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life."
- Jiddu Krishnamurti, "The Book of Life"

Freely download "The Book of Life" and many other works
 by Jiddu Krishnamurti, here:

"How Religion Became the Greatest Control System in History"

Full screen recommended.
The Psyche, 12/30/25
"How Religion Became 
the Greatest Control System in History"

"What if the most powerful system of control in human history was not built with force, violence, or weapons - but with belief? In this video, we explore how religion, across centuries, evolved from a source of meaning and comfort into one of the most effective control systems ever created. Drawing from philosophy, psychology, history, and critical thought, we examine how fear, guilt, hope, obedience, and moral absolutism were transformed into tools that shaped behavior, identity, and entire civilizations.This is not an attack on faith, spirituality, or personal belief. It is an inquiry into structure and power. How belief systems became institutionalized. How obedience was reframed as virtue. How doubt became sin. And how control became internalized, not enforced from the outside, but maintained within the human mind itself.

Through the ideas of thinkers like Nietzsche, Carl Jung, Michel Foucault, Freud, Marx, Hannah Arendt, and modern psychology, this video reveals why religious control has been so effective - and why many people defend it even when it limits freedom. We explore how meaning, identity, and fear of uncertainty keep these systems alive, and why freedom often feels more threatening than submission.

This video is for those who enjoy deep reflection, uncomfortable questions, and honest exploration of power, belief, and responsibility. If you’ve ever questioned inherited beliefs, felt conflicted about authority, or wondered why obedience is so often mistaken for goodness, this journey is for you. The most unsettling truth is not that control exists - but that it often survives because we participate in it."
Comments here:

The Poet: Arthur O’Shaughnessy, "Music and Moonlight"

"Music and Moonlight"

"We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone seabreakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems…
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Ninevah with our sighing,
And Babel itself in our mirth;
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth."

- Arthur O’Shaughnessy
o
 Harry Bidgood and His Broadcasters, "Music and Moonlight" (1928)

The Daily "Near You?"

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Thanks for stopping by!

'If I Am What I Have..."

"Deflation v Inflation v Stagflation – Misconceptions Clarified"

"Deflation v Inflation v Stagflation – 
Misconceptions Clarified"
by Martin Armstrong

"Some people have a tough time understanding that we are in a massive deflationary spiral; they think that rising prices mean it is inflation and not deflation. Then they mistake stagflation for deflation and wonder why people are spending more on less. They only see prices, not disposable income, and, indeed, not economic growth or unemployment.

Prices rose sharply following the OPEC oil price hikes of the 1970s. Still, the sharp rise in energy prices crowded out other forms of spending, resulting in rising prices that had nothing to do with a speculative economic expansion, and a deflationary contraction they called STAGFLATION occurred, with rising prices and declining economic growth.

If you want to raise NET DISPOSABLE INCOME, lower taxes! Raising wages, as the Democratas believe corporations should do, will cause people to move to higher tax brackets, and soon, all benefits will come into play with these socialistic programs. As always, nobody in government talks about reducing government waste and corruption. The very people who are using these social programs are still paying taxes to the state and federal government.
Household income will soon be defined as everyone living in the same house – kids and all. Perhaps you will have to pitch a tent and make the kids sleep outside with the dog to avoid “household” income tax increases. Deflation is not the lowering of prices; it is the lowering of economic activity that can also include STAGFLATION, which occurs when prices rise but there is no economic growth.

Now, stagflation is not exactly the same as deflation, where the price of goods and services declines. For example, before World War II, the US experienced a massive deflationary environment in which GDP fell by 30% between the crash of 1929 and 1933. A quarter of Americans were unemployed. Imagine 1 in 4 eligible workers on the sidelines. Prices plummeted, and consumers were not spending because they had very little, if anything, to spend. Panics erupted, and people hoarded; the Second World War brought America out of that economic downfall. The public confidence wave began after World War II, because people believed their change in fortune was due to government policies (i.e., FDR’s New Deal) and war victory.

During periods of stagflation, the prices of goods and services increase while buying power decreases. Consumers end up spending more on less. As we are seeing now, for example, retail sales of items such as clothing have declined, but people are spending more on gas, shelter, and groceries. People feel as if they are earning less despite wage increases because their buying power has been drastically reduced. Companies will suffer as consumers spend less, and this has led to workforce reductions. Unemployment during the OPEC crisis of the 1970s was not nearly as severe, but it rose to 7.2% by 1980. Inflation went from around 1% in 1964 to 14% in 1980, and GDP growth went from 5.8% to -0.3% during that same period.

So be very careful. If you only look at prices rising and ignore the fact that your disposable income is declining, you will be in for a very rude awakening. Unemployment will continue to rise in 2026, with the computer anticipating figures surpassing 6%. The trend was set in motion long before automation and AI. Companies simply will not hire when they expect a continued contraction. The ability to borrow at a lower rate is not enticing because those same companies do not want to take on more debt than they already owe. We will not see another Great Depression by any means, but the “soft landing” is merely rhetoric intended to lift confidence.

November home sales in the US paint a picture of stagnation and a frozen market. Home prices and mortgages have risen and demand has waned. This is a buyer’s market but conditions are not particularly favorable due to the cost of ownership. Sales rose 0.5% from November to October and were 1% lower on an annual basis, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. A total of 4.13 million homes were sold for the month based on closings.

Supply remains constrained on a monthly basis, declining 5.9% from October, but have risen 7.5% on the yearly. A six-month supply is considered a balanced buyer-seller market, but current conditions show a 4.2-month supply.

The median home price in the US has reached $409,200, up 1.2% annually, and the highest reading on record for November. Lower-priced homes are not selling as those with less cannot afford to enter the market. Homes priced from $100,000 to $250,000 are down 8% from last year, but homes above $1 million rose 1.4%.

Gone are the days of overbidding cash offers. Homes are sitting on the market for an average of 36 days. Investors are slowly re-entering the market and accounted for 18% of sales compared to 13% one year prior. New homeowners accounted for 30% of sales, but historically, first-time home owners account for 40% of closings.

Weak regions are seeing declining values while stronger capital-inflow areas remain firm. This is classic late-cycle behavior. Real estate does not move as a monolith. It turns region by region, driven by employment, taxation, migration, and regulatory burden. The myth of a single “national housing market” is one of the great analytical failures of modern economics.

Transactions are falling and inventory is uneven. The real pressure will come not from housing itself, but from government debt, taxation, and declining economic confidence as we move toward the 2026 turning point. The model indicates that the current buyers market will persist into 2028. There will NOT be a housing bubble collapse as we saw in 2008. Commercial real estate is far more vulnerable than residential and operates on a different cycle. People have fled and are continuing to flee states that are unfavorable to capital, as we have seen with mega corporations fleeing places like New York and California. We will see fragmentation on a regional basis in real estate.

Interest rates will not collapse to save housing as capital demands higher yields and the central bank cannot toy with the markets as they have in recent years. Capital is migrating to states that offer financial stability, lower taxation and regulation. Transaction volume is declining and sellers are refusing lower prices. Buyers are waiting. Liquidity is vanishing. This is all par for the course during a collapse of confidence that will intensify in 2026."

Travelling with Russell, "Moscow's Largest Flea Market: Izmailovsky Vernissage"

Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell, 12/30/25
"Moscow's Largest Flea Market: 
Izmailovsky Vernissage"
"What does the largest Flea Market look like in Moscow, Russia? Join me on a tour of the famous Izmailovsky Vernissage located in the North-East of Moscow. Hosting more than 1000 vendors across 4,000sq meters of vending space."
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Dan, I Allegedly, "Good News for Once - 2026 Tax Refunds Are Set to Explode"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 12/30/25
"Good News for Once - 
2026 Tax Refunds Are Set to Explode"
"For once, there’s actual good news. New tax changes signed in 2025 are setting the stage for significantly larger tax refunds in 2026 - not because wages are rising, but because deductions are expanding. Higher standard deductions, increased SALT caps, new benefits for seniors, and changes impacting tips, overtime, and certain auto loans could put an extra $1,000–$2,000 back into many taxpayers’ pockets. In this video, I break down what’s changing, who benefits most, and why this matters in an economy where everything else keeps getting more expensive."
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"How It Really Is"

 

"30 Numbers From 2025 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe"

"30 Numbers From 2025 That 
Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe"
by Michael Snyder

"2025 has truly been a historic year. No matter which side of the fence that you are on, nobody can deny that we have witnessed seismic political changes over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, the AI revolution is transforming our lives in ways that we don’t even understand. But despite all of our advanced technology, we can’t stop the endless barrage of natural disasters that has been pummeling us in 2025, and hunger continues to spread all over the globe. Of course war has been a major theme from the very beginning of the year to the very end of the year. Humanity has been facing one major crisis after another, and people are steadily getting angrier and more frustrated.

Our world is changing at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking. If you always wanted to live in “interesting” times, you have certainly gotten your wish. The following are 30 numbers from 2025 that are almost too crazy to believe…

#1 As 1999 began, a Gallup survey found that 70 percent of Americans were satisfied with how things were going in the United States. As 2025 ends, only 24 percent of Americans are satisfied with how things are going in the United States.

#2 In 1980, the fact that the U.S. national debt had reached a trillion dollars was a really big deal. But now our national debt has surpassed the 38 trillion dollar mark and there is seemingly no end in sight.

#3 Globally, the total amount of debt in the world has reached an almost unbelievable total of 337 trillion dollars.

#4 In 2025, more than half of all of the nations on the entire planet were either directly involved in military conflict or were funding it.

#5 At the start of 2025, you could purchase an ounce of silver for about 30 dollars. As 2025 ends, an ounce of silver will cost you more than 70 dollars.

#6 Crypto investors lost about $800,000,000,000 during the month of November alone.

#7 After all this time, the Department of Justice is claiming that they have just “discovered” a million more Epstein documents.

#8 In 2025, researchers in the United States and South Korea developed a version of the bird flu that has a 100 percent death rate in mammals.

#9 According to the latest National Customer Rage Survey, 77 percent of U.S. consumers say that they have had a product or service problem within the last 12 months. That is a brand new all-time record high.

#10 Earlier this year, we witnessed 494 earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater within a 30 day period. That was about 4 times as many earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater than we normally experience in a typical month.

#11 Globally, natural disasters caused a total of $120,000,000,000 in economic damage in 2025.

#12 The number of Americans that are dealing with food insecurity has almost doubled since 2021.

#13 The United Nations is warning that nearly 10 percent of the entire population of the globe is now going to bed hungry each night.

#14 Approximately 1.2 million foreign students are currently attending colleges and universities in the United States. How many U.S. students have been denied admission in order to make room for those students at our best schools?

#15 In 2019, you could get a cheeseburger at McDonald’s for a dollar. Today, the average price of a cheeseburger at McDonald’s is $3.15.

#16 Since 2019, the annual income needed to afford a median-priced home in rural U.S. counties has more than doubled.

#17 According to a survey that was conducted by PNC Bank, 67 percent of U.S. workers are now living paycheck to paycheck.

#18 Investopedia has determined that it now takes approximately 5 million dollars to live the American Dream over the course of a lifetime.

#19 One study discovered that approximately 42 percent of Americans that belong to Generation Z have been diagnosed with “anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD” or some other mental health condition.

#20 One recent survey found that 70 percent of U.S. adults are currently taking at least one pharmaceutical drug, and nearly a quarter of U.S. adults are currently taking at least four pharmaceutical drugs.

#21 According to the CDC, an American now dies by suicide every 11 minutes.

#22 Approximately 20 percent of high school students in the United States have had a relationship with an AI chatbot.

#23 One recent survey found that almost two-thirds of all church leaders that prepare sermons “use AI tools in their sermon writing process”.

#24 Well over 50 percent of the global population lives in a nation where Christians are being violently persecuted.

#25 U.S. farmers are facing the worst economic downturn that they have experienced in at least 50 years.

#26 The size of the U.S. cattle herd has dropped to the lowest level in about 75 years.

#27 According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers have announced a grand total of almost 1.2 million job cuts in 2025.

#28 The McKinsey Global Institute is warning that approximately 40 percent of all U.S. workers could potentially be replaced by AI.

#29 In more than 50 percent of the nations on the entire planet, the total fertility rate is now below replacement level.

#30 A recent YouGov survey discovered that nearly half of the U.S. population believes that a nuclear war is likely within the next 10 years.

The pace of global events has accelerated significantly over the past year. It really does feel like we are building up to some sort of a crescendo. We are living at a time of a “perfect storm”, and we just keep getting hammered by one crisis after another. As a result, much of the population has become numb to it all. Never before in human history have we been subjected to such an emotional overload. When you are being pulled in so many directions emotionally, it can be really easy to give in to the temptation to go numb. But I would encourage my readers not to do that.

It is when times are the darkest that light is needed the most. As things get even darker in 2026, choose to be a light to those around you. All of human history has been building up to this time, and we get to be here for it. There is nowhere else that I would rather be than right here, and there is no other time that I would have rather lived than right now. Don’t let all of the chaos that is going on all around us get you down. You were born for such a time as this, and now is the time to become everything that you were created to be."

"COL. Douglas Macgregor: 2025 Year End Review + 2026 Forecast"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 12/30/25
"COL. Douglas Macgregor: 
2025 Year End Review + 2026 Forecast"
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o
Full screen recommended.
Richard Wolff, 12/30/25
“Something BIG Is About to Hit America”
"While U.S. leaders ramp up Cold War rhetoric and double tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, most Americans remain unaware that the world’s top-selling EV isn’t made by Tesla - it’s made by China’s BYD. General Motors now sells more cars in China than in the U.S., and China’s grip on global markets is tightening across industries, from infrastructure to technology. Meanwhile, Washington’s solution to being outcompeted? Economic nationalism and protectionist policies that leave American consumers paying double for inferior alternatives.

In this riveting lecture, Richard Wolff unpacks how the U.S. has become the world’s largest debtor while borrowing money - from China - to fund a proxy war against Russia, China’s ally. He exposes the contradictions of a capitalist system in decline, where foreign nations build African railroads while Americans drown in overpriced coffee. The global balance of power is shifting. BRICS economies now produce more than the G7. China and India are growing twice as fast as the U.S., and Western leaders have no coherent strategy to reverse this trend. As Wolff explains, America’s decline isn’t due to foreign sabotage - but the logical outcome of decades of profit-driven decisions by its own corporations."
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Adventures With Danno, "Shocking Prices at Dollar Tree"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 12/30/25
"Shocking Prices at Dollar Tree"
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Monday, December 29, 2025

"Alert! NATO Tries To Kill Putin?! False Flag?"

Full screen recommended.
Prepper News, 12/29/25
"Alert! NATO Tries To Kill Putin?! False Flag?"
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o
"Dire Warning: U.S. Attack On Iran 
Would Smash The Global Economy"
"Mohammad Marandi, the University of Tehran professor, speaks with The Trends Journal about the war drums beating for another clash between Israel/the U.S. and Iran, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with President Donald Trump. Marandi said Iran will be unrestrained in its response to another aggression."
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"How to Win At Life in 2026"

"How to Win At Life in 2026"
By Mark Manson

"Humor me for a minute and think of your life as a game - or rather, a series of games. When you’re young, you might be playing to win validation from your parents, acceptance from your peers, or if you’re unlucky, reprieve from the school’s worst bullies. As you get older, you keep playing - but now you get to choose the games. You can play the “climb the corporate ladder” game, the “loving and supportive partner” game, the “save the world” game…

But here’s the thing: though the number of life games you can play is limitless, the cheat codes that help you win across them are not. And, because my favorite game (besides Elden Ring) is helping you win at life, I’ve put together an 85-page ebook with five of those cheat codes for you. It’s completely free as my gift to you. Just click the link below and they’re yours, forever."

Download your "Cheat Codes to Win at Life" here:

"People Will Be Furious As Prices Double Or Triple In 2026"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 12/29/25
"People Will Be Furious As Prices 
Double Or Triple In 2026"

"2026 is coming, and so are some of the biggest price increases we've seen in years. In this video, we're looking at what real people are saying about rising rent, skyrocketing utility bills, grocery prices that keep climbing, and healthcare costs that are pushing families to the edge.

From $300 rent increases on apartments that haven't been updated in years, to property taxes jumping 40%, to electric bills doubling thanks to aging infrastructure and AI data centers - it's hitting from every direction. And that's before we even talk about gas prices potentially reaching $8 a gallon in some states, or subway fares going up while the system stays broken.

Then there's groceries. People are walking out of stores spending $100, $125 on just a handful of items. Parents are skipping meals. Families are choosing between food and bills. The basics have become a luxury, and that's a reality a lot of us are living right now.

And healthcare? This might be the hardest one. Premiums are jumping from $125 a month to over $1,000. Families are looking at $2,000+ monthly just to stay insured, with $20,000 out-of-pocket maximums on top of that. People are genuinely considering going uninsured because they simply can't afford the alternative. That's not a financial decision - that's a gamble with your life.

What I notice in all of these stories is that people aren't asking for anything extravagant. They just want to feel stable. To not live in constant fear of the next bill, the next emergency, the next price hike. And yet, here we are - heading into a year that's projected to squeeze us even harder.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by all of this, you're not alone. Millions of people are right there with you, trying to figure out how to make it work. And sometimes, just knowing that others understand what you're going through makes it a little easier to keep going."
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"Silver Is Now Worth More Than Oil - Is the Financial System Breaking?"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 12/29/25
"Silver Is Now Worth More Than Oil - 
Is the Financial System Breaking?"
"Silver beats oil! In this video, I dive into the global shift as silver overtakes oil in value, marking a monumental moment in the economy. With silver hitting $83 an ounce and China restricting exports starting January 1st, the precious metal's demand is skyrocketing. I discuss the rising industrial uses of silver - from solar panels to EV batteries - and the geopolitical implications affecting silver prices. Plus, we take a closer look at silver's impact on currency and how JP Morgan’s influence plays into the market. Stay tuned. This is breaking news, and things are moving fast."
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Musical Interlude: Harry Manx, "Death Have Mercy"

Harry Manx, "Death Have Mercy"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“How many arches can you count in the below image? If you count both spans of the Double Arch in the Arches National Park in Utah, USA, then two. But since the above image was taken during a clear dark night, it caught a photogenic third arch far in the distance- that of the overreaching Milky Way Galaxy. Because we are situated in the midst of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, the band of the central disk appears all around us.
The sandstone arches of the Double Arch were formed from the erosion of falling water. The larger arch rises over 30 meters above the surrounding salt bed and spans close to 50 meters across. The dark silhouettes across the image bottom are sandstone monoliths left over from silt-filled crevices in an evaporated 300 million year old salty sea. A dim flow created by light pollution from Moab, Utah can also be seen in the distance.”