"The Chinese Take A Hammer To The U.S. Dollar By Instructing Their Banks To Dial Back Their Holdings Of U.S. Treasuries"

by Michael Snyder

"For decades, the dominance of the United States has been primarily based on the strength of the U.S. dollar. Having the main reserve currency of the world has meant that everyone else has wanted and needed our currency. In fact, our currency is our number one export. Most Americans don’t realize this, but far more dollars are used outside the United States than are used inside the United States. Having such a strong currency for such an extended period of time has allowed us to enjoy a standard of living that is far beyond what we actually deserve. So what is going to happen now that the rest of the world is starting to move away from the U.S. dollar?

In 2025, the value of the U.S. dollar declined precipitously. The U.S. dollar index was down about 10 percent for the year, and in recent days that decline has continued. Now China has decided to pour fuel on the fire. It is no secret that our relations with China have been going downhill. The Trump administration doesn’t like China, and China doesn’t like the Trump administration. In recent months both of them have been implementing measures that are intended to do economic damage to the other side, and here in early 2026 it appears that things are going to an entirely new level.

On Monday, we learned that authorities in China have instructed Chinese banks “to rein in their holdings of US Treasuries”…"Chinese regulators have advised financial institutions to rein in their holdings of US Treasuries, citing concerns over concentration risks and market volatility, according to people familiar with the matter. Officials urged banks to limit purchases of US government bonds and instructed those with high exposure to pare down their positions, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The directive doesn’t apply to China’s state holdings of US Treasuries.

Communicated verbally to some of the nation’s biggest banks in recent weeks, the guidance reflects growing wariness among officials that large holdings of US government debt may expose banks to sharp swings, the people said."

It isn’t as if the Chinese are suddenly selling everything. But without a doubt, this is a major signal. The Chinese are letting their financial institutions know that it is time to start moving in another direction, and the rest of the world is definitely going to take notice. The Trump administration is going to take notice as well, because Trump administration officials have been very sensitive about “how foreign investors behave toward U.S. assets”…"If there’s one thing that catches the attention of the second Trump administration, it’s how foreign investors behave toward U.S. assets. Perhaps most notably, it’s their attitude toward the safe haven of U.S. Treasuries.

Last month, Deutsche Bank earned the ire of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after one of its analysts suggested foreign investors may leverage their holdings of U.S. borrowing and equities against the White House’s threats over the sovereignty of Greenland. While Bessent dismissed the “irrelevance” of Denmark’s holdings of American debt, Trump eased up on his tariff rhetoric after the bond markets hiccuped."

The Trump administration is therefore unlikely to be pleased with reports this week that Chinese banks had been urged to limit their holdings of U.S. Treasuries. I think that it is quite likely that we will see some sort of retaliation from the Trump administration. Of course every time either side escalates matters, our relationship with China deteriorates even more. And history has shown us over and over again that trade wars have a way of evolving into shooting wars. For the moment, this latest news out of China has pushed the U.S. dollar index even lower…

"Treasury yields, which move inversely to prices, were slightly higher on Monday morning. The dollar dropped more sharply, with the Dollar Index down almost 1% on the news. The fresh dip in the greenback follows its recent decline to four-year lows." When the value of the U.S. dollar goes down, the purchasing power of our paychecks goes down. And when the purchasing power of our paychecks goes down, our standard of living goes down.

We are already in the midst of a horrific cost of living crisis with no end in sight, and those running the system continue to treat our currency like toilet paper. For years, I have been ranting about the size of the U.S. national debt. Now it has crossed the 38 trillion dollar threshold, and Elon Musk is warning that unless an economic revolution involving AI and robotics produces some sort of an economic miracle we are “1,000% going to go bankrupt as a country”…

"Reflecting on his work with DOGE, Musk said he had hoped to slow down the unsustainable financial trajectory the U.S. is on, buying more time for AI and robotics to boost growth. “It’s the only thing that could solve the national debt. We are 1,000% going to go bankrupt as a country, and fail as a country, without AI and robots,” he predicted. “Nothing else will solve the national debt. We just need enough time to build the AI and robots to not go bankrupt before then.”

In late November, Musk made similar comments, saying on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast that the deployment of AI and robotics “at very large scale” is the only solution to the U.S. debt crisis. Needless to say, I am even more pessimistic than Musk. At this stage, I don’t think that there is any hope of reversing course quickly enough to avoid financial disaster as a nation. The rest of the world can see how rapidly we are piling on more debt, and they are abandoning ship.

Of course the other elements of “the perfect storm” that we are experiencing are only going to accelerate the problems that we are facing. There is going to be a lot of anger directed at China for starting to move away from the U.S. dollar, but ultimately we only have ourselves to blame. Year after year, Congress should not have authorized the borrowing and spending of trillions of dollars that we did not have. And the Federal Reserve should not have used trillions of freshly created dollars to artificially prop up the financial markets.

For a while it seemed like we were getting away with treating our currency like toilet paper, but now the consequences are starting to become apparent. As the U.S. dollar circles the drain, other nations are feverishly stocking up on precious metals, and that isn’t likely to change any time soon."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"Be Ready For Civil War As Strange Things Happen In America"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 2/9/26

"Be Ready For Civil War As 

Strange Things Happen In America"

"Something is shifting in America right now, and people everywhere can feel it. From coast to coast, tensions are rising, trust in institutions is fading, and more and more people are openly talking about the possibility of civil unrest, or even civil war. Whether it's political division, economic instability, or the growing disconnect between everyday citizens and those in power, the signs are becoming harder to ignore.

In this video, we take a look at what real people are saying about the state of the country right now. Some believe we're already in a civil war, just not the kind with uniforms and battlefields. Others warn that if things continue down this path, the consequences could be devastating on a scale most people aren't ready for. And then there are those who are choosing not to wait around to find out, they're stocking up, building go-bags, and preparing their families for the worst.

We hear from people across the political spectrum who may not agree on the cause, but share the same concern: that this level of division is unsustainable. The polarization isn't just online anymore. It's in communities, workplaces, and even families. And when people feel like no one in power is looking out for them, they start looking out for themselves, sometimes at the expense of others who are already struggling.

This video also explores the growing prepper movement and what people are doing to get ready. From water storage and emergency food supplies to bug-out bags and survival gear, more Americans than ever are taking steps to prepare for disruption. Some are following advice from other countries, like Sweden, which recently distributed preparedness booklets to its citizens. Others are drawing from personal experience and history to guide their decisions.

But preparation raises important questions too. When panic buying takes over, shelves go empty and prices spike, and the families who can least afford it are the ones who suffer most. So where's the line between being prepared and contributing to the problem?

This isn't about fear. It's about awareness. It's about understanding what's happening around us and making thoughtful decisions, not just for ourselves, but for our communities. Whatever your perspective, this is a conversation worth having. Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Are you preparing? Do you think things will get better or worse? We always appreciate hearing from you. Thank you for watching. Take care of yourselves, and we'll see you in the next one."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: "Beautiful Relaxing Music for Stress Relief"

Full screen recommended.

Soothing Relaxation,

"The Hidden Valley: Beautiful Relaxing 

Music for Stress Relief, Sleep & Meditation"

"Beautiful relaxing music for stress relief, composed by Peder B. Helland. This instrumental music ("The Hidden Valley") works well as sleep music, ambient study music, meditation music or relaxation music."

Magnificent...full screen a must.

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Some spiral galaxies are seen nearly sideways. Most bright stars in spiral galaxies swirl around the center in a disk, and seen from the side, this disk can appear quite thin. Some spiral galaxies appear even thinner than NGC 3717, which is actually seen tilted just a bit. Spiral galaxies form disks because the original gas collided with itself and cooled as it fell inward. Planets may orbit in disks for similar reasons.

The featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a light-colored central bulge composed of older stars beyond filaments of orbiting dark brown dust. NGC 3717 spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 60 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water Snake (Hydra)."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191112.html

Chet Raymo, "Asperges Me, Domine "

"Asperges Me, Domine"

by Chet Raymo

"Our earliest mammalian ancestors were presumably nocturnal - to escape the predations of dinosaurs - but for most of human history we have been afraid of the dark, huddling in caves around stuttering fires, curled together in darkness like mice in a burrow. Night belonged to animals with big, dark-adapted eyes and sharp teeth, to footpads and graverobbers, to werewolves and vampires. Ironically, it was with the coming of electric illumination that it became reasonably safe to go out and about at night, even as the illumination erased the best reason to do so.

William Blake called day Earth's "blue mundane shell... a hard coating of matter that separates us from Eternity." At night we peer into infinity, awash in a myriad of stars. We creep to the door of the cave and look up into the Milky Way and catch a glimpse of divinity - everlasting, all-embracing, utterly unknowable. Night - that cone of shadow, that wizard's cap of spells and omens - is the chink in Earth's shell through which we court Ultimate Mystery the way Pyramus courted Thisbe.

Which is why, I suppose, that whenever I think of "the porch" of people who visit here, I imagine Carolina rockers on a southern summer verandah, far from city lights, Vega, Deneb and Altair swimming in the Milky Way, fireflies flickering on the lawn. At some point the conversation ceases and we simply sit, rock, and listen to the sounds of the night- the whippoorwill, the bullfrog, the cricket and the owl - and let starlight fall upon our heads like a sprinkling of holy water."

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"Asperges me, Domine, hysappo et mundabor..."

"Wash me, Lord. Sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be clean."

- The Catholic Mass

Kahlil Gibran, "The Madman"

"The Madman"

by Kahlil Gibran

"It was in the garden of a madhouse that I met a youth with a face pale and lovely and full of wonder. And I sat beside him upon the bench, and I said, “Why are you here?” And he looked at me in astonishment, and he said, “It is an unseemly question, yet I will answer you. My father would make of me a reproduction of himself; so also would my uncle. My mother would have me the image of her seafaring husband as the perfect example for me to follow. My brother thinks I should be like him, a fine athlete. And my teachers also, the doctor of philosophy, and the music-master, and the logician, they too were determined, and each would have me but a reflection of his own face in a mirror. Therefore I came to this place. I find it more sane here. At least, I can be myself.” Then of a sudden he turned to me and he said, “But tell me, were you also driven to this place by education and good counsel?”

And I answered, “No, I am a visitor.”

And he answered, “Oh, you are one of those who live in the madhouse on the other side of the wall...”

"The Sociopath Next Door"

by Martha Stout

"Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken. And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools.

Now add to this strange fantasy the ability to conceal from other people that your psychological makeup is radically different from theirs. Since everyone simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless. You are not held back from any of your desires by guilt or shame, and you are never confronted by others for your cold-bloodedness. The ice water in your veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience, that they seldom even guess at your condition. In other words, you are completely free of internal restraints, and your unhampered liberty to do just as you please, with no pangs of conscience, is conveniently invisible to the world.

You can do anything at all, and still your strange advantage over the majority of people, who are kept in line by their consciences will most likely remain undiscovered. How will you live your life? What will you do with your huge and secret advantage, and with the corresponding handicap of other people (conscience)? The answer will depend largely on just what your desires happen to be, because people are not all the same. Even the profoundly unscrupulous are not all the same. Some people - whether they have a conscience or not - favor the ease of inertia, while others are filled with dreams and wild ambitions. Some human beings are brilliant and talented, some are dull-witted, and most, conscience or not, are somewhere in between. There are violent people and nonviolent ones, individuals who are motivated by blood lust and those who have no such appetites. Provided you are not forcibly stopped, you can do anything at all.

Maybe you are someone who craves money and power, and though you have no vestige of conscience, you do have a magnificent IQ. You have the driving nature and the intellectual capacity to pursue tremendous wealth and influence, and you are in no way moved by the nagging voice of conscience that prevents other people from doing everything and anything they have to do to succeed. You choose business, politics, the law, banking or international development, or any of a broad array of other power professions, and you pursue your career with a cold passion that tolerates none of the usual moral or legal encumbrances. When it is expedient, you doctor the accounting and shred the evidence, you stab your employees and your clients (or your constituency) in the back, marry for money, tell lethal premeditated lies to people who trust you, attempt to ruin colleagues who are powerful or eloquent, and simply steamroll over groups who are dependent and voiceless. And all of this you do with the exquisite freedom that results from having no conscience whatsoever.

You become unimaginably, unassailably, and maybe even globally successful. Why not? With your big brain, and no conscience to rein in your schemes, you can do anything at all. If you are born at the right time, with some access to family fortune, and you have a special talent for whipping up other people's hatred and sense of deprivation, you can arrange to kill large numbers of unsuspecting people. With enough money, you can accomplish this from far away, and you can sit back safely and watch in satisfaction. Crazy and frightening - and real, in about 6 percent of the population.

The high incidence of sociopathy in human society has a profound effect on the rest of us who must live on this planet, too, even those of us who have not been clinically traumatized. The individuals who constitute this 6 percent drain our relationships, our bank accounts, our accomplishments, our self-esteem, our very peace on earth.

Yet surprisingly, many people know nothing about this disorder, or if they do, they think only in terms of violent psychopathy - murderers, serial killers, mass murderers - people who have conspicuously broken the law many times over, and who, if caught, will be imprisoned, maybe even put to death by our legal system. We are not commonly aware of, nor do we usually identify, the larger number of nonviolent sociopaths among us, people who often are not blatant lawbreakers, and against whom our formal legal system provides little defense.

Most of us would not imagine any correspondence between conceiving an ethnic genocide and, say, guiltlessly lying to one's boss about a coworker. But the psychological correspondence is not only there; it is chilling. Simple and profound, the link is the absence of the inner mechanism that beats up on us, emotionally speaking, when we make a choice we view as immoral, unethical, neglectful, or selfish. Most of us feel mildly guilty if we eat the last piece of cake in the kitchen, let alone what we would feel if we intentionally and methodically set about to hurt another person. Those who have no conscience at all are a group unto themselves, whether they be homicidal tyrants or merely ruthless social snipers.

The presence or absence of conscience is a deep human division, arguably more significant than intelligence, race, or even gender. What differentiates a sociopath who lives off the labors of others from one who occasionally robs convenience stores, or from one who is a contemporary robber baron - or what makes the difference between an ordinary bully and a sociopathic murderer - is nothing more than social status, drive, intellect, blood lust, or simple opportunity. What distinguishes all of these people from the rest of us is an utterly empty hole in the psyche, where there should be the most evolved of all humanizing functions."

- http://www.cix.co.uk/~klockstone/spath.htm

"Psychopaths: 'Intra-species Predators'"

"Psychopaths: 'Intra-species Predators'"

by Various Authors

A comment: Sometimes what’s happening in this world seems nearly indescribably insane. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, “Once you’ve eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Wars, economic crises, fiscal madness, none of these things just happen spontaneously, all by themselves. Perhaps there is a logical explanation. It would explain much... - CP

•

"Study: Psychopaths Have 'Potholed' Brains"

by Kate Kelland, Reuters/ABC Science

"Psychopaths have faulty connections between the part of the brain dealing with emotions and that which handles impulses and decision-making, scientists have found. In a study of psychopaths who had committed murder, manslaughter, multiple rape, strangulation and false imprisonment, the British scientists found that roads linking the two crucial brain areas had "potholes", while those of non-psychopaths were in good shape.

The study opens up the possibility of developing treatments for dangerous psychopaths in the future, says Dr Michael Craig of the Institute of Psychiatry at London's King's College Hospital, and may have profound implications for doctors, researchers and the criminal justice system. "These were particular serious offenders with psychopathy and without any other mental illnesses," he says. "Essentially what we found is that the connections in the psychopaths were not as good as the connections in the non-psychopaths. I would describe them as roads between the two areas, and we found that in the psychopaths, the roads had potholes and weren't very well maintained."

Timing is key: The scientists caution against suggestions the study could lead to screening of potential psychopathic criminals before they are able to commit crimes, saying their findings had not established how, when or why the brain links were damaged. Psychopathic extremes have been portrayed in Hollywood blockbusters by characters like the serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter. They often violate social norms, are manipulative, impulsive and sensation-seeking, and appear to feel no empathy or remorse.

Craig, who is lead author of the study, published in the journal "Molecular Psychiatry," stresses that the number of brain scans in the study was small, with only nine psychopaths analyzed compared to nine non-psychopaths. "Trying to get people of this particular type to take part in a study, and also then deal with all the security you need to get them into a brain scanner, is not an easy feat," he says.

The study used a new brain imaging technology to further analyze psychopaths' brains after previous studies found that the amygdala part of the brain, which processes emotions, and orbitofrontal cortex, which handles impulses and decisions, are structurally and functionally different in psychopaths. "Up until recently the technology hasn't been available to look at the connections between those two brain areas in any meaningful way," says Craig. But a new technique, called diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI), allows the researchers to look at the white matter tract linking the two key brain areas.

As well as finding clear structural deficits in the tract in psychopathic brains, they also found the degree of abnormality was significantly linked to the degree of psychopathy. "As for the moral significance for society, and how society wants to deal with these things, that is a little premature," says Craig. "This is a small study and the important thing it raises is that more research needs to be done."

- http://www.sott.net/

•

"Understanding Psychopaths"

by Paul Wilson, ABC Science

"Psychopaths are usually egocentric and often experience little guilt or remorse for their actions. The successful TV series "Dexter," based on Jeff Lindsay's novels of the same name, followed Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood spatter expert for the Miami Dade Police Department. He hunted down people who have escaped justice and then killed them. Quirky, charming but often murderously violent Dexter's character oscillated between normality and controlled psychopathic fury. But does Dexter represent the typical psychopathic serial killer? For that matter do psychopaths really exist or are they, as some psychologists believe, simply a media and writers' beat-up, a condition that has never been scientifically established?

While I am skeptical about many psychological categorizations and believe that it is always difficult to pigeon-hole humans into neat diagnostic packages, there is a great deal of evidence that psychopaths really do exist. More surprising to many is that violent serial killers - such as Ted Bundy, Australian child killer Derek Percy or even fiction's Dexter - are not necessarily stereotypical psychopaths.

While many psychopaths are violent criminals, others prefer to stay within the bounds of the law and achieve their career or interpersonal aspirations by manipulation and intimidation. Indeed, there is an increasing amount of evidence that corrupt politicians and businessmen, unethical lawyers, some radical activists and many others who may have reached positions of authority or power have psychopathic personalities. And these are the psychopaths we are more likely to encounter or be affected by in our lives.

What is a psychopath? Although there are many evidence-based psychological tests to measure psychopathy, the most well researched is undoubtedly Robert Hare's psychopathy checklist which is used extensively around the world. Hare describes psychopaths as "intra-species predators" who use charm, manipulation and/or violence to satisfy their own selfish needs. Lacking in conscience or real feelings they take what they want regardless of the consequences to others. In pursuing their goals they are likely to be cool under pressure, calm, emotionally flat and lacking in feeling. And by these criteria, Dexter is indeed a quintessential psychopath. The general consensus is that psychopaths don't change over time, although the number of their criminal acts might well reduce with age. However, most experts believe that they remain thoroughly unpleasant individuals throughout their life.

Psychopathy is a socially destructive personality disorder usually characterized by a combination of emotional, interpersonal and behavioral traits. The most common of these are egocentricity, extreme impulsivity coupled with irresponsible behavior, pathological lying and a lack of guilt or remorse. The condition is not a defined mental illness - both legally and in a psychiatric sense psychopaths are generally declared sane, although there is some evidence that a combined diagnosis of schizophrenia and psychopathy occurs occasionally.

Psychopathy and crime: While psychopaths comprise around six per cent of the general population, it's estimated that between 15 and 25 per cent of the American male prison population and seven to 15 per cent of female prisoners are psychopaths. The figures for Australian prisons are thought to be lower, although no one knows for sure.

The crimes of psychopaths are not confined to violent predatory behavior. Embezzlement, major fraud and many other "white collar" offenses are also committed by psychopaths. But often the psychopaths who make headlines are the ones that represent the most violent and dangerous criminals. Those who commit child abduction and murder are very often sexual psychopaths, sadists who delight in inflicting emotional and physical pain on their victims. These men - and occasional woman - are driven by their wild and dangerously out-of-control fantasies that include acting out visions of domination, pain, humiliation and sexual perversion. It is often said that the people who commit these kinds of crimes lack empathy - the ability to identify with how other people feel. But I believe that this view distorts how psychopaths actually feel. [Comment: This is the author's opinion of course, but do Psychopaths actually 'feel' anything for other people?]

Violent sexual psychopaths have an urgent and intense desire to inflict pain and suffering and do actually identify with how their victims feel. Indeed, the more pain and suffering their victims suffer, the more pleasure they obtain - they identify with the pain, they simply do not care about the physical and psychological anguish that they cause.

Causes of psychopathy: A great deal of debate has occurred as to the origins of psychopathy - much of it a classic nature versus nurture argument. Many psychopaths have had appalling childhoods punctuated by parental, sexual or physical abuse by one or both parents. Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy and many of Australia's and the world's worst serial killers have childhoods marked by these events, often reinforced by horrendous abuse in child or juvenile institutions for young offenders or those taken into care. However, these environments cannot by themselves explain why men and women become violent predators or psychopaths - if only because hundreds of thousands of children all over the world have similar upbringings and never commit any crime or develop psychopathy.

On the 'nature' side of the argument, there is some evidence of physiological differences in the brains of psychopaths. Preliminary neurophysiological research suggests that psychopaths fail to appreciate the emotional importance of events and that this may be related to brain dysfunction especially in the frontal cortex, the area of the brain that is responsible for processing emotions. More recent research has emphasized psychopathy as essentially a learning disability. For example Joseph Newman's work categories the way that psychopaths think as an information processing problem that makes psychopaths oblivious to the implications of their actions when focused on tasks that promise instant rewards. Clearly we are far from understanding the causes of this condition.

The future: We still have a lot to learn about the origins of psychopathy and how it manifests itself across cultures. A great deal of research is currently being conducted on the neurophysiological, psychological and social roots of psychopathy and how each may interact with each other. And in an exciting trend, researchers are increasingly focusing on community studies of psychopaths, rather than just confining their studies to the extreme sub-populations within prisons. This research is critical because few who have worked in this field doubt the enormous destructive power of the psychopathic personality, a personality that seems resilient to any known therapy or intervention."

Professor Paul Wilson, a forensic psychologist and criminologist at Bond University, was one of the guest speakers when ABC Science's Bernie Hobbs hosted "Café Scientific: The Science of Psychopaths in Storytelling" at the Brisbane Writers Festival. His most recent book, written with Amanda Howard, is "Predators: Killers without Conscience," published in Australia by New Holland."

- http://www.sott.net/

The Daily "Near You?"

Wimberley, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Judge Napolitano, "Alastair Crooke: Israel's Trap for Trump"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/9/26

"Alastair Crooke: Israel's Trap for Trump"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Scott Ritter, 2/9/26

 "Iran Has Turned Its Back On The West, 

Turns to Moscow & Beijing"

"The interview argues that any US strike on Iran would trigger immediate regional retaliation, leaving Israel with no safe “best-case” outcome. Iran treats the US and Israel as one target set and relies on missiles as core deterrence. A wider war would devastate Middle East energy infrastructure, forcing Arab states and Turkey into uneasy balancing acts. The discussion explores shifting regional geopolitics, Iran’s deepening ties with Russia and China, the limits of military escalation, and why pressure may push Iran further east rather than toward compromise."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Dr. Mohammad Marandi, 2/9/26

"Any US Attack On Iran Means Full Scale War”

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"A US-led Regime-change Operation in Iran Would Be Tantamount to a Declaration of War on China, And Here’s Why"

"A US-led Regime-change Operation in Iran Would Be 

Tantamount to a Declaration of War on China, And Here’s Why"

by Leo Hohmann

"The heightening rumors of a military clash between the U.S./Israel and Iran did not appear overnight. It has been years in the making, starting right after the Islamic revolution and the Iranian Hostage Crisis, when then-President Jimmy Carter hit Iran with the first economic sanctions. Washington then used Iraq as a proxy in the 1980s to fight the Iranians in the bloody Iran-Iraq War, when Saddam Hussein, then a U.S. ally, used mustard gas to wipe out tens of thousands of Iranians.

Since Israel is seen by many in the region as a hostile U.S./British outpost in the Middle East, Iran fought back by engaging Israel through its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon and Syria. The Israelis responded after the October 7 attack, which they blame on Iran, by helping engineer a coup in Syria, then taking out Hezbollah commanders through military and intelligence operations, including exploding pagers. Israel also assassinated Iranian commanders in the June 2024 12-day war. Trump himself ordered the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani near Baghdad International Airport on Jan. 3, 2020.

But now the whole dynamic appears to be coming to a head with what could be all-out war between the U.S. and Iran. The important thing to know is that this is not so much a war against Iran as it is an attempt to further tighten the screws on China and Russia. As was the case with Venezuela before the U.S. attacked that country and kidnapped its leader, Iran represents a key source of oil for China. But whereas China only received about 5 percent of its total oil supply from Venezuela, it receives 19.8 percent from Iran. China could stand to lose its Venezuelan oil source. China cannot afford to lose both Venezuelan and Iranian oil.

By cutting off China’s access to cheap oil from its allies, Washington hopes to force China to purchase oil from Washington and/or Washington-allied countries, at a much higher rate. For example, Chinese refiners save about $8 to $10 a barrel if they buy Iranian light crude over non-sanctioned Oman crude, according to calculations by a trader cited by Reuters.

China has the world’s largest industrial base, making it very needy of vast amounts of energy to power that industry. Take away 25 percent and suddenly China’s industrial economy is in real danger.

We know that most wars are fought over resources and this one is no different. All the talk about Iran funding terrorism and killing its own people is just window dressing meant to whip up war hysteria among the ignorant masses in America and the West. Washington loves terrorism when it’s carried out on its behalf. That’s why the Ukrainians can get away with assassinating Russian generals without a peep from Washington and the Israelis can go into whatever country they want and assassinate the top leaders of their enemies. If Russia, China or Iran did that, it would be called terrorism.

International geopolitics is ruthless and cunning and is carried out with zero regard for human life or basic morals. It’s all about projecting power and grabbing resources. If China sees Washington’s actions against Iran as a backdoor method of starving it’s fuel-dependent industrial base of needed energy resources, that’s likely to be interpreted by Beijing as a U.S. declaration of war.

Washington is risking the very real prospect that China may no longer see it in its interests to continue standing down in the face of increased U.S. aggression against its allies. It could afford to walk away from Venezuela, but can it afford to cut ties with Iran?

The question in Trump’s mind has to be churning: Do we really want to choke off oil supplies to China and drive the dragon further into the arms of the Russian bear? Russia already has its hands full with Ukraine, a war that would have been over in a few weeks if not for all the weapons and money funneled to Ukraine by the U.S. and NATO. The U.S. has been sanctioning countries that buy Russian oil and now it appears ready to make a play for the oil that goes from Iran to China. Washington has already backed Russia into a corner. Is China next?

It’s not like China lacks leverage over the U.S. It has non-military options to counter the West and will likely play those cards before doing anything militarily. China could cut off rare-earth supplies to the U.S. It could cut off the processing of vital medications like antibiotics, the majority of which come into the U.S. from China.

China can up its game in the realm of economic warfare and there are signs that’s exactly what it is doing. In the latest shock move, Xi has ordered Chinese banks to dump U.S. treasuries. Major Chinese banks have already been dumping treasuries quietly but now they are going to officially and massively de-dollarize. This is also why China has been buying gold at an unprecedented rate.

The U.S., meanwhile, in an attempt to compensate for the loss of China’s appetite to fund U.S. debt, has been printing money to buy its own debt. This is akin to printing your own dollars on an inkjet printer to pay off your own credit card debt.

The outcome of this insane monetary policy will be increased inflation. So, Americans already struggling to pay for groceries, car repairs, rising insurance rates and much more, are going to experience even more intense inflationary economic pressures thanks to Donald Trump’s reckless foreign policy. This phenomenon could not be worse timed by the Trump administration, as we head toward the November midterm elections.

The bottom line is this: There’s a big fight going on for global currency supremacy and a race to see who can control the most gold, minerals and oil resources. The U.S. has achieved great wealth since the end of World War II by having its dollar serve as the world’s reserve currency. But the U.S. has abused that privilege by weaponizing its currency, slapping sanctions on countries that don’t play ball with Washington’s policy in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world. As a result, after decades of seeing how the U.S. punishes countries for simply wanting to carry on business and trade relations with the world, as sovereign nations are entitled to do, many countries are now running for the door. They’re ditching their dollars and no longer buying U.S. treasury bills. They’ve seen what’s happened to Russia and now China and fear they could be next.

The years of bad blood between Iran and the U.S./Israel is the context that is typically not covered by the mainstream media. They want you to believe this war, if it happens, is all about freeing the oppressed people of Iran, when in reality it’s about redrawing maps and forcing a realignment of nations in a way that’s more advantageous to the U.S. and Israel with the risk being that China and Russia get drawn into a regional or even global military showdown.

Some would suggest that the U.S. is due for a reckoning, that its influence in the Middle East and the world is no longer in proportion to its economic and military strength, that its power is based more on perception than reality. Could there be a comeuppance in 2026 with Iran serving as the place where the U.S. pushed the envelope too far, not just against Iran but China? Only time will tell.

Unlike the 12-day war last June, the goal of this next military attack has been stated in the wide open to be “regime change.” But therein lies the problem. Iran’s regime is not going to just pack up and leave at the first sign of bombs falling on Tehran. They will hunker down and wait the bombing raids out.

The only way to accomplish a regime change quickly would be to put massive numbers of boots on the ground, something Trump seems reluctant to do, given the likelihood of unacceptable U.S. casualties right before an election. To force a regime change by bombing Iran without boots on the ground would take months of continuous aerial assaults. Military strategists such as Col. Douglas MacGregor have been warning that the U.S. does not have the stockpiles or the industrial capacity to engage in a months-long bombing campaign against Iran.

Trump has really backed himself into a corner. He has assembled a massive naval armada in the Persian Gulf region for the sole purpose of attacking Iran and changing out their regime. He may prefer a negotiated “deal” that allows Iran’s regime to stay in place in exchange for certain concessions with regard to Iran’s support for anti-Israeli proxies and its crackdown on the protests in its own country. But then he has the Israelis to contend with. They are dead set on regime change and counting on Trump to carry it out for them. The neocons at home in Washington also are pressuring Trump to pull the trigger on a full-scale invasion of Iran, if that’s what it takes to remove the Islamic government from power. The world is changing and not in a way that’s favorable to U.S. interests, and these are changes that, sadly, Washington has brought on itself."

- https://leohohmann.substack.com/

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 19,000 Palestinian children slaughtered in Gaza by the psychopathically degenerate inbred Israeli monsters. And here's the proof:

"Shocking Genetic Science Reveals Ashkenazi Jews Suffer

 High Rates of Mental Illness Due To Inbreeding"

"How It Really Is"

 

"This Should Not Be Happening Yet"

Full screen recommended.

Max Velocity - Severe Weather Center, 2/9/26

"This Should Not Be Happening Yet"

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"Layoffs Are Coming As Americans Spending Habits Change"

Full screen recommended.

Snyder Reports, 2/9/26

"Layoffs Are Coming As 

Americans Spending Habits Change"

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o

Full screen recommended.

Snyder Reports, 2/9/26

"Trump Says the Economy Is Booming - 

Millions Disagree"

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"Your Tax Refund Can Be Frozen Instantly - The IRS Just Changed the Rules"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 2/9/26

"Your Tax Refund Can Be Frozen Instantly -

 The IRS Just Changed the Rules"

"The IRS has quietly changed the rules, and millions of tax refunds are now being delayed or frozen indefinitely. If anything on your return doesn’t match—bank account numbers, routing info, name discrepancies, missing 1099s, or identity verification issues—your refund can be stopped instantly. With new IRS identity verification letters like 5747C, 5071C, and CP53E, taxpayers are being forced into refund limbo until every detail is verified. In this video, Dan from I Allegedly breaks down exactly why refunds are being held, how IRS AI systems are flagging returns, and what you must do right now to protect your money. If you’re counting on your tax refund to pay bills, this is critical information you cannot afford to ignore. Learn how to set up your IRS account, avoid costly mistakes, and get your refund released as fast as possible. Please join our email list to stay connected, share your thoughts, and get exclusive updates."

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Bill Bonner, "More Money, More Power"

"More Money, More Power"

by Bill Bonner

"I do not believe in free will."

- Albert Einstein

Youghal, Ireland - "First, the news. Benzinga: "On Friday Tesla TSLA CEO Elon Musk issued a stark warning...In a recent podcast appearance, Musk declared, “We are 1,000% going to go bankrupt as a country and fail as a country, without AI and robots. The national debt is piling up like crazy.”

The Daily Mirror reports: "Trump economy tanks as layoffs hit highest January level since 2009."

The Wall Street Journal: "US economy shed nearly 1 million job openings last year."

Money Talks News: "Grocery prices just saw the largest monthly spike in 3 years."

While the price of eggs has plummeted, costs for dairy, bread, and beverages continue to climb for American families. The logic of bankruptcy is pretty simple. You spend too much for too long and people won’t lend you any more money. Unable to pay your debts on time, you declare ‘bankruptcy.’

The logic of politics, too, is fairly straightforward. People without jobs or spending power tend to be in a sour temper, preferring change to continuity. POTUS, near the end of his career, is a continuity guy. He’s on top of the world, allowed to lecture the entire world at its most prestigious get togethers. He’s been generous with his criticism of reporters, Liberals, Conservatives, foreign governments and previous administrations...but skimpy with real reforms.

Instead, he’s favored bombastic confrontations - Greenland, tariffs, Iran, ICE, Doge - that usually get reversed, watered down...or like Doge, simply forgotten. And the big trends - the ones that are going to wreck the empire - continue: The firepower industry - already fat and sassy - just got the largest raise in its history...thanks to Trump. Deficits...rising for the previous 45 years...rise faster than ever. And the US hammer, never too careful about whom it whacked, finds more nails than ever. Iran, Syria, Nigeria, Venezuela, Somalia, Yemen and Iraq were bombed by the “Peace President” last year.

In our view, however, Mr. Trump is merely performing the essential work that was given to him. You might even say he’s doing God’s work – helping to bring down the US empire. He has the free will of a fence post, holding up the barbed wire of history.

God couldn’t have chosen a better guy. Trump is a ‘more’ kinda guy. More money. More ‘p***y.’ More power. Majorie Taylor Greene is right; MAGA was a lie. The only thing that could Make America Great Again is the thing that made it great in the first place - less government, fewer deficits, fewer wars, and fewer meddlesome laws and regulations.

Which brings us, in a roundabout kind of way, to Kevin Warsh. Which kinda guy is he? The former and (probably) future Fed governor was known for his “hawkish” views. He opposed increasing the Fed’s balance sheet and aimed to protect the dollar. He wanted less credit, less debt and less inflation. These views were expressed in reaction to the 2008-2009 Wall Street bailout. Investors must have found them in the archives and dusted them off last week. For when news of Mr. Warsh’s proposed promotion to lead the Fed came out, speculators suddenly feared they were over-exposed to gold.

Gold sold off - down $400 from Wednesday to Thursday. But on Friday it was time for a second look. In order to get the job, Warsh had to shed his ‘hawk’ feathers. Bloomberg: "Donald Trump said he would have passed on Kevin Warsh as his nominee to lead the Federal Reserve if Warsh had expressed a desire to hike interest rates. “If he came in and said, ‘I want to raise it,’ he would not have gotten the job, no,” Trump said Wednesday in an NBC News interview."

The Financial Times: "Warsh says...an AI boom [will be] “the most productivity-enhancing wave of our lifetimes - past, present and future”, leaving the Fed space to cut rates without stoking inflation. The Fed nominee believes he can afford to take a chance on those productivity gains in the same way former chair Alan Greenspan did in the 1990s."

Right! Don’t worry about inflation because AI will boost output faster than the feds increase the money supply. Right! Like Greenspan before him, Warsh came to think what he needed to think when he needed to think it. He’s now acceptable to Trump, the Democrats, and the Deep State. He’s a ‘more’ guy, too. Stay tuned."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

There Is Something That 9 Out Of 10 Americans Agree On – And Cold, Hard Economic Numbers Support That Belief"

by Michael Snyder

"Over the past 5 years we have been witnessing an economic shift of epic proportions. When the cost of living rises much faster than paychecks do for an extended period of time, an entire nation can be transformed. Just look at what has happened to Venezuela. It has the largest proven oil reserves in the entire world and at one time it was thriving. But now thanks to rampant inflation, almost everyone is living in poverty even though almost everyone is a “millionaire”. It just doesn’t do much good to be sitting on “millions” if your currency is worthless. Unfortunately, as you will see below, our money supply has been growing at an exponential rate. This is destroying the middle class, because it has created a cost of living crisis that is absolutely crushing struggling households all over this country.

According to a survey that was recently conducted, 52 percent of Americans “struggle to pay bills like rent on time each month”, and 9 out of 10 Americans believe that we are “experiencing a full-blown cost-of-living crisis”…"Rent is due. The electric bill sits on the counter. The grocery receipt from last week still stings. For half of Americans, keeping up with basic monthly bills has become nearly impossible. A nationwide survey of 5,000 Americans from Talker Research reports 52% now struggle to pay bills like rent on time each month, while an equal number are struggling to afford necessities like groceries. Nine in 10 people believe the U.S. is experiencing a full-blown cost-of-living crisis, and nearly eight in 10 said everything became more expensive in 2025.

When is the last time that 9 out of 10 Americans agreed on anything? As a nation, we are the most deeply divided that I have seen in my entire lifetime, and yet nearly all of us agree that we are in the midst of a horrifying cost of living crisis. Of course this didn’t happen by accident.

For a very long time, the people running the system have been doing a really bad job. Our money supply has been growing at an exponential rate, and things really got crazy once the pandemic hit. The following chart that comes directly from the Federal Reserve shows the growth of M2 since 1960…

We are on a road that would eventually lead to hyperinflation. Even now, when I go to the grocery store I am astounded by the price changes that I see. Over the past year, ground beef has become 18 percent more expensive and coffee has become 29 percent more expensive…The price of ground beef, for example, is up 18% since Trump took office a year ago, while ground coffee prices are up 29%.

Needless to say, what we have experienced during the last 12 months is simply a continuation of a crisis that goes back a long way. Housing costs have escalated dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic, and at this stage much of the population is convinced that they will never be able to afford to purchase a home where they really want to live…The cost crisis isn’t just making people broke. It’s making them homeless in a different sense, forcing them to abandon places that used to feel like theirs.

More than a third of respondents have already moved because where they were living became too expensive. About a third of those relocated to a different city, while another third left their state entirely, searching for someplace they could actually afford. Half of Gen Z respondents reported moving due to costs, compared to just 19% of baby boomers.

What’s worse is how many Americans have stopped dreaming. About half of all respondents don’t believe they’ll ever be able to afford living in their “ideal” city or state. Among Gen Z, nearly two-thirds have abandoned hope of affording their ideal city. That’s not just about housing markets or inflation. That’s about an entire generation learning to aim lower because aiming higher feels pointless.

Meanwhile, the employment market just keeps getting tighter and tighter. A woman named Megan Robinson that is very highly educated couldn’t find a job in New York City even after submitting nearly 1,000 applications…"Despite an undergraduate degree from the London School of Economics, an Oxbridge master’s degree, and professional experience, I couldn’t find a job after sending close to 1,000 applications. I eventually made it through a competitive hiring process for a writer-editor position at a small health research publication. The hiring manager praised my initiative and said I had gone “above and beyond” in my first interview.

But almost immediately, I was cut from the shortlist. I was told I brought “too many ideas” and seemed interested more in doing “extra things” than what was in the job description. I was cast, again, back down to the anonymous purgatory of millions of other job seekers who can’t get a foothold, regardless of credentials, enthusiasm, or positive attitude."

What is she supposed to do? Get more education? Give me a break. A man named Alex English that was once making $125,000 a year hasn’t been able to find work for 18 months…"I’ve been unemployed for a year and a half. Before being laid off, I lived in LA and worked in marketing and communications at a startup. I was making around $125,000 and still felt poor. After five years at my last job, I was handed a layoff like it was nothing. I moved back to where I grew up in Tampa, Florida, because I didn’t have the savings to sustain myself in LA.

I’ve relentlessly networked to find a full-time job, taken on freelance projects, and worked in retail. I feel like I’m working harder than I ever have and yet making significantly less money than I did before. My friends who aren’t dealing with long-term unemployment don’t see my crisis as a crisis. That can be really hard, but I’ve worked on removing the emotional intensity from the situation."

This is the reality of the U.S. economy in 2026. And every day even more workers are being dumped into the constantly growing pool of job seekers. Last week, I wrote about the fact that the number of announced job cuts last month was the highest that we have seen since 2009. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the final number for January 2006 was more than twice as high as the final number for January 2025…"U.S. employers’ announced job cuts surged in the month of January and hit the highest level since 2009, a new report shows. Global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January – an increase from the 49,795 cuts announced in the same month last year. Job cuts increased 205% from December, when there were 35,553 layoffs announced."

I tried to warn my readers that layoffs were going to accelerate. And that is precisely what the numbers are telling us. But what we have been through so far is nothing compared to what is eventually coming. We were handed the keys to the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen. But for decades, those running the system have been doing their best to wreck it. Now a historic crisis is upon us, and a tremendous amount of pain is ahead."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

Jim Kunstler, "Who's Next...What's Next...?

Bad Bunny’s Superbowl House Party...So Long, Been Good to Know Ya!

"Who's Next...What's Next...?

by Jim Kunstler

"It’s all backstage now. This fraught moment, the power centers locked in the coldest cold of the year, the Spanish language lessons of Bad Bunny behind us, all the real action in the battle to save the country is out of sight, moiling and churning in the deep background. Everybody’s on edge waiting for shoes to drop, praying they don’t drop on their heads.

You should have seen Senator Mark Warner (D-VA; Vice-chair of the Senate Intel Committee) on Face the Nation Sunday, frothing at the mouth over Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence (DNI). He cannot believe she turned up at the Fulton County, GA, election warehouse last month, where the FBI extracted 700 boxes of ballots and other evidence for what happened there in the 2020 election. Senator Warner doesn’t want you to find out.

Senator Warner, you understand, is one of the darkest creatures slithering through the cypress knobs of the DC swamp, and his lair, the Senate Intel Committee, is a fetid backwater of seditious intrigue. Senator Warner is setting the stage for yet another hoax against the country. He’s got a “whistleblower,” ID unknown, who supposedly imputes that last spring “an individual associated with foreign intelligence” made a phone call to “a person close to President Trump” and DNI Gabbard failed to report it to his committee. DNI Gabbard simply called Sen. Warner a liar, which is exactly and succinctly correct.

Senator Warner is wetting his pants because the Georgia 2020 election tally looks sketchy to an extreme and he knows the case is beyond his control now. Pulling on that thread will unravel the whole fake tapestry of “Joe Biden’s” election and will reveal the Democratic Party to be a criminal enterprise. The nation itself has to face some unappetizing reality. Four years were stolen from the people and political devices were aligned to destroy the nation. They almost succeeded.

Over in Minnesota the major players are laying low now. Governor Tim Walz, a creep of the thirty-second degree, surrendered his career weeks ago but nervously awaits indictment for presiding over massive social service fraud. ICE is still extracting psychopathic alien mutts out of Minneapolis, while the Cluster-B ladies and their mentally-ill Antifa spear-carriers remain out in the streets banging on sauce-pans. But somewhere in an office, away from the deafening whistles, the money trails are getting tracked from taxpayers to the Learing Centers to the state’s politicians and the DNC and then off forever into the Horn of Africa. You just can’t see it now.

The giant poisonous amoeba that Jeffrey Epstein became has not yielded all of its secrets. Everybody knows that there are darker scenes lurking behind the curtain. The rumors are outlandishly horrifying, worse than anything out of Hollywood’s scare factory, a slaughter of the innocents. Who knows if they are true - well, possibly somebody knows, but these would be things you cannot want to know. One thing I’d like to know: why don’t the dozens of so-called “Epstein Survivors,” grown women supposedly raped and abused by celebrities years ago as children, name their abusers publicly? What’s stopping them as they grandstand around the country? Or is it just another grift?

It’s seven o’clock in the morning as I write (and fifteen-below zero), and World War Three has not started yet, though it seems like the whole US Navy and half the Air Force has deployed in the vicinity of Iran: the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, accompanied by guided-missile destroyers USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., USS Spruance and USS Michael Murphy...destroyers USS McFaul and USS Mitscher in the Straits of Hormuz....littoral combat ships USS Canberra, USS Tulsa, and USS Santa Barbara in the Persian Gulf...at least a dozen F-15E Strike Eagles relocated to Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan (from RAF base Lakenheath, UK). Additional aircraft like A-10C Thunderbolts noted at regional base support aircraft, KC-135 Stratotankers for refueling (active at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar), P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and transport/refueling planes (C-17s, etc., deployed around the region.

You have to wonder whether the regime running Iran has already selected martyrdom rather than yielding anything to forces who are sick of them, including many Iranians. Iranian missiles are targeted for Tel Aviv, US bases in the Emirates, and possibly even Saudi Arabia. Could be all bluff. The truth of the situation remains hidden, like everything else right now in the global arena.

Down in Fort Pierce, Florida, today, a grand jury will hear more witnesses in the sedition and treason conspiracy carried out by our own government officials since 2016. And being a grand jury, it is all secret, you will not be hearing about it in the news. Like so much else now, the action there is behind the curtain. Too many cynics believe that nothing will come of it. Yet, the blast zone from it, when it comes, will blow at us like a second American Revolution in the 250thanniversary year of the first one.

Different dynamics are aligning now, forces better structured to the survival of our nation. The only thing we know for sure: Bad Bunny has had his fifteen minutes of fame. Who’s next and what’s next? Patience, please."

- https://www.kunstler.com/

Adventures With Danno, "Amazing Sales at Target! The Best Deals"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 2/9/26

"Amazing Sales at Target! The Best Deals"

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