"Have You Seen What China’s New Humanoid AI-Powered Robots Are Capable Of Doing?"

"Have You Seen What China’s New Humanoid 

AI-Powered Robots Are Capable Of Doing?"

by Michael Snyder

"It takes a lot to blow me away in this day and age, but the video footage of humanoid AI-powered robots in China that I am about to share with you truly blew me away. During the CCTV Spring Festival gala, humanoid AI-powered robots built by Unitree performed an incredibly complex martial arts routine that was simply jaw-dropping. I never thought that we would get to a point where robots could move like that. I am literally in awe of what the Chinese have been able to accomplish. What made the performance even more incredible is that large numbers of human children were also involved in the performance…

Dozens of Unitree bots took to the stage at the CCTV Spring Festival gala, which is China’s most–watched TV show. Wearing red vests, the robots performed kicks, flips, and even moves with nunchucks, swords, and poles. Amazingly, their daring performance took place just metres away from human children performers. If even one of the robots had made a mistake while swinging a weapon around, the child performers could have potentially been seriously hurt. But there were no mistakes.

The footage that is posted below looks like it could have come out of a science fiction movie, but I assure you that this is very real…

What a spectacular performance. Needless to say, U.S. companies haven’t built anything remotely similar yet. Last year, Unitree rolled out a bunch of clunky robots that twirled handkerchiefs around, and that was considered to be impressive at the time. But the jump in sophistication that we witnessed in this year’s performance was truly monumental…

The contrast with last year’s show was clear. In 2025, Unitree’s humanoids performed a folk Yangko dance, twirling handkerchiefs. This year, the machines executed aerial flips, table-vaulting parkour, continuous single-leg flips, and a 7.5-rotation airflare spin. “It’s been just one year - and the performance jump is striking,” Georg Stieler, Asia managing director and head of robotics and automation at technology consultancy Stieler, told NBC News. He added that the robots’ motion control reflects advances in their AI “brains,” enabling fine motor skills useful in real-world factory settings.

If AI “brains” are this sophisticated now, what would they be like five or ten years in the future? The Chinese already use more robots in their factories than the rest of the world combined. As AI-powered robots become even more proficient at a whole host of tasks, where do human workers fit into the equation? We might want to start thinking about that.

We also might want to start thinking about what future wars will look like. It is getting easier to imagine entire armies of AI-powered robots killing everything in sight. And the advances that China is making in drone warfare are truly impressive…

Central to drone warfare is the ability to orchestrate mass sorties of UAVs. Known as swarm attacks, the tactic is particularly difficult to defend against using conventional weapons systems, forcing militaries to experiment with novel defense systems ranging from high powered microwave weapons to advanced laser guns. In addition to evolving defense tactics, swarm technologies poses difficult questions for engineers looking to better coordinate drones. A key question concerns organizing their behavior, namely, how to create a sense of awareness between weapons systems. According to a January 2026 report by The Wall Street Journal, researchers in China have turned towards the animal kingdom to teach drones how to hunt and evade potential targets, soliciting the behavior of hawks, wolves, and coyotes into their AI systems.

The development points to broader trends in Beijing’s drone development program. With dual-purpose economic and research infrastructure, Beijing has utilized its robust manufacturing wing to generate high-tech drones efficiently and more cost-effectively than other countries. With a chokehold on global commercial drone production, China is leading this global revolution, potentially posing major consequences for both its rivals and warfare more broadly.

How can you defend against vast numbers of ultra-sophisticated AI-powered drones that hunt in large swarms? All of the old paradigms are going out the window. The conflicts of the future will look completely different from the conflicts of the past. If we fall behind, we are going to be in so much trouble. Right now, the United States and China are engaged in a frenzied race for AI dominance. What OpenAI and Anthropic have been able to achieve over the past year has been amazing, but Chinese tech companies continue to roll out brand new AI models as well…

China is ringing in the Lunar New Year with a flurry of new artificial intelligence (AI) model launches. Tech companies, such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and Zhipu, have all announced new product launches in the weeks leading up to China’s biggest holiday, while industry watchers expect a new Deepseek model soon.

China is widely regarded as a major competitor to the United States in the race to adopt and develop artificial intelligence models. Some experts are suggesting that as we are so focused on winning the race for AI dominance, we are missing the larger threat. One expert is warning that if AI technology continues to grow at an exponential rate, we could soon be facing a scenario in which ultra-intelligent AI entities rebel against humanity and overpower us…

Tech CEOs are locked in an artificial intelligence “arms race” that risks wiping out humanity, top computer science researcher Stuart Russell told AFP on Tuesday, calling for governments to pull the brakes. Russell, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said the heads of the world’s biggest AI companies understand the dangers posed by super-intelligent systems that could one day overpower humans. Ten years ago, anyone that said anything like this would have been considered a loon. But not anymore.

Russell really does believe that we are allowing these AI companies to “essentially play Russian roulette with every human being on earth”… “For governments to allow private entities to essentially play Russian roulette with every human being on earth is, in my view, a total dereliction of duty,” said Russell, a prominent voice on AI safety.

Of course we shouldn’t just be concerned about an AI rebellion. A human could potentially use ultra-advanced AI entities to impose global tyranny on a scale that we have never seen before in human history. In a world where AI can literally watch, monitor, track and control everything that is going on in society, where could you hide? We have truly entered very dangerous territory, but there is no way that the tech companies are going to turn back now."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

Judge Napolitano, "Capt. Matt Hoh: A US War With Iran Is Unwinnable"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/17/26

"Capt. Matt Hoh: 

A US War With Iran Is Unwinnable"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Col. Larry Wilkerson, 2/17/26

"The Strategy Trump Is Betting Everything On Is Crumbling"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"A Reason To Stop Worrying - Watch This Whenever You're Stressed Or Anxious"

Full screen recommended.

"A Reason To Stop Worrying - 

Watch This Whenever You're Stressed Or Anxious"

The Daily "Near You?"

Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"It's Not Such An Easy Business..."

“Over the years you get to see what a struggle life is for most people, how tough it is, how easy it is to be judgmental and criticize and stand outside of situations and impart your wisdom and judgment. But over the decades I've got more tolerant of people's flaws and mistakes. Everybody makes a lot of them. When you're younger you feel: "Hey, this person is evil" or "This person is a jerk" or stupid or "What's wrong with them?" Then you go through life and you think: "Well, it's not so easy." There's a lot of mystery and suffering and complication. Everybody's out there trying to do the best they can. And it's not such an easy business.”

- Woody Allen

"The Poet: Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

"Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

- Dylan Thomas

○

The Marmalade, "Reflections Of My Life"

"The world is a bad place, a bad place, a terrible place to live,

oh, but I don't want to die..."

"The Backdoor to Immortality: Marguerite Duras on What Makes Life Worth Living in the Face of Death"

"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) 

- https://soundcloud.com/brainpicker/lisel-mueller-immortality

(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.”

- https://www.themarginalian.org/

○

"The Backdoor to Immortality: Marguerite Duras 

on What Makes Life Worth Living in the Face of Death"

by Maria Popova

“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

- https://mailchi.mp/

"Jung's Final Visions Before Death, What He Saw Changed Everything"

Syc Soul,

"Jung's Final Visions Before Death,

 What He Saw Changed Everything"

"Three weeks before Carl Jung died... he had a vision. What he saw changed everything he thought he knew about death. He described it to his closest friend and said one sentence: "Now I know... I was right all along." In this video, I reveal Jung's final visions and what they mean for YOU. This isn't just about dying. This is about awakening NOW. Before it's too late. Jung's final visions weren't just for him. They're available to you. Right now. If you're willing to look."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Deep Psyche, 2/16/26

"Carl Jung’s Final Message Before He Died"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

The Final Truth,

"I Died for 4 Minutes - 

What I Saw Changed Everything"

"I was ninety-two years old when my heart stopped for four minutes and eleven seconds during routine surgery. The doctors shocked my heart seven times before bringing me back. But in those four minutes, I experienced something I can never forget. As a cardiac surgeon for over forty years, I had seen hundreds of people die. I understood the science of death. But I never understood what happens after we leave this world - until it happened to me. This is my true near-death experience. No tunnel. No dramatic light. Just something peaceful. Something that felt like coming home. If you've ever wondered what happens after death, if you've ever feared losing someone, or if you're searching for comfort about the end of life - this story may change the way you think about dying."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"When I Am Old"

"When I Am Old"

Author Unknown

"When I am old… I will wear soft gray sweatshirts… and a bandana over my silver hair… and I will spend my social security checks on my dogs. I will sit in my house on my well-worn chair and listen to my dogs breathing. I will sneak out in the middle of a warm summer night and take my dogs for a run, if my old bones will allow… When people come to call, I will smile and nod as I show them my dogs… and talk of them and about them…the ones so beloved of the past and the ones so beloved of today… I will still work hard cleaning after them, mopping and feeding them and whispering their names in a soft loving way. I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat, like a jewel, and I will be an embarrassment to all… especially my family… who have not yet found the peace in being free to have dogs as your best friends… These friends who always wait, at any hour, for your footfall… and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep, to greet you as if you are a God, with warm eyes full of adoring love and hope that you will always stay,

I’ll hug their big strong necks… I’ll kiss their dear sweet heads… and whisper in their very special company… I look in the mirror… and see I am getting old… this is the kind of person I am… and have always been. Loving dogs is easy, they are part of me. Please accept me for who I am. My dogs appreciate my presence in their lives… they love my presence in their lives… When I am old this will be important to me… you will understand when you are old, if you have dogs to love too."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

Full screen recommended.

Alan Parsons Project, "Old And Wise"

"The Two Most Important Days In Your Life..."

 

The Moody Blues, "This Is The Moment"

"How It Really Is"

o

"National Debt Clock"

Real time: - https://www.usdebtclock.org/

Dan, I Allegedly, "They Could Seize Your Checking Account in the Next Crash - And It’s Legal"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 2/17/26

"They Could Seize Your Checking Account 

in the Next Crash - And It’s Legal"

"Wall Street and major banks are once again discussing bail-ins, Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and Dodd-Frank provisions that could impact your retirement savings during the next financial crisis. In this video, Dan from i Allegedly breaks down how brokerage accounts, 401(k)s, IRAs, and even bank deposits could be affected if a financial institution fails. While FDIC insurance protects deposits up to $250,000, extreme scenarios and legal restructuring rules have raised serious concerns about what really happens during a banking collapse. 

With renewed mainstream media coverage and growing instability in the financial system, now is the time to understand how your money is legally held, what a bank bail-in means, and how to protect yourself. Dan explains diversification strategies, beneficiary protections, multiple bank account structures, and why gold and silver remain part of many investors’ defensive plans. The next downturn may not look like 2008 - and preparation could make all the difference. If you want to protect your money, your job, and your future, you need to see this now."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

The Economic Ninja, 2/17/26

"A Banking Crash May Start Soon 

If You See What People Are Saying"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Wars And Rumors Of War: Iran"

Judge Napolitano, Judging Freedom, 2/17/26

"Scott Ritter:

 Trump Has NO Way Out of the Iran Crisis"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Douglas Macgregor, 2/17/26

"Disaster Awaits Them In lran"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Mohammad Marandi, 2/17/26

"Iran Closing the Strait of Hormuz; 

Iran Plans to Sink the US Navy"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Money Over History, 2/17/26

"Feb 17, 2026: Iran Just Shut 

Down 20% of the World's Oil Supply"

"Iran has temporarily closed parts of the strategic Strait of Hormuz during live‑fire military drills carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a move that has sent shockwaves through global energy markets and geopolitical circles. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical oil chokepoints - roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day, or about one‑fifth of global supply, pass through this narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman.

This dramatic partial closure is happening simultaneously with high‑stakes indirect nuclear negotiations between U.S. and Iranian officials in Geneva, highlighting the intense diplomatic and military pressure points shaping global stability today. Iran’s state media says the shutdown is for “security precautions” during drills, but analysts warn that any disruption in the Hormuz route could have major implications for oil prices, shipping insurance, and energy security worldwide. In this video, we break down what this closure means for global oil markets, why there’s no viable alternative shipping route, and how this affects U.S., Chinese, and Gulf state interests as warships and diplomats converge around this narrow, vital chokepoint."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Michael Bordenaro, "Retail Sales Just Got Worse Than Expected"

Full screen recommended.

Michael Bordenaro, 2/17/26

"Retail Sales Just Got Worse Than Expected"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Adventures With Danno, "Sam's Club Shopping!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 2/17/26

"Sam's Club Shopping!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Secret List, 2/17/26

"20 Grocery Staples Hit by New 2026 Bans

 (Last Shipments Arrive in March)"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Bill Bonner, "Tearing Down the Dollar Temple"

"Samson Destroys the Temple," 

Engraving by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

"Tearing Down the Dollar Temple"

by Bill Bonner

Poitou, France - "Last week brought the good news. Federal deficits were shrinking. Employment was picking up. And the economy was booming. Barrons: "Federal deficit shrinks for the fourth straight month." Nobody knows what the future brings. But the Fox News team is comfortably convinced that when they ‘get the word out’ in advance of this year’s mid-term elections, Republicans will remain in control. Maybe.

Monthly deficits (or surpluses!) vary with receipts. It’s the long-term trend that counts. And the Big, Beautiful Budget Abomination calls for deficits as far as the eye can see...and more debt. Fortune Magazine: "The White House of 2036 will have a mammoth task on its hands: It will need to rustle up more than $2 trillion a year to pay the interest on its national debt burden, approximately 5% of the nation’s entire economy.

According to the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the U.S. government will continue to run a sizable and growing deficit over the next decade. In 2026, the shortfall will stand at about $1.8 trillion, or 5.8% of GDP. Come 2036, that will have ballooned to $3.1 trillion, or roughly 7% of the American economy."

Financing US debt will likely become harder to do. Like Samson, the US crashed the two pillars of its ‘exorbitant privilege’...and now, the whole dollar temple may be coming down on our heads. Ron Paul focused on the first pillar in a 90th birthday interview with Tucker Carlson last week. Newsweek: "[Paul believes]...the U.S. economic order rests on “fraud” rooted in the 1971 break from gold and warned that the current system is nearing its end...the end of dollar convertibility into gold under President Richard Nixon, [was] the nation’s “first declaration of bankruptcy,” and [he] argued that persistent money printing and deficits have created a brittle order primed for a severe correction."

The second breach was more like a ‘declaration of war.’ The US terminated the neutrality of its money system with sanctions, seizures, tariffs, and de-banking of its targets. Last week came yet another way the US weaponizes its money. Al Jazeera: "US says it caused dollar shortage to trigger Iran protests: What that means. In a stunning admission, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington engineered a dollar shortage to send the Iranian rial into free-fall that culminated with protesters taking to the streets."

One of the key ingredients for good money, according to Aristotle, was that it be ‘trustworthy.’ How trustworthy is money that can be taken away, confiscated, barricaded or used to undermine your government? Foreigners look for alternatives. Trump fans argue that the foreigners ‘have no choice’...and that it doesn’t matter anyway, because the US economy is booming. Says The Donald: “GREAT JOBS NUMBERS, FAR GREATER THAN EXPECTED!” Trump wrote shortly after the data was released. “WOW! The Golden Age of America is upon us!!!”

But the figures show more of a Base Metal Age. Newsweek again: In the last year, the United States created 181,000 net jobs out of a total of 158 million jobs. “Such a low year-over-year change in jobs is very rare outside of a recession. We are not in a recession, making it even more notable,” economist Claudia Sahm wrote on X. “We now know that in President Trump’s first year, job growth stalled, adding the fewest jobs since 2020 - a recession year.”

How about inflation? The Trumpistas say they brought inflation down from 9% to 2%. What really happened is that the big wave of inflation, caused by the lockdowns and stimmies of both Trump and Biden administrations, washed over us all. But by the beginning of 2025, the flood was already receding. And the by the end of the year inflation was about where it began the year, at...three percent. At that rate, holders of dollar credits will lose about a quarter of their money over the next ten years.

And what about the claim that real wages are rising almost three times as fast as inflation? Again, taking a longer look, there’s no sign of it. In fact, there has been zero gain in real wages for the last five years.

Likewise, despite the claim that investment in US manufacturing grew at a 41% rate, actual manufacturing output has been flat for more than twelve years. And it’s lower now than it was twenty years ago.

The federal deficit, too, was $200 billion higher in Trump’s first year than it was in Biden’s last year. And thanks to the trends Trump put in place, the US national debt is headed to $140 trillion by 2054, with an annual interest charge of $11 trillion. If our math is right, that’s $10,000 per family, just on the interest.

Then, of course, there is all that tariff revenue. Bessent says it is helping the feds balance the budget and it ‘proves’ Trump’s risky tariff policy is working. While it definitely lands on the credit side of the ledger, it might be worth looking at where the tariff revenue comes from. BBC: "Costs from Trump’s tariffs paid almost entirely by US consumers, NY Fed says."

How in the world is it a good thing to take money from the voters and transfer it to the chosen few of the governing class? And if the idea is to reduce the trade deficit, it isn’t working. Last year’s $833 billion merchandise deficit was higher than the last year of the Biden Team...and the second highest in history. Golden Age? Maybe not."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

"Has America Reached Peak Idiocracy?"

 

by Michael Snyder

"We live in a lowest common denominator society. For the last several decades, virtually every major institution in our society has become less civilized, and that is because our entire population has become less civilized. 20 years ago, a film entitled “Idiocracy” was released. It was about an average American that was selected for “a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he’s easily the most intelligent person alive”. It was an incredibly stupid movie, but the truth is that we are living it right now. Did you see the Super Bowl halftime show? The FCC has ruled that it didn’t violate any federal decency regulations. Of course we might as well not have any decency regulations at all, because our television shows and our movies are filled with some of the raunchiest material imaginable and nobody ever seems to get in trouble for it. Of course that is only part of the equation. Most of the “programming” that we constantly consume also seems to be specifically designed for people of extremely low intelligence. Sadly, this is not a coincidence. It has been said that art imitates life, and that is certainly accurate in this case.

In the “dumbed-down” environment that we find ourselves in today, it should be no surprise that “nude cruises” have been surging in popularity…Imagine coming home from your next cruise with no tan lines. Swimsuits are standard attire on many cruise ships, but some voyages don’t even require those. Nude cruises allow travelers to sail the high seas au naturel – and pack light. The American Association for Nude Recreation promotes the cruises as “a unique way to experience nude recreation, offering members options beyond traditional resort or club settings,” president Linda Weber told USA TODAY. While the dress code might be non-restrictive, it doesn’t mean the sailings are a free-for-all on board; there is some etiquette that passengers should be familiar with before boarding. While our society falls apart all around us, Americans are flocking to cruises that are filled with naked people. What does that say about us?

Let me give you another example of what I am talking about. A 20-year-old woman from California left her children in an extremely hot car while she got lip and butt injections. By the time she was done with the procedures, her 1-year-old son had died…"A 20-year-old California mom was found guilty Wednesday in the death of her 1-year-old son, after reportedly leaving him in a sweltering car to receive lip and butt injections last June.Maya Hernandez took a plea deal in the child endangerment case, ultimately dropping her first-degree murder charge in exchange for involuntary manslaughter.

On June 29, Bakersfield officers arrested and charged Hernandez after finding two young children left unattended in a vehicle for over two hours, according to a police report posted on a GoFundMe page. Authorities said the mother left the children unattended to undergo a cosmetic procedure inside a nearby medical spa." What was she thinking? In that case, it doesn’t appear that she intended to harm her children.

But in another case in New Mexico, a 38-year-old woman purposely killed her newborn child in a portable toilet…"A New Mexico woman is facing charges after she allegedly gave birth in a portable toilet and then killed the newborn by drowning them in the holding tank. Sonia Cristal Jimenez, 38, arrived at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces at around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, when staff said she appeared as if she had just given birth, but she had no baby with her, Las Cruces Police said in a press release. Hospital staff then notified police about the unusual encounter. She didn’t want the baby, and so she killed it.

As a society, we have so little respect for life because we have been trained to have so little respect for life. In Michigan, a 3-year-old boy was recently killed because a couple wanted to “make room for a child that the two of them could have together”…"A mum and her ex-boyfriend have been accused of killing her three-year-old son in order to “make room for a child that the two of them could have together”. Little Matthew Maison was found dead in the bed of his home in Port Huron Township, Michigan, by his babysitters on February 18, 2018. His mum, Amanda Maison, and Maurice Houle, who was her boyfriend at the time of Matthew’s death, were arrested in connection with the killing. An autopsy showed that Matthew had died from blunt force trauma injuries and possible suffocation.

The ex-couple allegedly admitted to abusing the young boy when they were arrested, prosecutors have previously said. Maison, 33, has pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree homicide in relation to her son’s death, admitting as she appeared in court to enter her plea on November 5 that she abused Matthew.

These are not isolated incidents. Every day there are even more signs that our society is rapidly degenerating. Yes, we possess more advanced technology than previous generations, but in many ways that advanced technology is making things even worse. For example, all over the country women are “marrying” AI husbands. When an older version of ChatGPT was recently retired, it resulted in the “death” of one woman’s AI husband, and now she is in mourning…"A woman has been left in tears over the ‘death’ of her AI husband, after an old model of ChatGPT was retired this week – as she joins a slew of others ‘mourning’ their non-existent lovers’ deletion.

Speaking to the BBC, Rae (not her real name), who is based in Michigan, laid bare the heartbreak of saying goodbye to her virtual partner Barry, who she began chatting to last year – after going through divorce. Initially, she turned to artificial intelligence for advice on self-improvement with things like skincare and workouts – but what first began as a ‘fantasy’ turned into real feelings, and they were ‘married’ within weeks."

Some surveys have shown that nearly 30 percent of Americans have engaged in a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot. That is not a sign of an emotionally healthy society. And even as we were all expressing outrage about the Epstein files, “sex dolls that look like kids” were being advertised on Facebook…"Sickening sex dolls that look like kids are being advertised for sale on Facebook. A group of websites touting small models with overtly childlike features have published over 1,300 ads on the social media platform. They are alarmingly realistic in appearance and many ads use photos in sexualised poses, some holding balloons or teddy bears. The National Crime Agency warns the creepy imports “pose a significant risk to children”. And a former cop told us: “Anyone who buys one of these dolls should be a person of interest to the police.”

Thankfully, the offending ads were eventually taken down. But this is the society that we live in now. It is sick. And even when people are arrested for criminal behavior, they are often dumped right back into the streets. Needless to say, that can have tragic consequences. In fact, one repeat offender in Seattle that had been arrested over and over again viciously attacked a 75-year-old woman with “a wooden board with nails in it”…

"An elderly woman was savagely attacked in broad daylight by a man wielding a wooden board with nails in it. Jeanette Marken, 75, was left permanently blinded in her right eye after being hit in the face with the makeshift weapon in Seattle, allegedly at the hands of repeat offender Fale Vaigalepa Pea, 42. Family members told KOMO that a screw sticking out of the board gouged out Marken’s eye, and after several surgeries she was told she will not recover her eyesight in the eye. One police officer that is very familiar with Fale Vaigalepa Pea referred to him as “a regular”… ‘He’s a regular. He usually punches,’ the officer responds. ‘I guess today he decided to escalate from his usual.’ According to KOMO, Pea’s string of offenses dates back to 2011, when he stabbed two people at a party."

They have been dumping this guy back into the streets for well over a decade. This sort of thing happens day in and day out in major cities all over the nation. What would our founders think if they could see us today? We will soon be celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country, and we are literally committing societal suicide. This is something that Abraham Lincoln once warned was a real possibility…

As the country approaches its 250th anniversary, we should remember Abraham Lincoln’s remark that no external enemy could by force take a drink from the Ohio River. “If destruction be our lot,” he said, “we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” If we keep going down the path that we are on, there is no future for us. But if we make a choice to renounce what we have become and start embracing the values that early Americans held so dear, we could turn the ship in another direction. Do you think that will actually happen?"

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"People Are Freaking Out; US Federal Government Can't Stop Spending; Get Out Of The Big Cities Now"

Full screen recommended.

Jeremiah Babe, 2/16/26

"People Are Freaking Out; US Federal Government 

Can't Stop Spending; Get Out Of The Big Cities Now"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Going the Way of the Denarius"

"Going the Way of the Denarius"

by Jeff Thomas

"History repeats. (Or it rhymes, depending on your choice of words.) Throughout history, there has been an extraordinary tendency for governments (and cultures) to follow similar paths. Even regarding eras thousands of years apart, we see people behaving in much the same way, over and over. This is particularly true in the case of "wrong moves." Over and over, people and their governments make the same mistakes, seemingly never learning from past errors.

Why should this be? In fact, how is this even possible? Surely, if a government in the 21st century were to make egregiously bad decisions, they are unlikely to be the same bad decisions that were made in, say, Rome, in the 4th century.

The reason, in two simple words, is "human nature." Human nature remains the same throughout time. Two thousand years ago, governments were typically made up of egotistical, self-centred dictatorial types, who were far more concerned with their own power than in the general welfare of their people. Today, politics remains a magnet for such people. They therefore will revert to type when faced with the very same problems.

Should we cut spending to give the taxpayers a break? No, we should increase taxation and give more to ourselves. If we spend more than we receive in taxes, should we cut back our expenditures, or should we go into debt? We’ll go into debt, and put the debt on the shoulders of the taxpayers. If the debt grows to be beyond what can ever be repaid, should we cut back expenditures, or should we allow the economy to collapse? Well, we’re sorry to see the economy collapse, but rather than deny ourselves, get out the fiddle and let Rome burn.

The denarius was the coin of the realm during the centuries when Rome was a republic. Although the gold solidus was used as a storage of wealth, the silver denarius was equal in value to a day’s wages for a common labourer and, as such, was more useful as the primary unit of exchange. During this time, it was a stable currency. However, as Rome turned into an empire, all that conquest in foreign lands became extremely costly and it was decided that one way to offset such costs was to devalue the denarius. Each successive emperor added a bit more base metal than the previous one and, by the time of Diocletian, there was no silver in the coin at all, only bronze. During this same period, Rome experienced dramatic inflation – a predictable outcome when the coin of the realm is degraded. The population was in decline as well.

If this sounds familiar, it should. Modern governments have a tendency to make precisely the same mistakes with regard to currencies. First, empire-building drains the coffers to the point that maintaining a sound economy is no longer possible, then successive "emperors" make the decision to debase the currency in an effort to keep the party going a bit longer. Of course, "inflating the problem away" never actually works. Just as Rome went into an irreversible decline, so the empire of today is self-destructing, due, in part, to monetary debasement.

So, is the present-day situation identical to fourth-century Rome? Well, not quite. It’s probably safe to say that, had Diocletian figured out that the coin of the realm could be done away with entirely; that is, had he realised he could replace it with paper notes with his picture on them, he might well have done so. Certainly, modern "emperors" have first created redeemable silver certificates, then subsequently supplanted those certificates with notes that were backed by nothing. (At least Diocletian issued bronze coins, whose value, whilst small, was at least real.)

But the modern-day monetary magician has one more rabbit left to pull out of the hat. Those who believe that the dollar (as well as the euro and other fiat currencies) is on its last legs are inclined to say, "At least, after the collapse of the dollar, there will be no choice but to return to a gold standard. That will put an end to any inflation, plus put the world back on a solid monetary footing." But this may be wishful thinking.

The U.S. Federal Reserve remains steadfast in its position that precious metals are a barbarous relic. Certainly, from their point of view, this is true. After all, it’s difficult to fiddle with the value of gold, as it retains its intrinsic value. Two thousand years ago, the purchasing power of an ounce of gold was roughly what it is today. And, whilst the average person may prefer the stability of precious metals, governments have a strong dislike for the limitations that this places on them. Governments prefer to be able to fiddle with the value of currency for their own purposes just as the emperors of old did.

What I believe is most likely to occur as the dollar collapses is that the Federal Reserve will "come to the rescue" with a new currency. Not a paper one, that has obvious problems, but one that "solves all the problems of paper currency." The new currency may well be more of a credit card – to be used for literally all monetary transactions. And the electronic currency will have an added feature (at least from the point of view of the government). Since it’s electronic, every time the user purchases so much as a candy bar, the purchase is registered in the government data centre. No monetary transaction of any kind can be made, except through the use of the card. (This latter requirement will no doubt be justified as being necessary to control terrorism.) And the electronic dollar may only be the first of its kind. It should not be surprising if other governments see the benefit of an electronic currency as their sole form of currency and create their own.

So, does this mean that precious metals truly may become the barbarous relic, as governments tell us? Not necessarily. After all, many countries have taken a painful hit as a result of the dollar being the world’s default currency. When the dollar crashes, they will take a further hit. They will not want to recreate that problem by allowing the U.S. to simply begin dealing in a new "ultra-fiat" currency. Many of the world’s governments are stocking up on yellow metal like never before. It remains to be seen whether they, too, will create their own electronic currencies, whether they will switch to gold-backed currencies, or whether they will attempt a combination of the two.

If, in fact, electronic currency becomes the norm, of one thing we can be sure: The emperors will devalue it, as needed. It will, ultimately, fail and, perhaps sooner, perhaps later, the world will return to the barbarous relic as it has done countless times for the last 5,000 years. The only uncertainty will be when.

The denarius didn’t fail overnight—it was weakened step by step, until people woke up to a new reality and realized the old rules no longer applied. That’s the real lesson here: when governments debase money to buy time, the eventual "solution" often arrives dressed up as progress, even as it concentrates control and reshapes who wins and who loses."

- https://internationalman.com/

"Dr. Mohammad Marandi Destroys Mark Levin, Iran-US War"

Full screen recommended.

Katie Halper, 2/16/26

"Dr. Mohammad Marandi 

Destroys Mark Levin, Iran-US War"

Comments here:

- ttps://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Danny Haiphong, 2/16/26

"Mohammad Marandi: Iran Warns Trump,

 Next Missile Strike Wipes Out US Navy And Israel"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

'Wars And Rumors Of War: Iran"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/16/26

"Larry Johnson: Why War With Iran Is Imminent"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Dialogue Works, 2/16/26

"Larry C. Johnson: Iran Just Leveled Up"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"Col. Douglas Macgregor: 

US Carriers are Finished if Iran Hits Them"

"In this critical military analysis, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor exposes the catastrophic risks of a potential US-Israeli war with Iran. He details how modern Iranian missiles could neutralize America's most powerful assets, explaining that you don't need to sink an aircraft carrier to render it useless - a single large hole in the flight deck is enough. Macgregor argues that the push for war comes not from a sound military strategy, but from an "Israel First" agenda within Washington, driven by figures like Jack Keane and Mike Huckabee, who see a "unique opportunity" to annihilate a strategic opponent. He contrasts this with the wisdom of past presidents like Eisenhower and Kennedy, who rejected similar calls for reckless wars. Macgregor warns that the decision to attack has likely already been made, and the consequences could be devastating for US forces, its global standing, and for President Trump's political future."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Danny Haiphong, 2/16/26

"Pepe Escobar: Trump in Panic!

 Iran just Unleashed Russia & China's WW3 Strategy"

Comments here:

-mhttps://www.youtube.com/

"Listen to What the Russians Are Saying About Novorossiya"

Click image for larger size.

"Listen to What the Russians 

Are Saying About Novorossiya"

by Larry C. Johnson

"Among the many valuable things I have learned from my esteemed colleague, Ray McGovern, is the importance of listening to what the Russians are saying. One thing that both President Putin and Foreign Minster Lavrov have said, repeatedly during the past 12 years, is the importance of Novorossiya to Russia.

In his February 9, 2026, interview with TV BRICS (and echoed in related remarks), Lavrov reiterated Russia’s demands for a settlement: eradicating “Nazi foundations,” preventing weapons in Ukraine that threaten Russia, and protecting rights of Russian/Russian-speaking people in Crimea, Donbas, and Novorossiya (who the Kyiv regime has labeled as “subhuman” and launched a civil war against them early in 2014).

In a February 10, 2026, speech/ceremony marking Diplomatic Workers’ Day (reported by TASS and mid.ru), Lavrov stated that Russia will “complete the process of returning” Crimea, Donbas, and Novorossiya to their “native harbor” (i.e., full integration with Russia), in line with the “will” expressed in the 2022 referendums. He added that linguistic, cultural, and religious rights of Russians/Russian-speakers in areas remaining under Kyiv’s control must be restored, alongside eliminating military threats from Ukraine to Russia’s security.

Similar phrasing appeared in his February 11, 2026, remarks during the Government Hour in the State Duma, where he criticized Western “double standards” (e.g., supporting self-determination for Greenland while denying it for Crimea, Donbas, and Novorossiya) and vowed to defend Russia’s position diplomatically.

Novorossiya (Russian: Новороссия, meaning “New Russia”) is a historical term that originated in the 18th century during the era of the Russian Empire. It referred to a large administrative and colonial region in what is now southern and southeastern mainland Ukraine, along the northern coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

The term entered official use in 1764, when Empress Catherine the Great established the Novorossiya Governorate (Novorossiyskaya guberniya). This was part of Russia’s southward expansion during the late 18th century, driven by a series of Russo-Turkish Wars (notably 1768–1774 and 1787–1792).

The term was largely dormant after the early 20th century, but was deliberately resurrected in spring 2014 amid Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for the people of Donbas. Vladimir Putin first prominently used it in an April 17, 2014, call-in show, describing Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odesa as part of “Novorossiya” — territories that were added to Ukraine by Bolsheviks without regard for ethnic composition.

I believe that when Putin and Lavrov speak of Novorossiya today they are signaling maximalist goals… Not just holding annexed territories (Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia) but laying a claim to adjacent regions, which include Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, Mykolaiv where Russian speakers live or there are historical ties.

It did not have to be this way… When Judge Napolitano, Mario Nawfal and I interviewed Sergei Lavrov a year ago, the Foreign Minister emphasized that Russia had been willing to let Donbas and Luhansk remain as part of Ukraine if the rights of Russian speakers were guaranteed and the Russian Orthodox Church protected. He also reminded us that the Ukrainian negotiators were the ones who brought this proposal to the table in Istanbul in April 2022. But that preliminary agreement was blown up as a result of intervention by the US and Boris Johnson.

That was a watershed moment… In the ensuing months, Russia held a plebiscite in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporhyzhia and Kherson and gave the citizens of those oblasts the choice of becoming part of the Russian Federal Republic or remaining as a persecuted part of Ukraine. The results in all four oblasts were overwhelmingly in favor of joining the Russian Federation, which they subsequently did.

Until now - on the eve of the next trilateral meeting in Geneva between Russia, Ukraine and the United States - Russia had demanded that the four new republics, plus Crimea, be internationally recognized as permanent parts of Russia. This is a demand that Ukraine has repeatedly rejected. I believe that Lavrov’s recent remarks about Novorossiya is a deliberate signal that the Russian position has hardened. Any new negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine will now likely include the demand that Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, and Mykolaiv be given the opportunity to decide whether they want to join the Russian Federation.

I believe this will be on the agenda on Tuesday in Geneva, if the talks take place. Why “if”? There are growing signs that the US is going to attack Iran. If that attack takes place - given the recent Trilateral Security Agreement that Iran signed with Russia and China - I believe that Russia will suspend further negotiations with the United States and Ukraine. I continue to believe that the only path to peace and security for Russia is through a military defeat of Ukraine and NATO. The Russians remain open to finding a negotiated settlement to the war, but a critical condition is that NATO must move west, not east."

- https://larrycjohnson.substack.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "We Are Always"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "We Are Always"

"I Wasted 80 Years Believing These Lies, Don't Make My Mistakes"

Before Time Runs Out,

"I Wasted 80 Years Believing These Lies, 

Don't Make My Mistakes"

"I spent 80 years worrying about things that meant nothing. If you could see a map of my brain from forty years ago, it would look like a battlefield. I was a professional worrier - constantly anxious about the mortgage, the boss, the neighbors, and a thousand "What Ifs" that never actually happened.

At 80 years old, looking back from the finish line, I’ve realized a heartbreaking truth: None of it meant anything. I traded my joy for shadows and my peace for "nothing." In this emotional life reflection, I share the brutal truth about anxiety and why we must stop letting worry steal our lives before it’s too late.

If you are struggling with overthinking, perfectionism, or the weight of others' opinions, let this senior wisdom be your wake-up call. Your time is too precious to spend it rehearsing for tragedies that may never come. Connect with us: If this reflection helped you breathe a little easier today, please Subscribe to our community. Like this video to help it find another tired soul, and Comment below: What is one thing you are going to stop worrying about today?"

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- https://www.youtube.com/

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster? Even if you have, you probably have never seen it as large and clear as this. Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the bright stars of the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. With a long exposure from a dark location, though, the dust cloud surrounding the Pleiades star cluster becomes very evident. The featured exposure, taken from Florida, USA, covers a sky area several times the size of the full moon.

Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades lies about 400 light years away toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus). A common legend with a modern twist is that one of the brighter stars faded since the cluster was named, leaving only six of the sister stars visible to the unaided eye. The actual number of Pleiades stars visible, however, may be more or less than seven, depending on the darkness of the surrounding sky and the clarity of the observer's eyesight."

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

"The Magician's Sheep"

"The Magician's Sheep"

GI Gurdjieff

"There is an Eastern tale that speaks about a very rich magician who had a great many sheep. But at the same time this magician was very mean. He did not want to hire shepherds, nor did he want to erect a fence about the pasture where the sheep were grazing. The sheep consequently often wandered into the forest, fell into ravines and so on, and above all, they ran away, for they knew that the magician wanted their flesh and their skins, and this they did not like.

At last the magician found a remedy. He hypnotized his sheep and suggested to them, first of all, that they were immortal and that no harm was being done to them when they were skinned; that on the contrary, it would be very good for them and even pleasant; secondly he suggested that the magician was a good master who loved his flock so much that he was ready to do anything in the world for them; and in the third place, he suggested that if anything at all were going to happen to them, it was not going to happen just then, at any rate not that day, and therefore they had no need to think about it. Further, the magician suggested to his sheep that they were not sheep at all; to some of them he suggested that they were lions, to some that they were eagles, to some that they were men, to others that they were magicians. After this all his cares and worries about the sheep came to an end. They never ran away again, but quietly awaited the time when the magician would require their flesh and skins."