So, we rise from the rubble...
StatCounter
Thursday, May 7, 2026
"Trump’s War on Iran Is Destroying America"
"Trump’s War on Iran Is Destroying America"
"The very first story on the Drudge Report on both April 23 and 24 was headlined with a quote from Bernard Arnault saying if the Iran war was not quickly settled, it could be a “world catastrophe.” I apparently do not keep up with world business as much as I should, because I did not know that Arnault is one the three richest men in the world along with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. They trade first, second and third depending on fluctuating stock prices.
Arnault heads a French conglomerate, LVMH, which specializes in luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and many others. He bought a struggling Christian Dior in 1984 for $15 million and Tiffany & Co. in 2021 for over $15 billion.
Arnault told the annual meeting of his Company: “Either it (the Iran War) will be a world catastrophe with very serious and very negative economic impacts – in which case, who can say how 2026 will unfold – or it will be resolved more rapidly in some shape or form that we all hope for – even if it doesn’t seem easy – in which case businesses will recover and resume their normal course.”
Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, almost always tries to speak in a positive way about Republican chances in elections. But he told the New York Times on April 28 that if the elections were in May, Republicans would lose. He said: “The war, the sense of affordability, and gasoline – some of that has to be cleared up in order to win. If it doesn’t change, I’ll start tearing my hair out.”
President Trump is in an almost impossible situation. He is in between possibly the greatest rock and hard place in history. I think Trump realizes that both the U.S. economy and the world economy will be greatly damaged and possibly go in to a major recession if the war is not ended very soon. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said it “will be worse than people think.” The President seems to be trying very hard to reach an agreement, but he knows Israel wants to go in the other direction and escalate the war even further. And he knows the Israel Lobby has almost total control of the Congress and will go along with Netanyahu no matter what.
John Mearsheimer is a West Point graduate, Air Force veteran, and longtime professor at the University of Chicago. He is one of the most well-respected foreign policy experts in this Country. In an interview on April 27, he said “The world economy is teetering, and the longer this war goes on the worse the damage… and if we go up the escalation ladder, it will be another hammer blow to the world economy.” He added: “Israel wants to continue the war. They want us to continue hammering away at Iran to try to beat them into submission and if we can’t beat them into submission, well we’ll just destroy them and do what we did in Gaza to Iran.”
Jeffrey Sachs is another foreign policy expert and economist who has been called upon for advice for many countries around the world. He is a longtime professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has in the past described Netanyahu as “the main cheerleader for the war in Iraq.” He said on Judge Napolitano’s podcast on April 27 the Israeli leader is “trying to achieve the unachievable” and that it is impossible for “the United States and Israel to run Iran.”
He said Netanyahu has”conned Trump into endless wars on behalf of Israel” and that if they continue this war “they will destroy the U.S. economy.” He added that Netanyahu “wants the U.S. to spend not just the hundreds of billions we will spend” but the seven trillion we have spent over the last 30 years in seven wars for Israel.
The main cheerleaders for this war have been Netanyahu, Sen. Lindsay Graham, and Mark levin. And while I agree with Fox News on almost everything, I do not agree with Fox being a propaganda network for a neocon foreign policy that is the exact opposite of an America First foreign policy.
I am a conservative Presbyterian, and I agree with Christian fundamentalists on most things. Christians can bless the Country of Israel without agreeing with everything the current Israeli government does, the same as I can pray for God to bless the USA without agreeing with everything our government does(especially when it is controlled by those on the left).
As I write this column, oil is at $114.60. It was at $60 and the Strait of Hormuz was open the day before this war was started. Socialism has destroyed the economy of most nations around the world, and probably half of their people are trying to flee. Most want to come here.
Unfortunately, the Democrats in this Country have become a party of socialists. If we let this war continue much longer, socialists will take control of our government and economy and do very long term damage to this Nation."
A Video From Iran: "Peace is Our Only Choice: Bridging the Gap for Iranians & Americans"
Full screen recommended.
A Video From Iran:
"Peace is Our Only Choice:
Bridging the Gap for Iranians & Americans"
Dan, I Allegedly, "Foreclosures Are Exploding!"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 5/7/26
"Foreclosures Are Exploding!"
"Foreclosures are surging across America and this could be just the beginning of a massive housing market correction. In this video, Dan from i Allegedly breaks down why foreclosure filings are exploding, why commercial real estate is collapsing, and how rising interest rates, property taxes, HOA fees, insurance costs, and unaffordable mortgages are crushing homeowners nationwide. Banks are tightening lending standards, short sales are returning, and foreclosure auctions are seeing activity not witnessed since before the pandemic housing boom. Dan also explains how the end of mortgage forbearance programs and COVID-era protections has completely changed the real estate market. Investors, homeowners, and first-time buyers are now facing a dangerous combination of falling home prices, upside-down mortgages, commercial loan defaults, and increasing monthly housing expenses. If you want to understand the future of the housing market, foreclosure investing, real estate crashes, bank-owned properties, and where the economy may be heading next, this is a must-watch breakdown from iAllegedly."
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"2026 Weather Warning: Super El Niño Could Bring Historic Extremes"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 5/7/26
"2026 Weather Warning:
Super El Niño Could Bring Historic Extremes"
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"Megadrought: We Just Experienced The Driest First Three Months Of A Year In U.S. History"
by Michael Snyder
"January, February and March were insanely dry. In fact, in all of U.S. history conditions have never been so dry during the first three months of the year. Just think about that for a moment. Not even during the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s were conditions this dry. Many were hoping that 2026 would be the year when our multi-year drought would finally break. Needless to say, that hasn’t happened. Scientists are telling us that the southwestern U.S. is in the midst of the worst multi-year drought in at least 1,200 years. We really are experiencing a “megadrought”, and this is something that experts such as Steve Quayle and Dane Wigington have been talking about for a long time. Unfortunately, it appears that our seemingly endless “megadrought” has gone to an entirely new level in 2026.
If it simply doesn’t rain, there is not much that farmers and ranchers can do. Right now approximately 63 percent of the continental United States is experiencing at least some level of drought, and the first quarter of this year was one for the record books…Winter wheat is dying in Kansas fields that should be green by now. Ranchers in New Mexico are selling cattle they cannot afford to feed. Reservoir levels along the Colorado River system are dropping weeks ahead of the season when mountain snowmelt is supposed to refill them. Across roughly 63% of the contiguous United States, drought rated moderate to exceptional on the federal scale has taken hold, and the first three months of 2026 were the driest the nation has recorded in 131 years of continuous measurement.
This isn’t just a crisis. This is catastrophic. It appears that the winter wheat crop in the U.S. is going to be a disaster. At this stage, more than 81 percent of the Southern Plains is experiencing drought…Heading into the harvesting season for the key winter wheat crop, much of the western side of the U.S. Plains are locked in drought. Over 81% of Southern Plains is experiencing some form of drought, according to the latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Nearly 20% of the region is experiencing either “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.
Only 30% of U.S. winter wheat is in either good or excellent condition as of the start of this week, according to the most recent weekly Crop Progress report from the Department of Agriculture. By comparison, 49% of the crop was good-or-excellent at this point last year.
The situation is particularly dire in the state of Oklahoma. Last year, the state produced 101.1 million bushels of red winter wheat. Thanks to the drought, it is being projected that the state will produce less than half of that total this year… At the 2026 Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association meeting, crop scouts, extension specialists, and grain elevator representatives painted a sobering picture of this year’s hard red winter wheat crop. Their estimates say the 2026 crop is roughly half the size of the previous two years, with production projected at 48.9 million bushels compared to 101.1 million bushels in 2025. The outlook is based on an average yield of 23.93 bushels per acre across an expected 2.043 million harvested acres, highlighting the significant downturn facing Oklahoma wheat producers.
When there is a lot less wheat to go around, prices will go up. It is simply a matter of supply and demand. One farmer that grows winter wheat in Kansas is saying that his farm has only had a quarter of an inch of precipitation since last fall… Southwest Kansas farmer Gary Millershaski says his area has only received a quarter-of-an-inch of precipitation since last fall. “For us to get a 30-bushel crop, you’ve really got to be optimistic and believe in prayer. That’s a fact.” He has done everything right, but the sky has been silent. What is he supposed to do?
So far in 2026, Chicago wheat futures are up about 30 percent…Chicago wheat futures have gained nearly 30% since the start of the year - the biggest gain among row crop futures - due to the combination of U.S. drought, global fertilizer shortages and a looming El Niño.
If this crisis in the Middle East is not resolved, this will only be just the beginning. Once upon a time, the U.S. was absolutely swimming in wheat, but now we are moving into a time when it will be considered a “luxury grain”. Of course beef is already considered to be a “luxury meat”. When I was growing up, my mother would feed us beef constantly because it was so inexpensive. But now beef prices have skyrocketed, and some of the prices that we are seeing at the meat counters in our grocery stores are absolutely absurd…
I never thought that I would see beef prices get this high. But this is the reality that we are living in now. And it appears that beef prices will continue to remain elevated because the size of the U.S. cattle herd is the smallest that it has been since 1951…The US cattle herd remained the smallest since 1951 at the start of the year, in the latest signal that consumer beef prices will remain near records. There were about 86.2 million cattle and calves in the US as of Jan. 1, the US Department of Agriculture said in a Friday report. The tally is nearly unchanged from 2025, providing no relief to the ongoing cattle shortage.
The lack of improvement comes as ranchers keep selling animals to slaughter amid high beef demand, rather than retaining the animals to grow their herds. The downsizing - which began years prior when ranchers shrunk their herds due to high production costs and droughts - has sent consumer beef prices to all-time highs.
It is really hard to feed cattle when conditions are bone dry. Sadly, they could get even drier in the months ahead… Meanwhile, there’s a 62% chance of the world’s climate shifting from neutral to El Niño between June and August, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecast. The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts said that this El Niño could be the strongest on record, with peak intensity hitting in October.
El Niño typically results in hot and dry weather in many growing areas, including the U.S. Corn Belt and in Australia. With fertilizer supplies thin, this may further compound production losses for world wheat. We are being told that we could soon be experiencing a “super El Niño”, and meteorologist Ryan Maue is warning that the long-term forecast for the second half of this year is “off the charts”…
I have been repeatedly warning my readers that global weather patterns are going nuts, and I was not exaggerating one bit. We really are facing a historic long-term crisis with no end in sight. As I discussed last week, for the upcoming season U.S. farmers are planting the fewest acres of wheat that we have seen since records began in 1919.
In 1919, there were 104 million people living in the United States. Today, there are 341 million people living in the United States. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we have a major problem on our hands. Many of us have been warning about this crisis for years, and now we really have reached a breaking point."
Adventures With Danno, "Massive Price Increases At Kroger!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 5/7/26
"Massive Price Increases At Kroger!"
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Wednesday, May 6, 2026
"Alert! Iran Rejects Trump Claims! All Lies! Hantavirus Spreading?! China Says F#$K Your Sanctions!"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 5/6/26
"Alert! Iran Rejects Trump Claims! All Lies!
Hantavirus Spreading?! China Says F#$K Your Sanctions!"
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"What Happened To Truckers? Mystery Of The Freight Crisis"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 5/6/26
"What Happened To Truckers?
Mystery Of The Freight Crisis"
"Something is happening on America's highways and most people don't see it yet. American truck drivers are walking off the job - and it's not just a few. Across the country, more drivers are leaving the cab for good, parking their rigs, and posting their last loads on TikTok. The trucks that keep this country moving are starting to sit still. But why? From the rate collapse to broker chains, lease-purchase traps, and a system that grinds drivers down for years before spitting them out, the job isn't what it used to be. In this video, we break down what's really happening, why truckers are walking away, and what this could mean for anyone who depends on the freight that gets moved every day in this country. Because when the people who move everything start disappearing it becomes everyone's problem. Why truckers are quitting What's broken in the freight industry The frustration drivers are sounding off about What this means for the country moving forward This is one of those shifts you don't notice - until it shows up on your shelves."
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"War In The Middle East, 5/6/26"
Dialogue Works, 5/6/26
"Scott Ritter: Iran Unlashes Missiles!
Trump Caves, UAE And Israel Panic!"
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Col. Douglas Macgregor, 5/6/26
"Netanyahu Declares Emergency As
Iran Attack Cripples All Israel Defenses"
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Scott Ritter, 5/6/26
"Iran Wipes Out 50,000 Tons Ammunition IDF Arsenal -
Israel Army Collapses in 72 Hours"
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Musical Interlude: Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Shadows In The Wood"; "Footprints On The Sea"
Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Shadows In The Wood"
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Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Stars are sometimes born in the midst of chaos. About 3 million years ago in the nearby galaxy M33, a large cloud of gas spawned dense internal knots which gravitationally collapsed to form stars. NGC 604 was so large, however, it could form enough stars to make a globular cluster.
Many young stars from this cloud are visible in the above image from the Hubble Space Telescope, along with what is left of the initial gas cloud. Some stars were so massive they have already evolved and exploded in a supernova. The brightest stars that are left emit light so energetic that they create one of the largest clouds of ionized hydrogen gas known, comparable to the Tarantula Nebula in our Milky Way's close neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud."
Chet Raymo, “Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright…”
“Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright…”
by Chet Raymo
“Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, and holy, and fleet.” You may recall these words from Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.” There is nothing intrinsically cheerful about the world, she says. To live is to die; it’s all part of the bargain. Stars destroy themselves to make the atoms of our bodies. Every creature lives to eat and be eaten. And into this incomprehensible, unfathomable, apparently stochastic melee stumbles… You and I. With qualities that we have - so far - seen nowhere else. Hope. Humor. A sense of justice. A sense of beauty. Gratitude. But also: Anger. Hurt. Despair. Strangers in a strange land.
Galaxies by the billions turn like St. Catherine Wheels, throwing off sparks of exploding stars. Atoms eddy and flow, blowing hot and cold, groping and promiscuous. A wind of neutrinos gusts through our bodies, Energy billows and swells. A myriad of microorganisms nibble at our flesh.
We have a sense that something purposeful is going on, something that involves us. Something secret, holy and fleet. But we haven’t a clue what it is. We make up stories. Stories in which we are the point of it all. We tell the stories over and over. To our children. To ourselves. And the stories fill up the space of our ignorance. Until they don’t. And then the great yawning spaces open again. And time clangs down on our heads like a pummeling rain, like the collapsing ceiling of the sky. Dazed, stunned, we stagger like giddy topers towards our own swift dissolution. Inexplicably praising. Admiring. Wondering. Giving thanks.”
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“The Tyger”
“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”
- William Blake
"Your Enemies..."
“Never hate your enemies. It clouds your judgment.”
- "Michael Corleone"
"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."
- John F. Kennedy
The Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, "I Want A Lot"
"I Want A Lot"
"You see, I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything:
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.
So many live on and want nothing,
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgments.
But what you love to see are faces
that so work and feel thirst...
You have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
"A Kind Of Stubborn, Unrecognized Courage..."
"For many great deeds are accomplished in times of squalid struggle. There is a kind of stubborn, unrecognized courage which in the lowest depths tenaciously resists the pressures of necessity and ill-doing; there are noble and obscure triumphs observed by no one, unacclaimed by any fanfare. Hardship, loneliness, and penury are a battlefield which has its own heroes, sometimes greater than those lauded in history. Strong and rare characters are thus created; poverty nearly always a foster-mother, may become a true mother, distress may be the nursemaid of pride, and misfortune the milk that nourishes great spirits."
- Victor Hugo
"The Hyphen..."
"Life is the hyphen between matter and spirit."
- A.W. and J.C. Hare, "Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers," 1827
Freely download "Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers" here:
"Deadlier Than COVID Once Infected, Hantavirus Raises Alarm"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 5/6/26
"Deadlier Than COVID Once Infected,
Hantavirus Raises Alarm"
"A growing number of Americans are asking questions about Hantavirus after reports connected the deadly virus to multiple deaths aboard a cruise ship. In this video, I break down what Hantavirus is, how it spreads, why experts say it is far deadlier than COVID once somebody becomes infected, and whether people should actually be concerned about another potential health crisis."
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"The Hantavirus Theater Continues: Fear Over Facts,
and Why We Already Have Solutions"
A Measured Look at What the Press Got Wrong (And What They Got Right, More or Less)
by Robert W. Malone, MD, MS · Chief Medical Officer, Curativa Bay
"The narrative has evolved. We now know - courtesy of the WHO and various health authorities scrambling to contain the optics as much as the virus - that the passengers aboard the MV Hondius contracted the Andes strain of hantavirus. This is the detail the press has seized upon, amplified, and weaponized into a fresh installment of fear porn. But before we succumb to the theatrical anxiety that seems to be the dominant mode of public health communication these days, let’s examine what this actually means.
The Origin Story: Yes, It Came From South America: The ship departed Argentina in late March. Argentina - where the Andes strain has been circulating since at least 1995, where outbreaks have occurred regularly, and where between July 2025 and January 2026 alone, at least 20 deaths were reported. This is not new. This is not emerging. This is a known pathogen in a known endemic region, and apparently, someone (or several someones) who carried it boarded a cruise ship.
The question the press should have asked - and largely didn’t - is straightforward: How did the virus get from Argentina onto the ship? The answer is almost certainly rodent contamination during provisioning or boarding. This is a logistics problem, not a pandemic harbinger. It is entirely foreseeable and, frankly, entirely preventable with adequate sanitation protocols. But the narrative doesn’t work that way. Rodent control in ports sounds mundane. Boring. Unmotivating for the 24-hour news cycle.
Human-to-Human Transmission: Rare, Documented, and Misrepresented: Here is what the science actually shows about the Andes strain and human-to-human transmission: it is possible, but extraordinarily rare, and it requires sustained, intimate contact - the kind of contact that occurs between spouses, between healthcare workers and critically ill patients, or among family members living in close quarters during an active outbreak.
The press, inevitably, has positioned this as a looming threat. The subtext runs thus: A virus that can jump from person to person is loose on a ship. Civilization hangs in the balance. Never mind that documented cases of person-to-person transmission are vanishingly few, or that when they have occurred, they’ve been in contexts of profound intimacy or direct exposure to the blood and bodily fluids of acutely ill patients.
Let me be precise: the Andes virus spreads primarily through aerosolized particles from infected rodent excreta. When humans contract it, they typically acquire it by inhaling those particles directly. Yes, person-to-person transmission has been documented - primarily in Argentina and Chile, and primarily under conditions of close, sustained contact. But as one expert noted with admirable restraint: “This is not a virus that spreads like flu or like COVID. It’s quite different.” The transmission route, when it occurs between humans, appears to involve significant exposure to bodily fluids - not the casual contact that characterizes respiratory viruses. This matters. A great deal.
What This Means: Respiratory Protection, Aerosol Control, and Why We Shouldn’t Panic: If - and it is a conditional if - human-to-human transmission via the Andes strain occurs through respiratory droplets or aerosols (as the available evidence suggests for the most likely transmission route), then we have well-established tools for mitigation that have nothing to do with vaccines or antivirals.
This is where the conversation gets interesting, and where the public health establishment seems remarkably incurious. The media line is that there is no cure, no vaccine. This is true in the sense that there is no FDA-approved antiviral specifically for hantavirus, and no preventive vaccine in widespread use. But this framing - there is nothing we can do - is fundamentally misleading.
We have aerosol mitigation strategies. We have room-level environmental controls. We have topical and respiratory interventions that can address viral particles in the environment and at mucosal surfaces. These are not speculative. They are not unproven. They are, in fact, among the most direct and upstream approaches to infectious disease prevention that exist.
The Missing Conversation: Hypochlorous Acid and Prevention at the Source: Which brings me to hypochlorous acid (HOCl) - a molecule that deserves far more attention in discussions of respiratory and environmental viral control than it currently receives.
HOCl is not a pharmaceutical. It is not a vaccine. It is a naturally occurring antimicrobial agent, a weak acid that the human immune system produces in neutrophils and other immune cells specifically to kill pathogens. When weaponized in controlled formulations - whether as a nasal spray, a surface disinfectant, or a room-level aerosol - it provides a straightforward mechanism for reducing viral burden at the point of exposure or transmission.
Think of it as upstream prevention. Not waiting for someone to become symptomatic. Not waiting for a virus to reach the lungs or cause systemic disease. Instead, intervening at the site of initial infection - the nasal mucosa, the respiratory tract, the contaminated environment.
A nasal spray formulation of HOCl offers direct antiviral activity at the primary portal of entry for respiratory pathogens. Room nebulization - dispersing a fine mist of HOCl throughout an enclosed space - offers environmental viral control without the toxicity profile of traditional chemical disinfectants. Both approaches are mechanistically sound, grounded in immunology, and immediately applicable to a situation like the one aboard the Hondius.
For a healthcare setting - or a cruise ship quarantine - these interventions provide options that are currently not part of the mainstream discussion, despite being more readily available and deployable than waiting for antiviral drugs or vaccines to materialize.
The Real Story: Not Novel, Not Unprecedented, Manageable With Known Tools: Here is what has actually happened: A virus that has been endemic to South America for decades, that has killed people in Argentina with predictable (if tragic) regularity, made its way aboard a ship. A small number of people became ill. Some required hospitalization. Some died. This is sobering. It is also not unprecedented.
The Andes strain has demonstrated human-to-human transmission capability in previous outbreaks, most notably in Argentina and Chile. The scientific literature on this is clear. But it is also clear that such transmission is rare, limited, and occurs in specific epidemiological contexts. The current outbreak aboard the Hondius does not represent a fundamental change in the virus’s behavior, nor does it represent the emergence of a novel pathogen or a newly adapted viral isolate with enhanced transmissibility.
What it represents is what it has always represented: a zoonotic pathogen, maintained in rodent populations in South America, capable of occasional spillover into human populations, and - in rare circumstances - capable of limited human-to-human spread. The mechanisms for this are well understood. The epidemiology is well documented. The problem is not that we lack understanding. The problem is that understanding doesn’t sell advertising.
What Should Be Done: In practical terms, the response should be straightforward:
o Environmental control: Rigorous disinfection of the ship, with attention to rodent exclusion and control. This is basic public health, and it is effective.
o Isolation of symptomatic cases: Standard precautions for any respiratory pathogen, with appropriate PPE for healthcare workers and caretakers.
o Mucosal protection: For close contacts and healthcare personnel, nasal spray formulations of HOCl provide a rational, evidence-based mechanism for reducing viral load at the primary site of infection. This is not speculative - it is grounded in the immunobiology of innate immunity.
o Environmental aerosol control: Room nebulization with HOCl offers a mechanism for controlling viral particles in shared spaces, reducing the risk of airborne transmission without relying on vaccines, antivirals, or extended lockdowns.
None of these interventions require regulatory approval they have not already received. None require years of development. All of them operate at the level of prevention and early intervention, not crisis management.
The Broader Point: The press narrative around the Andes strain is designed to provoke anxiety about a novel threat. But this threat is not novel. It is an iteration of a longstanding zoonotic reality - one that has been managed, more or less poorly, for decades. The difference now is that we have additional tools available: targeted antimicrobial aerosols, evidence-based topical antivirals, and a much better understanding of respiratory transmission dynamics than we had even five years ago.
The positioning from official sources - there is no cure, no vaccine, therefore nothing can be done - is not only factually incomplete, it is strategically indefensible. It ignores the possibility of prevention at the source, upstream intervention before systemic disease takes hold, and environmental controls that can materially reduce transmission risk. If the goal is to inform the public and protect health, this conversation needs to expand. If the goal is to maintain a narrative of helplessness and fear, then the current approach makes perfect sense. I’ll leave it to readers to decide which is happening."
Dr. Robert W. Malone is the Chief Medical Officer of Curativa Bay (CuraClean Technologies). He is a physician, scientist, and the inventor of foundational mRNA vaccine technology. He has served on multiple biotechnology and biodefense advisory bodies and writes regularly on pandemic preparedness, medical countermeasures, and public-health policy.
“Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.5 Quadrillion Dollars, Too Big to Understand”
“Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.5 Quadrillion Dollars,
Too Big to Understand”
by David Hague
“I recently returned from two weeks of ‘high level’ meetings with a group of Bankers [this is code for two weeks of subsidized debauchery with bankers] in Rome. As I sat at my desk, I was hoping to motivate myself to pursue a more chaste and pure existence. Unfortunately the Polar Vortex experienced by North America drained me of my good intentions. The bone chilling cold once again had me reaching for my trusty bottle of Jack Daniels for warmth and inspiration. My time in Rome had not been completely ‘wasted’, so to speak. I had secured a contract from the European Central Bank [ECB] to research the topic of Derivatives. I was to present my findings at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos later that month.
One Quadrillion Dollars: Too Big to Understand: Dear Reader, please resist your natural instinct to click away from this commentary at the mere mention of the word ‘Derivatives’. I am acutely aware of the boredom and befuddlement that this word instills in you. At this point I would simply remind you that the derivatives market is estimated to exceed one quadrillion dollars. [This incredibly large number is actually an accurate estimate of the size of the derivatives marketplace]. (In addition, unfunded liabilities, like medical care and pensions, are at least $300 trillion globally. If we add gross derivatives of $1.5 quadrillion, which are likely to turn into real debt as counterparties fail, the total debt and liabilities are above $2 quadrillion. Source - CP) Despite the fact the derivatives market eclipses the market capitalization of the NYSE by an exponential factor, it is not discussed, reported or tracked because it is simply too complicated and opaque. Warren Buffet’s, comment about ‘weapons of mass financial destruction’ seem to be the beginning and end of any discussion on the topic.
Derivatives are a parasitic financial instrument: For those of you who are unschooled on the topic of derivatives, allow me to explain. Derivatives are abstract financial instruments, which, like parasites, can attach themselves to all manner of stocks, bonds, mortgages, commodity, debt obligations, currency exchange, interest rate fluctuations… in short, anything. Derivatives exist in the ‘twilight zone’ of the banking industry. Like black holes, their presence and massive influence are acknowledged yet the true influence on the global economy of this quadrillion dollar ‘event horizon’ is only theoretical. The near catastrophic disasters at Barings, JP Morgan and AIG are small examples of their destructive powers. However I will offer you Investorpedia’s more clinical definition. “A security whose price is dependent upon or derived from one or more underlying assets. The derivative itself is merely a contract between two or more parties.”
You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, {Kenny Rogers}: One might think of derivatives as a random game of online poker: you don’t know who your opponents are [your counterparty], you do not know if you will be paid [counterparty risk], you do not know if the game is legitimate, [lack of regulation], and your opponents are probably able to see what cards you are holding, [market domination by large banks]. As well, you are making bets that in many instances neither you nor your opponents fully grasp [complexity of the market]. With each wager you are potentially risking not only your current assets, but your future assets as well. [Leverage]. In some cases you do not know how much you are betting. Imagine as well, that you play this game every day with trillions of dollars that you do not have. This is the global derivatives market.
It is all Greek to me: Alternately, as derivatives are often created as a form of insurance, think of them as an insurance policy in which you:
• Do not know the name, address or any contact information relating to your insurer.
• Do not know if your insurer has the resources to pay a claim.
• Do not understand the insurance contract as it is written in Greek.
• Must rely on a shadowy third party [ISDA] to decide what constitutes a claim. [Credit event]
• Do not know whether your insurer is itself vulnerable to the particular risk you have contracted with it to insure.
His moral lassitude allowed him to excel: Dear Reader, I digress, let me return to my narrative. The aforementioned lucrative contract was secured by two key factors. The first factor was my friendship with Gustavo Laframboise-Pierre, the European Central Bank’s [ECB] Global Director of Statistical Creation. My relationship with such an esteemed member of the ECB traced its roots back to Gustavo’s days as a bookie for Wall Street’s elite. I referred so much business to him we became very good friends. His station in life took a remarkable turn when a senior member of the ECB, while in New York on a ‘fact finding mission’ [this is code for visiting his favorite escort] made an outrageously large and incorrect wager on the outcome of the 2010 World Cup. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, the term ‘derivative’ is commonly used in sports betting!) The only way the debt could be settled was for the banker to offer Gustavo a highly paid sinecure at the ECB. Gustavo became the Global Director of Statistical Creation with the responsibility of making up statistics to support whatever fantastical and deranged policies Central Banks around the world were initiating. Remarkably Gustavo’s aptitude for numbers, coupled with his moral lassitude allowed him to excel at his job. It was Gustavo who invented the term ‘Quantitative Easing’ as a benign euphemism for runaway money printing.
Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise’: The second factor that secured the contract for me was a chance remark I made as Gustavo and I enjoyed a ‘working lunch’, with several senior executives who represented many of the world’s largest banks. The working lunch was held at Rome’s exclusive Blue Moon Gentleman’s Club. As the featured dancer left the stage I happened to mention to the assorted luminaries that I had read an article on the subject of derivatives. The bankers looked at me with something akin to awe and reverence. Gustavo whispered to me that the topic of derivatives had been discussed in a recent conference call by the world’s bankers. The conclusion reached at that time was that derivatives were too boring and too complicated for bankers to grasp. Despite JP Morgan’s very public, expensive and monumentally stupid 5 billon dollar derivatives trading loss bankers still choose to remain cocooned in a ‘Cloak of Ignorance’ as it relates to derivatives. Thomas Gray’s lament that ‘where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise’ could easily be the mission statement of the global banking industry.
I had read a complete article, I was a ‘de facto expert’: Dear reader, I am not being rude and offensive in my remarks about JP Morgan. Surely you would agree with me that any large bank that loses $5 billion in derivatives trading is ignorant of the properties and risks of derivatives? The fact that I had actually read a complete article on the subject made me a de facto expert on the topic. Gustavo, in an act of kindness, seized the opportunity on my behalf and pressed his colleagues to retain me to research the topic and make a presentation at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos. Thus I found myself preparing to dazzle the world’s financial elite with my insights into the risks and opportunities presented by the global derivatives market. In a rush to complete the deal before the next dancer took the stage it was agreed that I would receive the standard banker’s honorarium of $5,000/hour up to a maximum of ‘whatever it takes’.
At $5,000/hr., you would surely not expect me to be brief: I sat at my desk, sipping ‘Gentleman Jack‘ while I looked out at the bleak weather that made Brooklyn so depressing in the winter. My TV was tuned to CNBC, as I waited for Wall Street to open. I put my crack pipe in its case. Dear reader like many of you [especially those of you who work in the banking industry], I have learned all too well, the dangers of mixing crack cocaine with whiskey on an empty stomach. [Have we not all indulged, to our regret, that particular venial sin at least once?] I collected my thoughts and began to write my lengthy tome on the derivatives market. Dear reader at $5,000/hr., you would surely not expect me to be brief.
Lions and Tigers and Bears [and derivatives] Oh My!: I do not want to frighten you. However I will share with you some facts about derivatives that will have you reacting as nervously as Dorothy did in the Wizard of OZ when confronted with the thought of Lions and Tigers and Bears. ‘Derivatives, Oh My’, will I suspect be the words that escape your lips.
• Size of the derivatives market: 1.5 – 2.4 QUADRILLION dollars
• Size of Global Stock and bond markets: 175 trillion dollars
• Who regulates the Derivatives market? LOL, Regulation is a ‘work in progress’ dominated by the big banks.
How dangerous are derivatives? They almost destroyed the world’s largest insurance company, AIG, as well as the global economy. Seriously, you don’t remember? Just Google the words AIG and collapse. Alternately you might call Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan and ask him if Derivatives are dangerous. Have recent regulatory changes made the world economy less likely to implode from a derivative fuelled explosion? Actually as one might expect, thanks to regulatory enhancements that had to run the gauntlet of bank lobbyists prior to their approval, the world’s economy is in more danger than ever from a derivatives inspired meltdown.
‘Duck Dynasty’ and ‘Real Housewives’ to the rescue: How much attention does the Main Street pay to the world’s largest and riskiest casino? [AKA: the Derivatives market]. If one were to Google the word derivatives, one will get 34 million ‘hits’. Alternately, if one does a similar search for the words stocks bonds and markets one will get 400 million ‘hits’. The 34 million ‘hits’ generated by a Google search of the word derivatives compares unfavorably with the 37 million ‘hits’ generated by a search of the term ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’, the 209 million ‘hits’ generated by a search of the term ‘Duck Dynasty’ or the 713 million ‘hits’ generated by searching the word ‘Sex’. One must conclude that only when derivatives are discussed by one of the ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ posing nude in bed with one of the cast members of ‘Duck Dynasty’ will derivatives receive the attention they deserve.
Reality bites: Derivatives can only be discussed as ‘Fake News’: Where can one find insights and coverage of the Derivatives Market in the mainstream media? Is Fox News or CNN my best choice? Sadly Dear reader your best choice would have been The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Despite the calamitous risk and obvious importance of this topic only Mr. Stewart and his team dared to share information with the general public. Given the outlandish and frightening risks derivatives constitute to the Global Economy, perhaps Mr. Stewart was correct that it can only be discussed in the ‘Fake News’ format.
Derivatives: better suited for Ripley’s Believe it or not than the Wall Street Journal: How bizarre is the derivatives market? How is the concept of money for nothing propagated by the derivatives market? What is the difference between a chump and a champion in the derivatives market? I will leave it to Shah Gilani in his excellent post in “Wall Street: Insights and Indictments“ to explain. Suffice to say that one is able to buy insurance in the derivatives market. One can then cause the insured event to occur by collaborating with a third party. All that remains is to collect the insurance proceeds. [To be clear the proceeds are usually in the tens of millions of dollars.] The derivatives market makes the Ponzi-like money printing of the Central banks look like ‘Amateur Hour’.
Who needs ‘Crack’? Dear reader, usually I needed a little help from my friend Mr. Crack to feel as paranoid and euphoric as I did at this moment. Paranoid, because it was clear to me that the derivatives market was truly a weapon of mass financial destruction. Euphoric because I knew that my research would make my ‘Derivatives’ presentation at the World Economic Forum a groundbreaking ‘tour de force’ that would vault me to the forefront of ‘talking heads’ that pass for experts on mainstream media. Fame, fortune, a book deal and perhaps that elusive Nobel Prize would surely follow. My twenty minutes of painstaking research, had made me one of the world’s foremost experts on this complex subject. [BTW Dear Reader by reaching this point in my commentary, you surely now know more about derivatives than most bankers and traders on Wall Street. You should be quite pleased.]
David, you are an imbecile: I decided to reach out to my pal Gustavo and share some of my findings. I knew that it was 3:30 in the afternoon in Paris so I would be able to catch Gustavo just as he arrived for another day of work. “Gustavo”, I intoned, breathless with excitement. “I have uncovered some startling, controversial, and frightening information about derivatives. The luminaries and leading lights who attend my presentation in Davos will be utterly gobsmacked by my revelations. The media will undoubtedly ensure that my findings go viral. The topic of derivatives will no longer exist only in the dark shadows of the banking industry. The danger that derivatives pose to the global economy will permeate the consciousness of Main Street.” Gustavo sighed, “David, I do not know if you are stupid or naïve. Every September when you bet $1,000 that the perennially atrocious Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup, I assumed you were simply ingenuous. Your comments today have convinced me that you are an imbecile. Let me assure you that those will not be the findings that you present at the World Economic Forum. Rather you will inform the world that derivatives are a financial instrument that is being used by brilliant and prudent financial professionals to mitigate risk and make the world a safer place.”
The ‘Truth Will Out’: “Gustavo”, I groaned, “that would be a lie. I cannot in good conscience, sacrifice my integrity, my honor, my core beliefs and my good name simply to placate Wall Street and the Central Banks. I have a responsibility to my readers on Main Street to inform them, to warn them, to prepare them for the likely financial chaos that derivatives will cause”. “Gustavo”, I said with iron willed determination, “the Truth Will Out”. “David”, Gustavo snarled, “If you change the tenor of your presentation and indicate that derivatives are the most benign form of financial instrument, somewhat akin to Treasury bills, we will double your fee”.
Move along nothing to see here: Dear Reader, in summary let me say that derivatives are the most benign form of financial instrument, somewhat akin to treasury bills. Gustavo’s immutable logic and persuasive argument was instrumental in helping me reach the correct conclusion regarding the risks to the Global economy posed by derivatives. So Dear Reader, move along, there is nothing to see here.”
o
"$2.5 Quadrillion Disaster Waiting to Happen
– Egon von Greyerz"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"There is sufficiency in the world
for Man's need but not for his greed."
- Mahatma Gandhi
From November 1, 2022, and more terrifyingly worse now... "Egon von Greyerz (EvG) stores gold for clients at the biggest private gold vault in the world buried deep in the Swiss Alps. EvG is a financial and precious metals expert. EvG is a former Swiss banker and an expert in risk. He says the risk in the global markets has never been this high.
EvG explains, “Credit has increased dramatically through derivatives. All instruments being issued now by banks, pension funds, stock funds, it’s all synthetic. There is no real underlying payments in anything almost. Therefore, my estimate for derivatives would be at least $2 quadrillion, and I think that is probably conservative. Then, we have debt on top of that of $300 trillion, and we also have a couple hundred trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities. So, we are talking about $2.5 QUADRILLION, and that’s with a global GDP of $88 trillion. So, there is a disaster waiting to happen, and especially because all this created money has created no value whatsoever. I always knew this would collapse, and it’s taken longer than I expected, but I think we are at the end of a major era.
These derivatives, at some point soon, will actually turn into debt. Central banks will have to cover all the outstanding liabilities of the commercial banks as we are seeing now with Credit Suisse, Bank of England and etc. This is going to happen across the board. Whether it’s called derivatives or called debt, as far as I am concerned, it’s the same thing. It will have the same effect on the world financial system, which will be disastrous, of course.”
EvG says the derivative markets were simply a way for financial institutions to carry debt and not show it on their balance sheets. In the end, everything will balance out. EvG goes on to say, “Nobody can repay the debt, and they can’t even pay interest. So, therefore, when the debt implodes, so will the assets that were financed by this debt. So, both sides of the balance sheet have to come down. Whether it comes down by 50%, 75% or 90%, I don’t know. All I think about is risk, and the financial system will not survive in its present form. Central banks only use one kind of medicine, and that is more printed money. Now, you are getting negative returns on printed money. So, that is not going to save anything.
Sadly we are looking at a situation when this system will start to implode. The rich are still rich, but the poor are really poor. Overall in the UK, Germany and most European countries, people don’t have enough money to live. This is a human disaster already. With food costs going up 25% and energy going up the same and gasoline, interest rates and rents, people don’t have enough money, and that is happening now. It’s a human disaster of mega proportions. It’s so sad, and governments will have no chance of doing anything about it. The risk is increasing exponentially, and it is going to get worse.” There is much more in the 43-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with Egon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management, which can be found on GoldSwitzerland.com.
o
Greg Hunter, "US Officially a Banana Republic"
"US Officially a Banana Republic"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"Last time financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter (aka Mr. Gold) was on USAW, he said don’t even think about selling any gold or silver. One of the big reasons why he is still saying this is the news last week that the US debt to GDP ratio is now at 100%. Mr. Gold says, “I have talked for years about how the entire world runs on credit. What we started this off with is the United States is officially a banana republic. It’s 100% debt to GDP. When I was in school in the early 1980s, the definition of a banana republic is when it hit 100% debt to GDP. In this instance, it is the issuer of the world’s reserve currency that is admitting it is officially a banana republic. Everything runs on credit. The biggest issuer of credit is the United States, and if their credit card gets declined, then what does that do to the real economy? Nothing will work. There will be nothing on shelves. Stores will be dark. Should you store food? The answer is yes because something really bad is right in front of us. It’s a credit collapse.”
So, the Trump Administration is not going to just let everything collapse. What is the contingency plan? Mr. Gold says, “I think the contingency plan is oil. They went after Maduro. So, they have taken control of the Venezuelan oil supply. They want to do the same thing elsewhere. I mean President Trump said in his own words, he said basically we are pirates, and we are going to take Iran’s oil. I think that’s the plan. It is to control more oil and keep the petrodollar system alive. Is it going to work? I think, ultimately, it will not work because the numbers are far too upside down at this point. If you really look under the hood, the Federal Reserve itself is insolvent. And we have not even talked about derivatives. Derivatives are the gorilla in the room. In the derivative market, you are looking at $2 quadrillion in derivatives. Once you get things off sides, and an example of that is look at the British yields, they are back to pushing 7%. They are back to rates that are the same as in 1998. So, all of the easing is gone. Everything runs on credit, and once you gum up credit, you start affecting the real economy. Then, there is less cash flow in the real economy, and that spills over into the financial economy and financial markets.
Derivatives are the biggest danger. Warren Buffett calls them mass financial destruction. It should not go unnoticed that Berkshire Hathaway is now sitting on $400 billion of cash, which is the biggest hoard they have ever had. In 1998, the financial media called him an idiot, and what happened in 2000? Buffett was an idiot again in early 2008. What happened in late 2008 and 2009? Buffett is not an idiot, and for him to say now that there is nothing out there of value to buy and I’d rather have cash, that tells you a pretty big story.”
On silver, Holter says, “I think we are reloading for a much larger event than we saw in November to January. That 90 days was spectacular, but I think this next move is going to dwarf that.” Holter says many big analysts are predicting silver much, much higher by the end of the year." There is much more in the 42-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes one-on-one with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter/Mr. Gold as the “credit collapse” in the financial system begins.
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