Jeremiah Babe, 7/19/24
"The Internet Just Blew Up Today,
How Quickly The System Can Wipe You Out"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
Friday, July 19, 2024
"A Look to the Heavens"
"The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other's grand spiral star systems.
As for the view from planet Earth, this sharp image shows off M33's blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms. In fact, the cavernous NGC 604 is the brightest star forming region, seen here at about the 4 o'clock position from the galaxy center. Like M31, M33's population of well-measured variable stars have helped make this nearby spiral a cosmic yardstick for establishing the distance scale of the Universe."
The Poet: Wendell Berry, "The Circles Of Our Lives"
"The Circles Of Our Lives"
"Within the circles of our lives
we dance the circles of the years,
the circles of the seasons
within the circles of the years,
the cycles of the moon,
within the circles of the seasons,
the circles of our reasons
within the cycles of the moon.
Again, again we come and go,
changed, changing. Hands
join, unjoin in love and fear,
grief and joy. The circles turn,
each giving into each, into all.
Only music keeps us here,
each by all the others held.
In the hold of hands and eyes
we turn in pairs, that joining
joining each to all again.
And then we turn aside, alone,
out of the sunlight gone
into the darker circles of return,
Within the circles of our lives..."
- Wendell Berry
○
“We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of Infinity. Life is Eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in Eternity.”
- Paulo Coelho
Full screen recommended.
Moody Blues, "Gypsy"
Remember...
"It Is Only When..."
"Happily men don't realize how stupid they are, or half the world would commit suicide. Knowledge is a will-of-the-wisp, fluttering ever out of the traveller's reach; and a weary journey must be endured before it is even seen. It is only when a man knows a good deal that he discovers how unfathomable is his ignorance. The man who knows nothing is satisfied that there is nothing to know, consequently that he knows everything; and you may more easily persuade him that the moon is made of green cheese than that he is not omniscient."
- W. Somerset Maugham
○
“It takes considerable knowledge just to
realize the extent of your own ignorance.”
- Thomas Sowell
Adventures With Danno, "Microsoft Shuts World Down With The Push Of A Button! We're In Trouble!"
Adventures With Danno, PM 7/19/24
"Microsoft Shuts World Down With The
Push Of A Button! We're In Trouble!"
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Canadian Prepper, "What The F%#$! 1 Billion Computers Crash, Biggest Outage In History"
Canadian Prepper, 7/19/24
"What The F%#$!
1 Billion Computers Crash, Biggest Outage In History"
Comments here:
"The End of History"
"The End of History"
A somewhat exaggerated obituary...
by Joel Bowman
“History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of man.”
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
"Remember when history ended, dear reader? The year was 1992. "Under the Bridge" and "Tears in Heaven" were playing on the FM radio. The Cold War, which had promised such a “Bang!” had ended with barely a whimper. And American philosopher, Francis Fukuyama, had just published a daring book: "The End of History and the Last Man."
In light of the great Soviet collapse, Mr. Fukuyama was of the opinion that The West had not simply triumphed over The Rest, but that the world had finally reached “the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”
In other words, whatever was to be done in the fickle and turbulent realm of politics had, by the grand old year 1992, already been done. Here is Mr. Fukuyama, joining a long line of intellectuals (including Marx) to have become ensnared in the labyrinth of Hegel’s dialectical materialism: “Both Hegel and Marx believed that the evolution of human societies was not open-ended, but would end when mankind had achieved a form of society that satisfied its deepest and most fundamental longings. Both thinkers thus posited an "end of history": for Hegel this was the liberal state, while for Marx it was a communist society. This did not mean that the natural cycle of birth, life, and death would end, that important events would no longer happen, or that newspapers reporting them would cease to be published. It meant, rather, that there would be no further progress in the development of underlying principles and institutions, because all of the really big questions had been settled.” ~ Francis Fukuyama
But a curious thing happened on the way to the end of history; namely... history did not end. The political pendulum did not come to a full stop. Stubbornly, insolently, it kept right on a-swingin’...
Time and Again: Indeed, the ‘90s were a time of great political upheaval and experimentation, not all of it leading to the holy grail of western liberal democracy, as imagined by Mr. Fukuyama.
In the power vacuum created by the collapse of the Soviet Empire, Gorbachev’s perestroika (a program of political and economic “restructuring”) delivered the Russian people from the brutality of communism… into the unloving embrace of a corrupted oligarchy…and then to a kind of faux democracy that has seen the same man at the helm for a quarter of a century. (After this year’s “election,” Vladimir Putin became the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953.)
As for the Americans, co-belligerents in the aforementioned ideological conflict, they continued their own long march…headlong toward a special brand of political circuses and economic madness. In a country where any boy, girl or two-spirit animal might grow up to be president, the nation that enthusiastically sent its soldiers abroad to “make the world safe for democracy” offered up a Bush, followed by a Clinton (twice), followed by another Bush (twice), then very nearly another Clinton. Two decades of political power, held in the hands of two dynastic families.
Meanwhile, beneath fierce power struggles at the executive level, America’s vast and menacing security state – about which General Eisenhower famously warned in his farewell address in ‘61, at the height of the Cold War – continued its inexorable mission creep into the lives and private affairs of the good citizens of The Republic.
The Scourge of War: Neither the defeated Soviets nor the victorious Americans appeared willing to take the path Fukuyama had so carefully laid out for them. The End of History would have to wait...
Ah, but what about Europe, some venture to ask? Indeed, Mr. Fukuyama himself preferred the transnational euro-model to the comparatively unipolar American offering. Might not the “post-historic” world manifest itself over on the continent, where a common “Esperanto” currency – in the form of the euro – would facilitate free trade and citizens of all backgrounds, creeds and cultures would walk arm in arm from the Seine to the Danube, the Bay of Biscay to the shores of the Black Sea?
“I believe that the European Union more accurately reflects what the world will look like at the end of history than the contemporary United States,” declared Fukuyama at the time, in brave defense of his curious, end-of-days timeline. The EU’s attempt to transcend sovereignty and traditional power politics by establishing a transnational rule of law is much more in line with a ‘post-historical’ world than the Americans’ continuing belief in God, national sovereignty, and their military.”
Alas, not unlike the Ruskies and the Yankees before them, the Europeans would go on to disappoint Mr. Fukuyama, too. After a relatively sanguine start to the new millennium, the Eurozone spent most of the ensuing two decades descending gradually into first economic, then political, and now widespread cultural disaster. Today, protests from one end of the continent to the other – Finland to Greece, the Netherlands to France, Poland to Ireland and plenty more between – underscore real discord between neighbors in the great eurocrat utopia. Not to mention the scourge of war, which threatens to drag the entire continent, if not the whole western world, into yet another great conflagration.
Under the Bridge: And so, almost a quarter of a century after Mr. Fukuyama stopped the clock on History, it plods along regardless. Evidently, something about the political spirit of mankind just doesn’t want to sit still. In the year 2024, the world is faced with a plethora of political challenges, for which many of the seeds were sown in the dimming twilight of the last century.
That is to say, the ideological struggle continues against the backdrop of protests, uprisings, springs, occupations, revolutions and, over the weekend, here in the United States of America, attempted assassinations. (How close the Republic was to having its own Franz Ferdinand moment, we may never know...)
When Mr. Fukuyama stopped the clocks back in 1992, America’s debt clock was just ticking past $3 trillion. As we type these very words, that figure is fast approaching $35 trillion, a rather brassy 775 percent increase. According to the latest estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, it is set to top $56 trillion within the next decade. And the rate of increase is only accelerating…
In its report last month, the CBO revised its estimate of the budget deficit for 2024 from $1.6 trillion to $1.9 trillion - an increase of more than 20 percent.
As a proportion of annual GDP, the debt will rise from almost 100 percent this financial year to 122 percent in 2034, meaning that the debt is growing at a much faster rate than real economic output. Interest rate costs to service the debt, now approaching $1 trillion, will rise to $1.7 trillion by 2034, when it will become the single largest line item on the federal budget.
Which brings us back to the lessons of history…Will the United States have to go “Full Argentina” before the pendulum swings back the other way, to sanity, fiscal responsibility and limited government? Or is the die cast? We wait to see…Of course, Mr. Fukuyama is not alone in wondering how all this ends. Only, if history has taught us anything, it doesn’t. The show, as always, goes on."
Gregory Mannarino, "Terminal Decline: We Are Experiencing An Extinction Level Event"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 7/19/24
"Terminal Decline:
We Are Experiencing An Extinction Level Event"
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"We Like To Think..."
"We like to think that we are rational beings; humane, conscientious, civilized, thoughtful. But when things fall apart, even just a little, it becomes clear we are not better than animals. We have opposable thumbs, we think, we walk erect, we speak, we dream, but deep down we are still routing around in the primordial ooze; biting, clawing, scratching out an existence in the cold, dark world like the rest of the tree-toads and sloths."
- "Grey's Anatomy"
"At Least Three Shooters Found In New Audio Forensic Analysis"
"At Least Three Shooters Found
In New Audio Forensic Analysis"
by Mike Adams
"I've completed a new forensic audio analysis of the first 7 shots fired. They show 3 different distances. This means there were at least 3 shooters, which means the lone gunman story is a cover up.
• Audio forensics analysis of a shooting with 6 identified gunshots. (5:37)
• Bullet timing and distance measurement in a shooting scenario. (10:27)
• Bullet trajectory and distance based on audio analysis. (17:20)
• Ballistics and echoes in a shooting incident. (22:22)
• Gunfire at Trump's speech, analyzed for distance and shooters. (25:44)
• Audio analysis of possible multiple shooters in a shooting incident. (32:53)
• Assassination attempt on Trump, multiple shooters identified. (37:53)
View video here:
o
o
Full screen recommended.
Peak Prosperity, Dr. Chris Martenson, 7/16/24
"Beyond incompetence; The Shooters & The Water Tower"
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o
Dan, I Allegedly, "Largest IT Outage in History - Huge Warning"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 7/19/24
"Largest IT Outage in History - Huge Warning"
"Thousands of banks are closed. Airlines are shut down. Some cities cannot open and be ran because of a massive cyber out. We are supposed to believe this is all because of a software update."
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o
Gregory Mannarino, "The Downfall Is At Hand"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/19/24
"The Downfall Is At Hand"
Comments here:
Jim Kunstler, "Slowly, Then All at Once"
"Slowly, Then All at Once"
by Jim Kunstler
“Biden has been jabbed at least four times. This is his third
covid diagnosis. The shots are working great.”
- Jeff Childers, Coffee & Covid
"There was a lot of talk about divine intervention at the Republican Convention this week. The country has witnessed a rush of seemingly providential events since the fateful night of June 27th when, to universal horror, “Joe Biden” was unmasked as The Phantom of the White House. The attempt on Donald Trump’s life Saturday, with its intimations of blob involvement, was only the latest of countless trips, hoaxes, capers, and ops that smacked of demonic inspiration laid on the public, so you can’t blame them for feeling that “God is among us now.”
A huge piece of this dynamic has been the Right’s amazing impotence in the eight-year-long march of insults to the republic - especially the failure to find relief for any of that in the courts of law, until last month when the SCOTUS finally kneecapped Democratic Party lawfare operations. A paramount example of that impotence was being unable to find one jurisdiction willing to adjudicate election fraud in 2020 on the merit of the arguments.
But there was much more, starting with collective helplessness in the drawn-out RussiaGate psychodrama, even when all the players and their many nefarious acts were exposed by the alt news media, and extending to the mendacious roguery of the two-year Mueller (Weissmann) Commission, followed by fifty-one former intel higher-ups labeling Hunter Biden’s laptop “Russian disinformation, followed by Rep. Adam Schiff’s Ukraine “whistleblower” prank featuring CIA/NSC/DOD/DOJ moles Eric Ciaramella, Colonel Vindman and IC Inspector General Michael Atkinson, and then the FBI-instigated J-6 riot with the ensuing faked-up House J-6 committee...plus you can throw in the stupid Ukraine war, the drag queens in the kindergartens, the bumbling Durham investigation, ten million unvetted illegal migrants flowing into the country and this year’s four show-trials put on to finally break Mr. Trump.
For many in this land, it has been like the classic nightmare of being paralyzed in the presence of evil. So, it’s no wonder that the Republicans came into their convention with a tremendous tailwind of relief when events suddenly broke their way in June. Now, everyone knows that the current president is a vindictive invalid who will be tossed overboard by his own terrified party in a matter of hours now. And the entire scaffold of lies supporting “Joe Biden” and his party is wobbling badly, too.
You could see it in the deranged terror of Rachel Maddow’s increasingly contorted face last night as she rehearsed all the hoaxes she has helped to perpetrate, along with her mentally-ill posse of Jenn Psaki, Joy Reid, Nicole Wallace, and the strangely mute white male Ari Melber. It seemed that any minute Rachel’s head would spin and start spewing pea soup at the camera. When will an exorcist finally pay a visit to MSNBC?
As the sun sets on “Joe Biden’s” career, what’s left of his campaign runs an ad in which he promises “to finish the job.” Sounds kind of sinister now, doesn’t it, like something a crime boss might tell his caporegimes? And for sure the country is suffering from this three-year-plus reign-of-terror against common sense and common decency. The wreckage is everywhere, all over this land. “Defending our Democracy,” my ass.
The party big dawgs have paid their terminal visit to the old grifter bringing the sad news that it’s over. Of course, this excites several new headaches for them. Foremost: how can “JB” bow out of the election on account of mental infirmity but still remain president? Even if they call it something else, make some other excuse, the whole world knows now that the president is gone in the head. There are six months remaining to the end of his term and a lot of urgent issues requiring a president’s attention. You can be sure that pressure will rise to shove him out of office altogether. And it may come before the Democratic Convention in late August - if we want to be taken seriously by the rest of the world.
Of course, that would elevate Kamala to the White House. Would getting to be the first female president of-color for six months be her consolation prize for graciously declining an automatic nomination to run in “JB’s” place, so that the party can stage an “open convention” free-for-all? Or would she better serve the party as a sacrificial goat to head the ticket and get buried in what’s shaping up to be an election landslide for the Republicans? Anyway, which of the various replacement politicians - Newsom, Whitmer, Pritzker, PA Gov. Shapiro - really wants to squander a political future in an election that’s as much a vote against the Democratic Party itself as any particular figure in it? Let the party go down so it can be purged of Green Woke Satanic mentally-ill communists and reorganized on a sane and decent basis.
But then there’s always HRC. She’s been laying back alertly, waiting for an opening to swoop in on her leathery wings and cast a fresh spell over the batshit-crazy women who, in recent times, comprise the party’s base. At one point, not many years ago, the party was broke and had to be bailed-out by the Clinton Foundation. To what extent does that entity still own the DNC, and especially its cargo of super-delegates? I guess we’re going to find out."
Bill Bonner, "Pattern Recognition"
"Pattern Recognition"
If the pattern holds, America will sink further into debt and …
and its capital – in stocks, bonds, and real estate – will become less valuable.
by Bill Bonner
"Those whom the gods would destroy are first driven mad."
- Euripides
Poitou, France - "MarketWatch: "Trump promises ‘massive tax cuts’ and an end to inflation in convention speech. ‘I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy,” Trump said during his wide-ranging address. “We will drill, baby, drill,” he added, predicting that will “lead to a large-scale decline in prices.’ Hold onto your hats; it’s going to be a wild ride. Anything could happen; but an end to inflation is unlikely.
In 1999, the US was master of itself, and the world. As late as 2008, it could still control its national debt and raise interest rates, if necessary, to cool inflation and protect the dollar. But today, it is trapped. The debt is six times bigger. It now controls us. The Fed can lower rates; it can’t raise them... or, not by much. And as the debt grows, so does the pressure not to fight inflation at all, but to welcome it... or even cause it. Inflation will be a policy choice.
The US government is the world’s largest debtor. Its debts are, of course, calibrated in dollars, a currency it just happens to control. By lowering rates (and printing money) it causes prices to rise, and reduces the real value of its own debt.
America has entered a ‘silly season.’ It has been on top of the world for so long... thus deprived of oxygen... it seems to have suffered a kind of brain damage. Its leaders say ‘crazy’ things... do silly things... Stop inflation? Why not pay off the national debt too... and grow orchids on the moon? But let us continue our brief history... we look at how we got where we are... how we became the world’s most powerful nation - ever. Then, we may see the rest of the pattern more clearly.
New Money System: Among the critical enabling events, mentioned here often, was Nixon’s ditching of the gold standard. Thereafter, politicians had almost unlimited power to raise money without discomfiting voters. Borrowing credit dollars - produced by the new money system - allowed the feds to spend money that had not yet been earned, let alone taxed. Instead, it passed the bill to non-voters, the next generation, in the form of inflation.
It was this scammy financing that - in part - allowed another big enabling event. Ronald Reagan’s advisors - not including our friend David Stockman -convinced the Gipper that the Soviet Union was an existential threat to America. To protect the nation, Reagan abandoned his ‘conservative’ economics in favor of an activist agenda, financed on credit. And why not? Deficits didn’t matter; a debt crisis and inflation were far in the future.
Reagan’s administration added 160% to US debt... the third biggest presidential gain, following Roosevelt and Wilson. But it wasn’t just the money that changed things, it was what happened to the money... and what it did to the USA.
Most of the extra spending went to the military. From there, much of it went to the private sector firepower industry... and a substantial part of that was put to work paying lobbyists, politicians, ‘think tanks’ and universities to sing the praises of... yes, the firepower industry.
In effect, the warmongers, neocons, and big defense suppliers bought control of the government with money supplied by the US taxpayer.
The Reagan Administration also marked the beginning of a major political change. No longer a ‘conservative’ party that eschewed unnecessary spending, debt and overseas military adventures... the Republicans became activists, big spenders and world improvers. Instead of counterbalancing the Democrats’ Big Government plans, Republicans took the key elements – overspending at home and over-meddling abroad - for its own.
Today, the cost of the empire’s muscle is $1.3 trillion per year. Politically, it can’t be trimmed. Any politician who tries is marginalized.
The other big component is Social Security/Medicare. Mr. Trump has promised to cut taxes... but not cut a penny from either Social Security/Medicare... or from the military. So, the debt rises. And the government’s monetary and foreign policies must now be adapted... not for the benefit of the American people, but to accommodate the debt and the powerful special interests who benefit from it. And now, if the pattern holds, America will sink further into debt and …and its capital – in stocks, bonds, and real estate – will become less valuable. More to come... "
Adventures With Danno, "Stocking Up At Sam's Club!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 7/19/24
"Stocking Up At Sam's Club!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Sam's Club and are stocking up on some of these great sales going on for the month of July 2024! We take you with us as we show all the different deals and things we are adding to our stockpile!"
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"Just Like Joe Biden, The U.S. Economy Is Sick Once Again"
"Just Like Joe Biden,
The U.S. Economy Is Sick Once Again"
by Michael Snyder
"When you look at Joe Biden, you are also getting a visual picture of what is happening to our economy as a whole. Both have been getting artificially propped up for a long time, both are now sick once again, and both are starting to decline very rapidly at this point. There is lots of speculation that Joe Biden is not going to be able to make it much longer, and of course the exact same thing could be said about the U.S. economy. Sadly, the truth is that the clock won’t stop ticking and time is not on the side of either one of them.
On Wednesday, we learned that Joe Biden has once again tested positive for COVID…"President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 following an event Wednesday in Las Vegas, the White House confirmed. This is the third time the president has tested positive for the virus. And Biden is not alone: the positivity rates for COVID-19 have been increasing recently, as have visits to the emergency department and deaths. Biden, 81, is vaccinated and boosted and is “experiencing mild symptoms,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement."
The White House is trying to make it sound like this isn’t a big deal, but Biden certainly didn’t look like he was just “experiencing mild symptoms” when he arrived in Delaware on Wednesday night…
The 81-year-old – whose political future is in jeopardy due to his age – walked very slowly off Air Force One, pausing multiple times. He then put on a mask on inside the black SUV that carted him off to his beach house in Rehoboth. Biden also appeared to need some assistance as he slowly nudged himself into the car before the motorcade pulled away.
Of course this is happening at a time when speculation that Biden could drop out of the race has reached a fever pitch. Axios is reporting that some “top Democrats” believe that Biden could make an announcement “as soon as this weekend”…"Several top Democrats privately tell us the rising pressure of party congressional leaders and close friends will persuade President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race, as soon as this weekend." Personally, I don’t know if Biden is ready to throw in the towel quite yet. But we shall see what happens.
Meanwhile, more bad economic news continues to pour in. For example, we are being told that home eviction filings are way up all over the nation…"Home evictions are on the rise in several major cities nationwide as Americans continue to grapple with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Eviction filings over the past year are up more than 15% compared with the period before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 10 cities across the country, according to the Eviction Lab, a research unit at Princeton University. The Eviction Lab tracks 10 states and 34 cities."
However, the problem is noticeably worse in five cities, where the eviction rate is at least 30% higher than it was before the pandemic started. Whether someone is seeking to rent or buy, housing costs have soared into unprecedented territory. And this is one of the biggest reasons why so many Americans are so deeply frustrated with the economy right now.
According to Fox Business, the “median monthly housing payment for homebuyers in swing states” has risen 92 percent since the last presidential election…"The cost of buying a house has surged in recent years, as high mortgage rates and rising home prices put ownership out of reach for many Americans. The problem is even worse for the millions living in key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
New findings from Redfin show the combination of steep mortgage rates and elevated home prices has pushed the median monthly housing payment for homebuyers in swing states to an all-time high of $2,161 – a 92% increase from the 2020 election." This is going to have an enormous impact on how people vote, and that is not good news for the Democrats at all.
At the same time, banking industry problems continue to mount and local branches continue to be shut down at a staggering pace…"US banks closed 28 branches across the country in just one week in July. Wells Fargo, Bank of America and US Bank each closed eight locations in the last week. The remaining locations were closed by Greenville Fed, Chase and Schaumberg Bank & Trust, who each closed one branch." Watch the banking industry, because I believe that this will eventually become a huge story during the months ahead.
Retailers are permanently shutting down lots of locations too. In fact Stop & Shop just announced that they will be closing 32 grocery stores…"Stop & Shop is closing 32 underperforming grocery stores across the US northeast as part of the company’s efforts to improve its financial performance. Shoppers are also being squeezed by higher prices at the grocery store, with food prices experiencing modest upticks last month, according to the newest inflation report.
“Stop & Shop has evaluated its overall store portfolio and made the difficult decision to close underperforming stores to create a healthy base for the future growth of our brand,” said the chain’s president Gordon Reid in a release."
Needless to say, that isn’t even worth comparing to what Walgreens is getting ready to do. The plan is to shutter more than 2,000 Walgreens locations before it is all over, and that is really bad news for those that have come to depend upon that chain…"Shoppers, it may be time to find a new pharmacy. Walgreens is closing up to a quarter of its 8,600 stores within the United States. Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth recently explained to the Wall Street Journal on June 27 that the closures would focus on locations that aren’t profitable, too close to each other or stores struggling with theft."
Unfortunately, this is just the beginning, because vast hordes are businesses are likely to go belly up during the coming years. According to one recent survey, almost half of our small businesses are convinced that they will not survive “the current economic climate, ongoing inflation or another four years of Biden administration policies”…"Nearly half of 80,000 small businesses surveyed say they won’t survive the current economic climate, ongoing inflation or another four years of Biden administration policies, according to the survey conducted by RedBalloon and Public Square.
Their May Freedom Economy Index found that small businesses “remain in survival mode,” with 40% delaying paying bills to manage cash flow and 70 percent putting staffing plans on hold, neither hiring nor reducing staff, “the highest reading … over the past year,” the report states."
We are in far more trouble than most people realize. I have been documenting the ups and downs of our inevitable economic decline for more than a decade, and now we have reached a stage where that decline is threatening to become an avalanche. So I would encourage you to brace yourself for very hard times, because it has become clear that this is a story that is not going to end well."
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Canadian Prepper, "WW3 Alert! Russian Nukes Moving West; China Ends All Nuclear Talks!
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 7/18/24
"WW3 Alert! Russian Nukes Moving West; China Ends
All Nuclear Talks! Israel/Trump PlanningHoly War!"
Comments here:
"Audio Analysis Is 100% Clear: Trump & Crowd Were Shot At By Two Separate People"
Full screen recommended.
Dr. Chris Martenson, 7/18/24
"Audio Analysis Is 100% Clear:
Trump & Crowd Were Shot At By Two Separate People"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
CBS Pittsburgh, 7/18/24
"Officers Were On 2nd Floor of Building With
Windows Facing Roof Used by Trump Rally Shooter"
Comments here:
Note the sound analysis above as to angle
of fire and location of second shooter.
That could only be... who?
o
Highly relevant...
Jeremiah Babe, "Costco Is Selling Lots Of Apocalypse Buckets (Emergency Food)"
Jeremiah Babe, 7/18/24
"Costco Is Selling Lots Of Apocalypse Buckets (Emergency Food);
Job Losses And Big Challenges Ahead"
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"Social Insanity Is Starting To Appear All Over America, And You Are Not Ready For What's Coming"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 7/18/24
"Social Insanity Is Starting To Appear All Over America,
And You Are Not Ready For What's Coming"
"Do you still doubt that chaos is about to erupt in every corner of the United States in the coming months? The latest events are proof that social tensions are escalating alarmingly fast all over the country. Our population is becoming increasingly more divided – something that will likely get worse when people start heading to the ballots in November. Extremist attacks are a real threat we should all be very concerned about.
During such uncertain times, widespread civil unrest can emerge unexpectedly. We have witnessed it happening before. Still, it is hard to predict when riots and mobs will take over our streets. In fact, when you watch documentaries or interviews from people who’ve been through a major civil conflict, a lot of them say they didn’t see it coming. The truth is that we've been conditioned to ignore the signs. Most people don't even know what to look for or when to start thinking about leaving and looking for a safe place to hide.
That's because we are constantly being exposed to manipulated media messages that divert our attention from the real problems around us. To the point that it desensitizes the public from seeing the imminent risks of social upheaval coming straight at us!
Civil disorder takes many forms. Whether it’s in its beginning stages or has turned into running battles between authorities and groups of protestors, one thing holds true: You don’t want to find yourself in the middle of it."
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Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, "Una Mattina"
Full screen recommended.
Ludovico Einaudi, "Una Mattina"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“The Flame Nebula is a stand out in optical images of the dusty, crowded star forming regions toward Orion's belt and the easternmost belt star Alnitak, a mere 1,400 light-years away. Alnitak is the bright star at the right edge of this infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope. About 15 light-years across, the infrared view takes you inside the nebula's glowing gas and obscuring dust clouds though. It reveals many stars of the recently formed, embedded cluster NGC 2024 concentrated near the center.
The stars of NGC 2024 range in age from 200,000 years to 1.5 million years young. In fact, data indicate that the youngest stars are concentrated near the middle of the Flame Nebula cluster. That's the opposite of the simplest models of star formation for a stellar nursery that predict star formation begins in the denser center of a molecular cloud core. The result requires a more complex model for star formation inside the Flame Nebula.”
"Life is A Journey - Don't Be Afraid"
"Life is A Journey - Don't Be Afraid"
Author Unknown
"Life is a journey filled with lessons, hardships, heartaches, joys, celebrations and special moments that will ultimately lead us to our destination, our purpose in life. The road will not always be smooth; in fact, throughout our travels, we will encounter many challenges. Some of these challenges will test our courage, strengths, weaknesses, and faith. Along the way, we may stumble upon obstacles that will come between the paths that we are destined to take. In order to follow the right path, we must overcome these obstacles. Sometimes these obstacles are really blessings in disguise, only we don't realize that at the time.
Along our journey we will be confronted with many situations, some will be filled with joy, and some will be filled with heartache. How we react to what we are faced will determine what kind of outcome the rest of our journey through life will be like. When things don't always go our way, we have two choices in dealing with the situations. We can focus on the fact that things didn't go how we had hoped they would and let life pass us by, or two, we can make the best out of the situation and know that these are only temporary setbacks and find the lessons that are to be learned.
Time stops for no one, and if we allow ourselves to focus on the negative we might miss out on some really amazing things that life has to offer. We can't go back to the past, we can only take the lessons that we have learned and the experiences that we have gained from it and move on. It is because of the heartaches, as well as the hardships, that in the end help to make us a stronger person.
The people that we meet on our journey, are people that we are destined to meet. Everybody comes into our lives for some reason or another and we don't always know their purpose until it is too late. They all play some kind of role. Some may stay for a lifetime; others may only stay for a short while. It is often the people who stay for only a short time that end up making a lasting impression not only in our lives, but in our hearts as well. Although we may not realize it at the time, they will make a difference and change our lives in a way we never could imagine. To think that one person can have such a profound effect on your life forever is truly a blessing. It is because of these encounters that we learn some of life's best lessons and sometimes we even learn a little bit about ourselves.
People will come and go into our lives quickly, but sometimes we are lucky to meet that one special person that will stay in our hearts forever no matter what. Even though we may not always end up being with that person and they may not always stay in our life for as long as we like, the lessons that we have learned from them and the experiences that we have gained from meeting that person, will stay with us forever.
It's these things that will give us strength to continue with our journey. We know that we can always look back on those times of our past and know that because of that one individual, we are who we are and we can remember the wonderful moments that we have shared with that person. Memories are priceless treasures that we can cherish forever in our hearts. They also enable us to go on with our journey for whatever life has in store for us. Sometimes all it takes is one special person to help us look inside ourselves and find a whole different person that we never knew existed. Our eyes are suddenly opened to a world we never knew existed- a world where time is so precious and moments never seem to last long enough.
Throughout this adventure, people will give you advice and insights on how to live your life but when it all comes down to it, you must always do what you feel is right. Always follow your heart, and most importantly never have any regrets. Don't hold anything back. Say what you want to say, and do what you want to do, because sometimes we don't get a second chance to say or do what we should have the first time around.
It is often said that what doesn't kill you will make you stronger. It all depends on how one defines the word "strong". It can have different meanings to different people. In this sense, "stronger" means looking back at the person you were and comparing it to the person you have become today. It also means looking deep into your soul and realizing that the person you are today couldn't exist if it weren't for the things that have happened in the past or for the people that you have met. Everything that happens in our life happens for a reason and sometimes that means we must face heartaches in order to experience joy."
- Author Unknown, found here:
Paulo Coelho, "Be Like a River"
"Be Like a River"
by Paulo Coelho
“A river never passes the same place twice,” says a philosopher. “Life is like a river,” says another philosopher, and we draw the conclusion that this is the metaphor that comes closest to the meaning of life. Consequently, it is always good to remember during all the year to come:
• We are always doing things for the first time. While we move between our source (birth) to our destination (death), the landscape will always be new. We should face these novelties with joy, not with fear – because it is useless to fear what cannot be avoided. A river never stops running.
• In a valley we walk slower. When everything around us becomes easier, the waters grow calm, we become more open, fuller and more generous.
• Our banks are always fertile. Vegetation only grows where there is water. Whoever comes into contact with us needs to understand that we are there to give the thirsty something to drink.
• We are always doing things for the first time. While we move between our source (birth) to our destination (death), the landscape will always be new. We should face these novelties with joy, not with fear – because it is useless to fear what cannot be avoided. A river never stops running.
• In a valley we walk slower. When everything around us becomes easier, the waters grow calm, we become more open, fuller and more generous.
• Our banks are always fertile. Vegetation only grows where there is water. Whoever comes into contact with us needs to understand that we are there to give the thirsty something to drink.
• Stones should be avoided. It is obvious that water is stronger than granite, but it takes time for this to happen. It is no good letting yourself be overcome by stronger obstacles, or trying to fight against them – that is a useless waste of energy. It is best to understand where the way out is, and then move forward.
• Hollows call for patience. All of a sudden the river enters a sort of hole and stops running as joyfully as before. At such moments the only way out is to count on the help of time. When the right moment comes the hollow fills up and the water can flow ahead. In the place of the ugly, lifeless hole there now stands a lake that others can contemplate with joy.
• We are one. We were born in a place that was meant for us, which will always keep us supplied with enough water so that when confronted with obstacles or depression we have the necessary patience or strength to move forward. We begin our course in a soft and fragile manner, where even a simple leaf can stop us. Nevertheless, as we respect the mystery of the source that gave us life, and trust in eternal wisdom, little by little we gain all that we need to pursue our path.
• Although we are one, soon we shall be many. As we travel on, the waters of other springs come closer, because that is the best path to follow. Then we are no longer just one, but many – and there comes a moment when we feel lost. However, “all rivers flow to the sea.” It is impossible to remain in our solitude, no matter how romantic that may seem. When we accept the inevitable encounter with other springs, we eventually understand that this makes us much stronger, we get around obstacles or fill in the hollows in far less time and with greater ease.
• We are a means of transportation. Of leaves, boats, ideas. May our waters always be generous, may be always be able to carry ahead everything or everyone that needs our help.
• We are a source of inspiration. And so, let us leave the final words to the Brazilian poet, Manuel Bandeira:
“To be like a river that flows
silent through the night,
not fearing the darkness and
reflecting any stars high in the sky.
And if the sky is filled with clouds,
the clouds are water like the river, so
without remorse reflect them too.”
- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/
silent through the night,
not fearing the darkness and
reflecting any stars high in the sky.
And if the sky is filled with clouds,
the clouds are water like the river, so
without remorse reflect them too.”
- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/
Free Download: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Letters and Papers From Prison”
“The fact that the foolish person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the foolish person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings. “
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Letters and Papers From Prison”
Freely download "Letters and Papers From Prison, Prologue"
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "The Auto Industry is in Shambles"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 7/18/24
"The Auto Industry is in Shambles"
From Repos to slow sales.
The entire auto industry is in trouble.
Comments here:
"The Free and the Brave"
"The Free and the Brave"
by Todd Hayen
"Whatever happened to that (the free and the brave)? Whatever happened to the attitude that had Patrick Henry at the Virginia convention in 1775 say “give me liberty, or give me death”?
Whatever happened to the patriotic fervour and the uncanny commitment to face suffering and death that resulted in over two million young men volunteering for service in World War I, and five times that number volunteering to serve in World War II?
Whatever happened to the ability to conquer fear and ride on the excitement for adventure and potential for immeasurable success that drove hundreds of thousands of men and women into the wild, and dangerous, frontiers of the American West?
Whatever happened to the spirit that filled the souls of those that faced stark adversity, danger to life and limb, that lead over 50,000 hapless men and women (mostly men) into the jungles of Central America to build the Panama Canal? - ultimately killing over 5,000 of them as a result of accidents, all manner of diseases including malaria and dysentery?
What happened?
Yeah, this is about us, guys (me included!) Sure, women can be brave - any biological sexual orientation can activate the warrior archetype - but more commonly it is the gendered male that falls into this archetypal constellation. Bravery - a compulsion to protect those he loves, have a critical and logical assessment of a difficult situation, and the force and power, at the very least a potential force and power, ready to inflict whatever necessary to protect partner and family, community and nation. We, us men, have seemed to have lost much of that. Have we become a bunch of puss-balls?
Dr Mark McDonald, a prominent medical doctor with a speciality in psychiatry, doesn’t mince words when he says while describing the psychological state of men and women during this crises: "We essentially have men with no balls, and then we have histrionics, women who have no emotional containment, because there are no men to contain them anymore.”
Sexist? Maybe some will think so, but McDonald is not putting all the blame on one sex, or exclusively on the masculine or feminine archetypes, the responsibility here is rather well balanced.
What does this mean? Very basically it means we have created a culture that has done a pretty good job of emasculating men - the radical feminist movement, as well as a general lack of situations where men can express their “man-ness” in a healthy way, has been a big part of the problem.
“Toxic Masculinity” is a phrase and concept that has taken the world by storm, and contributes quite a bit to the confusion that men are experiencing while trying to ascertain what a “real man” is in today’s “anti male” culture. “Oh boo hoo” some of you may be saying. “Men, through their powerful patriarchal history of abusing women and treating them as inferior partners in relationships deserve a little pull back!” There certainly is truth to that, but two wrongs don’t make a right. You can’t carve out an essential part of being a “man” without some collateral damage, all the way around.
So what does being a “real man” have to do with bravery? A lot, actually. Facing adversity and danger, primarily in order to protect the physically weaker, is a very important attribute of the masculine archetype of warrior, or even king if you want to get more detailed about it. Historically and traditionally the man has been the protector, the physical, and sometimes intellectual (intelligence that is present in logic reasoning and critical thinking) found in masculine archetypes (again, archetypes both men and women have access to).
These attributes are primarily directed toward protection and outwardly projected as strength and resolve. This often stabilizes the more emotional feminine archetypal factors that again, typically, are activated by the female, or woman, in a relationship.
As a psychotherapist, and an archetypal psychologist at that, I see these archetypal powers and influences playing out in my clients every day. Most of the problems I find in a couple’s therapy stems from an imbalance, or a dysfunction, in these energies of masculine and feminine. Again, the “man” in a couple can be activating both masculine and feminine archetypes, as well as the “woman.” The problem comes in if the archetypes activated are inappropriate, out of balance, and create a result that is unexpected, undesired, or not beneficial. Most of these influences run in the unconscious, so very seldom are they consciously manipulated.
It wasn’t until I met Dr McDonald that I connected some very important dots. McDonald recently wrote and released a book titled "United States of Fear." The subtitle of the book, “How America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis” is the primary focus.
McDonald holds nothing back when he addresses what he believes to be a fundamental cause of this mass psychosis. He believes that women (feminine archetypes driving the woman’s behaviour) need a strong, and masculine man, to contain her emotionality (due to the unfettered expression of her feminine archetypes.) McDonald, in an interview given on Jerm Warfare, said:
"Do you think men with masks on make women feel safe? It only shows they have no balls. I’ve spoken with female police officers who see men in camouflage, tattooed, driving around in trucks with gun racks - wearing masks. They tell me, ‘this does not make me feel safe. This makes me afraid. If they are this scared of a virus, how will they react to a real threat - what’s going to happen when the bear comes out of the woods? What’s going to happen when a rapist tries to attack me? What’s going to happen when my children are going to be kidnapped by the man in the park, what are they going to do? With their mask on are they going to say, “Please stop. Please. Please.” They’re not going to put their lives on the line. They won’t even put their mouth on the line.’”
Harsh words, my brothers. Harsh words, but I think quite on the money. Is this the only thing that is driving the collapse we are seeing in those that cannot stand up to this current tyranny, and say “enough is enough, step back!” No, of course not, but, in my opinion, it is a large part of the problem.
Our culture, at least in the West, has been set up for this to happen. We have become more and more dependent on government taking care of us, thus losing our own personal drive to develop character and strength. We depend on government and authority to think for us, and tell us what is best for us, to, in a word, parent us. We comply, we stay children, and we ultimately suffer.
The brave hold onto what makes them free and are willing to fight for it. Freedom is a God given right, not one bestowed upon us by any other authority. The healthy masculine archetypes of warrior and king have at their side the symbolic sword representing their power over adversity and danger.
There is a time for the warrior to pull the sword from its scabbard just a few inches to allow the sun to glint off of its polished surface, flashing in the eyes of a potential enemy, letting them know who they are dealing with. And then there is the time to pull the sword completely free from its confines and slash what is seriously threatening the warrior and those he loves. Now is the time to fight."
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“You cannot kill me here. Bring your soldiers, your death, your disease, your collapsed economy because it doesn’t matter, I have nothing left to lose and you cannot kill me here. Bring the tears of orphans and the wails of a mother’s loss, bring your God damn air force and Jesus on a cross, bring your hate and bitterness and long working hours, bring your empty wallets and love long since gone but you cannot kill me here. Bring your sneers, your snide remarks and friendships never felt, your letters never sent, your kisses never kissed, cigarettes smoked to the bone and cancer killing fears but you cannot kill me here. For I may fall and I may fail but I will stand again each time and you will find no satisfaction. Because you cannot kill me here.”
- Iain S. Thomas
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