"A Mistake Can Be The Most Honest Thing You Do"

"A Mistake Can Be The Most Honest Thing You Do"

by Min Shres

"I was sixteen when I met Walter at the scrapyard. It was summer 2019. Mom lost her job. Dad left years before. We were three weeks from eviction, eating cereal for dinner, selling anything metal we could find. I'd pull my little brother's wagon through alleys, collecting cans, copper wire, broken appliances.

The scrapyard paid by weight. Walter worked the scale. Seventy-something, thick glasses, always wore the same greasy cap. He'd weigh your metal, calculate payment, hand over cash. Never smiled. Never talked. My first time there, I had forty pounds of aluminum cans. Weeks of collecting. Walter weighed it. "$6.80," he said. I almost cried. Forty pounds of work for less than seven dollars.

I came back every few days. Walter would weigh, calculate, pay. Same routine. But I noticed something weird. Sometimes his math didn't add up. My pile looked smaller than last time, but he'd pay more. "Prices went up," he'd grunt. They hadn't. I'd checked.

One August day, crazy hot, I showed up with a twisted shopping cart I'd found. Walter looked at it. Looked at me. "Can't take stolen property." "I found it in a dumpster. I swear." He studied my face. Then did something strange. Took the cart to the back. Came back ten minutes later. Handed me forty dollars. "That cart's not worth forty dollars," I said. "Is to me. Had extra copper attached." There was no copper. We both knew it.

I started noticing other kids there. Skinny. Desperate. Walter would overpay them too. A bike frame worth $3 became $15. Rusty pipes worth nothing became $20. He'd find "extra value" in junk. We never talked about it. But we knew.

One day, I brought my mom's broken jewelry. Last thing of value we had. I was crying, trying to hide it. Walter weighed it. "$200," he said. "That's not" "Gold prices jumped today. Lucky timing." He counted out bills. Our rent money.

Mom got hired two weeks later. We stabilized. I stopped going to the scrapyard. Felt embarrassed he'd seen me that desperate. Five years passed. I'm twenty-one now. Got a job. Going to community college. Last week, I drove past the scrapyard. Saw kids with wagons. Remembered.

I went in. Walter was still there. Older. Slower. Didn't recognize me. "Sir? I used to come here. Summer of 2019. You overpaid me. A lot." He looked up. Squinted. "Did I?" "You saved my family." He shrugged. "Scale's old. Makes mistakes sometimes." I handed him an envelope. $500. "For your scale mistakes. For the next desperate kid." He opened it. Stared. Looked at me with wet eyes. "You didn't have to." "Yeah, I did. Because you didn't have to either." He took the money. Nodded once. I left.

I don't know if Walter's still doing it. But I am. I work part-time at a recycling center now. And my scale? It makes mistakes too. Especially for kids with wagons who look like they're carrying the weight of the world. Because Walter taught me something nobody else did, dignity isn't just about giving. It's about the giving being invisible. About making someone feel lucky instead of pitiful. So whoever you are, whatever power you have, find your scale. Your place to make the math work for people who need it. Because sometimes a mistake is the most honest thing you can do."

- https://humanity.quora.com/

"They Couldn't Have Known..."

“They couldn’t have known that even this was a lie – that we never really choose, not entirely. We are always being pushed and squeezed down one road or another. We have no choice but to step forward, and then step forward again, and then step forward again; suddenly we find ourselves on a road we haven’t chosen at all. But maybe happiness isn’t in the choosing. Maybe it’s in the fiction, in the pretending: that wherever we have ended up is where we intended to be all along.”

- Lauren Oliver

Dan, I Allegedly, "Grants, Grants and More Grants - Business, Pay Bills and Fix Your Home"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 2/22/26

"Grants, Grants and More Grants - 

Business, Pay Bills and Fix Your Home"

"There is money available right now - for your business, your bills, and even to start something new. In this video, I break down over 100 grant programs for 2026, including small business grants, nonprofit funding, corporate grants, and personal assistance programs that can help pay utilities, rent, insurance, advertising, inventory, and more. As the economy tightens, survival matters - and these programs are actively giving money away if you apply the right way. I explain how to search local, county, and state grants, how to meet requirements, the 7 steps to getting approved, and why you should NEVER pay someone to write a grant or borrow money to put out fires. The money is out there — #grants  #financialnews  #iallegedly"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Iran Live: Khamenei Issues ‘Urgent’ Announcement, US On High Alert?"

Full screen recommended.

WLA, 2/21/26

"Iran Live: Khamenei Issues ‘Urgent’

 Announcement, US On High Alert?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

History Repeats, 2/21/26

"If Iran Closes the World's Most Critical 

Oil Route – Your Gas Bill Is Next"

"On February 17th, 2026, Iran partially closed the Strait of Hormuz - the single most important oil chokepoint on earth. 20 million barrels of oil flow through that 21-mile-wide channel every single day. That is 20 percent of all the world's seaborne oil supply. And Iran shut part of it down while simultaneously sitting in nuclear negotiations with the United States in Geneva. This is not a drill. This is not a coincidence. This is a message. In this video I break down exactly what happened, why there is no alternative route that can replace the Strait, what the 1973 oil embargo and the 1980s Tanker War tell us about what comes next, and the two scenarios analysts are now pricing in - one where oil drops to $50, and one where it spikes above $100 a barrel and your gas bill follows. History is repeating. The only question is which chapter."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"The Doomsday Clock Is Close To Midnight; Chaos Online; Vegas Power Station Attacked"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/21/26

"The Doomsday Clock Is Close To Midnight;

 Chaos Online; Vegas Power Station Attacked"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Pink Floyd, "Comfortably Numb"

Pink Floyd, "Comfortably Numb"

"A Look to the Heavens"

Full screen recommended. Wonderful article/graphics is here:

- https://g.co/arts/1EQCwCFCmzWRoCwz8 

"I'm Sure..."

"Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe

 or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."

"I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life.

It's just been too intelligent to come here."

- Arthur C. Clarke

The Poet: e. e. cummings, "Humanity I Love You"

"Humanity i love you because when you’re hard 

up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink..."

"Humanity I Love You"

"Humanity i love you

because you would rather black the boots of

success than enquire whose soul dangles from his

watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both

parties and because you

unflinchingly applaud all

songs containing the words country home and

mother when sung at the old howard

Humanity i love you because

when you’re hard up you pawn your

intelligence to buy a drink and when

you’re flush pride keeps

you from the pawn shop and

because you are continually committing

nuisances but more

especially in your own house

Humanity i love you because you

are perpetually putting the secret of

life in your pants and forgetting

it’s there and sitting down on it

and because you are

forever making poems in the lap

of death 

Humanity, i hate you"

- e. e. cummings

o

"All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there. Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul? I cannot stop asking. If I could taste one sip of an answer, I could break out of this prison for drunks. I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way. Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home."

- Rumi, "The Tavern," Ch. 1:, p. 2, from "The Essential Rumi"

Freely download "The Essential Rumi" here:
- https://littlethingsaboutmeeh.files.wordpress.com/

"A Primer For The Propagandized: Fear Is The Mind-Killer"

"A Primer For The Propagandized:

Fear Is The Mind-Killer"

by Margaret Anna Alice

“Totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere.”

- George Orwell

"The noose is dangling gently around our necks. Every day, they cinch it tighter. By the time we realize it’s strangling us, it will be too late. Those who – gradually and gleefully – sacrifice their freedoms, their autonomy, their individuality, their livelihoods, and their relationships on the altar of the “common good” have forgotten this is the pattern followed by every totalitarian regime in history.

Everyone wonders how ordinary Germans could have been manipulated to participate or stand dumbstruck while their government was transformed into a genocidal juggernaut. This is how. Read Sebastian Haffner’s "Defying Hitler" memoir to see how this can happen anywhere - including here.

Everyone wonders how Russians could have permitted and even zealously reported fellow citizens for imprisonment and execution under "Article 58", the penal code invented to incarcerate anyone who dared express the slightest whisper of noncompliance under Stalin’s homicidal state. This is how. Read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s meticulously documented "The Gulag Archipelago" to witness this progression of authoritarian lunacy.

Everyone wonders how Hutus could have suddenly started axing their Tutsi neighbors to death after being inundated with waves of anti-Tutsi propaganda from "Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines." Read Philip Gourevitch’s "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda."

The list goes on. And on. And on. From Machiavelli’s "The Prince" to Étienne de la Boetie’s "The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude" to Edward Herman’s and Noam Chomsky’s "Manufacturing Consent" (and accompanying documentary) to BBC’s "The Century of the Self," mechanisms of mass control have been chronicled for millennia.

George Orwell wrote, "As far as the mass of the people go, the extraordinary swings of opinion which occur nowadays, the emotions which can be turned on and off like a tap, are the result of newspaper and radio hypnosis.”

Can you imagine what master propagandist Edward Bernays would have done with access to today’s mainstream media conglomerate combined with the global surveillance infrastructure of Big Tech? And you really think that’s not happening now - with another century of psychological, neurological, and technological research under their belts?

The present ability to curate reality and coerce obedience is unprecedented, far beyond what Orwell envisioned in "1984", Bradbury in "Fahrenheit 451", Huxley in "Brave New World," and Burgess in "A Clockwork Orange."

A textbook example of "Problem Reaction Solution", the tsunami of worldwide Covid hysteria was the latest and potentially most threatening example of mass control in history. The recipe is simple. Take a naturally occurring phenomenon, say a seasonal virus, and exaggerate its threat far beyond every imagining - despite exhaustive evidence to the contrary. Suppress, silence, ostracize, and demonize every individual who dares present facts that expose the false mono-narrative.

Whip up a witches’ brew of anger, envy, and, most importantly, fear, escalating emotions to a boil so as to short-circuit our faculties of reason and logic. Isolate us from one another, supplant real-world interactions with virtual feuds, label nonconformists as a threat to the group, and pump the public with a disinformation campaign designed to confuse and atomize. In essence, foster a cultlike mentality that shuts down thought to guarantee assent.

Cultivate and wield our cognitive biases - especially ingroup bias, conformity bias, and authority bias - against us in a comprehensive divide-and-conquer policy that keeps us too busy squabbling amongst each other to recognize and unite against those corralling us into a Matrix-like collective delusion that enables the powerful to extract our resources for their own gain.

This ideological mass psychosis is religion - not science. If this were about science, the Media–Pharmaceutical–Big-Tech complex would not be memory-holing every dissenting voice, vilifying every thought criminal, and censoring every legitimate inquiry in quest of the truth.

Mark Twain said, “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” He also said: “In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.”

The next time you’re watching the news, reading a social media post, listening to a friend repeat a scripted talking point, pay attention. Learn to identify the earmarks of propaganda, the clickbait used to trigger your emotions, the mechanisms employed to engineer your cognitive biases.

Don’t let your pride prevent you from seeing - and admitting - the Emperor is naked. We are losing our last sliver of opportunity to resist authoritarianism. This is not a partisan issue. Those who wish to control us have made it such because disunited lemmings are easier to steer than independent, critical thinkers.

This is a human issue. This is about crushing the middle class - the backbone of a democratic republic - and transferring trillions from the middle and lower classes to the ruling plutocracy. This is about demolishing the foundations of a free society and building it back - not better, but better-controlled.

I will close by recommending a series of illuminating videos on menticide (“the systematic effort to undermine and destroy a person’s values and beliefs … to induce radically different ideas”) throughout history by "Academy of Ideas." This analysis of mass psychosis is nonpartisan and of value to every thinking human being.

• "Is a Mass Psychosis the Greatest Threat to Humanity?"

• "The Mass Psychosis and the Demons of Dostoevsky"

• "The Manufacturing of a Mass Psychosis – Can Sanity Return to an Insane World?
"

"Dare to question. Dare to disbelieve.

Dare to defy ideology in favor of science while you still can."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

"Mass Psychosis: How an Entire Society Becomes Mentally Ill"

Full screen recommended.

The Psyche,

"Mass Psychosis: 

How an Entire Society Becomes Mentally Ill"

Have you ever felt like the world around you is losing its grip on reality? What if entire societies could descend into madness without realizing it? In this eye-opening video, we explore the concept of mass psychosis - a phenomenon that has shaped history through witch hunts, oppressive regimes, and ideological purges. Guided by insights from great thinkers like Carl Jung, Hannah Arendt, and Joost Meerloo, we unravel the hidden mechanisms that manipulate public perception, erode critical thinking, and lead populations into collective delusion. Mass psychosis does not last forever—eventually, reality breaks through. But will we wake up before it’s too late? Watch now to uncover the truth and learn how to resist the forces that seek to control you."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Choose Life"

"Choose Life"

by Nicholas Creed

"The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable."

- H. L. Mencken

"This Substack has deconstructed many agendas and narratives that are aimed at the demoralization, maiming, sterilization, polarization, and depopulation of humanity. The tone of these articles has ranged from idealistic, to hopium, to practicality and controlling what is controllable.

Joost A.M. Meerloo, ["The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing"] - wrote: “We believe that it has been demonstrated that the Government can search its own soul and the soul of an individual whose relationship to his government is in question with full protection of the rights and interests of both. We believe that loyalty and security can be examined within the framework of the traditional and inviolable principles of American justice.

In these beautiful phrases lie hidden all the ominous beginnings of totalitarian thought control. The government that searches the soul of any thinking individual can always find a case against him, because doubt, ambivalence, and groping are traits common to all men. We cannot measure anybody's dependability on the basis of his thoughts and feelings as they appear to us. In the first place, we can never know what lies behind a seemingly loyal facade. In the second place, the man whose search for truth leads him to explore many heretical points of view can be the most loyal in his actions. His very exploration may well lead him to the considered judgment that underlies true loyalty. What counts in any man is the consistency and integrity of his behaviour, and his courage in taking a stand, not his conformity to official dogma..”

It is critical that we remind ourselves of why we resist. Why we persist. What we value. Who we love. Where we focus our energy. When we are able to catch ourselves before the downward spiral. How we manage to manage and enjoy life.

This is a message for those of us that continue to choose life, speaking out and acting out against the globalist death cult - in all of its insidious forms.

We will not be made to feel ashamed of procreating and having strong family bonds, held together with unconditional love and support.

We reject measuring our lives in carbon output.

We will preserve history, in spite of relentless memory holing.

We shall teach untold new generations how to think critically, and how to see through propaganda.

The resistance art of our time may be censored, suppressed, and criminalized - yet it shall never be entirely erased.

We will always do what is right, even when it is more popular to do what is wrong.

We will reject state interventionism to experiment on and sterilize our children, despite legal battles and prison sentences.

We cherish our connection to nature. We will spend time in the planet’s forests, mountains, drylands, freshwater resources, and oceans, whenever and wherever we please. We reject Agenda 2030’s sustainable development goals for the United Nations to centrally manage all of earth’s resources. Everything is for everyone.

We will not be propagandized into believing that farming and fishing is ‘ecocide’. We support farmers protesting against EU tyranny.

We will not be herded into 15 minute cities like tagged cattle.

Agenda 2030 is not real. It is conceptual. It is the vision of a minority. Our families are real. Our friends are real. Our lives are sacred. We are the majority.

Our pain and suffering is temporary. Our will is unbreakable. Our love for life and humanity is incorruptible.

We choose to resist all forms of dystopia and totalitarian societies. We will persist in curating the future we want and the future we deserve. A future that is free from serfdom, unshackled from censorship, liberated from fear, and expunged of eugenics.

In spite of the years we have already lost, knowing of the years yet to be fought ahead, expecting countless false flags, faked pandemics, engineered wars, manufactured crises and chaos - we choose life."

- https://nicholascreed.substack.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Padua, Veneto, Italy. Thanks for stopping by!

"A Brief Disagreement"

Full screen recommended.

Steve Cutts, "A Brief Disagreement"

"A visual journey into mankind's 

favorite pastime throughout the ages."

"Since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has occurred over much of the globe. The advent of gunpowder and the acceleration of technological advances led to modern warfare. According to Conway W. Henderson, "One source claims that 14,500 wars have taken place between 3500 BC and the late 20th century, costing 3.5 billion lives, leaving only 300 years of peace (Beer 1981: 20).] An unfavorable review of this estimate mentions the following regarding one of the proponents of this estimate: "In addition, perhaps feeling that the war casualties figure was improbably high, he changed 'approximately 3,640,000,000 human beings have been killed by war or the diseases produced by war' to 'approximately 1,240,000,000 human beings...'" The lower figure is more plausible but could still be on the high side considering that the 100 deadliest acts of mass violence between 480 BC and 2002 AD (wars and other man-made disasters with at least 300,000 and up to 66 million victims) claimed about 455 million human lives in total."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War

"It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human

 race proved to be nothing more than the story of an

ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump." 

- David Ormsby-Gore

And humanity just never, ever learns from it all...

"Russia's Poseidon Weapon Detonates Near New York Harbor"

Full screen recommended.

The Last Day Theory, 2/21/26

"Russia's Poseidon Weapon 

Detonates Near New York Harbor"

"The weapon that could end the world is sleeping at the bottom of the ocean. But what if it wakes up? We simulate, second by second, the first 30 minutes after Russia launches its legendary "Poseidon" nuclear torpedo at the US Eastern Seaboard. In this cinematic mini-documentary, we explore how a 100-megaton thermonuclear warhead, combined with radioactive Cobalt-60 salting, transforms into a 100-meter-high toxic tsunami known as "The Green Wall," targeting major cities like Washington D.C. and New York. Based on declassified intelligence, submarine technology, and real physics, this scenario is not just science fiction - it is the ultimate geopolitical nightmare. Can the Poseidon drone be stopped? What happens to the blast zone? And how would the world react to the brink of WWIII?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Times Of India, 10/29/25

"Putin's Nuclear Poseidon To Hit US Like Tsunami?

 What Russia's 'Super Weapon' Can Do"

"Russia has conducted its nuclear-capable test of the Poseidon underwater “super weapon,” following the Burevestnik nuclear cruise missile trial. President Vladimir Putin announced the successful test of the Poseidon 2M39, calling it a revolutionary nuclear-powered torpedo capable of evading all existing defences. The Kremlin described it as a “strategic breakthrough,” signalling Moscow’s determination to revive the 21st-century arms race. The Poseidon, powered by a compact nuclear reactor, can reportedly travel thousands of miles underwater at high speeds and to extreme depths, carrying a warhead up to two megatons - 133 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Weighing over 90 tons and stretching nearly 60 feet in length, it is designed to trigger tsunami-like destruction along enemy coastlines. The weapon, known to NATO as Kanyon and to Russian engineers as Status-6, could be deployed aboard the Belgorod nuclear submarine. Watch for more details."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Full screen recommended.

The Poseidon torpedo with a 100 megaton warhead explodes deep underwater, causing a 1,600 foot high tidal wave which would destroy everything on the U.S. East Coast as far inland as West Virginia. England would simply disappear beneath the waves...

o

Full screen recommended.

"The True Power of Russia's Tsunami Bomb"

"Mankind has reached a point in its destructive capabilities that it is literally beyond our comprehension. So what is it we really have to fear? The Poseidon (Russian: Посейдон, "Poseidon", GRAU index 2M39, NATO reporting name Kanyon), previously known by Russian codename Status-6 (Russian: Статус-6), is an autonomous, nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicle reportedly in production by Rubin Design Bureau, capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear warheads. The Poseidon is one of the six new Russian strategic weapons announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 1 March 2018."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"The Cost of Genocide: Israel’s War on Gaza By The Numbers"

"The Cost of Genocide: 

Israel’s War on Gaza By The Numbers"

by Simon Speakman Cordall

"Since its genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israel has expended vast amounts of money and manpower on levelling the Palestinian territory and destroying its institutions. It has killed more than 72,000 people in achieving this end, including tens of thousands of children and women - with some independent researchers suggesting that the death toll is higher than 75,000.

Of those who are still alive, many have suffered the effects of deliberately imposed starvation: first during Israel’s siege of northern Gaza in late 2024, which United Nations officials described as “apocalyptic”, and later during the man-made famine Israeli policies created in August 2025, when images of malnourished and starving children became commonplace on news bulletins around the world.

None of this has come cheaply. Israel – backed by its principal ally, the United States – has poured billions of dollars into waging its war on Gaza. So, how much does the killing of more than 72,000 Palestinians cost? How much do you need to spend on munitions to commit a genocide? And what is the impact of industrialised mass killing on an economy? Here’s what we know.

How much money has Israel spent on the Gaza war? The Bank of Israel put the overall economic toll of the war at about 352 billion shekels ($112bn). That total includes roughly 243 billion shekels ($77bn) in direct defence costs, 33 billion shekels ($10.5bn) for the property tax compensation fund, civilian outlays of 57 billion shekels ($18bn) and interest payments of 19 billion shekels ($6bn).

In early 2025, taking the Gaza war in isolation, Israel’s former chief military economic adviser, Gil Pinchas, estimated that the cost to Israel had been 150 billion shekels ($48bn), running at an average cost of 300 million shekels ($96m) per day. On average, 100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza every day, according to Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

“Every item the [Israeli army] uses in combat has a price tag in shekels, detailed in a special, highly specific price book,” Pinchas told journalists, referring to the price paid by the Israeli army, and not Palestinians, for every combat ration, litre of fuel, vehicle, bullet and missile launched against Gaza. “The book is updated constantly, including during the war … We keep our finger on the pulse.”

How much of the war’s expenditure was spent on munitions? We don’t know for sure. Pinchas did say that Israel had spent 340 billion shekels ($108bn) on munitions since the war began, but nowhere near all of that has been used. A significant proportion of that money has also been spent on purchasing arms from Israeli manufacturers, which has helped to offset the wider impact of the war on the Israeli economy. Line-by-line details for most military budgets are rarely available. But some insights can be gleaned from Israel’s other wars in the region.

According to an estimate midway through the war by The Wall Street Journal, Israel’s war on Iran was costing it $200m per day, with the missiles used to intercept Iranian rockets, sometimes reaching 400 a day, estimated at anywhere between $700,000 and $4m each. In addition, Israel’s September 2024 attack on the Lebanese group Hezbollah’s communication devices, which relied on a plan that had been set into motion years earlier, is reported to have set the Israeli treasury back some one billion shekels ($318m).

What has been the overall cost to the wider Israeli economy? Considerable, and much of that is down to manpower. Of Israel’s 465,000 military reservists, upwards of 300,000 were deployed to Gaza during the first year of the war. This is in addition to 170,000 active-duty personnel. The cost of maintaining that number of active soldiers, as well as the impact on the wider economy due to the loss of workers called up as reservists, is astronomical.

According to Israel’s treasury, some 70 billion shekels ($22.3bn) has been spent on its reserve forces alone during the course of the war, while the cost of maintaining its standing army in 2025 was estimated to be 15.37 billion shekels ($4.9bn). The Bank of Israel estimates that the cost of one month of service for a military reservist is about 38,000 shekels ($12,100) in lost production.

With military budgets unlikely to recede in the wake of the genocide and other wars that Israel has engaged in over the past two years, a column in the Israeli liberal daily Haaretz suggested that over the next decade, the cost of the war could run to, at a minimum, 500 billion shekels ($159bn).

How much has Israel’s genocide cost the US? More than many US voters might suppose. According to Brown University’s 2025 Costs of War report, since October 7, 2023, the US has provided Israel with some $21.7bn in military aid. In addition to that, the American taxpayer has funded US operations in support of Israel in Yemen, Iran and the wider Middle East at a cost of $9.65bn to $12.07bn, meaning a total US investment of somewhere between $31.35bn and $33.77bn on Israel’s wars since 2023.

How much will it cost to rebuild Gaza? According to the United Nations, rebuilding Gaza – where Israel has destroyed the majority of buildings – would take decades and cost somewhere in the region of $70bn. In a report, the UN noted that Israel’s military operations had “significantly undermined every pillar of survival” within the enclave and that the entire population of 2.3 million people faced “extreme, multidimensional impoverishment” – the term for poverty extending beyond financial duress, in areas such as a lack of clean water, proper sanitation and education."

- https://www.aljazeera.com/

"Avoiding Attack On Iran Iran Nearly Impossible"

Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, 2/21/26

"Avoiding Attack On Iran Iran Nearly Impossible"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Seyed M. Marandi: "War for Survival - 

Iran’s Strategy as War Is Imminent"

"Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran's Nuclear Negotiation Team. Prof. Marandi argues that an existential war is likely imminent, and it will set the entire region on fire."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"War Within 72 Hours? Drone Showdown"

Full screen recommended.

Larry C. Johnson & Col. Larry Wilkerson, 2/21/26

"War Within 72 Hours? Drone Showdown"

"This interview examines rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, questioning claims that Iranian-Russian naval drills signal imminent war. It argues the exercises were long planned and criticizes media narratives portraying Iran as the aggressor. The speakers warn that any U.S. strike could trigger massive retaliation, with heavy casualties and regional escalation involving Russia and China. They also cast doubt on current negotiations, calling them political theater, and caution that a “quick war” with Iran is a dangerous illusion."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Seyed M. Marandi: "War for Survival - 

Iran’s Strategy as War Is Imminent"

"Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran's Nuclear Negotiation Team. Prof. Marandi argues that an existential war is likely imminent, and it will set the entire region on fire."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Trump's War Hours Away, Iran Readies Brutal Counterattack"

Full screen recommended.

Danny Haiphong, 2/21/26

"Trump's War Hours Away,

 Iran Readies Brutal Counterattack"

"Former US Army Ranger Greg Stoker and geopolitical analyst Elina Xenophontos join to discuss the imminent US war with Iran with up to the minute updates on its status. Iran is preparing a massive counterattack, and estimates of casualties will shock you. Don't miss this stream for the most critical analysis on geopolitics you won't find on mainstream or alternative media."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the Big Club."

- George Carlin

"Grinding the American Middle Class to Dust"

"Grinding the American Middle Class to Dust"

by MN Gordon

"The housing market, for much of the 20th century, was the bedrock of the American Dream. Home ownership, and the financial stability it represents, was a sure path to middle-class prosperity. That dream turned to a nightmare for many American families during the epic real estate bubble and subsequent bust in 2008-09. What’s more, in the near two decades that followed, federal monetary policies coupled with restrictive local development standards have huffed and puffed an even more perilous bubble than the last one.

Now the crumbling façade of American real estate and the associated economic squeeze has become too great to ignore. To understand why the real estate market is falling apart, you must look at who’s expected to buy the houses. The arithmetic simply doesn’t work. We’ve reached the point where discretionary income, the money left over after you’ve paid for basic needs, has effectively vanished for much of the population. When 67 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, saving for a down payment is impossible.

Currently, about 72 percent of Americans are struggling to pay their monthly bills. We aren’t talking about luxury vacations or even unexpected medical expenses. We’re talking about keeping the lights on and the fridge full. When the buffer is gone, the entire economic engine stalls.

The lack of affordable housing has created a generational rift. Young workers find themselves trapped in a permanent renter class. They’re unable to build the equity that once anchored the nation’s middle class. Right now, more than 75 percent of homes across the country are unaffordable for the typical household. Most Americans are effectively priced out of the housing market. And this number is climbing. Between higher interest rates, relative to four years ago, and artificially inflated valuations, the entry-level home no longer exists.

The Mortgage Death Trap: The ladder of social mobility has been pulled up. Millions of Americans have been left behind. Shelter is no longer a basic path to financial stability, but an unreachable speculative asset. What we are seeing is the rent servitude of a generation. If you can’t buy, you rent. If you rent, you can’t save to buy. It’s a closed loop that keeps equity in the hands of the few while the middle class are stuck paying for a roof they will never own.

The modern American household also operates in a fragile state. Most families require two incomes just to keep the mortgage current. This dual-income trap means there is zero margin for an unexpected job loss. If even one spouse loses their job, which is becoming a looming threat as the labor market adjusts to the realities of AI, the house quickly turns from a burden to a liability. The timeline from missed paycheck to foreclosure notice is shorter than most people realize.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor market is strong. But the reality on the ground tells a different story. We are staring down a year where millions of jobs are projected to vanish. Automation and AI are displacing white-collar jobs that used to be safe. There have been massive layoffs in technology, finance, and manufacturing. In previous downturns, there were usually sectors that could absorb the displaced. Today, every sector, except low-cost elder care jobs, is contracting simultaneously. When the jobs go, the houses follow. A bank doesn’t care about your years of loyal service. When the 30-day clock on a missed payment starts ticking that’s all that matters.

Engineered Collapse: Despite what the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says, there’s mounting evidence that this isn’t just a run of the mill economic cycle. When you look at the speed of the decline and the specific targeting of the middle class, it appears to be something else entirely. The middle class, specifically the segment that has historically held the most private property, is under attack. By squeezing the life out of the housing market, wealth is being funneled upward. When families lose their homes to foreclosure, they don’t just lose a roof, they lose their primary vehicle for intergenerational wealth. The result is a civilization of serfs. We’re rapidly transitioning to a rentership society. If you don’t own property, you don’t have a stake in the future. You’re left out in the cold.

In 2008, the crash was about bad paper and subprime loans. Today, the crisis is about affordability and insolvency. House price inflation in the face of stagnating wages has become too much to overcome. Moreover, as houses are lost en masse to the banks they aren’t being foreclosed on and put back on the market at a lower price. They’re being sold in bulk to hedge funds, who promptly jack up the rents. What this means is your neighborhood could soon be owned by a corporation that doesn’t have a face, let alone a soul.

The real estate market isn’t just cooling off. It’s being hollowed out. Between the loss of discretionary income, the instability of the job market, and the sheer impossibility of the two-income mortgage, the American middle class is standing on a trap door. Yet the collapse isn’t coming. It has already begun. The question isn’t whether the market will survive, but who will be left owning anything when the dust settles.

Grinding the American Middle Class to Dust: For decades, the home was a forced savings account that allowed a mechanic or a teacher to retire with dignity. Today, that vehicle has been hijacked by institutional capital. As the supply of affordable homes dwindles, we see the rise of the build-to-rent trend. This is where entire subdivisions are constructed not for families to buy, but for corporations to lease back to them in perpetuity.

This shift marks the transition from a stakeholder society to a subscription society consistent with the WEF diktat of, “you will own nothing and be happy.” Housing, the most basic of human needs, has become a subscription service. Thus, the ability to accumulate private wealth through long-term home ownership has disappeared. As a renter, you are no longer building equity and wealth, you are funding a hedge fund’s quarterly dividends.

This exploitive model ensures that the fruits of one’s labor are siphoned away from the community and into the coffers of distant shareholders. As a result, the working class are left with nothing but receipts and a sense of perpetual instability. The economic ladder has been replaced by a treadmill to nowhere.

In addition, a society of renters is a society of transients that lack the long-term community ties that homeownership once encouraged. As the trap door swings open, the fall both destroys people’s finances and shatters the very concept of the neighborhood. Community engagement and local pride disappear when the residents of a street have no permanent stake in its future. Vibrant towns turn into anonymous places for an increasingly displaced workforce. No one makes eye contact. No one cracks jokes. No one helps their elderly neighbor bring in the groceries. The doors are closing on the era of American middle-class independence. The dream of home ownership is being replaced by the reality of permanent debt, and the bedrock of the American middle class is ground into dust."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"Millions of Americans Are One Paycheck Away From Collapse - And Think They're Fine"

Full screen recommended.

Across The States 2/21/26

"Millions of Americans Are One Paycheck Away 

From Collapse - And Think They're Fine"

"Making great money doesn’t guarantee stability. Financial fragility is growing as high earners juggle rising debt, shrinking savings, and a lifestyle that quietly outpaces their income. Here’s the thing: higher paychecks often bring bigger commitments. Upgraded homes, financed cars, and flexible payment plans feel affordable month to month, yet the total burden builds until there’s little room for error. One disruption - job loss, illness, or inflation - can expose how thin the margin really is. What most people miss is the cultural pressure behind spending. Social feeds normalize constant upgrades, while reward-driven marketing and easy credit make indulgence feel deserved. Lifestyle creep doesn’t look reckless - it looks responsible, polished, and earned. The truth is that financial security isn’t about appearances. It’s about resilience: savings buffers, manageable obligations, and disciplined choices that protect your future when life gets unpredictable."

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Dan, I Allegedly, "This Is Deeper Than a Recession - Everyone is Struggling"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 2/21/26

"This Is Deeper Than a Recession - 

Everyone is Struggling"

"Is this just a recession - or something much deeper? Across America, businesses are shutting down, trucking companies are disappearing overnight, major retailers are drowning in debt, and middle-class families are selling plasma just to keep up. Banks are tightening policies, return rules are changing, and consumer spending is slowing fast. From small business failures to corporate panic, the cracks in this economy are spreading. On this episode of iAllegedly, Dan breaks down the warning signs: bank stress, potential bank runs, collapsing industries, struggling farmers, tightening credit, and the real risk of a prolonged downturn. Is this a recession, a depression, or something systemic? Main Street is feeling it. Businesses are bleeding. And no one appears immune."

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Adventures With Danno, "Shocking Prices at Walmart"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 2/21/26

"Shocking Prices at Walmart"

Comments here:

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"Prepare For The Worst: Iran, Russia and China Are Mobilizing"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 2/20/26

"Prepare For The Worst:

Iran, Russia and China Are Mobilizing"

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"Fast Food Chains Got Too Greedy, Too Expensive… Now They're Closing For Good"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 2/20/26

"Fast Food Chains Got Too Greedy, Too Expensive… 

Now They're Closing For Good"

"Popular fast food chains are shutting down hundreds of locations across the United States in 2026, and it's becoming harder and harder to ignore. Names like Hooters, Denny's, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Pizza Hut, and Popeyes are closing doors that have been open for decades. These aren't small local spots. These are some of the most recognizable brands in the American restaurant industry, and they're disappearing from communities all over the country. In this video, we take a look at what's really going on behind all these closures. We hear from everyday people sharing their experiences with rising prices, shrinking portions, and declining food quality. We also hear from folks who work inside the restaurant industry and have their own perspective on why things are falling apart. 

From the cost of ingredients skyrocketing to the broken tipping system to a loss of real hospitality, there are a lot of layers to this story. One of the biggest themes that keeps coming up is value. People feel like they're paying more than ever and getting less in return. A regular fast food meal now costs what a sit down dinner used to cost just a few years ago. And for a lot of families, eating out has gone from being a normal part of the week to something they have to seriously budget for or skip altogether. That shift is hitting restaurants hard, especially the ones that were already operating on thin margins. At the same time, companies like Chipotle are openly saying they're raising prices and targeting customers who make over $100,000 a year. That sends a pretty clear message to the average person. 

Fast food was supposed to be affordable and accessible, and now even that part of the industry is moving away from the everyday consumer. On the industry side, labor costs and food costs have both risen by over 30% since 2019. Restaurants are caught between absorbing those increases and passing them on to customers who are already stretched thin. And with beef prices expected to climb even further in 2026, the pressure is only going to get worse. What makes all of this even more concerning is that mass restaurant closures have historically been an early signal of broader economic downturns. We saw it before the 2009 recession, and many people are drawing those same comparisons now. Whether or not history repeats itself exactly, the pattern is hard to ignore."

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U.S. Preparations For War Reach A Fever Pitch And Israel Just Initiated A Maximum State Of Alert

by Michael Snyder

"One of the biggest events in this era of human history is about to kick off, and I don’t know if anyone is truly ready for what is about to happen next. A full-blown war with Iran won’t be anything like any of the other wars that we have fought in the Middle East. The Iranians are quite capable of fighting back. Since the middle of last year, the Iranians have been feverishly developing new weapons systems and have been importing vast amounts of military equipment from Russia and China. They feel like they are far better prepared this time around, and I would agree with that assessment. But the U.S. and Israel are also very well prepared too. Once the missiles start flying, there will be no holding back, and I think that the whole world will be deeply shocked by what takes place.

On Wednesday, multiple mainstream outlets were reporting that U.S. strikes on Iran could begin as soon as this weekend…"Top national security officials have told President Trump the military is ready for potential strikes on Iran as soon as Saturday, but the timeline for any action is likely to extend beyond this weekend, sources familiar with the discussions told CBS News. Mr. Trump has not yet made a final decision about whether to strike, said the officials, who spoke under condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national matters. The conversations have been described as fluid and ongoing, as the White House weighs the risks of escalation and the political and military consequences of restraint."

But then on Thursday, President Trump seemed to suggest that Iran may still have about 10 days to agree to his demands…"That blaring warning came at the president’s first-ever Board of Peace meeting in Washington on Thursday where he complained about the high cost of war. He bragged about bringing ‘peace to the Middle East,’ but then subsequently threatened minutes later that if Iran doesn’t make a meaningful peace deal ‘bad things [will] happen.’ ‘We may have to take it a step further, or we may not. Maybe we’re going to make a deal..,’ Trump said of breakdowns in nuclear talks. ‘You’re going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days,’ he added." But whether it is this weekend or next weekend or even next month, war is coming, because the Iranians were never going to give Trump what he wants. So preparations for war continue.

According to NBC News, “a slew of additional weaponry” is being deployed to the Middle East on top of everything that is already there…"The Pentagon is sending a slew of additional weaponry to the Middle East, including more warships, air defenses and submarines, in preparation for a possible military strike on Iran if President Donald Trump makes that decision, according to U.S. officials and information from public tracking."

It has been a long time since we have witnessed a naval buildup of this magnitude. Once the USS Gerald R. Ford is in position in the Mediterranean Sea in a few days, the Iranians will be facing naval threats from multiple directions…"Meanwhile, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the second aircraft carrier that Trump is sending to the Middle East, and its accompanying ships are steaming across the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea, according to U.S. officials. It is expected there in coming days, and a nuclear submarine remains in the Mediterranean. When it does it will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and the attendant ships which form its carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf, according to U.S. officials.

A number of other ships are also in the region, including at least three littoral combat ships, a guided missile destroyer in the Red Sea and two guided missile destroyers in the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the ship tracker at the U.S. Naval Institute."

In addition, within the past 48 hours we have seen dozens of U.S. military aircraft fly across the Atlantic Ocean…"Over just eight hours on Wednesday, CBS News Confirmed was able to identify more than 50 U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft flying east from military airfields on both U.S. coasts to the United Kingdom, continental Europe and on to the Middle East, where some then disappeared from radar around the Jordan-Saudi Arabia border. The aircraft seen in transit were mostly refueling, transport and surveillance planes. In addition to the public tracking information, photographs have shown U.S. Air Force F-15, F-22, and F-35 fighter jets landing at U.K. bases and taking off again this week."

The images, captured by civilian plane spotters who upload them to social media, indicate that in addition to the logistics aircraft revealed by tracking data, American strike power has also been moving into the region. The flights tracked by CBS News on Wednesday represented only a fraction of the hundreds of aircraft movements visible in recent days.

The amount of firepower that the U.S. has accumulated in the Middle East is absolutely staggering. The following image which was originally created by @IANELLISJONES and is being widely shared all over social media shows just how extensive the buildup of air and naval assets has been…

Click image for larger size.

I don’t think that there will be any turning back now. Israel apparently believes that something could happen quite soon, because the Home Front Command has been ordered to prepare for war, and “a state of maximum alert has been declared across various Israeli security agencies”…"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Israeli Home Front Command to prepare for a potential war with Iran, Israeli media reported Wednesday evening. Netanyahu issued directives to “various rescue agencies and the Home Front Command to prepare for war,” according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. The newspaper added that “a state of maximum alert has been declared across various Israeli security agencies.”

Why are they declaring a state of “maximum alert” so soon? Do they know something that we do not? In anticipation of what is coming, the Israelis have also been conducting airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon…A wave of overnight Israeli airstrikes in several areas of southern Lebanon targeted Hezbollah weapon depots, rocket launchers, and other military sites, the IDF says. The military says the presence of the Hezbollah sites were a violation of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon.

We have been waiting for “a final showdown with Iran” to occur for a very long time. Now it is right at the door. So much death and destruction is ahead. Starting a war is easy, but I think that a lot of people are going to be very surprised by where this road takes us."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/