Wednesday, September 16, 2020

"Sacrifice for Thee But None For Me"

"Sacrifice for Thee But None For Me"
by Charles Hugh Smith

"Words can be debased just like currencies. Take the word sacrifice. The value of the original has been debased by trite, weepy overuse to the point of cliche. Like other manifestations of derealization and denormalization, this debasement is invisible, profound and ultimately devastating.

Consider the overworked slogan of implied shared sacrifice: we're all in this together. Pardon my cynicism, but doesn't this sound like what the first class passengers in the lifeboats shouted to the doomed steerage passengers on the sinking Titanic?

Here is the ice-cold reality of America in 2020: Sacrifice for Thee But None For Me. This isn't a new trend, of course. Any measurable sacrifices shared by all the socio-economic classes ended with World War II in 1945, and since then it's been one long slide to Sacrifice for Thee But None For Me.

We've seen this slide to decay and collapse many times in history. The elites who once gained social status and political power by making real sacrifices on behalf of the nation / empire become entirely self-serving, accumulating ever greater wealth and power by transferring all the sacrifices and risks onto the lower classes.

Peter Turchin, author of "War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires", describes how civic virtue is gradually replaced by personal greed and self-interest. This excerpt perfectly captures the current zeitgeist: "Virtus included the ability to distinguish between good and evil and to act in ways that promoted good, and especially the common good. Unlike Greeks, Romans did not stress individual prowess, as exhibited by Homeric heroes or Olympic champions. The ideal of hero was one whose courage, wisdom, and self-sacrifice saved his country in time of peril.

Unlike the selfish elites of the later periods, the aristocracy of the early Republic did not spare its blood or treasure in the service of the common interest. When 50,000 Romans, a staggering one fifth of Rome's total manpower, perished in the battle of Cannae, as mentioned previously, the senate lost almost one third of its membership. This suggests that the senatorial aristocracy was more likely to be killed in wars than the average citizen...

The wealthy classes were also the first to volunteer extra taxes when they were needed... A graduated scale was used in which the senators paid the most, followed by the knights, and then other citizens. In addition, officers and centurions (but not common soldiers!) served without pay, saving the state 20 percent of the legion's payroll... The richest 1 percent of the Romans during the early Republic was only 10 to 20 times as wealthy as an average Roman citizen."

Now compare that to the situation in Late Antiquity when "An average Roman noble of senatorial class had property valued in the neighborhood of 20,000 Roman pounds of gold. There was no 'middle class' comparable to the small landholders of the third century B.C.; the huge majority of the population was made up of landless peasants working land that belonged to nobles. These peasants had hardly any property at all, but if we estimate it (very generously) at one tenth of a pound of gold, the wealth differential would be 200,000! Inequality grew both as a result of the rich getting richer (late imperial senators were 100 times wealthier than their Republican predecessors) and those of the middling wealth becoming poor."

Compare this to the America of World War II and the America of today. Wealthy, politically influential families such as the Kennedys could only retain their influence if their sons served in positions of combat leadership, and Joe Kennedy was killed in the European theater after volunteering for a highly risky air mission. John F. Kennedy very nearly lost his life in the South Pacific.

And how do our era's crop of presidents and presidential contenders fare by comparison? The idea that flesh and blood should ever be at risk in defense of the nation/empire - perish the thought. As Turchin sagely observed, it's not just the limitless greed and avoidance of sacrifice of the elite that generates destabilizing inequality - it's the eradication of the middle class as all the risks and sacrifices were shifted from the self-serving top to the middle and lower classes.

As I've often noted, risk cannot be made to disappear, it can only be transferred to others. In the grand scheme of things, the inherent risks of globalization and financialization have all been transferred to the middle and working classes (however you define them). The elite class enjoys the near-infinite support of the Federal Reserve and it's ability to print near-infinite sums of currency to bail out the greediest, most self-serving scum of parasites and speculators.

Meanwhile, all the sacrifices required to support this unfair, corrupt, predatory system have been transferred to the middle and working classes via sleight of hand. The sacrifices weren't transparent and up front; they were cloaked in the decline of job security, in ever-higher costs, in the decline of social mobility and the erosion of the purchasing power of wages.

The elites' economist flunkies and factotums claimed that bailing out the freeloaders, parasites and speculators would benefit "the little people" because the grand trade-off delivered by the Federal Reserve (as correspondent R.J. pointed out to me) was: no more financial panics, which caused much misery in the working class due to business failures causing layoffs and unemployment.
But globalization, financialization and the rise of cartel-state monopolies have eviscerated the middle and working classes far more effectively and permanently than any brief financial panic, while greatly enriching the elite class - a rise in wealth that is backstopped by the Federal Reserve: profits are the elites to keep while their losses are socialized, i.e. transferred to the lower classes. Job security, the purchasing power of wages and social mobility - nothing vital to the middle or working classes is backstopped by the Fed; the Fed's one and only job is backstopping the wealth of our parasitic, predatory elite.

Sacrifice for Thee But None For Me. The banquet of consequences for the Fed, the elites and their armies of parasitic flunkies and factotums is being laid out, and there won't be much choice in the seating."

"The Cruelest Joke Of All..."

“The smallest decisions made had such profound repercussions. One ten-minute wait could save a life… or end it. One wrong turn down the right street or one seemingly unimportant conversation, and everything was changed. It wasn’t right that each lifetime was defined, ruined, ended, and made by such seemingly innocuous details. A major life-threatening event should come with a flashing warning sign that either said ABANDON ALL HOPE or SAFETY AHEAD. It was the cruelest joke of all that no one could see the most vicious curves until they were over the edge, falling into the abyss below.”
- Sherrilyn Kenyon

"It Costs What It Costs"

"It Costs What It Costs"
by Ryan Holiday

"When I first moved to New York, I had dinner with a friend who had lived there a long time. The thing about the city, he told me, is that everything is so expensive, it’s almost freeing. His apartment rented for half of what I would later buy an entire farm for. He was in the middle of planning a wedding in the city, too. In any sane environment, he said, you’d look for a deal; you’d refuse to be gouged or charged exorbitant prices for ordinary things. But in New York? You just have to accept it. It costs what it costs. That’s it.

Now, I personally came to believe that almost none of the advantages offered by the city were worth the price - and still don’t, which is why I moved - but this lesson has stuck with me. Because it transcends both geography and finances. Reality is indifferent to our preferences. There is no such thing as a fair price. Stuff - life - costs what it costs. You either pay it or you don’t.

The Stoics had a beautiful phrase for this. They called it the art of acquiescence.

It would be better if I never had to run into traffic on the way to my office. It would be better if a good chunk of our fellow humans hadn’t hardened their hearts to suffering. It’d be better if I didn’t have to tell my kids that they can’t go to school or see their friends right now. It’d be better if ordinary prices were always attached to ordinary things. But that’s not how it goes. So if I want to keep living here, in Austin, on Planet Earth, I’ve got to accept it. I have to pay it.

That’s an idea I’ve loved from Seneca. He points out that taxes are not just levied on income. They are just the financial form. There are many forms of taxes in life. You can argue with them, you can go to great - but ultimately futile - lengths to evade them, or you can simply pay them and enjoy the fruits of what you get to keep.

“Nothing will ever befall me that I will receive with gloom or a bad disposition,” he writes. “I will pay my taxes gladly. Now, all the things which cause complaint or dread are like the taxes of life -things from which, my dear Lucilius, you should never hope for exemption or seek escape.”

I’ve posted this quote on Instagram on April 15th the last few years and it’s been hilarious to see how angry some get. As if people haven’t been complaining about their taxes for thousands of years! And by the way, where are those people from so long ago? Dead.

Everything we do has a toll attached to it. Waiting around is a tax on traveling. Rumors and gossip are the taxes that come from acquiring a public persona. Disagreements and occasional frustration are taxes placed on even the happiest of relationships. Theft is a tax on abundance and having things that other people want. Stress and problems are tariffs that come attached to success. And on and on and on.

This can make you angry, or you can come to terms with it. Especially since, like with income, taxes are a good problem to have. Far better than, say, making so little there is nothing left to pay the government or living in anarchy and having to pay for every basic service in a struggle against nature. Remember: There is a certain way to get out of paying taxes - literal or figurative… it’s called death (and actually, because of the estate tax, that’s not true either).

When the broadcaster Stuart Scott found out he had cancer, possibly fatal cancer, he had this reaction. It wasn’t resignation, it was responsibility. He was an adult about it, a real man - or perhaps almost more than the kind of man that most of us are capable of being. In any case, he was not like these children who get upset the first time something doesn’t go their way.

When a friend asked if he ever thought, “Why me?” he said, “I have two girls that I love. I have a wonderful job that I love getting up for every day. Why not me? I’m about due.” When another friend said they wished they could take some of his cancer and suffer instead of him, he said, “I wouldn’t let you do it. I got it.”

When you meet someone who has true zen about them, you can bet they are operating on that level. They are calm because they have learned what they have to accept. They are happy because they’ve stopped fighting battles they were never going to win. They are grateful for what they get to keep, not what was taken or what they’ve had to put up with. Now more than ever we need this attitude, as difficult as it is.

A pandemic is a pandemic. Does it cost wearing a mask? OK. Does it cost traveling less? OK. Does it cost enduring fools and jerks who can’t understand these things? OK, I’ll come to terms with that too. Because what am I going to do? Wear myself down fighting something that can’t be fought? Become crazy myself? Fall prey to magical thinking or conspiracy theories? No. Like Seneca, I’ll pay my taxes gladly. So should you."

"How It Really Is"

"Market Fantasy Updates 9/16/20"

"Market Fantasy Updates 9/16/20"
Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
"The more I see of the monied classes, 
the better I understand the guillotine."
George Bernard Shaw
Updated live.
Daily Update (September 15th to 16th)
9/16/20 
Gregory Mannarino, 
“Be Ready, Today We Hear From the FED”

"Covod-19 Pandemic Updates 9/16/20"

 "Covod-19 Pandemic Updates 9/16/20"
SEP 16, 2020
By David Leonhardt

A bar in Paris on Sunday. 
In France, about 30 people a day die from the coronavirus.

Learning to live with the virus: Facing a possible second wave of coronavirus infections, European countries are trying to walk a tightrope: avoiding the harsh lockdowns of the spring, while also adhering to social-distancing rules and contact-tracing protocols. “It’s not possible to stop the virus,” said Emmanuel André, a leading virologist in Belgium. “It’s about maintaining equilibrium. And we only have a few tools available to do that.”

SEP 16, 2020 12:18 AM ET:
 Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 29,549,500 
people, according to official counts, including 6,614,111 Americans.

      SEP 16, 2020 12:18 AM ET: 
Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count
Updated 9/16/20, 3:22AM ET
Click image for larger size.

"Man-Made Weather Engineering Killing Us All"

"Man-Made Weather Engineering Killing Us All"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

"West Coast wildfires, wild temperature swings and hurricanes in the Gulf are all part of the consequences of man-made weather modification called Geoengineering. Climate engineering researcher Dane Wigington says, “People need to unite in the fight against climate engineering because it’s killing us all. If we look at this mathematically, climate engineering and all of its ramifications are the greatest threat we collectively face short of nuclear annihilation. The ramifications are beyond grave. There can be no legitimate discussion about the climate, or the the state of the climate from any perspective, without addressing this issue first.”

More than five years ago, Wigington warned then Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom (who is now Governor of California) about the devastating and uncontrollable fire destruction coming to the West Coast. Record high temperatures along with a record amount of millions of acres have been torched this year in California alone. Wigington remembers, “I had a private meeting with Gavin Newsom and his top aid in his office in the capitol, and I gave a full presentation on the climate engineering issue. They did not dispute the data. They couldn’t dispute the data. We have seen no acknowledgment from Governor Newsom, even as the state is burning to the ground, which is exactly what I told him would happen.”

Wigington says if you want to heal the planet, then stop geoengineering now. Wigington contends, “It is the single biggest leap we could make in the right direction. What we have is the environmental groups trying to protect their 501- (c) (3) nonprofits, and they are told not to talk about this issue– period. This is a taboo subject that they will not touch. How can you have a discussion about the state of the climate if you do not acknowledge the single greatest disrupting factor of all? What has set the template for these fires to burn with such ferocity? That is absolutely climate engineering. It is cutting off precipitation, toxifying soils with the elements used in climate engineering. That poisons the root systems and kills the trees from the bottom up. Geoengineering is destroying the Ozone layer. That’s releasing immense solar radiation, and that is killing trees from the top down. These particles are electrically conductive, creating far more dry lightning, which is igniting more fires. These materials, aluminum, barium and strontium particulates, are incendiary, which means they are flammable. This means they are coating forests from every conceivable direction. Climate engineering is the issue that must be acknowledge in regard to the ferocity these fires are burning.”

Wigington also ties Bill Gates, CV19 and climate engineering together, and it is an ominous thing. Wigington explains, “The world’s second most recognized climate engineer, Dr. Ken Caldiera, we have him on record stating one of the jobs he did for the Department of Defense (DOD) was to design ways to spray pathogens into clouds to effect the populations below. Who does he work for now? He works for Bill Gates. We have peer reviewed studies that CV19 has been found on atmospheric particles. When you look at the uniformity of how this was spread around the globe, they had to be aerosol dispersion. It was too uniform and spread too quickly. You can’t hide from needing to breathe air. If this is being dispersed, how do we hide from that? We have these characters working together, and what kind of a picture does that paint? This is weather warfare. It’s bio warfare, and it’s an all-out assault. Those in power have long stated that there are too many people on the planet. We better face this picture squarely now because we are rapidly running out of time.”

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with climate 
researcher Dane Wigington, founder of GeoEngineeringWatch.org.

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Must Watch! “California Coming To America; Retirement Savings Vaporized; Americans Need Money Now- Amazon Jobs”

Jeremiah Babe,
“California Coming To America; Retirement Savings Vaporized;
 Americans Need Money Now- Amazon Jobs”

Gerald Celente, Trends Journal: "Teaching Fear, From the Cold War to the COVID War"

Trends Journal: "Teaching Fear, From the Cold War to the COVID War"
"Gerald Celente is the Publisher of the "Trends Journal", a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over hype and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in the increasingly turbulent times ahead."

Musical Interlude: Poco, "Rose of Cimarron"

Poco, "Rose of Cimarron"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Sharp telescopic views of NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. Of course, this deep portrait of the magnificent, edge-on spiral galaxy puts some astronomers in mind of its popular moniker, the Hamburger Galaxy. It also reveals a small galaxy nearby, likely a satellite of NGC 3628, and a faint but extensive tidal tail. The drawn out tail stretches for about 300,000 light-years, even beyond the right edge of the wide frame. 
Click image for larger size.
NGC 3628 shares its neighborhood in the local universe with two other large spirals M65 and M66 in a grouping otherwise known as the Leo Triplet. Gravitational interactions with its cosmic neighbors are likely responsible for creating the tidal tail, as well as the extended flare and warp of this spiral's disk. The tantalizing island universe itself is about 100,000 light-years across and 35 million light-years away in the northern springtime constellation Leo."

"The Shocking Truth About Facemasks"

"The Shocking Truth About Facemasks"
by Brian Maher

"The coronavirus menaces yet. Maybe you believe a face shield is your sword, a colossal weapon against the microscopic barbarians at your gate.  Our agents inform us you can purchase a face shield for perhaps $10. But let us suppose you perch upon the upper rungs of America’s social ladder. Let us further suppose you wish to be seen upon this ladder, high aloft… all beneath looking up in heart-eating envy. Well then, we have the personal protection equipment for you…

The Price of Vanity: A Louis Vuitton face shield you can have for $961 - some $950 above standard. Is this viral barrier $950 superior to the plebian plastic that shields the lower 99%?

Our men have conducted a thorough scientific inquiry - in studies singly blind, doubly blind and triply blind. As a barrier, they conclude, Louis Vuitton’s face shield is the precise equal of the socially inferior issue. Yet the socially inferior issue does not bear the razzle-dazzle of Louis Vuitton. “We are all in this together,” we are told. Yet even together… apparently… some insist upon standing apart. Vanity, Louis Vuitton is thy name.

If You Must Settle: Perhaps a $961 plastic yet golden face cover is beyond your means. You nonetheless aspire to radiate a superior air to the lessers around you. May we then suggest a leather Louis Vuitton face mask?

The unwashed hordes may go about in their ten cent surgical masks. But you can advertise your aristocracy for a mere $50.

Gucci, meantime, will sell you similar “luxury masks.” You may have difficulty breathing while wearing one. You nonetheless wallow in luxury, in opulence. But are masks and shields - Louis Vuitton, Gucci, or Acme - effective barriers at all?

They are not, concludes physicist Denis Rancourt. This fellow is a learned master of “environmental nanoparticles.”

A Maginot Line: A facial covering is - he concludes - a Maginot Line of sorts. It is no more effective at keeping out viruses than France’s Maginot Line was at keeping out Germans. Both are easily outflanked.

As well erect a chain link fence to keep the flies out. Rancourt: "When I looked at all the randomized controlled trials with verified outcome, meaning you actually measure whether or not the person was infected … NONE of these well-designed studies … found there was a statistically significant advantage of wearing a mask versus not wearing a mask… What this means - and this is very important - is that if there was any significant advantage to wearing a mask to reduce this [infection] risk, then you would have detected that in at least one of these trials, [yet] there’s no sign of it."

That to me is a firm scientific conclusion: There is no evidence that masks are of any utility either preventing the aerosol particles from coming out or from going in. You’re not helping the people around you by wearing a mask, and you’re not helping yourself preventing the disease by wearing a mask.

This science is unambiguous in that such a positive effect cannot be detected. Wearing a mask or being in an environment where masks are being worn or not worn, there’s no difference in terms of your risk of being infected by the viral respiratory disease. There’s no reduction, period. There are no exceptions. All the studies that have been tabulated, looked at, published, I was not able to find any exceptions, if you constrain yourself to verified outcomes. Yet we are ordered to seal our facial orifices in public venues indoors and out. All - evidently - to very little effect.

Why, Dr. Rancourt, are masks such hopeless sieves?

Aerosol Particles: We’re talking about the small size fraction of aerosols, so typically smaller than 2 micrometers… When you get down to those sizes, gravitational outtake is very inefficient and they basically stay in suspension. And, as soon as you have currents or flow of air, [the particles] are carried… These aerosol particles that are the vector of transmission are completely suspended as part of the fluid air. They’re really part of the fluid air, so any air that gets through, [the viral particles are also] going to come through. That’s why masks don’t work… Those fine aerosol particles will follow the fluid air. In a surgical mask, there is no way you’re blocking the fluid air...

In other words, very little of the airflow is going to be through the actual mask. But masks block saliva. Saliva houses the virus. Is it then not sound to sport masks and don shields to keep saliva in? No, argues Dr. Rancourt. That is because the virus is transmitted in the fluid air of which he writes - not through saliva: The mask is only designed and intended to stop your spitballs from coming out and hitting someone. The large droplets drop to the floor immediately and are not breathed in. So, they’re not part of the transmission mechanism. You can do a scientific study that demonstrates that viruses survive a fairly long time on a surface.

That does not mean that transmission occurs through surfaces. It only means that a scientist was able to establish that a virus can survive a long time on a surface. It doesn’t tell you anything about the likely transmission mechanism of the disease. So, there are a lot of studies like this that are basically irrelevant in terms of transmission mechanism.

[Infectious respiratory diseases] are transmitted by these fine aerosol particles that are in suspension in the air. In a case like that, will a mask, will something that is preventing spitballs from coming out, protect you or protect others? And the answer is no, it makes no measurable difference."

Please, doctor, continue: "There are many studies that show how difficult it is to actually infect someone when you’re just trying to put something like a fluid or something you know is bearing the virus into their eye or into their nose. It’s hard to do this. That’s what the studies show. But if you take a fine aerosol and you breathe it in deeply, that’s where the infection starts. So, by breathing in aerosols laden with these viruses, you’re going to be infected. Try to do anything else, and it’s going to be difficult [to spread infection]."

In conclusion: "The most recent randomized controlled trial [published] this year basically concluded they could find no evidence that masks, hand-washing and distancing, in terms of reducing the risk of these types of diseases, were of any use. [They] didn’t help."

Thus the good Dr. Rancourt blasts the bedrock upon which public policy rests. Yet the hocus-pocus of mask-wearing is mighty in the land. And the masked are horrified into white hot rages should you appear among them unmasked.

Can we guarantee Rancourt’s claims? We cannot. We are not a scientist. Yet we have seen similar evidence elsewhere. More importantly, they confirm our biases. They slant the way we lean… And a fellow leans this way or that way in life, forever foraging for facts that fit his precious theories, forever picking cherries.

We are by nature skeptical of official policies - they are generally anchored in error, bankrupt. These findings affirm our deep-dyed skepticism. They soothe us. They massage our scalp… and caress our gills.

Consolation: Must we endure the futility of slipping on personal protection equipment before entering stores? Alas, we must. Yet we are consoled by this capital fact: It affords us the chance to display our plumage, to strut, to showboat our popinjay superiority, to be a big deal in this world. And it only costs $961, payable to Louis Vuitton - a bargain at thrice the price."

"Joe Biden And Kamala Harris Both Refer To 'Harris Administration' During Public Speeches"

"Joe Biden And Kamala Harris Both Refer To
 'Harris Administration' During Public Speeches"

"As Joe Biden struggles to campaign through a clear cognitive decline, eyebrows were raised this week after both he and running mate Kamala Harris referred to a 'Harris administration' while giving speeches. Kamala Harris lets the truth slip: "a Harris Administration together with Joe Biden." Biden says “Harris-Biden administration.” Wow.
Is there something they'd like to share with the class? If only they would take questions during appearances! Then again, his teleprompter may not contain an answer to that question. Joe Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon refuses to deny that Biden uses a teleprompter in interviews
Biden without a teleprompter (?):

Gregory Mannarino, "Tomorrow Is FED. Day! Important Updates"

Gregory Mannarino, 
"Tomorrow Is FED. Day! Important Updates"

Musical Interlude: Michele McLaughlin, "Out of the Darkness"

Michele McLaughlin, "Out of the Darkness"

The Daily "Near You?"

Lexington, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Fear..."

“The Hound In The Kennel”

“The Hound In The Kennel”
by John James

“In my experience most of us take whatever frightens us or makes us uncomfortable and push it out of sight. This puts it into the unconscious. It does not disappear, but just lies in waiting like a faithful hound until let out. Meanwhile the conscious part can go on living as if nothing had happened. But as Carl Jung pointed out so perspicaciously, the hound keeps howling from the depth and thereby influences all that we do. So we can’t go on as before. We may try to carry on as always, but in truth everything we do is influenced by the unseen and suppressed feelings from the hound in the kennel. There being no escape, we act out this unconscious material, but pretend we are still being normal.

It is an essential aspect of growing up that we suppress who we really are in order to be accepted and loved by mum and dad. This means we actually push our real needs away in order to cope with their demands. It is as if we have sacrificed our original selves to get their love, and it leaves a trail of sorrow.

We call it Existential Grief because it’s about our very existence. It is about us being ’socialized’ by the family and school so that we forget who we truly are. This leaves an enormous grief that is too difficult to confront, and we hide it in the kennel of the unconscious, leaving the howls from the kennel to undermine our self-confidence.

In our society we use material goods and social roles to cover up the black hole of grief. By surrounding ourselves with pretty and expensive things we tell everyone else that we are really OK. This is, so I learn from my clients, the major cause of going shopping, going on buying sprees and being consumers. We have come to believe that bright new things will fill the empty spaces inside. This seems to be why we cannot really confront the devil of global warming that is being fed by every dollar we spend. For our own safety as a species we should all be consuming less and sharing more and striving to make life simple, whereas we are literally hell-bent on getting the most while we still can.

The hound sitting in the kennel of our emptiness makes it too hard for us to look at the truth and change our ways. We cannot alter the terminal path we are on, because to do so would expose our deepest fears that underneath all the tinsel and stuff we really are not worth much at all. Not even the protection we should be giving to our beautiful children is enough to move us to confront this terrifying personal fear.

A four-year analysis of the world’s ecosystems sponsored by the Worldwatch Institute found that over-consumption has pushed 15 out of 24 ecosystems essential to human life “beyond their sustainable limits”. Our insatiable desire for more is moving the planet toward a state of collapse that may be “abrupt and potentially irreversible”. Since we all know that, can we not go beyond the fear to follow David Attenborough, who said in an interview, “How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew and did nothing?”
https://beforeitsnews.com/

“It’s 3:23 A.M.
And I’m awake because my great great grandchildren won’t let me sleep.
They ask me in dreams,
‘What did you do while the planet was plundered?
What did you do when the earth was unraveling?
Surely you did something when the seasons started flailing?
As the mammals, reptiles and birds were all dying?
Did you fill the streets with protest?
When democracy was stolen, what did you do once you knew?
Surely, you did something…’”

- Drew Dellinger

"Heaven And Hell..."

“Many people don’t fear a hell after this life and that’s because hell is on this earth, in this life. In this life there are many forms of hell that people walk through, sometimes for a day, sometimes for years, sometimes it doesn’t end. The kind of hell that doesn’t burn your skin; but burns your soul. The kind of hell that people can’t see; but the flames lap at your spirit. Heaven is a place on earth, too! It’s where you feel freedom, where you’re not afraid. No more chains. And you hear your soul laughing.”
- C. JoyBell C.
John Milton, 

"Millions Will Be Left Behind in the New Economy"

"Millions Will Be Left Behind in the New Economy"
By Bill Bonner

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – “It feels like the world has changed so much. Just in the last six months. We’ll get home; but it won’t feel like home anymore.” Thus spake the distaff half of the household, looking ahead to November. We’ve been holed up here in the Calchaquí Valley in Argentina for the last six months. We’re now hoping to get home to Baltimore for Thanksgiving.

“I wonder what it’s going to be like. We’ve been away from civilization for so long, we’ll probably feel out-of-joint… or out of time. People will all be wearing face masks. Do they still shake hands? Do they still kiss each other on the cheek? And the election will be just over. It could be a madhouse… Or a whole new world.”

Illusion of Progress: Here at the Diary, we do not believe in “progress.” We don’t like gadgets or time wasters. We have no use for most new apps or electronic entertainment. It’s a nuisance when our computer automatically updates. Most of the electronic gear now built into autos and houses is a waste of time and money.

We look back half a century at all the “progress” that has happened. Are we better off? Are we happier? Are we better people? Is what we see more fetching? Is what we eat tastier? Is what we hear and read wiser… or more truthful? No, Dear Reader, the challenges are the same today as they were half a century ago – to separate truth from lies… beauty from ugliness… and Heaven from Hell.

Profound Change: But while “progress” is mostly an illusion, we don’t deny that things change. Underway, since at least the beginning of the 21st century, is a profound change. The U.S. economy – grown rich and powerful on fossil fuels, the internal combustion engine, and the principles of free trade, free enterprise, and free movement – is metamorphosing into something new… perhaps beautiful, perhaps hideous.

The political change is well documented. Republicans – traditionally the party of small government and balanced budgets – have become the party of Trump. Mr. Trump is opposed to free trade. Nor does he have any apparent interest in balanced budgets or any worries about debt. And he is prepared to manage the U.S. economy with varying degrees of central planning and price controls, as he feels the situation calls for.

Still, many readers – perhaps correctly – believe that the alternative would be worse. Deprived of the hypocrisy of the Republicans, we would be at the mercy of the Democrats, who have never pretended any love for balanced budgets, sound money, small government, or free enterprise. As to which would be the better captain for this Titanic, we have no opinion. Both parties are trying to prove that the other is incompetent, devilish, and imbecilic. As near as we can see, they are both right.

Sinking Ship: Whichever evil – lesser or greater – ends up in the captain’s seat, it is very likely that the great Industrial Age ship, which has been leaking badly for the last 20 years, will go down. Today, we look at what goes down with it.

Jobs, for one thing. Millions of them are being left behind… like the rusting hulk of a Japanese aircraft carrier on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The economy had been slowing down for half a century… staggering under the weight of debt, false signals from the Federal Reserve, financialization, and regulations. The 4% average annual growth of the 1960s fell to under 2% in the Trump years. The old economy of producing and selling things had already been hobbled and distorted. So most of the new jobs created in the 21st century were in the low-wage service sector.

K-Shaped Recovery: Then, with the coming of the COVID Lockdowns, the slowdown turned into almost a complete stop. And the jobs most affected were those in the service sector. Readers hoping for a V-shaped recovery, with a quick return to “normal,” are already searching the alphabet for alternatives. “K” is probably the best bet, with some doing better than ever, but the rest on a downward track. Which direction you go depends mostly on which economy you are in – the new one… or the one being left behind.

In the locked-down economy, some people kept working (including your editor) in the usual way. We work on the internet. We can work from anywhere we can get an internet connection – even from a remote ranch, with a satellite dish to capture a faint internet signal.

For “knowledge workers” – no matter how ignorant – the COVID lockdown posed little trouble. Lawyers, architects, accountants, analysts, bureaucrats, clerks, marketers, designers – millions of office rats were able to simply move their offices to their nests. There, with no need to commute, no gasoline to buy… no donuts and coffee to pick up on the way to work, and no lunches out… they found themselves better off. Savings rates tripled. Meanwhile, those whose work involved no internet terminal suddenly found themselves cut off from their work. And much of that work will never return.

No Way Back: Viruses will always be with us. And so will those people who use the threat of illness as a reason to control and manipulate others. Terrorists never presented much real risk to Americans. Yet, 19 years after 9/11, TSA agents still feel up old ladies and girl scouts in U.S. airports. You can’t be too safe!

Now, restaurants take diners’ temperatures before allowing them in to eat. Schools insist that students stay six feet apart – or face expulsion. Face masks are required… churches are closed… It’s not the same world. The water is already under the bridge; there’s no way to get it back.

Between the fear of getting sick (stoked by the media and the feds) and the unappealing public “health” measures to prevent it, people change their plans and their attitudes. They may even become conspicuous savers – flaunting their old cars and worn out sweaters as status symbols. Already, fewer want to take cruises… or dine out… or go to the theater.

Or go to Europe for a summer vacation. Hotel occupancy rates in Paris are down 86% from last year. They are expected to come back – but probably never to where they once were. So, what about the hotel workers? The restaurant owners? The taxi drivers? The shopkeepers?

Left Behind: But that is just the beginning. The new economy will soon have no need for long-distance truck drivers. The trucks – perhaps electric – will still be on the road. But the truck drivers will be easily replaced by electronics. And what about store clerks (who might be “vectors” for spreading disease)?

Millions of people are being left behind. What will they do? Live on welfare, like the people of West Baltimore or West Philadelphia? And what will happen to the economy itself? This new normal could cut GDP growth down to zero… and leave it there. Then what? We don’t know… But there will be other things left behind, too. Tune in tomorrow…"

"How It Really Is"

"America 1950 vs. America 2020"

"America 1950 vs. America 2020"
by Michael Snyder

"If you could go back to 1950, would you do it? There would be no Internet, no cellphones and you would only be able to watch television in black and white. But even though they lacked many of our modern conveniences, people genuinely seemed to be much happier back then. Families actually ate dinner together, neighbors knew and cared about one another, and being an “American” truly meant something. Today, we like to think that we are so much more “advanced” than they were back then, but the truth is that our society is in the process of falling apart all around us. Could it be possible that we could learn some important lessons by looking back at how Americans lived 70 years ago?

Of course there has never been any era in our history when everything has been perfect. But without a doubt, things are vastly different today than they were back in 1950…

In 1950, Texaco Star Theatre, The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy were some of the most popular shows that Americans watched on television.
In 2020, a Netflix film entitled “Cuties” is so trashy and so disgusting that four states have sent a letter to Netflix asking for it to be removed because it is “fodder for those with criminal imaginations, serving to normalize the view that children are sexual beings.”

In 1950, television networks would not even show husbands and wives in bed together.
In 2020, “adult websites” get more traffic than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined.

In 1950, people would greet one another as they walked down the street.
In 2020, Americans are too enamored with their cellphones to be bothered with actual human contact.

In 1950, gum chewing and talking in class were some of the major disciplinary problems in our schools.
In 2020, kids are literally gunning down police officers in the streets.

In 1950, people would make an effort to dress up and look nice when they would go out in public.
In 2020, most of the population has become utter slobs and “People of Walmart” has become one of our most popular memes.

In 1950, the typical woman got married for the first time at age 20 and the typical man got married for the first time at age 22.
In 2020, the typical woman gets married for the first time at age 27 and the typical man gets married for the first time at age 29.

In 1950, a lot of people would leave their homes and their vehicles unlocked because crime rates were so low.
In 2020, many that live in urban areas are deathly afraid of all the civil unrest that has erupted, and gun sales have soared to all-time record highs.

In 1950, Americans actually attempted to parent their children.
In 2020, we pump our kids full of mind-altering drugs and we let our televisions and our video games raise our children.

In 1950, Baltimore was one of the most beautiful and most prosperous cities on the entire planet.
In 2020, Baltimore regularly makes headlines because of all the murders that are constantly occurring.  Of course the exact same thing could be said about many of our other major cities.

In 1950, 78 percent of all households in America contained a married couple.
In 2020, that figure has fallen below 50 percent.

In 1950, about 5 percent of all babies in the United States were born to unmarried parents.
In 2020, about 40 percent of all babies in the United States will be born to unmarried parents.

In 1950, new churches were regularly being opened all over the United States.
In 2020, it is being projected that 1 out of every 5 churches in the U.S. “could be forced to shut their doors in the next 18 months”, and the mayor of Lubbock, Texas just said that opening a new Planned Parenthood clinic is like starting a church.

In 1950, we actually had high standards for our elected officials, and people actually did research on the candidates before they cast their votes.
In 2020, more than 4,000 people in one county in New Hampshire voted for a “transsexual Satanic anarchist” in the Republican primary, and she is now the Republican nominee for sheriff in Cheshire County.

In 1950, children would go outside and play when they got home from school.
In 2020, our parks and our playgrounds are virtually empty and we have the highest childhood obesity rate in the industrialized world.

In 1950, front porches were community gathering areas, and people would regularly have their neighbors over for dinner.
In 2020, many of us don’t know our neighbors at all, and the average American watches more than five hours of television a day.

In 1950, Americans used words such as “knucklehead”, “moxie” and “jalopy”.
In 2020, new terms such as “nomophobia”, “peoplekind” and “social distancing” have been introduced into the English language.

In 1950, the very first credit card was issued in the United States.
In 2020, Americans owe more than 930 billion dollars on their credit cards.

In 1950, one income could support an entire middle class household.
In 2020, tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs and filed for unemployment, and more than half of all households in some of our largest cities are currently facing “serious financial problems”.

In 1950, the American people believed that the free market should govern the economy.
In 2020, most Americans seem to believe that the government in Washington and the Federal Reserve must endlessly “manage” the economy.

In 1950, “socialists” and “communists” were considered to be our greatest national enemies.
In 2020, most of our politicians in Washington have eagerly embraced socialist and communist policy goals.

In 1950, the U.S. Constitution was deeply loved and highly revered.
In 2020, anyone that actually admits to being a “constitutionalist” is considered to be a potential domestic terrorist.

In 1950, the United States loaned more money to the rest of the world than anybody else.
In 2020, the United States owes more money to the rest of the world than anybody else.

In 1950, the total U.S. national debt reached the 257 billion dollar mark for the first time in our history.
In 2020, we added 864 billion dollars to the national debt in the month of June alone.  In other words, we added over three times more to the national debt in that one month than the total amount of debt that had been accumulated from the founding of our nation all the way to 1950.

In 1950, most Americans were generally happy with their lives.
In 2020, the suicide rate is at an all-time record high, and it has been rising every single year since 2007."

"Market Fantasy Updates 9/15/20"

"Market Fantasy Updates 9/15/20"
Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
"The more I see of the monied classes, 
the better I understand the guillotine."
George Bernard Shaw
Updated live.
Daily Update (September 14th to 15th)
Gregory Mannarino, 
AM 9/15/20 "Markets: US-Iran Threat Boosts Crude.
 Stocks Set For Higher Open"