Wednesday, February 23, 2022

"Putin Launches 'Special Military Operation' In Ukraine, Kiev Calls It "Full-Scale Invasion"

Full screen recommended.
"Putin Launches 'Special Military Operation' In Ukraine, 
Kiev Calls It "Full-Scale Invasion"

Russian Ministry of Defense: "Military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields and aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being put out of action by high-precision means of destruction."


⚡️ @mod_russia says they are not doing any missile, artillery or rocket strikes on #Ukrainian cities, citizens of #Ukraine are not threatened, what is happening is precision strikes destroy UKR military infrastructure, anti-air systems, air force and air fields.
— Maxim A. Suchkov (@m_suchkov) February 24, 2022
Full screen recommended.
Meet Kevin, "The Russian Invasion Begins; Ukraine Crisis"

"30 Medications That Will Become Priceless After The Imminent Economic Collapse"

Full screen recommended.
"30 Medications That Will Become Priceless 
After The Imminent Economic Collapse"
by Epic Economist

"We all know that an economic collapse is imminent, so stockpiling medication is a great strategy to make sure you and your family will stay healthy and strong to face the challenges ahead. One thing we collectively noticed over the past couple of years is that global supply chains are way more vulnerable than we previously thought. A single disruption can trigger numerous others, and when problems compound, the flow of goods around the world gets interrupted, resulting in extensive shortages and helping to boost prices, and fueling inflation.

On the other hand, something that many people don’t realize is that the vast majority of the medicine we consume here in the U.S. is produced in other countries, and mostly imported from China. However, the Eastern economic superpower is facing many troubles on its own, and with other geopolitical conflicts emerging, this means that soon we might be struggling to find the medications we need. That’s extremely worrying, particularly if you, your kids, or your family members have a health condition or some predisposition to illnesses and diseases. Even if you’re healthy, you still need some medications to keep your body functioning well, especially in a disaster scenario where you may not find all the food staples your need to get proper nutrition.

For that reason, today, we gathered 30 over-the-counter medications to stockpile before the imminent economic collapse. Keeping a stash of medicine and first aid supplies can be life-saving in times of crisis. After things start to get out of control, it might be incredibly difficult to get to a pharmacy, and even if you get there, you probably won’t find the things you want. When you’re planning to stockpile medicine it’s important to consider your specific needs and what other problems could potentially arise. If you live in remote or rural areas, make sure you find the nearest pharmacy before conditions start to get worse. It’s key to be prepared ahead of time in case our supply chains collapse in an irreversible manner.

Also, keep in mind expiration dates and try to rotate as much as possible by using older medicine first and replacing them with new ones. According to NCBI, solid medications, such as tablets or pills, can last up to 10 years and still be safe for consumption 5 years past their expiration date. Don’t forget to check the formulas to see if you or your family members aren’t allergic to any of the components.

At the end of the day, when you’re preparing for an economic collapse or a long-term disaster, assessing your real needs is what matters the most. Make sure you consult a licensed practitioner, physician, or pharmacist to help you select the best medications for you and your family members. If you have chronic issues that require prescription medicine, talk to your doctor about getting extra prescriptions for emergencies.

We would like to give a special shout-out to Urban Survival and Homestead Survival for always sharing prepper tips and tricks and helping beginners to navigate through the universe of preparedness.

The world is rapidly changing and people are starting to realize that the resources we have right now might not be available in the future. As shortages become more widespread and supply chain problems compound, stocking up on the supplies you need is essential to not only guarantee your survival but your quality of life.

We all can feel that hard times are coming, but things can be a lot easier if we’re prepared to handle the chaos. In this list, you’ll find medications that can help you treat many different health problems, so don’t forget to subscribe to get more survival content!"

“Stock Market Slammed Again - Too Sick To Recover; Mortgage Rates Will Pop Bubble; Bank Alert”

Jeremiah Babe, PM 2/23/22:
“Stock Market Slammed Again - Too Sick To Recover;
 Mortgage Rates Will Pop Bubble; Bank Alert”

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"

Full screen mode recommended.
Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The beautiful Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. About 5,000 light-years away, the colorful study in cosmic contrasts shares this well-composed, nearly 1 degree wide field with open star cluster Messier 21 (top right).
Trisected by dust lanes the Trifid itself is about 40 light-years across and a mere 300,000 years old. That makes it one of the youngest star forming regions in our sky, with newborn and embryonic stars embedded in its natal dust and gas clouds. Estimates of the distance to open star cluster M21 are similar to M20's, but though they share this gorgeous telescopic skyscape there is no apparent connection between the two. In fact, M21's stars are much older, about 8 million years old.”

Chet Raymo, “Trying To Be Good”

“Trying To Be Good”
by Chet Raymo

“A few lines from Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese":

    "You do not have to be good.
    You do not have to walk on your knees
    for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
    You only have to let the soft animal of your body
    love what it loves."

"I've quoted these lines before, if not here, then elsewhere. When I first read them back in the late 80s, they resonated with what I felt at the time. I had spent part of my earliest adulthood walking on my knees, both literally and metaphorically, seeking to tame what I took to be the animal within. Saint Augustine was whispering in my ear, and Bernanos' gloomy country priest walked at my side. I was ready to follow Thomas Merton into the desert; indeed, I once took myself briefly to the monastery at Gethsemane, Kentucky, where Merton was in residence.

That was a journey of more than a hundred miles, and I was busy repenting, although of what I don't know.

As I read those lines from Mary Oliver in middle age, I had long been cultivating the "soft animal" within, immersing myself in the is-ness of things, the flesh and blood, the gorgeously sensual. No more walking on my knees, repenting. I walked proudly upright, with my sketchbook and my watercolors, my binoculars and my magnifier, sniffing the world like an animal on the prowl. I was letting my body learn to "love what it loves." Those were the years I wrote "The Soul of the Night" and "Honey From Stone" - the most intensely creative years of my life. The world offered itself to my imagination, if I may borrow another line from "Wild Geese."

And now, another half-lifetime has passed. The soft animal dozes, the body seeks repose. And I think of the first line quoted above: "You do not have to be good." What could the poet have possibly meant by that? Of course one has to be good. In a cell at Gethsemane or on the bridge over Queset Brook, one has to be good. And so one tries, one tries. The soft animal of the body that nature has contrived for us is not fine-tuned for goodness.”
“Wild Geese”

"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."

- Mary Oliver

"Celente & The Judge: Our Rights Are Being Stolen; War On The Horizon"

Full screen recommended.
"Celente & The Judge: 
Our Rights Are Being Stolen; War On The Horizon"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

Gregory Mannarino, "Cyberattack And Pentagon Warning Hits Stocks; Commodities Surging"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/23/22:
"Cyberattack And Pentagon Warning Hits Stocks; 
Commodities Surging"

"You Know..."

“You know, we never see the world exactly as it is. We see it as we hope it will be or we fear it might be. And we spend our lives going through a sort of modified stages of grief about that realization. And we deny it, and then we argue with it, and we despair over it. But eventually - and this is my belief - that we come to see it, not as despairing, but as vitalizing. We never see the world exactly as it is because we are how the world is.”
- Maria Popova
“Reality is what we take to be true.
What we take to be true is what we believe.
What we believe is based upon our perceptions.
What we perceive depends upon what we look for.
What we look for depends upon what we think.
What we think depends upon what we perceive.
What we perceive determines what we believe.
What we believe determines what we take to be true.
What we take to be true is our reality.”
- Gary Zukav

Must Watch! "Retail Crime is Only Getting Worse - Real Estate Buyer's Estate"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly PM 2/23/22:
"Retail Crime is Only Getting Worse - Real Estate Buyer's Estate"
"Retail Crime is getting worse. This is coming to a city near you. Another Walgreens is closing as a result of this. Millennials are experiencing buyer's remorse with real estate."

"Bankruptcy For Moderna, Definitely Pfizer"

"Bankruptcy For Moderna, Definitely Pfizer"
by Raúl Ilargi Meijer

"Justus R. Hope, MD, at Desert Review has a long article up on the views of former Blackrock exec, hedge funder, investment adviser Edward Dowd, along with a neverending list of podcasts. To which I will add a few at the bottom of this article. We’ve seen a few Dowd videos lately, but nothing like this. He should be on Joe Rogan ASAP.

The entire thing is so complete, devastating, shocking, that I don’t know what else to do than give you some quotes. It very much feels like the end of mRNA, and of the FDA in its present shape, because they -the government itself- are deeply complicit in outright investor fraud. Wall Street (“multiple brokerage houses”) is finding this out, Moderna stock is already down 70%, and that’s just the start. mRNA vaccines are killing and maiming people: “No matter the effort, one cannot hide the bodies – and “the bodies are piling up.” Good luck with your vaxx mandates.
"Pfizer & Moderna Investors Run for the Exits"
by Edward Dowd

"Wall Street investors are dumping their Moderna and Pfizer stock faster than the world can drop the mandates. Moderna is down 70 percent from its high, while Pfizer is off 19 percent. Former Blackrock Executive and investment adviser Edward Dowd calls for Moderna to go to zero and Pfizer to end under ten dollars per share.

How is this possible given that Pfizer now enjoys record earnings per share and a market capitalization of some $270 billion, making it the 29th largest corporation globally? With nothing but profits in sight for the Pharmaceutical giant, what could be the problem?

For the skeptics, consider that Pfizer stock lost $20 billion in market capitalization on February 8, 2022, when their record earnings fell short of more optimistic expectations. Also consider that Moderna’s stock is down some 70 percent from its high of $484 on August 9, 2021, wiping out almost $ 140 billion in investment. Dowd predicts Moderna will drop to zero with bankruptcy as fraud related to concealing the COVID vaccine dangers surfaces, and he predicts Pfizer will become a sub-ten-dollar stock. Dowd explains that the smart money has already left Moderna and will soon be exiting Pfizer.

Dowd foresees an avalanche of lawsuits coming as the insurance industry continues to uncover the legions of mounting deaths coming from the complications of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Dowd teamed up with an insurance industry analyst and researched the life insurance claims. They found that since OneAmerica shocked the world by announcing a 40% rise in non-COVID deaths in younger working-class employees, multiple other insurance companies worldwide have seen the same thing – massive rises in non-COVID deaths. And the evidence inescapably points to the vaccines as the cause.

Meanwhile, the funeral company stocks have outperformed the S&P. “Funeral Home companies are growth stocks. They had a great year in 2021 compared to 2020, and they outperformed the S&P 500. The peer group of Funeral Home stocks was up 40 plus percent while the S&P was up 26 percent – and they started accelerating price-wise in 2021 during the roll-out of the vaccines – You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to connect the dots here.”

Other insurance companies have reported the same or worse death numbers as OneAmerica. For example, “Unum Insurance is up 36%, Lincoln National plus 57%, Prudential plus 41%, Reinsurance Group of America plus 21%, Hartford plus 32%, Met Life plus 24%, and Aegon – which is a Dutch insurer – saw in their US arm plus 57% in the 4th quarter – in the 3rd quarter they saw a 258% increase in death claims.”

“They raised (mortality) expectations 300,000 for 2022 over 2021 due to COVID plus ‘indirect COVID,’ which I think we know what that’s code for. They (Aegon) did a $1.4 billion reinsurance deal with Wilton Reinsurance…what they were reinsuring were high face amount individual policies from 1 million to 10 million. (So) I think there is an asymmetric information situation going on in the insurance industry where some people have figured out something’s going on. They are off-loading their risk – they are not going to say what it is as they don’t want that information to get out as they unload the risk.”.

“Someone is going to be the bag holder here.” And Dowd is confident it won’t be the insurance industry. A court in France has already held that a life insurance company cannot be held liable for a death because of the mRNA vaccine. But that does not explain how mRNA manufacturers can be held responsible for an emergency product they were told was liability-free. Aren’t the vaccine manufacturers immunized from lawsuits? After all, they were granted EUA, the specialized Emergency Use Authorization, which means they cannot be held legally accountable for deaths or adverse effects stemming from the experimental vaccines.

The idea is that no company – upon government request – should have to pay for unforeseen complications resulting from an emergency product that they released to the world out of their goodness of the hearts, with the best of intentions. Right? Wrong – not when your company accomplishes this through deceit, also known as fraud. Fraud undoes all these protections. If a company or person intentionally deceives another to profit, we have fraud. If Pfizer’s data showed increased all-cause mortality and hid this to motivate people to take the vaccine while claiming it was safe, then fraud exists.

Under common law, the required elements to prove fraud amount to: #1. A materially false statement or purposeful failure to state or release material facts which non-disclosure makes other statements misleading. #2. The false statement is made to induce Plaintiff to act. #3. The Plaintiff relied upon the false statement, and the injury resulted from this reliance. #4. Damages include a punitive award as a punishment that serves as a public example to discourage any future similar fraud. Punitive damages are generally proportional to the Defendant’s assets.

Dowd has been researching the COVID-19 vaccines and what he considers obvious evidence of knowing concealment of the actual risks of death – and he points to the Herculean efforts of Pfizer with FDA in withholding their data despite legal challenges to release it. He likens the FDA today to the rating agencies during the Mortgage Crisis. “FDA is the trusted third party, just like the rating agencies were. And a lot of doctors in this country, a lot of local governments are placing their trust in the FDA which gets 50 percent of its budget from large cap pharma. It wasn’t any one person…I think they overlooked things. An all-cause mortality end-point should have stopped this thing in its tracks – and it didn’t.”

There were more deaths in the vaxxed group than in the unvaxxed. Dowd assumes fraud based upon the FDA backing Pfizer in not releasing their data. He believes this is a knowing attempt to conceal the deaths. “When one party enters into a contract, and fraud was occurring when they entered into that contract, and the other party did not know that – the contract is void and null. There’s no indemnity if this can be proven, and I think it will be.” “Pfizer got blanket immunity with EUA. If fraud occurred, to my mind and what I’m seeing from their refusal to release the data – if there is fraud and it comes out – and we need whistleblowers – and it’s looking more apparent that this product is deadly – fraud eviscerates all contracts – that’s case law. So you go down the daisy chain, and that’s liability – that’s bankruptcy for Moderna, definitely Pfizer.”

Dowd remarks that no matter the effort, one cannot hide the bodies – and “the bodies are piling up.” He notes that the deaths skyrocketed after the vaccine rollout when they should have dropped. And the deaths are what distinguished the 2021-2022 vaccine scandal as far worse than what happened with Enron. “People are dying and being maimed. This is a fraud that goes beyond the pale. We have the VAERS data. We have the DoD leak. And now we have the insurance company results and the funeral home results. We don’t need to think too hard about this. Deaths should have gone down after the vaccines rolled out. This is the most egregious fraud in history of the nation – and it’s global. Pfizer’s involved, and they committed fraud,” Dowd explained.

Dowd emphasized that he is not short on Pfizer or Moderna stock. He explained that he does not profit from their share prices dropping. He also points out that his predictions are not the cause of the steep declines as these occurred before he came out with this analysis. “Let me make a point here. The mainstream media may ignore this. Wall Street is not.”

Edward Dowd cautions those who continue to slumber, “If you are long these two stocks, you are long mandates, you are long government control, and you are long the selling of your freedoms.” Let us get everyone on board the freedom train."
Related:

"Here Comes $7 Gas"

"Here Comes $7 Gas"
by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland - "Consumers hate rising prices. Investors hate falling prices. About 90% of the voters want prices to stay steady. But the 10% who will decide the issue want them to go up. Here, we reflect on the fine mess the Fed has gotten us into. Breitbart: "First gas, then heating and now rents. Runaway inflation is driving rents skywards across Joe Biden’s America, delivering an average of a 20 percent increase in the U.S.’s biggest 50 cities over the past 12 months, a study details."

Night follows day. Consequences follow actions. And the bill comes at the end of the dinner. Donald Trump decreed a moratorium on evictions during his panic response to the Covid 19. But you don’t get away with anything in this world. And there was no way that depriving landlords of their rents was going to result in anything but trouble. That chicken, printing press money fluttering down from its wings, is now coming home to roost.

CBS News fills in some detail: "In the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, median rent rose an astounding 19.3% from December 2020 to December 2021, according to a Realtor.com analysis of properties with two or fewer bedrooms. And nowhere was the jump bigger than in the Miami metro area, where the median rent exploded to $2,850, 49.8% higher than the previous year. Other cities across Florida - Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville - and the Sun Belt destinations of San Diego, Las Vegas, Austin, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee, all saw spikes of more than 25% during that time period."

Rising rents are showing the biggest increase in 20 years and will likely accelerate. What are the poor and the middle classes to do? Move to the further-out suburbs where rents are lower and drive their pick-up trucks into the city? Ah ha! Gotcha!

Fuel is going up too. Yahoo News: "Here Comes $7 Gas": "Drivers best start bracing for another surge in gas prices amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and years of under-investment by the oil industry, warns one veteran energy strategist. "My guess is that you are going to see $5 a gallon… And you might get to $6.50 or $7…” Energy Word founder Dan Dicker said on Yahoo Finance Live. Dicker said oil prices could shoot higher to $150 a barrel, or in line to the "super spike" highs from 2007."

It looks like the markets are running ahead of the analysts. Posted on the internet: "I live in Los Angeles. The Mobile Station near me raised prices to $5.99 regular. I read another location downtown was at $6.66. I have a Tesla and a Prius, high income and retired. I feel for the blue-collar workers that drive into the city from affordable suburbs for their minimum wage jobs. These are mostly minorities."

Rich, Richer, Richer Still… Alan Greenspan put forth the doctrine that the Fed should be used to support Wall Street, but not Main Street. This approach – ultra low interest rates, money-printing and bond purchases – boosted the value of stocks and bonds… making the richest of the rich richer than ever.

While the Fed coddled, protected, and rewarded the top 10% of the population, it punished the bottom 90%. For 20 years, a richer rich made the rest of the nation, relatively, poorer. The gap between rich and poor widened every day. But for the last two years, the middle and lower classes are becoming not just relatively poorer, but absolutely poorer. Day by day, inflation pushes their basic living expenses upward… while wages lag behind. CNBC reports that companies expect to give employees a raise of 3.4% this year. But prices are rising at a 7.5% rate.

Of course, consumer price inflation hurts rich as well as poor, investors as well as consumers. We saw last week that over the long run, when measured in gold, stock prices go nowhere. It took 18 ounces to buy the 30 Dow stocks in 1929. It takes 18 ounces today. Take out the ‘inflation,’ in other words, and capital gains disappear. Still, companies create wealth. And they share it with their stockholders – either by paying out dividends or re-investing in the business itself. But if you only get a 2% dividend yield, at the present inflation rate, you are losing 5.5% annually.

And when stock prices are high – as they are today – the folks in the sky-boxes and business-class seats have a very different perspective. Their biggest worry is deflation, not inflation. While consumer prices tend to ratchet upwards, stock prices are subject to big swings that bring them back to where they started. In just a few weeks, decades of investment growth can be clipped off.

Look Out Below! The mortgage finance bubble popped in 2008-2009 and investors were shorn of about 40% of their stock market wealth. So far this year, the Dow has lost about 3,000 points. Another 10,000 points down, and the loss to investors will be around 40%. That’s what we aim to avoid.

But it is also just a beginning. The chilly winds of November prefigure the bitter blows of January. And in the stock market, the ‘primary trend’ doesn’t stop until its work is done. Cycles continue. And we don’t put off the undertaker just because we don’t want to die. Stocks sell for more than 15 ounces of gold at top; at bottoms they sell for fewer than 5. That puts today’s downside risk at about 72%.

By our reckoning, the primary trend began heading down 22 years ago. Through dumbbell wars, grifter bailouts, jackass handouts, an additional $62 trillion in debt… lockdowns, shutdowns, put-downs… Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden… the primary trend has carried the Dow from 44 ounces of gold in 1999 to 18 today. Only 13 more to go! So buckle up, buckaroo. Inflation… deflation… boom…bust… it’s going to be a rough ride."

The Daily "Near You?"

Sherman, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Reflect On What Happens..."

“Reflect on what happens when a terrible winter blizzard strikes. You hear the weather warning but probably fail to act on it. The sky darkens. Then the storm hits with full fury, and the air is a howling whiteness. One by one, your links to the machine age breakdown. Electricity flickers out, cutting off the TV. Batteries fade, cutting off the radio. Phones go dead. Roads become impassible, and cars get stuck. Food supplies dwindle. Day to day vestiges of modern civilization – bank machines, mutual funds, mass retailers, computers, satellites, airplanes, governments – all recede into irrelevance. Picture yourself and your loved ones in the midst of a howling blizzard that lasts several years. Think about what you would need, who could help you, and why your fate might matter to anybody other than yourself. That is how to plan for a secular winter. Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted.”
– Strauss and Howe, “The Fourth Turning”

"I Have Hope..."

 

"A Very Fit Consideration..."

“How vast those Orbs must be, and how inconsiderable this Earth, the Theatre upon which all our mighty Designs, all our Navigations, and all our Wars are transacted, is when compared to them. A very fit consideration, and matter of Reflection, for those Kings and Princes who sacrifice the Lives of so many People, only to flatter their Ambition in being Masters of some pitiful corner of this small Spot.”
- Christiaan Huygens, (1629-1695)

"The Global Energy Crisis Just Escalated To An Entirely New Level, And This Is Just The Beginnin

"The Global Energy Crisis Just Escalated To An Entirely New Level, 
And This Is Just The Beginning…"
by Michael Snyder

"Now we are being told that we are all going to “have costs” for the crisis in Ukraine. More specifically, the global energy crisis just took a dramatic turn for the worse, and so that means that all of us will soon be hit by dramatically higher energy prices. It is going to be much more expensive to fill up your vehicle, it is going to be much more expensive to heat your home, and increasing costs to transport the goods that we buy will make the overall rate of inflation even worse. Up to this point, a large chunk of the U.S. population really didn’t have much interest in following the conflict in Ukraine, but now it is going to have a huge impact on every single one of us.

In response to the Russians moving forces into Donetsk and Luhansk on Monday, the Germans decided on Tuesday to put the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on hold indefinitely…"Germany on Tuesday halted the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, designed to double the flow of Russian gas direct to Germany, after Russia formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. "Europe’s most divisive energy project, worth $11 billion, was finished in September, but has stood idle pending certification by Germany and the European Union.

Will this hurt Russia? Of course it will. But it is also going to hurt Europe. Following Germany’s announcement, the price of natural gas in Europe shot up by about 10 percent…"But on Tuesday the European benchmark gas price, currently the Dutch March contract, was up 9.8% at 78.95 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) at 1607 GMT, much like the price for the fourth quarter, when Nord Stream 2 had been expected to start."

And this is likely just the beginning of another natural gas price shock in Europe. Dmitry Medvedev is warning that Europeans “are very soon going to pay €2.000 for 1.000 cubic meters of natural gas”…"German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has issued an order to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Well. Welcome to the brave new world where Europeans are very soon going to pay €2.000 for 1.000 cubic meters of natural gas!"

If the price of natural gas actually gets that high, it will be completely and utterly devastating for Europe. The Europeans never should have allowed themselves to become so dependent on natural gas from Russia, and now a tremendous amount of pain is ahead.

Meanwhile, the price of crude oil surged once again on Tuesday and has now almost reached 100 dollars a barrel…"U.S. crude surged more than 3% at one point to a high of $96. The contract ended the session 1.4% higher at $92.35 per barrel. Brent traded as high as $99.50, before settling at $96.84 per barrel for a gain of 1.52%." It won’t be too long before the global price of oil goes well beyond the $100 per barrel threshold. Needless to say, that won’t be good for the global economy at all.

On Tuesday, JPMorgan specifically warned about what an “energy price shock” could mean… "As oil rapidly approaches $100 a barrel, JPMorgan warned Tuesday that a spike in energy prices and other ripple effects from the Russia-Ukraine crisis could hurt both the stock market and the economic recovery. “An energy price shock amidst an aggressive central bank pivot focused on inflation could further dampen investor sentiment and growth outlook,” JPMorgan strategists wrote in a note to clients."

But Joe Biden says that all of the bad things that are about to happen are necessary because we are “defending freedom”… “Defending freedom will have costs, for us as well, and here at home,” he said during a speech at the White House. “We need to be honest about that.” The president specifically warned of higher gas prices as a result of the sanctions but promised he would use “every tool” possible to reduce gas and energy prices. “I want to limit the pain the American people are feeling at the gas pump,” he said."

Of course higher energy prices won’t cause much pain for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris because they are both multi-millionaires. What Biden should have admitted is that you will be paying the price for his administration’s horrific foreign policy decisions.

On Tuesday, it was being reported that the price of gasoline in downtown Los Angeles has already risen above six dollars a gallon…"Fuel customers in California were in for a shock this week as gas prices at the pump hit upwards of $6 in downtown Los Angeles. In a report by Bakersfield ABC affiliate KERO-TV, gas station customers expressed being overwhelmed by the extremely high gas prices. “They’re too damn high,” one customer told reporters, adding it’s made commuting much more difficult as she normally fills her tank three times a week."

I remember a time when I could fill up my vehicle for less than a dollar a gallon. And just a couple of years ago, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was less than three dollars a gallon. Sadly, this is just the beginning. Once a major global conflict erupts, we could eventually see the price of gasoline go beyond ten dollars a gallon. I know that may sound crazy right now, but remember where you heard it first.

Of course higher energy prices filter through every level of our economy, and we are already in the midst of the worst inflation crisis that any of us have ever experienced. In fact, we just learned that home prices increased by a whopping 18.8 percent last year…"Home prices rose 18.8% in 2021, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, the biggest increase in 34 years of data and substantially ahead of 2020’s 10.4% gain. All regions saw price gains last year, but increases were strongest in the South and the Southeast, each of which were up over 25%."

The stage has been set for the sort of hyperinflation that I have been warning about for a very long time. But even though Biden’s absolutely disastrous domestic and foreign policy decisions have brought us to this point, the mainstream media and millions upon millions of “sheeple” will continue to cheer Biden on. Despite so much evidence to contrary, they will continue to believe that Biden and his minions can guide us through this mess somehow. Unfortunately for all of us, Biden and his minions are completely and utterly incompetent, and the worst is yet to come."

"How It Really Is"

 

Greg Hunter, "No Shooting War in Ukraine – Dr. Paul Craig Roberts"

"No Shooting War in Ukraine – Dr. Paul Craig Roberts"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Dr. Paul Craig Roberts (PCR), former Assistant Treasury Secretary and international award-winning journalist, says the problems in Ukraine have been boiling for 8 years. Millions of Russian people were supposed to be protected in Eastern Ukraine under the so-called Minsk Agreement. It was supposed to stop the fighting, but the fighting never stopped. Now, Russia has recognized the breakaway regions and has a deal to protect the Russian people there. PCR explains, “Putin said we have to give them some kind of semi-autonomy. Let them have their own police in that area so they won’t be persecuted by the Ukrainian majority. Putin worked out this agreement, and Ukraine signed it. Germany and France guaranteed it, and the breakaway republics signed it, but we (U.S.) prevented Ukraine from complying with it. The minute Russian troops moved in, the shelling stopped. It completely stopped, and it won’t start back.”

The non-stop propaganda by the mainstream media (MSM) makes people think we are at the brink of war with Russia. The Obama/Biden Administration is clearly pushing for war in the region, but PCR says “no way” and goes on to explain, “How are we going to fight them? NATO in a battle with Russia would not last five minutes. I am just talking about conventional war. NATO cannot mobilize sufficient military force to confront Russia. They just don’t have it. The force isn’t there, and Russia does not want Ukraine. Ukraine is bankrupt. It’s full of neo-Nazis, it’s trouble. There is a propaganda war going on, but there is not going to be a shooting war over Ukraine. Something really stupid would have to happen to cause that.”

What is stupid are the sanctions that are piling up on Russia that will only hurt the already financially troubled West. For example, according to PCR, “The German Chancellor says I am going to punish the Germans by turning off the pipeline because Russia recognized Donbass. It makes no sense. Why is he punishing Germans? Their energy prices go up. The banks who financed it fail. What if Putin says you don’t need that pipeline, we will turn off this other pipeline too. What happens in Europe? They are dependent on this energy. People will freeze to death in the winter. The factories will close down. The German Chancellor is an idiot. He’s punishing Germans, not Russians.”

PCR says inflation is high but not because of massive money printing by the Fed. Inflation is rising because of the extreme CV19 policies. PCR explains, “What’s the cause of the inflation? The lockdowns are the cause of the inflation and the stupid Covid policies. The lockdowns are the source of inflation. Why? They busted up all the supply chains. They stopped production. Production ceased. Factories closed. Restaurants closed. Everything closed. People lost their jobs. The Governor of California banned half of the American trucking fleet from entering California. People lost their jobs but got a government check instead. The money did not decline, but supply did. So, prices went up, and that’s why we have inflation.”

PCR says look for the Fed to make yet another policy mistake that will wreck the economy. PCR says, “Most people don’t understand the Fed is not there to help the economy. It’s there to help the New York banks. The Fed has never served the economy or the people. It’s always made policy mistakes, and it was a Fed policy mistake that caused the Great Depression.”

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with award-winning journalist Dr. Paul Craig Roberts 2.22.22 (There is much more in the 50 min. interview.)

Gregory Mannarino, "Important Updates: Stock Market, Debt, Dollar, Crypto, Gold, Silver, More"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/23/22:
"Important Updates: 
Stock Market, Debt, Dollar, Crypto, Gold, Silver, More"

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Gerald Celente, "From Covid War To Ukraine War To World War, Talk Of Peace Is Forbidden"

Full screen recommended.
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 2/22/22:
"From Covid War To Ukraine War To World War,
 Talk Of Peace Is Forbidden"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

"It's Another Housing Bubble: Rising Mortgage Rates 2022 Housing Crash Accelerates"

Full screen recommended.
"It's Another Housing Bubble: 
Rising Mortgage Rates 2022 Housing Crash Accelerates"
by Epic Economist

"A massive housing crash is imminent and several bubbles across the country are on the verge of a catastrophic burst! Key economic indicators are signaling that the U.S. housing market is at the brink of an unprecedented crash, one that could potentially be the biggest ever recorded in all of America’s history. We’re moving towards a housing crisis 2.0. With home and rental prices at absolutely insane levels, and still going higher with each passing month, Americans have been facing an endless nightmare. Affording a roof over their heads has never been so difficult, and even those who can find the money are still struggling to find a place to live. Inventory levels are so tight right now that industry specialists estimate that there’s a shortage of approximately 7 million homes in the U.S.

The scenario is sparking a lot of uncertainty for first-time homebuyers, but two things are for certain: there is a huge nationwide housing bubble. And the Federal Reserve is holding the pin to pop it. That’s what financial analyst and writer Michael Maharrey highlighted in his latest article. The expert argues that today’s housing market bubble is much bigger than it was just before the 2008 burst. Conditions might be different, but this bubble has grown for the same reason, he said. And that reason was central bank policies that artificially kept interest rates nearing zero. The latest data shows that the average sales price of a home is standing at $477,900. That compares to $403,900 a year ago and $384,600 two years ago. Simply put, that means the current average sale price jumped by $93,300 in just two years. That is by far the largest increase ever recorded in a 24-month period.

A collapsing housing market will inevitably ripple through the economy and cause severe damages. Already, for millions of homebuyers in America, this situation feels like a never-ending uphill battle. Recent reports reveal that bidding wars are taking the price of an average home to the stratosphere. This brutal, crazy environment is effectively putting homeownership out of the reach of the average American family. In some states, homes are selling for half a million dollars over the asking price.

Unfortunately, that’s just the tip of the iceberg for those who want to purchase a home. You probably already heard stories about some of the distortions happening in the market right now: multiple listings for dilapidated properties, investors offering second homes, vacations, cars, and millions of dollars above the asking price to sellers, Wall Street firms purchasing entire neighborhoods, and home renovations taking exceedingly long periods to finish due to shortages of floors, cabinets, and pretty much everything.

With all things considered, “if people are waiting for prices to drop by themselves, then this won’t happen,” as emphasized by NAR’s Lawrence Yun. A correction is needed to balance the market and bring prices down to our economic reality. At this point, demand remains too high for things to simply cool down. With imbalances so deep, there’s got to be a tipping point. When the cost of living simply becomes this unaffordable for the average American, something will have to give. This could cause less overall spending, restricting economic growth and hurting the labor market, or an uptick in delinquencies, straining the financial system and putting the housing market on edge. But considering today’s outlook, we will probably have a combination of both factors.

Even though determining the size of a market correction can be extremely difficult, if the 2008 crash is an indicator of what’s on the horizon for us today, it’s safe to say that when the current real estate bubble pops, sometime in the near future, as all bubbles inevitably do, it could end up being the most aggressive real estate crash in history. As painful as such a correction might be, it is necessary. The price increases we’ve been witnessing over the past few years are primarily the result of rampant inflation and reckless monetary policy, not real economic growth.

The Fed has no choice but to fight inflation before it evolves into hyperinflation. And as it braces for rising interest rates, mortgage rates are going to skyrocket, and unaffordable homes will become even more unaffordable. But the housing bubble will finally pop. Again. At this stage, a dismal 1% rate hike could already cause devastating consequences on the market, and considering that at least seven rate hikes are coming in 2022, we should all start preparing for some exceedingly tough times."

"Is All-out War Next?"

"Is All-out War Next?"
by Jim Rickards

"Developments are happening fast in Ukraine. Russia has now recognized the breakaway "Donetsk People’s Republic" and "Luhansk People’s Republic" in eastern Ukraine, which are strongly pro-Russian. Vladimir Putin also pledged military support for the breakaway republics. And just hours after issuing a formal recognition, Russia dispatched “peacekeeping” troops to these areas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that Putin's action is a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We’ll have to wait and see what happens next, but the odds of a greater conflict are higher than they were a week ago. That doesn’t mean it’s inevitable though.

The Biden administration says they have excellent evidence indicating that Putin plans a wider invasion. Well, here’s how I see it: U.S. intelligence is good, but not this good. If we have such detailed intel, it's because Russia is feeding it to us. That's disinformation, a subset of counterintelligence. The Russians just have to wait a bit and Biden looks like a fool.

Again, we’ll have to wait and see. But today Joe Biden announced new economic sanctions against Russia for its incursion into eastern Ukraine. He unveiled the “first tranche” of new sanctions, which will target two Moscow-backed banks and restrict Russia’s government from borrowing in Western financial markets.

Biden also threatened additional sanctions against Russian oligarchs and their family members: “Starting tomorrow, and continuing in the days ahead, we will also impose sanctions on Russia’s elites and their family members,” he said. “They share in the corrupt gains of the Kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well.” (Just like Hunter Biden and the corruption of the Biden family? China must have had a good laugh over that one.)

Denying Russian banks access to the U.S. dollar payments system run by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve is problematic because Russia is one of the three largest oil producers in the world (along with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia) and produces about 10% of all the oil produced on a daily basis. Since oil is almost 100% priced in dollars, does this mean Russia can’t sell oil? The U.S. seems to believe the Russians are helpless and will just stand there and take the pain. That’s a ridiculous assumption.

In the first place, Russia has spent 13 years building up its gold reserves, until they are now over 20% of the total Russian reserve position. This gold is worth about $150 billion at current market prices and is safely stored in Russia. It cannot be hacked or frozen by Western sanctions.

Russia produces 10 million barrels of oil per day. Russian gold reserves are 2,300 tonnes. If oil goes up $10 per barrel, Russia adds $3 billion per month. If gold rises 10%, Russia adds $15 billion. In other words, Russia feels no pain, just profit.

Besides, physical gold can be used to satisfy external financial obligations either with a simple transfer or by using it as collateral for hard-currency loans. The other aspect the U.S. seems not to consider is the Russian response to U.S. sanctions. I actually warned the Pentagon in 2009 that Russia would use gold to evade U.S. financial sanctions.

Russia will also launch financial and economic sanctions of their own. Russia will shut down energy deliveries to Western Europe that will cause those countries to freeze in the dark (Germany actually shot itself in the foot by blocking operations of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Where’s it going to get the energy?) Russia will simply increase its energy sales to China, which will defeat the purpose of U.S. sanctions. If Russia cannot use U.S. dollars, they can begin to use Swiss francs and other non-dollar hard currencies.

This sanctions war will do more harm to the global economy and Western interests than it will to Russia. And in the event of an invasion, you should expect skyrocketing natural gas and oil prices, a shutdown of European industry, disruption of supply chains as the U.S. tries to surge natural gas to Europe and the breakdown of critical infrastructure in the U.S. due to Russian cyberwarfare. Stocks will crash and commodities like oil, natural gas and gold will soar.

Perhaps someone in the White House should give Joe Biden a clue about how sanctions actually work in a full-scale war scenario."

"Another Bank Closure; ATM Boarded Up; Market Superbubble Will Burst; Stock Market Plunges Need QE"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, PM 2/22/22:
"Another Bank Closure; ATM Boarded Up;
 Market Superbubble Will Burst; Stock Market Plunges Need QE"

Gregory Mannarino, "Its a Total Financial Freakshow! Expect "Government" Spending To Skyrocket!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/22/22:
"Its a Total Financial Freakshow!
 Expect "Government" Spending To Skyrocket!"

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Through the Rainbow"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Through the Rainbow"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This shock wave plows through space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Moving toward to bottom of this beautifully detailed color composite, the thin, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge on. Cataloged as NGC 2736, its narrow appearance suggests its popular name, the Pencil Nebula.
About 5 light-years long and a mere 800 light-years away, the Pencil Nebula is only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant. The Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter and is the expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar gas.”

Chet Raymo, “The Silence”

“The Silence”
by Chet Raymo

“The hiding places of my power
Seem open; I approach, and then they close;
I see by glimpses now; when age comes on,
May scarcely see at all, and I would give,
While yet we may, as far as words can give,
A substance and a life to what I feel…”

“These few lines from Wordsworth’s “The Prelude” leapt off the page at me. They capture well enough what my life has become. All those years of teaching, of writing in the Boston Globe, were years of sharing public knowledge, knowledge that had been vetted by the scientific community. The work was not about me. The teacher was me, the writer was me, but what I taught and wrote was reliable, consensus knowledge of the world. A student in my classes or a reader of my newspaper columns would have been hard pressed to know my politics or my religion or the nature of the questions that came in the darkest hours of the night. And that is the way it should have been; that was my homage to objectivity.

Those were valuable years, years of building up a sturdy polder in the sea of mystery, a place to stand with a firmness of foot. And now, in retirement, with time on my hands- and on my mind- I find myself more inclined to explore what Wordsworth called “the hiding places of my power.” I approach. They close. I touch with my hand the surface of the pond that Pat wrote about the other day; my hand comes out of the depths to meet me. I see by glimpses. It is, I suppose, a kind of forgetting. With the forgetting comes a certain freshness. My fingertip touches the surface of the world from above and from below, and concentric circles spread outwards, rippling, like a soundless sound, and I struggle, in words, as best I can, to give a substance and a life to what I feel.

This does not mean, I trust, that I am going soft, finding supernaturalist religion or getting all New Age squishy as “age comes on.” I keep my feet planted on solid fact and read my weekly “Science” and “Nature” along with my Wordsworth. No, it is rather a simple freedom to explore the hiding places, attending to private particulars as opposed to public universals, listening for the small voice that whispers from the nooks and crannies of yet unassimilated reality.

There is a passage in “The Prelude” where a young Boy (the poet?), standing in evening air by the glimmering lake, makes a mimic hooting with his hands to his mouth and the owls answer. Twooo-twooo. And the reply. Twooo-twooo. Then, unaccountably, the answers cease. And in the silence the boy becomes more keenly aware than ever of water, rocks, and woods, and mountain torrents, “that uncertain heaven, received into the bosom of the steady lake.” Thoreau has something similar. He rejoiced in owls; their hoot, he said, was a sound well suited to swamps and twilight woods. The interval between the hoots was a deepened silence, suggesting, to Thoreau, “a vast and undeveloped nature which men have not recognized.” It is that that I now attend: the deepened silence between the hoots.”

“Incidit In Scyllam Cupiens Vitare Charybdim”

“Incidit In Scyllam Cupiens Vitare Charybdim”
by Steve Candidus

“One of the great things about ancient Greek Mythology is that the stories all teach a lesson. They don’t end with – and the moral of the story is – though. They leave it to the reader to figure them out. So in addition to being just plain fun to read they are wonderful teachers about life. Perhaps the best thing about this one is that we still use the expression it contains exactly the same way that the ancient Greeks intended it almost 3,000 years ago. That almost never happens. Language is fluid and the meanings of words and expressions changes from one generation to another, but this one is an exception. The everyday expression it contains is one that we often refer to without really knowing where it came from.

This is one of the tales of Odysseus who was the heroic king of Ithaca and of whose ten-year journey back to Greece after the Trojan War was immortalized in Homer’s ‘Odyssey’. There was a point in his journey when his ship had to enter a narrow strait. It was a passage so narrow that it could only be made under special conditions. They had to have both the wind at their backs and the current in their direction. However, once committed it was impossible to turn back.

Unknown to the sailors the strait was guarded by two deadly perils. On the one side, it was guarded by Scylla. Scylla was a six-headed monster that disguised itself as a rock. On the other side, it was guarded by Charybdis, a terrible deadly whirlpool born of the sea god Poseidon.

In olden times, it was common to refer to any place that a ship came to rest on land as being in a hard place. It didn’t matter if it was blown on shore by a storm, grounded on a reef or brought up intentionally for repair. If it was on shore, it was on a hard place as opposed to the soft place – water.

It also applied to a ship that had foundered. A ship that sinks will eventually rest on the bottom. The land at the bottom of the ocean is therefore called a hard place. It used to be a common term, but it has since pretty much fallen out of practice in common language today. A deadly whirlpool such as Charybdis could take a ship and send it straight to the bottom – a hard place.

So, now as we return to the story of Odysseus we see that their ship had entered a narrow strait and that strait was guarded by two evil perils with hardly enough room for a ship to pass between them. They were forced to choose between the six headed monster ‘Scylla’ disguised as a rock or the dreaded whirlpool ‘Charybdis’ that would surely send them to a hard place and they could not turn back.

There is a Latin proverb from this story, “Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim” which translates to, “He runs on Scylla, wishing to avoid Charybdis.” In modern day English, we simply say, “They were between a rock and a hard place”. And now you know…”

"The Ironic, The Tragic Thing..."

“One can fight evil but against stupidity one is helpless… I have accepted the fact, hard as it may be, that human beings are inclined to behave in ways that would make animals blush. The ironic, the tragic thing is that we often behave in ignoble fashion from what we consider the highest motives. The animal makes no excuse for killing his prey; the human animal, on the other hand, can invoke God’s blessing when massacring his fellow men. He forgets that God is not on his side but at his side.”

“There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy.”
- Henry Miller