Canadian Prepper, 1/25/23:
"My Friends... It's About to Get Ugly"
Comments here:
- Jim Quinn
So, we rise from the rubble...
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
"My Friends... It's About to Get Ugly"
Musical Interlude: Grateful Dead, “Touch of Grey”
Grateful Dead, “Touch of Grey”
“If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told
the nearest land was a thousand miles away,
I'd still swim. And I’d despise the one who gave up.”
- Abraham Maslow
Despite it all, and it looks grim as hell, God help us...
"We will get by, we will get by, we will get by,
we will survive..." Never, ever give up!
"Society Is Collapsing; Federal Reserve Saving The Markets And Buying It All; Dealing With Evil"
Jeremiah Babe, 1/25/23:
"Society Is Collapsing; Federal Reserve Saving The
Markets And Buying It All; Dealing With Evil"
Comments here:
Musical Interlude: 2002, “Challenge From Heaven”
Full screen recommended.
2002, “Challenge From Heaven”
"A Look to the Heavens"
“This pretty, open cluster of stars, M34, is about the size of the Full Moon on the sky. Easy to appreciate in small telescopes, it lies some 1,800 light-years away in the constellation Perseus. At that distance, M34 physically spans about 15 light-years. Formed at the same time from the same cloud of dust and gas, all the stars of M34 are about 200 million years young.
But like any open star cluster orbiting in the plane of our galaxy, M34 will eventually disperse as it experiences gravitational tides and encounters with the Milky Way's interstellar clouds and other stars. Over four billion years ago, our own Sun was likely formed in a similar open star cluster.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100211.html
"Not Much Mental Distance..."
“A man who has blown all his options can't afford the luxury of changing his ways. He has to capitalize on whatever he has left, and he can't afford to admit - no matter how often he's reminded of it - that every day of his life takes him farther and farther down a blind alley. Very few toads in this world are Prince Charmings in disguise. Most are simply toads, and they are going to stay that way. Toads don't make laws or change any basic structures, but one or two rooty insights can work powerful changes in the way they get through life. A toad who believes he got a raw deal before he even knew who was dealing will usually be sympathetic to the mean, vindictive ignorance that colors the Hell's Angels' view of humanity. There is not much mental distance between a feeling of having been screwed and the ethic of total retaliation, or at least the random revenge that comes with outraging the public decency.”
- Hunter S. Thompson
"At The Approach Of Danger...:
“At the approach of danger there are always two voices that speak with equal force in the heart of man: one very reasonably tells the man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of avoiding it; the other, even more reasonable, says that it is too painful and harassing to think of the danger, since it is not a man’s power to provide for everything and escape from the general march of events; and that it is therefore better to turn aside from the painful subject till it has come, and to think of what is pleasant. In solitude a man generally yields to the first voice; in society to the second.”
- Leo Tolstoy, “War and Peace”
“All our mortal lives are set in danger and perplexity: one day to prosper,
and the next – who knows? When all is well, then look for rocks ahead.”
- Sophoclese, “Philoctetes”
○
Free Downloads:
A little light reading from Tolstoy…
Freely download “War and Peace”, by Leo Tolstoy, here:
Freely download “Seven Tragedies of Sophocles- Philoctetes” here:
"20 Shocking Facts About The Society’s New Crisis"
Full screen recommended.
"20 Shocking Facts About The Society’s New Crisis"
by Epic Economist
"Americans are living in the most testing of times. Anxiety is growing as crises have spiraled out of control. From financial chaos to a disastrous economy and from a raging social decline to a growing trust deficit in our institutions, America is fighting on multiple fronts. The story of America's dazzling success threatens to end in front of our eyes and it seems like those charged with helping us recover are failing to find the answers.
In Today's video, we will present to you the 20 shocking facts about our society's crisis landscape.
According to a recent Gallup survey, Only 27% of Americans have confidence in 14 major American institutions. This is the lowest number on record since 1979, but even more concerning is the fact that it's falling further. The greatest decline in trust is being observed in three of the most important institutions - the Presidency, the Supreme Court and Congress. Only 7% of Americans have faith in lawmakers, representing another record low.
Americans no longer trust politicians to do the right thing. This lack of trust stems from a belief that the governing institutions have failed to protect their basic rights. While a majority has lost faith in institutions, there is an increasing minority that even labels the institutions as pure evil.
Falling trust in government institutions has led to increasing doubts over the political process and the system of government itself. For the longest time, U.S. democracy, despite its flaws, was perceived to be the benchmark for democracy worldwide. However, another recent survey shows that just 17 percent of Americans now think of the country's democracy as a good example for others to follow. The falling trust in institutions is also spilling over into American Society. There's a general lack of trust in each other with society so much more polarized.
Most of this distrust comes from middle and low-income groups who feel alienated in the current economic and political landscape. On the political side, the divide becomes even bigger as the two sets of voters no longer believe that the other side is working for the common good. But while there's a lot that these two sides disagree on, there's one thing that they absolutely agree on.
According to an NPR study, the number of Americans worried about the country's eventual deterioration stands at 79%. Protests, demonstrations, and lootings have become much more commonplace in recent years. The situation is so bad as direct consequence of crisis after crisis, Americans today experience more instability than in any period on record. According to a Gallup poll started in 2001, America's self-assessment of mental health is at the lowest in more than two decades. Less than a third of U.S. adults describe their mental health or emotional well-being as “excellent”. Meanwhile, over 80 percent of Americans under 30 report feeling anxious, depressed, lonely, or hopeless at least once every week.
A collective sum of what's happening around us is that Americans are not happy. According to another Gallup survey, only 38 percent of Americans say they are satisfied. This number has progressively gotten worse since 2020 when almost half the population considered itself happy.
There's a visible decline in all spheres of social life. Americans have lesser close friendships, fewer intimate relationships, a general lack of trust, and diminishing community involvement.
A growing number of Americans feel lost and believe that the culture at large is undermining traditions of sociality. In short, the state of society is mired in a crisis. One that feels even greater than the economic apocalypse that many are predicting in the immediate future."
Celente, and The Judge, "The Sun Never Sets On The American Empire"
Celente and The Judge, Trends Journal, 1/25/23:
"The Sun Never Sets On The American Empire"
"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."
https://trendsresearch.com/
Comments here:
"Decline of Empire: Parallels Between the U.S. and Rome, Part IV"
"Decline of Empire:
Parallels Between the U.S. and Rome, Part IV"
by Doug Casey
"Now to gratify the Druids among you. Soil exhaustion, deforestation, and pollution - which abetted plagues - were problems for Rome. As was lead poisoning, in that the metal was widely used for eating and drinking utensils and for cookware. None of these things could bring down the house, but neither did they improve the situation. They might be equated today with fast food, antibiotics in the food chain, and industrial pollutants. Is the U.S. agricultural base unstable because it relies on gigantic monocultures of bioengineered grains that in turn rely on heavy inputs of chemicals, pesticides, and mined fertilizers? It’s true that production per acre has gone up steeply because of these things, but that’s despite the general decrease in depth of topsoil, destruction of native worms and bacteria, and growing pesticide resistance of weeds.
Perhaps even more important, the aquifers needed for irrigation are being depleted. But these things have all been necessary to maintain the U.S. balance of trade, keep food prices down, and feed the expanding world population. It may turn out, however, to have been a bad trade-off.
I’m a technophile, but there are some reasons to believe we may have serious problems ahead. Global warming, incidentally, isn’t one of them. One of the reasons for the rise of Rome - and the contemporaneous Han in China - may be that the climate cyclically warmed considerably up to the 3rd century, then got much cooler. Which also correlates with the invasions by northern barbarians.
Economy: Economic issues were a major factor in the collapse of Rome, one that Gibbon hardly considered. It’s certainly a factor greatly underrated by historians generally, who usually have no understanding of economics at all. Inflation, taxation, and regulation made production increasingly difficult as the empire grew, just as in the U.S. Romans wanted to leave the country, much as many Americans do today.
I earlier gave you a quote from Priscus. Next is Salvian, circa 440: "But what else can these wretched people wish for, they who suffer the incessant and continuous destruction of public tax levies. To them there is always imminent a heavy and relentless proscription. They desert their homes, lest they be tortured in their very homes. They seek exile, lest they suffer torture. The enemy is more lenient to them than the tax collectors. This is proved by this very fact, that they flee to the enemy in order to avoid the full force of the heavy tax levy.
Therefore, in the districts taken over by the barbarians, there is one desire among all the Romans, that they should never again find it necessary to pass under Roman jurisdiction. In those regions, it is the one and general prayer of the Roman people that they be allowed to carry on the life they lead with the barbarians."
One of the most disturbing things about this statement is that it shows the tax collectors were most rapacious at a time when the Empire had almost ceased to exist. My belief is that economic factors were paramount in the decline of Rome, just as they are with the U.S. The state made production harder and more expensive, it limited economic mobility, and the state-engineered inflation made saving pointless.
This brings us to another obvious parallel: the currency. The similarities between the inflation in Rome versus the U.S. are striking and well known. In the U.S., the currency was basically quite stable from the country’s founding until 1913, with the creation of the Federal Reserve. Since then, the currency has lost over 95% of its value, and the trend is accelerating. In the case of Rome, the denarius was stable until the Principate. Thereafter it lost value at an accelerating rate until reaching essentially zero by the middle of the 3rd century, coincidental with the Empire’s near collapse.
What’s actually more interesting is to compare the images on the coinage of Rome and the U.S. Until the victory of Julius Caesar in 46 BCE (a turning point in Rome’s history), the likeness of a politician never appeared on the coinage. All earlier coins were graced with a representation of an honored concept, a god, an athletic image, or the like. After Caesar, a coin’s obverse always showed the head of the emperor.
It’s been the same in the U.S. The first coin with the image of a president was the Lincoln penny in 1909, which replaced the Indian Head penny; the Jefferson nickel replaced the Buffalo nickel in 1938; the Roosevelt dime replaced the Mercury dime in 1946; the Washington quarter replaced the Liberty quarter in 1932; and the Franklin half-dollar replaced the Liberty half in 1948, which was in turn replaced by the Kennedy half in 1964. The deification of political figures is a disturbing trend the Romans would have recognized.
When Constantine installed Christianity as the state religion, conditions worsened for the economy, and not just because a class of priests now had to be supported from taxes. With its attitude of waiting for heaven and belief that this world is just a test, it encouraged Romans to hold material things in low regard and essentially despise money. Today’s Christianity no longer does that, of course. But it’s being replaced by new secular religions that do."
Gregory Mannarino, "World War III Has Begun, And Hundreds Of Millions Of People Will Die"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 1/25/23:
"World War III Has Begun,
And Hundreds Of Millions Of People Will Die"
Comments here:
o
As we beg for a nuclear World War III with Russia...
Bill Bonner, "Lost in Space"
"Lost in Space"
John Kerry's extraterrestrial delusions of grandeur, the middle-class
gets whacked and more readings from the Church of "The Science"
by Bill Bonner
Normandy, France - "Earth to John Kerry: yes, you are a lunatic. Mr. Kerry is in Davos, Switzerland with the rich and the famous. We will return to him in a minute. First, an update.
The middle class is getting crushed. It has only two major assets – time and houses. It earns its living by selling its time. It keeps its wealth at home, under its own roofs. For the last 22 months, real wages have fallen. Over the last year, for example, the average working stiff got a 5% wage increase. But adjusted for inflation of 6.5%, the gain turned into a loss.
Meanwhile, his store of wealth – his house – is in the early stages of a sell-off. It goes like this: first, houses become too expensive, so the typical middle-class family can no longer afford the typical middle-class house. Then, naturally enough, sales fall. Builders stop building. And finally, prices drop. We are just in the beginning of the final stage. Here are the figures: At the peak of the housing bubble in 2006, the median family spent 42% of its income on housing. Now the figure is 46%. And two years ago, you could get a 30-year mortgage at 2.77%. Today, the rate is more than twice as high.
Recession Knocking: In response, new-house permits are at a 31-month low, down 30% from a year ago. Existing house sales have fallen for 11 months in a row; year over year; it’s the 2nd largest decline on record. And now, prices are headed down. They’re off 11% so far. If the pattern of the last bubble repeats itself, the total loss will be around 30%. But it could be more.
Income down. Net worth down. What’s a family to do? Stop spending. Real retail sales (after inflation) have gone down for 3 years in a row. Savings rates have fallen to a near-record low. And in the last quarter, consumer debt increased at the fastest rate since 2007. Now, there’s $16 trillion of it – a new record. Recession cannot be far away. So, let us turn back to America’s ‘Climate Envoy.”
Do you know what a ‘Climate Envoy’ is? We don’t either. But John Kerry is one. After working for the good of mankind for the last 40 years, he got the plummy gig from Joe Biden. But that is the story of Kerry’s life. Born into the very rich Forbes family (through his mother)…and educated in Switzerland, he dated Jacqueline Kennedy’s younger sister and sailed with JFK on his yacht. Later he married into the Heinz family and ordered a $10 million yacht of his own.
Now 79, what’s a man like that supposed to do with himself? Kerry imagines that he and his band of brothers and sisters have actually been selected to save the world. Yes, it sounds lunatic. And it is. But it is also the state of play…circa 2023. Kerry explains it: “When you start to think about it, it’s pretty extraordinary that we - select group of human beings because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives - are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet…I mean, it’s so almost extraterrestrial to think about saving the planet.”
Touched by The Gods: Extraterrestrial? Kerry thinks he and other Davos denizens were “touched”… And yes, we think they were ‘touched’ too… but not so much by the hand of a benevolent, new testament God, but of a mischief-making god from the Greek era, one who’ll turn him into a pig or a fool. Save the planet? Really? Certainly, no serious human being, blessed with even an iota of humility or common sense, would think such a thing.
The planet was here long before the human species appeared. It will be here long after John Kerry and his whole tribe have been turned to dust and scattered to the winds. Saving the planet? Fugittaboutit. What they are really pretending to do is to keep the world’s output of ‘greenhouse gases’ from increasing. Would that be a good thing? Nobody really knows.
Both CO2 concentrations and temperatures have been much higher in the past. Somehow, the planet survived. Nor is there any absolute correlation between the two. Sometimes, when CO2 was increasing, temperatures were decreasing, and vice versa. So, it’s not clear that higher temperatures are a bad thing (they may increase crop output, for example). Nor is it clear that adding CO2 will necessarily make things hotter. And in any event, there is no evidence at all that we humans can actually set the world’s thermostat where we want it… or that, even if we could, it would be worth the costs…or that we’d be pleased with the results.
And here we come up against ‘The Science’ again. As our neighbor explained yesterday, there is no such thing as “The Science.” Science never has the final Truth…it is simply a way of discovering ‘truths’ that are later replaced by other truths. ‘The Science’ presumes a body of facts and formulae that are fixed – universal and eternal. It doesn’t exist.
“The Science” Slurs: In the 17th century, it was practically indisputable in England that the Irish were racially and culturally inferior to Englishmen. Then, in the 19th century, The Science told us that Africans were inferior to Europeans. Later, in the 20th century, German racial scientists believed Eastern Europeans and Jews were inferior. They were ‘untermenchen’ who could be treated differently from Germans. A propaganda pamphlet explained it:
Just as the night rises against the day, the light and dark are in eternal conflict. So too, is the subhuman the greatest enemy of the dominant species on earth, mankind. The subhuman is a biological creature, crafted by nature, which has hands, legs, eyes and mouth, even the semblance of a brain. Nevertheless, this terrible creature is only a partial human being.
Now, ‘The Science’ tells us that we are all the same, which is also untrue. But at least it is not murderous. ‘The Science’ is anti-science. Once people get it in their heads that ‘The Science is settled’ – meaning there can be no more discussion or discovery – ‘The Science’ becomes faith… religion… a body of thought not subject to criticism or doubt.
And there… in the nave of the High Church of Davos…is John Kerry, America’s envoy, its Cardinal for Climate Affairs, reciting the creed:
"Yes, oh Great Science, we have erred and strayed like lost sheep...
We have done the things we ought not to have done – such as drive gasoline-powered automobiles…
And left undone those things we ought to have done – such as put up more windmills and solar panels…
And there is no health in us…"
And then, from the holy city of Davos, the word goes forth: you…you deplorables…stop driving your pickups."
"Decide..."
“We're all going to die. We don't get much say over how or when, but we do get to decide how we're gonna live. So, do it. Decide. Is this the life you want to live? Is this the person you want to love? Is this the best you can be? Can you be stronger? Kinder? More compassionate? Decide. Breathe in. Breathe out and decide.”
- “Richard”, “Grey’s Anatomy”
"Passion doesn't count the cost. Pascal said that the heart has its reasons that reason takes no account of. If he meant what I think, he meant that when passion seizes the heart it invents reasons that seem not only plausible but conclusive to prove that the world is well lost for love. It convinces you that honor is well sacrificed and that shame is a cheap price to pay. Passion is destructive. It destroyed Antony and Cleopatra, Tristan and Isolde, Parnell and Kitty O'Shea. And if it doesn't destroy it dies. It may be then that one is faced with the desolation of knowing that one has wasted the years of one's life, that one's brought disgrace upon oneself, endured the frightful pang of jealousy, swallowed every bitter mortification, that one's expended all one's tenderness, poured out all the riches of one's soul on a poor drab, a fool, a peg on which one hung one's dreams, who wasn't worth a stick of chewing gum."
- W. Somerset Maugham
"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."
- Sydney J. Harris
"America’s Generational Failure Exposed, Episode 3: 'Bad Moon Rising'”
"America’s Generational Failure Exposed,
Episode 3: 'Bad Moon Rising'”
By Addison Wiggin
"When the money goes bad, people move to extremes. There’s a reason Episode 3 of our America’s Generational Failure miniseries is called "Bad Moon Rising"… because there’s trouble on the way, and things are only getting worse.
Look at California. People are dying in the streets after multiple mass shootings over the span of just a few days. It’s proof that society is fraying. These shootings are happening in California of all places, which historically leads the nation in trends both good and bad. While most people think these mass shootings are committed by young mentally ill kids, it’s actually Baby Boomers who committed both shootings, not young people. So what’s going on?
The fact is, when the money goes bad, people move to extremes. And the money has gone very, very bad. That’s a big focal point of Episode 3 of "America’s Generational Failure" which goes live in just a few hours at 3pm EST/12pm PST.
The dollar has gone from bad to worse, and now the country faces a true crisis as a result. A crisis that could sink the stock market, destroy retirement accounts, and rob Americans of the very way of life that makes this country so great. But it’s not just money that we’re talking about here, it’s society.
As Dan Denning says in this episode, “You can have all kinds of different opinions about people…and about what’s wrong with society…without wanting to kill anyone. And in a free, open society people are allowed to think and say what they want; and they’re allowed to be silent.” But now people are dying. And we’ve gotten so used to it that it’s just a headline in the papers.
This is about the American people…The US Government…It’s about freedom of speech, the dangers and limits of censorship, and the future of our country. It’s about how fear, greed, and corruption has led to the biggest lie our country has ever seen. It’s about America’s Generational Failure.
This might be my favorite episode of the whole miniseries (which viewers have been raving about so far FYI). It’s an eye-opening roundtable economic discussion with some of the smartest financial experts I’ve met in my 30+ years in the industry. I have to be honest. This episode might get you a little upset. Actually, it’s probably going to flat out piss you off. Once you realize exactly how the government deals with its debt …How they’re weaponizing inflation to their advantage …And sticking everyday Americans with the bill …Anger is only natural.
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And it’s all laid out in Episode 3 of our hit miniseries "America’s Generational Failure." The episode is 100% free for the next 24 hours, so make sure to join us at 3pm EST for Episode 3 of America’s Generational Failure before it goes up behind a paywall. I’ll see you in the viewing room. So it goes..."
Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Bad Moon Rising"
"The Image That Comes To Mind..."
"The image that comes to mind is a boxing ring. There are times when you just want that bell to ring, but you're the one who's losing. The one who's winning doesn't have that feeling. Do you have the energy and strength to face life? Life can ask more of you than you are willing to give. And then you say, 'Life is not something that should have been. I'm not going to play the game. I'm going to meditate. I'm going to call "out". There are three positions possible. One is the up-to-it, and facing the game and playing through. The second is saying, "Absolutely not. I don't want to stay in this dogfight." That's the absolute out. The third position is the one that says, "This is mixed of good and evil. I'm on the side of the good. I accept the world with corrections. And may the world be the way I like it. And it's good for me and my friends." There are the only three positions."
- Joseph Campbell
"Don't Get Soaked"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 1/25/23:
"Don't Get Soaked"
"California has had so much rain over the last 3 1/2 weeks. They estimated that there’s been over 30,000,000,000,000 gallons of water dropped. There has been massive flooding which has destroyed new and used vehicles. People are now selling the used cars that were damaged by flooding."
Comments here:
"Massive Price Increases At Walmart! This Is Crazy! What's Coming!?"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 1/25/23:
"Massive Price Increases At Walmart!
This Is Crazy! What's Coming!?"
"In today's vlog we are at Walmart and are noticing massive price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
Comments here:
Gregory Mannarino, "Expanding War; Worsening Economic Freefall"
Gregory Mannarino, 1/25/23:
"Expanding War; Worsening Economic Freefall"
Comments here:
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
"I Told You So. Everyone's About to Get a HARSH Reality Check"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 1/24/23:
"I Told You So. Everyone's About to Get a HARSH Reality Check"
Comments here:
"World War III: Has It Begun?"
"World War III: Has It Begun?"
By Jim Rickards
"Has World War III already begun? That’s a serious question and deserves serious consideration. A wave of analysts and commentators have warned that the war in Ukraine could spin out of control and escalate into World War III. One variation on that theme is that the war could escalate into a nuclear war with tactical nuclear weapons deployed. Most point a finger at Russia as the party that will launch a nuclear strike out of desperation at a failing campaign in Ukraine. Actually, the opposite is true.
The Russian campaign is not failing (it has been on hold for several months awaiting the right conditions to launch a winter offensive). You just don’t hear about it in the mainstream media, which is essentially a propaganda outlet for Ukraine. And the party most likely to use nuclear weapons first is the U.S. in order to save face and destabilize Russia once Ukraine is on the brink of collapse.
Reality Check: Many people have a hard time believing that. They’ve been told that Putin is the devil incarnate and would probably like to destroy the world. We like to think that in modern times we’re sophisticated and above falling prey to propaganda. Unfortunately, it isn’t true. The fact is the U.S. did wage the only nuclear war in history from Aug. 6–9, 1945 and had a successful outcome. I’m not getting into the morality of it here, one way or the other. I’m just being objective.
Either way, another nuclear war could not be contained and it would be tantamount to World War III. It amounts to the same thing. But my point is different. It’s not that we may be headed to World War III; it’s that we’re already there. The issue of when wars in general and world wars in particular begin and end is not as clear cut as many believe. There are many examples.
When Does a War Officially Begin? It’s Complicated: When did World War I begin? There were many precursors including the Agadir Crisis in Morocco (1911), the Italian-Turkish War (1911–12) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913). Clearly, the First World War was in a countdown phase as early as 1911. More specifically, did World War I begin with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914? The Austria-Hungary declaration of war on Serbia on July 28, 1914? Germany’s declaration of war on Russia on Aug. 1, 1914?
The fact is the beginning of World War I (then called the Great War) was a series of blunders. There were many other mistakes in addition to those just mentioned. Of course, the U.S. did not enter World War I until April 6, 1917.
The end of World War I was also a muddle. Most students recite Nov. 11, 1918, as the day the war ended. That’s not quite right. That is the day an armistice was signed and the shooting stopped. But an armistice is a ceasefire, not a peace treaty. The actual Versailles Treaty that ended the war was signed on June 28, 1919.
There’s nothing new about blurry lines on when wars begin and end. The Korean War stopped with an armistice signed on July 27, 1953, but it’s still technically not over; there has never been a peace treaty.
The most interesting case (and the one most pertinent to the war in Ukraine) is the beginning of World War II.
When Did World War II Really Begin? Most Americans reflexively date this from Dec. 7, 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. That’s the right date for U.S. entry, but of course, the war began on Sept. 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. The U.K. and France declared war on Germany on Sept. 3. Yet did World War II actually begin much earlier?
Japan invaded Manchuria on Sept. 18, 1931. They established a puppet regime there called Manchukuo led by Emperor Puyi (the infamous “Last Emperor” of China, and a descendant of the Qing Dynasty). This was followed by a full-scale invasion of China by Japan in 1937 and the horrific Rape of Nanjing in December 1937. Of course, the European and Pacific theaters of World War II were different and geographically separated, but it is at least arguable that World War II began in China in 1931 or 1937 at the latest. I lean to that view personally.
And let’s not ignore the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) in which Germany bombed Guernica, Russia financed the Popular Front and mercenaries formed the International Brigades, including the American Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The spectacle of the U.S. and Russia fighting Germany on Spanish soil was a neat preview of World War II. The influx of foreign fighters to the war in Ukraine offers a modern parallel.
The Case for the Start of World War III: So the case for fuzzy beginnings and endings of wars is clear. What’s the case for saying World War III has already begun based on the situation in Ukraine? The first point is the number of nations directly involved. It’s nonsense to say that NATO members are cheering on Ukraine from the sidelines. Those countries are directly involved in supplying weapons, intelligence, money, ammunition and boots on the ground.
Polish troops are operating as mercenaries in Ukrainian uniforms. U.S. and U.K. special operators are inside Ukraine supplying intelligence, weapons training and help with logistics. (These special operators are often hired as contractors by the CIA and MI6 to disguise their connections to U.S. and U.K. intelligence.)
Poland and Lithuania are supplying sophisticated Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The U.K. is preparing to supply their most sophisticated tank - the Challenger II, as well. The U.S. is providing Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Stryker armored vehicles. The U.S. is also supplying HIMARS (long-distance guided missile artillery) and Patriot anti-missile batteries. The West is providing Ukraine with ammunition, cash, drones, satellite imaging, signals intelligence (SIGINT) and human intelligence (HUMINT).
Russia has been no slouch when it comes to enlisting allies and mercenaries. The Wagner Group, a privately owned mercenary army, has been on the front lines near Soledar and Bakhmut. Russia is getting drones from Turkey and Iran. Fighters are arriving from Syria. China is providing financial support and offering technology that helps Russia to build its weapons and continue its missile attacks.
Up the Escalation Ladder: Physical warfighting has occurred in Poland (a misguided Ukrainian missile), Belarus (also a misguided Ukrainian missile), Russia (drone attacks on airbases inside Russia with nuclear weapons nearby) and Germany (the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines). There have also been naval battles on the Black Sea.
Of course, a long list of countries is providing support for Ukraine by participating in U.S.- and EU-led financial and economic sanctions. The countries now directly involved in the war in Ukraine with weapons, money, intelligence, mercenaries or financial sanctions include the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Poland, Lithuania, Canada, Australia, Ukraine, Russia, China, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Japan, Romania, Belarus and Moldova. These countries span four continents. The economic ramifications are global. If this is not a world war, it’s not clear what is.
The Third World War is here. It may be at the 1937 stage rather than the 1941 stage. Let’s hope that status prevails. It likely will not. This war is not close to a conclusion. It is far more likely to expand in terms of affected nations, financial sanctions and kinetic warfare. The danger of escalation to a nuclear exchange is real and growing. Will anyone stop it before it’s too late?"
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A Comment: Putin has stated many times that if Russia were faced with an "existential threat" they'd use nuclear weapons. What would I do if I were him, and a US first strike was about to happen? 2 things... Pre-emptively we'd hypersonically deliver EMPs 300 miles above Kansas and London, instantly frying literally everything that uses electricity. Detonated over Kansas the entire continental United States and large parts of Canada and Mexico would be instantly struck back to the stone age. Over London the entire UK and most of Europe would cease to function.
Simultaneously we'd launch 3 100 megaton Poseidon torpedos in deep water off the US and West coasts, and in the Atlantic near the UK. The resulting bomb blast would produce a 1,500 foot high tsunami wave that would obliterate the entire US East Coast as far inland as W. Virginia, from Maine to Florida, everything gone. One in the Pacific Ocean off California would do the same to the entire US West Coast, from Canada to Mexico. The one detonated in the Atlantic towards the UK would totally obliterate the entire country and large parts of Europe. The UK would cease to exist.
Full screen recommended.
"Russian State TV Threatens Nuclear Strike On
UK And Warns Of Radioactive Tidal Wave"
All in less than an hour, and the war's over.
Do we really want to do this?
Gregory Mannarino, "World War III... We Are Edging Ever Closer"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 1/24/23:
"World War III... We Are Edging Ever Closer"
Comments here:
"We Are Witnessing An Enormous Wave Of Bankruptcies And Layoffs During The Early Stages Of 2023"
Full screen recommended.
"We Are Witnessing An Enormous Wave Of Bankruptcies
And Layoffs During The Early Stages Of 2023"
by Epic Economist
"Is your job safe? Right now, we are witnessing so much turmoil is so many different sectors of our economy. The housing market is crashing, the cryptocurrency industry has imploded, the tech industry is laying off workers at an extremely frightening pace, and some of our most important retailers are heading into bankruptcy. The information that I am about to share with you is deeply troubling. It has become exceedingly clear that our economy is in huge trouble, and I fully expect that our problems will accelerate even more as the year rolls along.
Microsoft announced thousands of job cuts this week, becoming the latest tech company to pluck its workforce as the global economy slows. Microsoft reported the layoffs would affect roughly 5% of its workforce, with some notifications happening as early as Wednesday.
Even more alarming is the fact that it is being reported that a bankruptcy filing for Bed Bath & Beyond has become “likely”…Bed Bath & Beyond has been in discussions with prospective buyers and lenders as it works to keep its business afloat during a likely bankruptcy filing, according to people familiar with the matter.
The wave of layoffs that we have been witnessing in the tech industry is truly unprecedented. Prior to this week, more than 25,000 tech industry workers had already been laid off this year, and this comes on the heels of the massive layoffs that we saw last year.
Needless to say, this could potentially completely undermine the dominance of the petrodollar. Of course we cannot afford to have that happen, because the dominance of the dollar is one of the only things that is keeping our system afloat.
At this point just about everything is moving in the wrong direction for the U.S. economy, but most people still do not understand the bigger picture. A lot of the “experts” assume that we will just suffer through a temporary recession and then things will eventually return to normal. I wish that was true. Unfortunately, our entire system is starting to crack and crumble all around us, and those that are currently running things are not going to be able to put it back together again."
Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Sound of Invisible Waters"
Full screen recommended.
Deuter, "Sound of Invisible Waters"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebulas. The Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), the bright structure just above the image center, houses several of these massive stars and has itself changed its appearance.
The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. Eta Carinae is the brightest star near the image center, just left of the Keyhole Nebula. While Eta Carinae itself maybe on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that much of the Great Carina Nebula has been a veritable supernova factory.”
The Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, "I Want A Lot"
"I Want A Lot"
"You see, I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything:
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.
So many live on and want nothing
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgments.
But what you love to see are faces
that so work and feel thirst...
You have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
"Of Course..."
"To show mercy is not naive. To hold out against the end of hope is not stupidity or madness. It is fundamentally human. Of course... we are all doomed; we are all poisoned from our birth by the rot of stars. That does not mean we should succumb to the seductive fallacy of despair, the dark tide that would drown us. You may think I'm stupid, you may call me a madman and a fool, but at least I stand upright in a fallen world."
- Rick Yancey
Judge Napolitano, "Ukraine Russia War Latest w. Col. Doug Macgregor"
Full screen recommended.
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 1/24/23:
"Ukraine Russia War Latest w. Col. Doug Macgregor"
Comments here:
"They Will Chase You Forever"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 1/24/23:
"They Will Chase You Forever"
"People think that once they move out of a state that they never have to pay taxes again in the state that they left. The problem is that crazy California is trying to make it worse and chase people forever."
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