So, we rise from the rubble...
Monday, March 13, 2023
"The Monstrous Thing..."
“The monstrous thing is not that men have created roses out of this dung heap, but that, for some reason or other, they should want roses. For some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured – disgrace, humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui – in the belief that overnight something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable. And all the while a meter is running inside and there is no hand that can reach in there and shut it off.
All the while someone is eating the bread of life and drinking the wine, some dirty fat cockroach of a priest who hides away in the cellar guzzling it, while up above in the light of the street a phantom host touches the lips and the blood is pale as water. And out of the endless torment and misery no miracle comes forth, no microscopic vestige of relief. Only ideas, pale, attenuated ideas which have to be fattened by slaughter; ideas which come forth like bile, like the guts of a pig when the carcass is ripped open.
Somehow the realization that nothing was to be hoped for had a salutary effect upon me. For weeks and months, for years, in fact, all my life I had been looking forward to something happening, some intrinsic event that would alter my life, and now suddenly, inspired by the absolute hopelessness of everything, I felt relieved, felt as though a great burden had been lifted from my shoulders. At dawn I parted company with the young Hindu, after touching him for a few francs, enough for a room. Walking toward Montparnasse I decided to let myself drift with the tide, to make not the least resistance to fate, no matter in what form it presented itself.
Nothing that had happened to me thus far had been sufficient to destroy me; nothing had been destroyed except my illusions. I myself was intact. The world was intact. Tomorrow there might be a revolution, a plague, an earthquake; tomorrow there might not be left a single soul to whom one could turn for sympathy, for aid, for faith. It seemed to me that the great calamity had already manifested itself, that I could be no more truly alone than at this very moment. I made up my mind that I would hold on to nothing, that I would expect nothing, that henceforth I would live as an animal, a beast of prey, a rover, a plunderer. Even if war were declared, and it were my lot to go, I would grab the bayonet and plunge it, plunge it up to the hilt. And if rape were the order of the day then rape I would, and with a vengeance.
At this very moment, in the quiet dawn of a new day, was not the earth giddy with crime and distress? Had one single element of man’s nature been altered, vitally, fundamentally altered, by the incessant march of history? By what he calls the better part of his nature, man has been betrayed, that is all. At the extreme limits of his spiritual being man finds himself again naked as a savage. When he finds God, as it were, he has been picked clean: he is a skeleton. One must burrow into life again in order to put on flesh. The word must become flesh; the soul thirsts.
At this very moment, in the quiet dawn of a new day, was not the earth giddy with crime and distress? Had one single element of man’s nature been altered, vitally, fundamentally altered, by the incessant march of history? By what he calls the better part of his nature, man has been betrayed, that is all. At the extreme limits of his spiritual being man finds himself again naked as a savage. When he finds God, as it were, he has been picked clean: he is a skeleton. One must burrow into life again in order to put on flesh. The word must become flesh; the soul thirsts.
On whatever crumb my eye fastens, I will pounce and devour. If to live is the paramount thing, then I will live, even if I must become a cannibal. Heretofore I have been trying to save my precious hide, trying to preserve the few pieces of meat that hid my bones. I am done with that. I have reached the limits of endurance. My back is to the wall; I can retreat no further. As far as history goes I am dead. If there is something beyond I shall have to bounce back. I have found God, but he is insufficient. I am only spiritually dead. Physically I am alive. Morally I am free. The world which I have departed is a menagerie. The dawn is breaking on a new world, a jungle world in which the lean spirits roam with sharp claws. If I am a hyena I am a lean and hungry one: I go forth to fatten myself.”
- Henry Miller, "Tropic of Cancer"
"Life Is Inconvenient..."
"One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire – then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference."
- Robert Fulghum
The Poet: Robinson Jeffers, "We Are Those People"
"We Are Those People"
"I have abhorred the wars and despised the liars,
laughed at the frightened
And forecast victory; never one moment's doubt.
But now not far, over the backs of some crawling years, the next
Great war's column of dust and fire writhes
Up the sides of the sky: it becomes clear that we too may suffer
What others have, the brutal horror of defeat -
Or if not in the next, then in the next - therefore watch Germany
And read the future. We wish, of course, that our women
Would die like biting rats in the cellars,
our men like wolves on the mountain:
It will not be so. Our men will curse, cringe, obey;
Our women uncover themselves to the grinning victors
for bits of chocolate."
- Robinson Jeffers
“One Last Smile For My Old Friend”
Full screen recommended.
“One Last Smile For My Old Friend”
by Iain Burns
“This is the magical moment a dying chimpanzee recognizes her old friend and gives him an emotional farewell. Mama, the 59-year-old former matriarch at Royal Burgers Zoo in the Netherlands, was curled up in a ball and refusing food until the arrival of Professor Jan van Hooff, who she had known since 1972. At first she did not realize that her old friend had come to see her and remained on the floor as he stroked her. But her bond with Professor van Hooff – who co-founded her chimp colony at the Arnhem zoo – was deep enough to shake her from her gloom. The terminally ill chimp, who was fast approaching the end of her life, can be seen reacting with pure joy when she realizes who has come to see her. Mama screeched with delight and beamed with a smile while greeting the professor. Screeching with pleasure and smiling in delight, Mama can be seen stretching out her hand and stroking Professor van Hooff’s head in greeting. The video was filmed in April 2016. Mama died just a week after giving her old friend a heartfelt farewell.”
"Pajama Nation: Americans Have Morphed Into the People of Walmart" (Excerpt)
"Pajama Nation: Americans Have
Morphed Into the People of Walmart"
by Rockaboatus
Excerpt: "If one wants to see what a huge segment of the American people have morphed into, look no farther than the ‘People of Walmart’ website. It features the obscenely unbecoming clothes that people wear while shopping at Walmart. The site is both hysterical and depressing at the same time. Though it pokes fun at sloppy Walmart shoppers, the truth is that vast numbers of Americans dress like this at any place they patronize. It’s often difficult at times to distinguish between a sloppy but employed person and a homeless bum. Some have called it “hobo-chic.”
It has become common in America to see someone wearing a hoodie, backward baseball cap, torn jeans, a ‘wife-beater,’ or their baggy pajamas to the grocery store, the DMV, or to the movies. Most people probably don’t even notice it anymore because it has become a regular feature of what Americans wear. A large sign had to be posted at the local courthouse where I live to remind visitors to wear shoes and that tank-tops are not allowed. Americans, it seems, are quite content in attiring themselves like complete slobs. They can’t be bothered to wear appropriate and form-fitting clothes. Comedian Bill Mahr was right when he said on his Real Time show in 2013 that Americans won’t be happy until they can go shopping in a diaper!"
Full article is here:
"Why?"
"Is there an answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people? The response would be… to forgive the world for not being perfect, to forgive God for not making a better world, to reach out to the people around us, and to go on living despite it all, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it has happened."
- Harold S. Kushner
"Can The Federal Reserve Stop The Avalanche Of Bank Runs That Has Already Begun?"
"Can The Federal Reserve Stop The Avalanche
Of Bank Runs That Has Already Begun?"
by Michael Snyder
Excerpt: "What in the world just happened? On Friday, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and was taken over by regulators, and then on Sunday regulators swooped in and shut down New York’s Signature Bank. In a desperate attempt to prop up faith in our rapidly failing banking system, the Federal Reserve unveiled an emergency plan late on Sunday that is absolutely staggering. All of the depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank will be protected, and all of them will have access to their money right away. They aren’t calling this a “bail out”, but that is essentially what it is. But will it be enough to stop the bank runs that are already happening?
Late last week, huge lines at Silicon Valley Bank quickly made headlines all over the nation."
Full article is here:
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Related:
"Massive Price Increases At Big Lots! This Is Ridiculous!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 3/13/23:
"Massive Price Increases At Big Lots! This Is Ridiculous!"
"In today's vlog we are at Big Lots, and are noticing massive price increases! This is not good as we are also seeing empty shelves everywhere! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products, and then charging extremely high prices!"
Comments here:
"The Tip of the Iceberg - Banking Crisis"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 3/13/23:
"The Tip of the Iceberg - Banking Crisis"
"This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Banking Crisis. We are starting to see other experts step forward, saying that Silicon Valley Bank was a problem in progress for months. You’re going to see a lot of companies affected by this globally."
Comments here:
"Situation Critical: The Fed. Begins "Emergency" Measures To Stabilize The Banking System"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/13/23:
"Situation Critical: The Fed. Begins "Emergency"
Measures To Stabilize The Banking System"
Comments here:
"Crack... Crack... Crack..."
"Crack... Crack... Crack..."
Silvergate Bank... Silicon Valley Bank... Signature Bank... ?
By Bill Bonner
San Martin, Argentina - "Was that the ‘something’ we were waiting to ‘break?’ Business Insider: "The Silicon Valley Bank meltdown may incite the Federal Reserve to cut rates by 100 basis points by December to prevent contagion in the financial system, Larry McDonald said. That would mark a sharp reversal from the central bank's current course of aggressive tightening to rein in inflation."
Recall our forecast: the Fed will continue raising rates ‘until something breaks.’ A California bank broke on Friday. This morning comes news of more breakage. Deadline: "New York State regulators took over Signature Bank today, the second financial institution to fold in less than a week as the FDIC and Treasury, however, assured depositors at both that they would be made whole in an attempt to stem the growing crisis.
“Today we are taking decisive actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system. This step will ensure that the U.S. banking system continues to perform its vital roles of protecting deposits and providing access to credit to households and businesses in a manner that promotes strong and sustainable economic growth,” the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a joint statement Sunday."
A Bear in a China Store: Both banks were shut down by regulators – after big losses. The bonds of SVB, for example, fell to 31 cents on the dollar. But that’s what happens when the Fed raises rates. This is the same Fed, by the way, that enticed everyone to borrow trillions of dollars by dangling low interest rates in front of them – for more than 10 years.
Having created a dangerous and debilitating debt bubble, the Fed is now determined to take the air out of it…as long as lower interest rates don’t cause too much trouble. But in an economy with $90 trillion of delicate chinaware, bought on credit, even a small increase in interest rates is bound to cause a lot of breakage. That is the cracking noise we hear coming from California and New York. And while we doubt these are the ‘breaks’ that will cause the Fed to pivot, they help us understand how the crackpots at the Fed crack the pots.
Dan explained in his Friday note that it was under the watchful eyes of the Fed’s thousands of bank regulators…and thousands more analysts on Wall Street…that the “second biggest bank collapse in US history [Silicon Valley Bank]...unfolded … without a single person issuing a peep of warning.” Dan Denning: “Looking at the numbers, deposits at SVB went from $60 billion in 2019 to $189 billion in 2022. The IPO/SPAC/tech boom was good to SVP. But what does a bank do with all that depositor cash?” What could it do? It bought bonds. And then, as interest rates rose, bonds fell.
On the Bright Side: Dan and Joel have provided us with the detail we need. For our part, we will continue our jaunt down the sunny side of the street, looking at only that part of the glass that has something in it. And let us begin by looking at more of the absurd, the ridiculous and the sublime events of the last week.
If there were ever any doubt that Congress is composed of lamebrains, Rep. Mark Takano is doing his best to dispel them. CNBC reports:"…his 32-hour Workweek Act to Congress, which, if passed, would officially reduce the standard definition of the workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act. His proposal would mandate overtime pay for any work done after 32 hours, which would encourage business to either pay workers more for longer hours, or shorten their week and hire more people. It will “increase the happiness of humankind” says its sponsor."
What a hoot it must be to spend time in Congress. A laugh a minute. How on earth would Mr. Takano know what would increase human happiness? And if a shorter workweek would do the trick….why not a 25-hour week…or a 10-hour week…or a week with no work in it at all? How is it that Mr. Takano, who otherwise seems to be a person capable of tying his shoelaces and driving a car, can know that a 32-hour week would result in maximum happiness for humans on planet earth?
We don’t know. But how the members of Congress must chuckle! Like guards at a Gulag…they amuse each other by devising new ways to abuse their constituents. “Let’s see how the dopes back home will like this,” they say to each other, with a wink and an elbow. “How about we give $52 billion to US defense companies so the Ukrainians can fight for freedom? Hah…ha…ha…”
“No….we’ll say ‘fight for democracy.’ “Hah…ha…ha…”
“And let’s ban Tik Tok…and force American companies to buy their chips from the companies that give us campaign donations.” “Hey, wait….isn’t that unconstitutional?” "Who cares…?” “Hah…ha…ha…”
Yes, the US Congress is corrupt and incompetent, but what’s new? That glass sprang a leak years ago.
Another Tall Tale: Probably the biggest joke last week came from The New York Times newsroom. And here too, there’s good news: no one can take the Times seriously ever again. The Ol’ Gray Lady gave such a fairytale account of how the Nord Stream Pipeline got blown up, even she seemed embarrassed to report it. Reporters checked no facts, interviewed no sources, challenged no details; the paper simply passed along the government’s latest misinformation.
Joe Biden said he would blow up the pipeline. He had the means to do the crime. And Seymour Hersh – a seasoned, Pulitzer prize winning investigative reporter – revealed, in detail, how he did the deed. But the Times – acting as a propaganda agency for the Deep State – ignored Hersh’s very credible story and instead reported an unlikely yarn from unnamed ‘sources’ in the government about people who probably couldn’t do the job and probably don’t even exist. Supposedly funded by a “Ukrainian oligarch,” the terrorists allegedly rented a yacht, loaded on ultra-high-powered explosives and somehow escaped notice as they planted them on the pipeline in one of the most carefully guarded seas in the world.
We doubt that Joe Biden will ever fess up. And maybe his team will come up with a better way to put the blame on someone else. But for now, we suspect that some oligarch is going to have to take the rap so the Times won’t be forced to look any further. Stay tuned..."
Jim Kunstler, "Money Troubles"
"Money Troubles"
By Jim Kunstler
“As for the evil: It lurks in the interstices of our bureaucratic institutions, which, as they have grown in size and complexity since the nineteenth century, behave in ways that are increasingly impossible to understand and contrary to human flourishing.” - Eugyppius on Substack
"Money is all theoretical…until it’s not. Paper money is bad enough, as France learned under the tutelage of the rascal John Law in the early 1700s. The nation was broke, exhausted by foolish wars, and heaped under unbearable debt. Monsieur Law, a Scottish genius-wizard (the Jerry Lewis of political economy), landed in Paris, cast a spell on the regent Duc d’Orléans, set up a magic credit engine fueled by dreams of untold riches-to-come burgeoning out of the vast, new-found lands called Louisiana up the Mississippi River, and modern finance was born!
The stock-and-money schemes known as the Mississippi Bubble soon ruined France and put finance in such a bad odor that the word “banque” could not be used in polite society there for a century to come. Monetary inflation became a thing for the first time since Roman days - a much easier trick with printed paper banknotes than with silver coins - but the effect was the same: the evaporation of “wealth” (which is what money supposedly represents). At the height of the crisis, trading in gold was criminalized, though that was so easily worked-around due to sheer custom and habit that the Crown had to re-legalized it. The frenzy from start to finish lasted only a few years, but the nation was set on the path that would eventually lead to revolution. Law ended his days dolefully running card games in Venice.
Likewise, the creaking polity called the USA in our time, spawned many new incarnations of John Law as it transitioned from being “the arsenal of democracy” - you know, making real things - to a land of make-believe, where unicorns galloped over rainbows conjured by computer magic and utopian wishes of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The overhang of previously amassed wealth kept those dreams going long after we discontinued the rough and messy business of making stuff, and thereby generating real wealth. But now a klaxon blares, signaling the end of dream-time, and the nation wakes up in a ramshackle house with the floor giving way under the bed.
The rot was plain to see in the banking architecture built on US treasury paper (bills, notes, bonds) as rising interest rates undercut the price of all the debt paper issued previously at lower rates. And this was the collateral that banks generally held the depositor’s money in. So, when it became necessary to declare a problem with the balance sheet, and cash had to be raised to cover it, the treasury paper could only be sold at a loss, liabilities exceeded assets, word got out, depositors rushed to secure the money in their accounts, and that was all she wrote for yon bank, in this case, Silicon Valley Bank, the first to crumble.
Since banks today exist in a vast matrix of interconnected obligations - promises to pay this-and-that - fear grows that the rot from one bank, such as SVB, will infect many other banks that are no longer able to keep their promises about paying this-and-that, leading to a daisy-chain of things not getting paid. For an economy, that’s about the same as the blood ceasing to circulate in a body.
The practice in situations such as this (say, as in 2008-09) is for the governing authorities -who supposedly rule over the banking world like gods - to rush to rescue these outfits with “liquidity,” money (or representations of it) as required to re-balance things, or, maybe provide the impression of re-balancing until something else can be figured out. The Jupiter and Minerva of American banking, Jay Powell and Janet Yellen, were faced with just that sort of call for divine intervention over the weekend as fear seeped into every nook and crevice of the money world that wealth was flaring away in the long-feared-of conflagration out of the dumpster banking had become.
Sunday morning, Ms. Yellen told CBS News “bailouts, no way” but by the afternoon Mr. Powell cried “bailouts, way,” and they had to get their story straight. They offered up $25-billion to bail out depositors for a smoldering system that will arguably require a trillion dollars or more of liquidity to quench the spreading fires. One thing looks for sure: the interest rate hikes that Mr. Powell spoke of so confidently only days go just got stashed into his folder labeled “Fuggeddabowdit.” So, the campaign to control inflation must now yield to the urgent need to create a whole lot of money to spray over those fires.
You may have noticed that the value of your money has been slip-sliding away the past year or so. Peanut butter at five bucks a jar, and all. The situation at hand kind of guarantees that we’ll be seeing a whole ole lot more of that. And then the gods of money will have lost control of the interest rate console altogether. No more tweaking the broken knobs. More inflation will prompt US treasury paper holders to dump what they can while there’s still some value to retrieve. But the US has to issue more debt for all the bail-outs and theoretical buyers of new debt will perforce bid up the rates to keep up with inflation… and yet the US can’t possibly bear the burden of paying higher interest on its debt. Looks like the business model for running the USA is breaking down before our eyes.
Luckily, Cap’n “Joe Biden” is at the helm of this steaming garbage barge. His conference room full of geniuses is ready with the solution to our predicament: the long-mythologized Central Bank Digital Currency - a dream-come-true for would be tyrants… the Godzilla of unicorns whinnying atop the biggest rainbow of all: the promise of endless magic money for everybody, forever. All you have to do to get it is: surrender your decision-making power over your own life. The government will amalgamate your few remaining assets in a CBDC account, tell you exactly what to spend it on, and shut off your little card if you show any contrary impulses.
Well, they can try it. I doubt it will work. Instead, the government will melt down in its own rancid puddle of insolvency, the meta-grift will grind to an end, and it will be everyone for his/her/they self in the broke-down Palace of Chaos for a while… until things emergently reconstruct. But I get a little ahead of myself. It’s not even ten o’clock on Monday morning.
Oh, and then there’s Ukraine…"
"Putin Just Changed Everything With This Move And NATO Can’t Do Anything"
Full screen recommended.
"Putin Just Changed Everything With This
Move And NATO Can’t Do Anything"
"Scott Ritter explains Russian strategy in
Ukraine and why Russia is winning."
Comments here:
"The 10 Rules of Propaganda"
"The 10 Rules of Propaganda"
by Brian Maher
"Lord Arthur Ponsonby was a British diplomat and politician, dates 1871–1946. This keen and cagey fellow pinpointed 10 rules of propaganda. They are these:
1. We don’t want war, we are only defending ourselves.
2. The other guy is solely responsible for this war.
3. Our adversary’s leader is evil and looks evil.
4. We are defending a noble purpose, not special interest.
5. The enemy is purposefully causing atrocities; we only commit mistakes.
6. The enemy is using unlawful weapons.
7. We have very little losses, the enemy is losing big.
8. Intellectuals and artists support our cause.
9. Our cause is sacred.
10. Those who doubt our propaganda are traitors.
Just Look at the News: A daily scan of the newswires calls to mind three or more of these propaganda rules. On some days, six or seven. On others still, all 10. We refer specifically to the conflict presently arage in the eastern European nation of Ukraine. Let us now consider these rules. We will not take up each of them since some rules relate closely to others. We will instead weld these together. To proceed…
1. We don’t want war, we are only defending ourselves.
2. The other guy is solely responsible for this war.
On how many occasions have you read or heard condemnations of Mr. Putin’s “unprovoked” act of aggression? To phrase it differently, when has it not been described as unprovoked? Yet a man can argue very persuasively that Mr. Putin’s war was indeed provoked. The Russian autocrat warned on several occasions that NATO expansion into Ukraine was a “red line.” Russia would not abide the NATO dagger pressing against its vitals (parts of Ukraine actually lie east of Moscow). Yet the NATO alliance had announced its intentions to incorporate Ukraine - despite Vladimir’s moans and grimaces.
A de Facto NATO Member: It is true that no formal offer of membership has come. Yet for years the United States and its NATO allies were arming and training Ukrainian forces. Why do you think these Ukrainian forces have performed so excellently? Some have in fact referred to Ukraine as a de facto NATO member. It has merely been awaiting the de jure formality of actual membership. You may argue that Mr. Putin’s invasion was unjustified. You may argue that it was unnecessary. Your editor himself has maintained these very points. Yet you cannot argue that it was unprovoked.
Putin’s Evil!
3. Our adversary’s leader is evil and looks evil.
9. Our cause is sacred.
Here is a very condensed sample of headlines regarding the blackened state of Mr. Putin’s soul: “Vladimir Putin — ‘Evil on the Level of Joseph Stalin’”; “Yes, Putin Is Evil”; “Putin Is Evil, Not Mentally Ill, a Psychological Explanation”; “’Terrifying’ Putin Driven by ‘Evil Forces,’ Says ECB’s Christine Lagarde” “How Vladimir Putin Became Evil”
And is this not the very face of evil?
The title of the magazine article affixed to this caption bears the title “The Secret Source of Putin’s Evil”. Now you have the flavor of it. We could continue but mercy forbids it.
Is Putin Really Evil? Yet how do these demonologists know if the man is evil? Have they looked under the hood… and glanced his soul? Perhaps the man is psychologically impaired. Perhaps he goes by a different morality. Perhaps he is simply misguided. Or perhaps he simply believes his nation is under threat and that his invasion is justified. No - not justified - necessary. We would not claim that he is an especially congenial fellow. We would not claim that he is “nice.”
But evil? That we are not prepared to say. Yet we are prepared to say - and will say - that for the past year propaganda has enjoyed a very brisk circulation. Evil on the level of Joseph Stalin, as the one headline screamed? This is the work of the propagandist.
No Special Interest?
4. We are defending a noble purpose, not special interest.
Defending Ukraine may certainly qualify as a “noble purpose.” We do not contend otherwise. Yet there are several arms manufacturers who presently drive an excellent trade. They must replace all the armaments that have been dispatched to - and continue to be dispatched to - Ukraine. Are they not a special interest? Meantime, our spies inform us that a disturbing portion of monies parading under the banner of “Ukrainian aid” has been diverted to the pockets of Ukrainian oligarchs. We would sort these oligarchs into the category of “special interest.”
“We Don’t Do Those Things”
5. The enemy is purposefully causing atrocities; we only commit mistakes.
We are told that Russia’s calendar of sins is endless. These hellcats are shooting projectiles into apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, churches. Yet we are likewise told that Russia suffers from an acute ammunition lack. Why would these Russians waste valuable ammunition on these valueless targets? Perhaps such targets were struck by accident. It is war and incidents as these are nearly inevitable. Perhaps even Ukrainian forces struck some of these structures unintentionally.
We recall one instance in which a Russian missile struck very near the Polish border, murdering two. As chance would have it the “Russian missile” was an erring Ukrainian air defense missile. Perhaps Ukrainian forces fired upon Russian forces from these sites. Russians would be justified to return the fire.
Reports of Russian massacring of civilians proliferate widely. Yet closer examination reveals that at least some of these claims are of very dubious validity. We would be stunned and gobsmacked if atrocities of various sorts have not occurred - perpetrated by both sides. It is, after all, war. And war is the very negation of civilization. Yet there is little to no evidence that atrocities are official Russian policy. That, we hazard to say, is propaganda.
He’s Using Chemical Weapons!
6. The enemy is using unlawful weapons.
“Kyiv Claims Russia Used Banned Chemical Weapon”; “Russia’s Tear Gas Bombings in Ukraine May Be First Step in Dangerous Chemical Escalation”; “Ukraine’s Battlefield Is Haunted by Putin’s Chemical Weapons Legacy.”
We assigned our spies the case. They inform us there exists no evidence of Russian chemical weapons use. Videos have circulated - however - of Ukrainian soldiers preparing chemical weapons for battlefield use. Other videos circulate of Russian soldiers gagging on these chemical agents. We cannot confirm their trueness.
270,000 Russian Casualties?
7. We have very little losses, the enemy is losing big.
Source after source cites claims of unspeakable Russian deaths and woundings. Figures of 270,000 Russian casualties have been proposed. Yet the original invasion force consisted only of 190,000 men. Are they all - plus 80,000 others - dead or injured?
The British Broadcasting Corporation decided to so some spade work. They attempted to discern the true number of Russian fatalities. This they did by poring through death notices, funeral announcements, social media and other venues. What did they discover? They could only identify the names of 16,071 confirmed Russian fatalities. They concede the possibility that they are undercounting the butcher’s bill by as much as 40%. In all, BBC places Russia’s total irretrievable losses (wounded, killed or missing people) at some 144,500. These figures nonetheless place the actual casualty roster - both killings and woundings - far below the mainstream telling.
We are loathe to employ the word “only” when discussing deaths and woundings. It is a morbid affair. Each man is a unique human creature crafted in the image of his creator. Yet the BBC’s sleuthing indicates strongly that Russian casualty figures are extravagantly exaggerated. It is in keeping to Propaganda Rule no. 7.
8. Intellectuals and artists support our cause.
How many intellectuals and artists boast Twitter accounts bearing an image of the Ukrainian flag? They are nearly beyond count.
10. Those who doubt our propaganda are traitors.
Your patriotic editor has been labeled traitorous on many, many occasions - by readers and colleagues alike.
The Propaganda War: Does Russia transmit its own propaganda? We are certain that it does. Upon reflection we must amend the prior statement - we suspect strongly that Russia transmits its own propaganda. We cannot be certain. That is because none of it is allowed in. It is all censored out by the Western press. They have erected a great cordon walling off Russian propaganda.
How else does one explain the universal media claims of Ukrainian righteousness and Russian evil? Of Ukrainian brio and Russian incompetence? Of Ukrainian victory and Russian defeat? We will merely state that we have been privy to… conflicting… reports. Yet we are aware that by posting the 10 Rules of Propaganda… we will be accused ourself of distributing propaganda - Russian propaganda. We plead nolo contendere… comrade."
Canadian Prepper, "Emergency Video! The FED Is Panicking! War Bonds Are Next!"
Canadian Prepper, PM 3/12/23:
"Emergency Video!
The FED Is Panicking! War Bonds Are Next!"
Comments here:
Sunday, March 12, 2023
"Warning! Bank Runs Will Create A Mad Max Society"
Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 3/12/23:
"Warning! Bank Runs Will Create A Mad Max Society"
Comments here:
"Oh SH*T! The Banks Are Collapsing, As The Money Starts Disappearing"
Redacted, 3/12/23
"Oh SH*T! The Banks Are Collapsing,
As The Money Starts Disappearing"
As money starts to disappear, banks are starting to collapse. This is causing panic among the people, as they worry about what will happen to their money. Watch this video for more information on bank runs and how they could affect you."
Comments here:
"The Pension Crisis Will Wipe Out All Of Your Retirement Savings This Year"
Full screen recommended.
"The Pension Crisis Will Wipe Out All
Of Your Retirement Savings This Year"
by Epic Economist
"U.S. pension funds are about to implode and wipe out the retirement savings of millions of state and local government employees. A flood of new reports reveals that the nation’s pension system is severely underfunded and many private equity firms have lied to their customers about their true ability to pay retirees in 2023. The stock market meltdown is set to make conditions even more precarious, and about $4.1 trillion dollars in retirement funds are on the line. And the worst part is that the catastrophic collapse of U.S. pensions means that all taxpayers are going to be financially squeezed by even higher taxes in order to make up for such massive asset losses.
As it turns out, U.S. pension funds – usually known as the gold standard for retirement security – aren’t that safe at all. New reports show that our public pension system is facing serious challenges that are threatening the retirement plans of millions of American workers. Private equity firms typically use pension money to purchase and restructure companies with the intent to sell them off later on for a profit. However, between the processes of buying and selling, these firms do not provide transparent metrics for valuing the purchased asset. This means private equity businesses can literally manufacture a number to report to their clients, the pension investors.
New pieces of evidence reported by CNN, Reuters, and The Guardian show that these firms frequently inflate valuations when seeking new investments. In December, private equity businesses reported to pension officials that their assets were worth much more than they actually are today. And data just released by Reuters proves that all of these firms were skimming billions of dollars of fees off retirees’ money. Since 2019, the public pension system lost over $1.5 trillion, facing a 21% loss in 2020 alone. At the same time, these losses have added an overwhelming amount of stress on our public pension systems, and now state and local pensions are already facing a $4.1 trillion shortfall.
Official data shows that the 100 largest public pension funds in the United States had been funded at just 78.6% of their total obligations at the close of the last quarter. Between December 2022 and February 2023, a whopping $220 billion was lost due to the tech bubble burst. And while pensioners are at risk, Wall Street’s pension fund managers are protected thanks to their heads-we-win-tails-you-lose business model, says Sirota. While reporting asset losses for investors, some of the firms managing pensioners’ money are raking in even more fees from investors and continuing to raise executives’ pay.
In other words, they are legally stealing money from U.S. workers, and no one is doing anything about it. This money transfer from the retirement accounts of hard-working Americans to the pockets of rich Wall Street fund managers is scandalous and shameful. But still, nobody seems truly worried about the consequences this may pose to millions of state and local employees that are likely to spend their retirement years closer to poverty than they ever imagined.
In essence, the U.S. pension fund crisis is a reflection of America today, where corruption is legalized and it is the people who bear the brunt of the mistakes of our so-called leaders while they get exploited and outright robbed by a power-hungry elite that won’t be satisfied until they seize everything we have ever fought for."
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Musical Interlude: The Moody Blues, "This Is The Moment"; "Candle of Life"
The Moody Blues, "This Is The Moment"
Photo: Templo de Zeus OlÃmpico (Temple of Olympian Zeus)
-Atenas - Grécia (Athens - Greece)
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Full screen recommended.
Moody Blues, "Candle of Life"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“These three bright nebulae are often featured in telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the central Milky Way. In fact, 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier cataloged two of them; M8, the large nebula left of center, and colorful M20 on the right. The third, NGC 6559, is above M8, separated from the larger nebula by a dark dust lane. All three are stellar nurseries about five thousand light-years or so distant.
The expansive M8, over a hundred light-years across, is also known as the Lagoon Nebula. M20's popular moniker is the Trifid. Glowing hydrogen gas creates the dominant red color of the emission nebulae, with contrasting blue hues, most striking in the Trifid, due to dust reflected starlight. The colorful skyscape recorded with telescope and digital camera also includes one of Messier's open star clusters, M21, just above the Trifid.”
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"The eternal silence of infinite spaces frightens me. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time have been ascribed to me? We travel in a vast sphere, always drifting in the uncertain, pulled from one side to another. Whenever we find a fixed point to attach and to fasten ourselves, it shifts and leaves us; and if we follow it, it eludes our grasp, slips past us, and vanishes for ever. Nothing stays for us. This is our natural condition, most contrary to our inclination; we burn with desires to find solid ground and an ultimate and solid foundation for building a tower reaching to the Infinite. But always these bases crack, and the earth obstinately opens up into abysses. We are infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, since the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from us in an encapsulated secret; we are equally incapable of seeing the Nothing from which we were made, and the Infinite in which we are swallowed up."
- Blaise Pascal
"You May Think..."
"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
The Poet: Maya Angelou, "A Brave And Startling Truth"
"A Brave And Startling Truth"
"We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space,
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns,
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth.
And when we come to it,
To the day of peacemaking,
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms.
When we come to it,
When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate,
And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean.
When battlefields and coliseum
No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters
Up with the bruised and bloody grass,
To lie in identical plots in foreign soil.
When the rapacious storming of the churches,
The screaming racket in the temples have ceased.
When the pennants are waving gaily,
When the banners of the world tremble
Stoutly in the good, clean breeze.
When we come to it,
When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders,
And children dress their dolls in flags of truce.
When land mines of death have been removed,
And the aged can walk into evenings of peace.
When religious ritual is not perfumed
By the incense of burning flesh,
And childhood dreams are not kicked awake
By nightmares of abuse.
When we come to it,
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory,
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets.
Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji
Stretching to the Rising Sun.
Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor,
Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores
These are not the only wonders of the world.
When we come to it,
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe,
Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger
Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace.
We, this people on this mote of matter,
In whose mouths abide cankerous words
Which challenge our very existence,
Yet out of those same mouths
Come songs of such exquisite sweetness
That the heart falters in its labor,
And the body is quieted into awe.
We, this people, on this small and drifting planet,
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living.
Yet those same hands can touch with
such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow,
And the proud back is glad to bend.
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines.
When we come to it,
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body,
Created on this earth, of this earth,
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety,
Without crippling fear.
When we come to it,
We must confess that we are the possible,
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world.
That is when, and only when,
We come to it."
- Maya Angelou
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"One Million Russian Troops Marching To The Polish Border"
"Col. Douglas Macgregor Straight Calls", 3/12/23
"One Million Russian Troops Marching To The Polish Border"
"Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world."
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