Lately I’ve been sick. I caught a small cold from my daughter, who caught it from Kindergarten. This coupled with the insane levels of change in my personal life, has made it very difficult for me to keep up. But, I’m still churning stuff out. I don’t know how, but yeah I am.

Now, of course, every step is taken to keep colds out of school, but little kids have bad habits, and no matter how had you try, sickness sneaks in.  And of course, my little daughter doesn’t yet know the importance of covering her face when she coughs.

Sigh.

Please enjoy this installment.

The reason why Telsa is unable to leave China (even with Biden incentives)

Telsa factories in China have 95% of their supply chain are localized. These supply chains also supply to the USA and the rest of the world. By leaving China, the supply chain disappears, and without parts, Tesla disappears.

〔財經頻道／綜合報導〕美國電動車大廠「特斯拉（Tesla）」近年來積極加速中國化。特斯拉全球副總裁陶琳（Grace Tao）近日接受媒體訪問時透露，目前特斯拉上海工廠產業鏈本土化率已達95％。

綜合媒體報導，特斯拉在2013年底正式進入中國市場，9年來，特斯拉持續擴大在中國的投資佈局。陶琳近日在接受媒體訪問時透露，目前特斯拉上海超級工廠產業鏈本土化率已達到95％，並在上海、蘇州、寧波、南通等長三角地區組建起「4小時朋友圈」，形成新能源汽車零組件的全生態鏈。

不僅如此，特斯拉也致力於加速對人才的可持續培養。陶琳稱，特斯拉上海工廠員工超過99.9%都是中國人，並稱目前特斯拉也已經培養起一線操作人員、技術高端人才以及新能源行業管理人才的全產業鏈人才儲備。

From HERE

Speaking of Tesla…

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is suspending plans to make battery cells in Germany as it looks at qualify for electric vehicle and battery manufacturing tax breaks in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel

Article HERE

Hey, let’s check out this nut-case!

Seriously! Look at this guy!

He makes money spewing this nonsense. Any day now, eh?

It’s so easy to spew nonsense if your readership wants to read it.

It’s sort of like how people want to read how to lose weight by eating deep-fried pork fat.

China’s exports rose an additional 18%

China's July exports rise 18% to $333 bn, with trade surplus at record high

China's export growth continued to rise in July, sending trade surplus to a record high, according to government data.

China’s export growth continued to rise in July, sending trade surplus to a record high, according to government data.

China’s exports grew 18% to $333 billion compared to the same period last year, and were up from 17.9% in June, according to data from China’s customs.

Imports, however, remained soft, growing 2.3% in July compared to a year ago. That was lower that economists’ estimates of 4%, and suggests weak domestic demand amid lockdowns across the country as China attempts to stem the outbreak of COVID-19.

China’s total trade surplus reached an all-time high of $101.3 billion in July, breaking the record set in June.

The country’s economy has rebounded from earlier in the year, when tough COVID-19 restrictions including a two-month lockdown in Shanghai and other measures across China disrupted manufacturing and logistics.

While manufacturing and supply chain issues have eased, recovery may be affected by fresh COVID-19 outbreaks, weak domestic demand and external uncertainties such as rising inflation in developed countries including Britain and the U.S.

The International Monetary Fund in July predicted that China’s economy would grow 3.3% this year, below the ruling Communist Party’s target of 5.5% set in April.

From HERE

The United States is repositioning forces from Japan to Guam

Interesting.

As I write this, the US Department of Defense is ramping up the militarization of my homeland – part of its $8bn scheme to relocate roughly 5,000 marines from Okinawa to Guam. In fact, ground has already been broken along the island’s beautiful northern coastline for a massive firing range complex. The complex – consisting of five live-fire training ranges and support facilities – is being built dangerously close to the island’s primary source of drinking water, the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer. Moreover, the complex is situated over several historically and culturally significant sites, including the remnants of ancient villages several thousands of years old, where our ancestors’ remains remain.

The construction of these firing ranges will entail the destruction of more than 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of native limestone forest. These forests are unbearably beautiful, took millennia to evolve, and today function as essential habitat for several endangered endemic species, including a fruit bat, a flight-less rail and three species of tree snails – not to mention a swiftlet, a starling and a slender-toed gecko. The largest of the five ranges – a 59-acre multipurpose machine-gun range – will be built a mere 100 feet (30 metres) from the last remaining reproductive håyon lågu tree in Guam.

If only superpowers were concerned with the stuff of lowercase earth, like forests and fresh water. If only they were curious about the whisper and scurry of small lives. If only they were moved by beauty.

If only.

From HERE

Emperor Wang Mang

Among Chinese history fans, the Emperor Wang Mang of the short-lived Xin Dynasty is often jokingly referred to as a time traveller for having many surprisingly modern ideas.

He usurped the throne from the Han Dynasty and become the Emperor himself in 1 AD.

COINCIDENCE??? Actually, yes, probably.

(Correction: he became regent in 1 AD. Remind yourselves, dear readers, to never write about history purely from memory.)

Anyhow, Wang Mang tried to abolish slavery and serfdom, carried out land reforms, introduced egalitarian economic policies that can be described as proto-socialist, and even instituted a welfare system for the unemployed.

His monetary policy was also profoundly different from the conventions of the time as he issued coins face-valued at much higher than the actual value of the bronze coins, so much so that the face-value of these coins were totally detached from the value of the metal. In this way, the coins became abstract representations of value, which is how modern paper currency works.

Unlike all previous emperors who never care for such lowly things, Wang Mang encouraged the development of technology and even invented things like the sliding caliper:

Wang Mang sought medical advances and commissioned a dissection of a rebel’s corpse in order to learn more about the human anatomy. This was the first ever recorded incidence of a dissection being carried out for medical purposes (Correction: No, it wasn’t. Read comments below). Han historical records are not kind to him about the incident, writing that Wang Mang only claimed the dissection was for the purpose of healing people; where as his true intention was to exact cruel revenge on the person whose corpse was being dissected. Maybe it was both; we will never know.

And in what was perhaps one of the biggest shockers of ancient China, Wang Mang’s wife once received court officials at their house wearing a short skirt that barely covered her knees.

Although that last one was probably an attempt by Wang Mang to demonstrate how frugal (rather than immodest) he and his family were.

Jane’s Addiction – Jane Says (Official Music Video)

Dreaming with my cat

I used to dream with my cat, literally.

The first time it happened, he was sleeping next to me, as we did, I was using his little rump for a pillow, and he had pulled my hand close to his head, laying it on my hand.

We were both asleep.

I had a dream (or he did) that a bird flew by, diagonally, from the lower left to the upper right. As the bird flew by, he startled me awake by waking up, shooting his head up and looking in the direction of the bird that I had just dreamed flew by.

I’ve never been so close to a soul in my life.

I lost him, at the young age of only 11, just 3 and a half weeks ago. His name was Makana. It means ‘gift’ in Hawaiian.

He certainly was.

I’ll miss you forever. 🙁

I’m curious where did you learn that China’s zero outbreak policy “failed” to contain infections?

Where is your basis?

As far as I know, China has never given up the fight against the new crown virus. With the help of the current efforts to overcome the epidemic, it has also achieved very good results. It has proved the necessity of the zero epidemic policy with practical actions.

Where does the term “failure” come from?

China’s COVID policies is that the starting point is wellbeing of its people. The word “people” here does not specifically refer to the strong & young people or just the powerful class, but also including the elderly and infants, including the vast majority of people in both big cities and small villages.

Unlike America, where society is deeply divided, China cares about poor people’s lives. The overall death rate in poor counties was nearly twice as high as in wealthy ones, at one point reaching 4.5 times as high. In the top 300 counties with the highest death rates, an average of 45 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

China cares about minorities’ lives. While The infection rate, hospitalization rate and death rate of American Indians were 1.6 times, 3.1 times and 2.1 times that of whites, respectively. African Americans were 1.1, 2.4 and 1.7 times as likely as whites.

China cares about older people’s lives. While in the U.S., three-quarters of COVID-19 deaths were among people 65 and older, and 93% were among people 50 and older.

China cares about children. While there are more than 250,000 “COVID-19 orphans” in the US who have lost parents to the pandemic. An average of one in 12 U.S. orphans under the age of 18 lost their parents to the pandemic, and an average of two students in every public school lost their guardians.

China’s policy focuses on the overall situation, putting people’s lives rather than economic interests first. Therefore, it is impossible for China to do European media’s calculation that “the death of hundreds of thousands of elderly people will save billions of dollars in pension”, let alone the American politicians who say that “the elderly should voluntarily sacrifice for the economy”.

However, I am not saying that China’s policy is perfect, but it is capable of self-renewal and revolution. Since 2020, China has been adjusting and optimizing its policy, which has been widely understood and cooperated by the public. Now, thousands of permanent nucleic acid testing sites have been set up in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, indicating that social life will gradually return to normal after the end of lockdown and quarantine.

Each country needs to find COVID policies that suit its own national conditions. The important thing is not to always be right, but not to give up on finding the right path. The US can shrug its shoulders and say “c ‘est la vie” as the pandemic rages on, but one day China will vindicate its policy when reopening its ports, lifting its lockdown, getting its economy back on track and growing rapidly.

What it is like being a kid in China

This short 5 minute video only ended up getting around 30 views. Sheech! Please check it out if you haven’t already.

China is busy raising tough little kids to man the next generation of nation building.

Germany Takes Control of 3 Russian Oil Refineries

The German government on Friday seized three oil refineries in the country owned by Russian energy giant Rosneft, in its latest effort to deal with a mounting European energy crisis stoked by Moscow.

The move puts shares of the refineries — PCK Schwedt, MiRo in Karlsruhe and Bayernoil in Vohburg — under the control of a government agency, Germany’s economy ministry said in a statement.

“The trustee administration counteracts the impending threat to the security of the energy supply and lays an important foundation for the preservation and future of the Schwedt location,” it said.

“The decision is accompanied by a comprehensive package for the future, which will bring a transformation boost to the region and support the refinery, to ensure the supply of oil via alternative delivery routes,” it added.

The PCK Schwedt refinery is a major source of fuel for Berlin, Germany’s capital city.

Germany has committed to halting imports of oil from Russia under European Union sanctions that come into effect in December. That threatened the future operations of the refineries, given their ownership, according to the ministry.

Rosneft Deutschland accounts for 12% of Germany’s oil processing capacity, making it one of the biggest oil processing companies in the country, the ministry said. Germany imports crude oil worth several hundred million dollars from Russia each month via its units, it added.

Germany has been caught in the heart of a crippling energy crisis as Russia chokes off supply to the nation in retaliation to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow. Its leaders have accused Moscow of “weaponizing” its energy supplies as it cut then completely halted flows of natural gas to Germany via the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

Like other European countries dependent on Russian energy imports, Germany is scrambling to find ways to secure fuel supplies before winter hits, with its usual seasonal rise in demand. It has stockpiled gas and has brought in measures such as reviving coal-fueled power plants to generate electricity to help secure the energy needed.

The move comes after Rosneft Oil, Russia’s largest state-run oil company, reported that profits climbed 13% in the first half of 2022 to about 432 billion rubles, or roughly $7.2 billion.

Expensive global crude prices allowed Rosneft to rake in more net income than the prior year despite sanctions from Western nations aimed at squeezing Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine.

From HERE

What animal species live near the Chernobyl power plant?

The wildlife situation around Chernobyl currently is something of a controversy in science. This 2016 paper

says that:

With few exceptions, wildlife in the zone shows a strong pattern of declining abundance

However, many other scientists say that the local fauna is clearly on the rise, and the popular media seems to have almost invariably gone with their conclusions.

In any case, since – as far as I’m aware – all the studies saying that Chernobyl’s wildlife is in decline are by the same two authors, whereas there are several different biologists who have written papers on increasing animal populations in the area, I’ll assume that the latter are correct for now.

Various camera trapping operations have revealed that the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has grown a healthy population of large mammals, such as grey wolves:

European badgers:

Wild boar:

Roe deer:

And even moose:

There are also abundant smaller mammals, including Eurasian beavers, least weasels and voles. Among the birds, there are some “flashy” species, such as the enormous white-tailed sea eagle (Europe’s largest raptor):

And black storks:

And that’s just the native wildlife. Since the disaster, people have released other Eurasian mammals into this involuntary oasis, including European bison:

And wild Przewalski’s horses:

There’s even evidence that animals not seen in the region for over a century are returning, including Eurasian lynx:

And brown bears:

It’s pretty amazing, and also rather sobering, to think that the sheer presence of humans was worse for the environment than a catastrophic nuclear disaster.

 

If a time machine took me back to the late Carboniferous period, could I find safe food, water and shelter to survive the remainder of my life?

I found this a fun read. -MM

Ladies and gentlemen. Please fasten your seatbelts. We are about to depart to the end of the Carboniferous period, 359 – 299 million years ago. Our current time travel technology can only take us there one way. There is no going back.

• Time travel is only the first temporal effect that the traveler would experience. His circadian rhythm would be severely disrupted and affect their life because the day length was only about 22 hours in the Carboniferous period. There would be insomnia, immune system dysfunction, increased risk of cancer, problems with the heart and even early death from all the above combined.
• An additional factor that would shorten the life span of travelers would be the increased oxygen level in the atmosphere. It was about 28% at the beginning of the Carboniferous period, it dropped to about 24% in the middle and rose again to about 27% at the end. Over the lifetime, so much oxygen would damage the tissues and increase the speed of aging of humans not adapted to these levels and cause health problems that would cause even earlier death.
• Another weird temporal effect would be noticed after landing. Animals would seem slower, more sluggish than us. At the time, they might have perceived reality in fewer frames per second than us on average. We do it at 60Hz after additional hundreds of millions of years of evolution of vertebrate animals. There were no warm-blooded creatures at the time yet, so there were no very active animals. They only had sprawling legs while walking, which made them slower. All of this lead to slower reaction times sufficient for survival. Insects might have been faster but even they only just evolved relatively recently. They weren’t as great at what they did at the time yet.
• The air was filled with copious amounts of spores of various plants. Breathing might even result in death from an extreme allergic reaction, anaphylaxis. We are more adapted to pollen, which didn’t exist in the Carboniferous period.
• This also means that there were no fruits and we need Vitamin C to survive. We would need to eat leaves, make teas from bark or eat buds of leaves of ferns, the fiddleheads.
• The good news is that animals shouldn’t be that dangerous at the time and it might be easy to hunt them for food at least on dry land. They weren’t that big, fast or even smart yet. Although, many formidable crocodile-like and crocodile-size temnospondyl amphibians with massive teeth existed in aquatic habitats and widespread swamps. There were also giant, 2.5 m/8 feet centipedes. It’s hard to tell how dangerous they were but I’m learning they weren’t. They were outcompeted by reptiles soon and died out anyways. Large, flying, 0.7 m/2 feet insects similar to dragonflies shouldn’t have been dangerous to humans. A more significant danger might be venomous tiny animals like scorpions or spiders.
• The travelers should better take a lot of metal tools with them because producing them in the Carboniferous period would be tricky. It’s hard to obtain high enough temperatures for working on metals without coal, which originated in this period and didn’t form underground yet.
• The good news is that there might be less danger from diseases. It’s unlikely that many would affect mammals like humans. But who knows? There might be an odd outlier that could infect us. Maybe some mysterious virus. For bacteria, we should take a lot of antibiotics with us.

If we traveled in a time machine back to the late Carboniferous period, it should be possible to build shelter from trees, which evolved recently. Water should not be a problem. There would be an issue with obtaining a balanced diet because there were no fruits, which evolved less than 180 million years ago. The lifespan of the travelers would be severely shortened from all the issues described above.

We Just Witnessed Something That Hasn’t Happened Since 2008, And It Is Causing The Housing Market To Crash

September 15, 2022 by Michael

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This didn’t have to happen.  The reckless behavior of the Federal Reserve and our politicians in Washington created a horrifying inflation spiral, and now the Fed is feverishly raising interest rates in a desperate attempt to get inflation back under control.  But everyone knows that rapidly raising rates is going to absolutely crush the housing market.  When the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates, that puts upward pressure on mortgage rates.  And as mortgage rates go higher, more and more potential homebuyers will be forced on to the sidelines.  With fewer potential homebuyers in the market, that will put downward pressure on home prices.  This is basic stuff that you would learn in an ECON 101 class, but Fed officials can’t seem to understand that what they are doing is going to be extremely destructive to the U.S. economy as a whole.

Do you remember the pain that we went through in 2008?

That entire crisis was precipitated by a collapse of the housing market, and now a similar scenario is starting to unfold right in front of our eyes.

In fact, something just happened that we haven’t seen in all of the years since 2008…

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose above 6 percent for the first time since the financial crisis, according to federal data released Thursday.

The average mortgage rate for the benchmark home loan rose to 6.02 percent as of Thursday, according to Freddie Mac, up 0.13 percentage points from last week and 3.16 percentage points above its level a year ago. It’s the first time the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate was above 6 percent since the week of Nov. 20, 2008.

When mortgage rates get really high, the wealthy can still afford to buy homes because many of them don’t even need mortgages.

But for the rest of us, much higher mortgage rates make a world of difference…

Already, it has ushered in a sea change in the housing market by adding hundreds of dollars or more to the monthly cost of a potential buyer’s mortgage payment, slowing what was a red-hot market not so long ago. Higher rates are forcing some would-be buyers to continue renting. Since the start of the year, the average mortgage payment has risen 38.5% to $2,306 from around $1,700 at the start of the year.

Demand for mortgages is drying up really fast.

Last week, the number of mortgage applications was 29 percent lower than it was during the same week one year ago.

And the number of applications to refinance mortgages has seemingly dropped off a cliff…

As mortgage rates rise and home prices remain high, home sales are slowing.

With rates essentially double where they were a year ago, applications for home loans have dropped and applications to refinance into a lower payment have fallen off a cliff, down 83% from a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

If you work in the mortgage industry, I feel really badly for you right now.

Of course everyone involved in real estate is going to be feeling a tremendous amount of pain in the months ahead.  According to the chief economist at Redfin, this is the “sharpest” downturn that we have seen since the meltdown of 2008…

“This is the sharpest turn in the housing market since the housing market crash in 2008,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s Chief Economist.

Billionaire Barry Sternlicht is even more pessimistic.

He just told CNBC that he believes that the Fed’s policies will cause a “major crash” in the housing market, and he is also warning that we could soon find ourselves in a “serious recession”…

“The economy is braking hard,” the chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.

“If the Fed keeps this up they are going to have a serious recession and people will lose their jobs,” he added.

Sadly, he is right on target.

Even if the Federal Reserve stopped raising rates right here, we would still have a real nightmare on our hands.

But the Fed isn’t going to stop.

Fed officials have repeatedly told us that they are going to keep raising rates until inflation is under control, and that could take quite a while.

In fact, we are being warned that next week we could potentially see “the biggest Fed rate hike in 40 years”, and that would really shake up the financial markets.

So what can we do to protect ourselves?

If you are selling a home, I would recommend trying to sell it as rapidly as you can while home prices are still ridiculously high.

If you are looking to buy a home, I would recommend waiting until home prices come down quite a bit.

And something that we can all do is to prepare for the “serious recession” that Billionaire Barry Sternlicht says could be coming.

During the crisis of 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans lost their jobs.  Without any income coming in, all of a sudden a lot of those people couldn’t pay their bills and many formerly middle class Americans also ended up losing their homes.

You don’t want to suffer the same fate.

So I have been encouraging my readers for a very long time to build up a sizable emergency fund.

A large emergency fund will allow you to continue paying your bills no matter what comes along.

And it will also keep you from losing your home.

In addition, I would encourage everyone not to take on additional debt at this time.

When hard times come, you will want your finances to be as “lean and mean” as possible.

Now is not a time to party.

Now is a time to batten down the hatches financially.

Very rough weather is headed our way, and everyone can see it coming.

The wise will prepare in advance, but those that are foolish will do nothing because they assume that our leaders have everything under control.

Russet Potato Salad

A twist on traditional potato salad with mustard flavor and plenty of celery for crunch.

Ingredients

Washington Post vs this video: who is telling the truth?

What actually happened…

And how it was “reported“…

In a stunning public rebuke, India’s Modi challenges Putin over war in Ukraine – The Washington Post

Read HERE

This is the result of the SEO meeting. Not at all reported in the West. -MM

During the two days of the summit, Vladimir Putin managed to personally meet with more foreign politicians than in the last two months combined. On Thursday alone, he had seven (!) official conversations.

But even though more than a dozen world leaders came to Uzbekistan, including the heads of India and China, no fateful decisions or statements were made. At least publicly. The main formal outcome of the summit: Iran became a full-fledged member of the SCO, and Belarus began joining the organization.

But on the other hand, this is not enough. One of the US's main enemies, Tehran, is now in an economic alliance with the US's main trading partner. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Washington's first allies in the Middle East, also became "dialogue partners". Countries outside the collective West are merging with each other without America's involvement.

By the way, the protocol meetings of Vladimir Putin also show quite well what kind of relations we have with different countries:

KYRGYZSTAN

We give them money to restore what was destroyed after the skirmishes with Tajikistan and to purchase rescue equipment, and in return they do not interfere with the study of the Russian language. They even build new Russian-language schools.

Such "soft power" means a lot when Turkey tries to subjugate the whole of Central Asia under the auspices of the revival of the "Turkic world".

TURKMENIA

Joint gas projects are developing well in this country. But now, when the pressure on our hydrocarbons will grow, non-primary ties are important for Russia.

- We aim to diversify our economic ties through other areas of interaction. This refers to agriculture, the textile industry. We are ready to increase the supply of non-primary products to the market of Turkmenistan, - said Vladimir Putin.

IRAN

Tehran is just glad that they will now deal with it normally. For too long the country has lived cut off from the developed world. Iran is ready to export to Russia whatever we want to buy from them. Basically, we are talking about replacing sanctioned Western goods.

- The first major business mission visited Iran in May this year. Many members of the delegation then told me about their impressions: they were pleased with what they saw at Iranian enterprises in terms of the development of high-tech areas. To be honest, we didn’t even expect it,” Putin admitted.

And yes: Iran categorically condemns anti-Russian sanctions and will never join them. Expected, but it needed to be said.

PAKISTAN

Islamabad is looking forward to two mega-projects. 

First: Russia is modernizing Pakistan's railways. Not the whole system, of course. We can supply inexpensive and high-quality passenger trains.

Second: the construction of a gas pipeline to Pakistan.

- This is also possible, part of the infrastructure in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan has already been created. We need to resolve the issue with Afghanistan. There are problems related to political stability, but, bearing in mind our mutual good relations with the Afghan people, I hope that this problem can also be solved, the Russian leader said.

Putin added that Pakistan could influence the authorities in Afghanistan to speed up the laying of the pipe.

CHINA

With China, Vladimir Vladimirovich is already ready to discuss the fate of the world. After all, the second economy in the world.

- The foreign policy tandem of Moscow and Beijing plays a key role in ensuring global and regional stability. We jointly stand for the formation of a just, democratic and multipolar world order,” Putin said.

- We highly appreciate the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis. We understand your questions and concerns in this regard. During today's meeting, of course, we will explain in detail our position," he added.

Xi Jinping is the first at the SCO summit to whom the Russian president promised to tell about the situation in Ukraine.

MONGOLIA

Mongolian politicians do not hide the fact that they want to make good money on transit from Russia to China. Now we are updating the railways of the Central Asian republic, which will significantly increase their throughput. There are also plans to build a gas pipeline through the territory of Mongolia.

INDIA

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the second person Putin promised to tell about Ukraine. Nobody touched this topic anymore.

- I know your position on the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns that you constantly express. We will do our best to stop this as soon as possible. Only the leadership of Ukraine announced its refusal from the negotiation process, stated that it wants to achieve its goals "on the battlefield." Nevertheless, we will always keep you informed of what is happening there,” Vladimir Vladimirovich said.

Modi responded by saying that he was particularly concerned about the food security of his own country. This has already led to an eightfold (!) increase in the supply of fertilizers from Russia. In the end, the politician, with the peacefulness characteristic of the Hindus, concluded that a bad peace is better than a good war.

- Now is not the era of wars. Democracy, diplomacy, dialogue - these are important tools for us to find solutions, the Prime Minister of India stressed.

TURKEY

Well, Erdogan openly earns on anti-Russian sanctions. Transit through Turkey is now exported and Russian grain and gas. Blue fuel goes to Europe along the Turkish stream. This is so beneficial that the republic was the first to agree to give up dollars if Moscow insists on it.

- We are ready to significantly increase our deliveries in all areas that are of interest to you. In the near future, our agreement on the supply of natural gas of Russian origin to Turkey with payment for 25% of these supplies in Russian rubles should come into effect, Putin reminded.

AZERBAIJAN

From the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, one thing is now needed: that he stop shooting at Armenia.

- Today, we are all very worried about the aggravation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. It is good that the escalation was finally stopped by coordinated efforts, but, as far as I understand, it (the situation - Ed.) still remains tense, the Russian leader admitted.

- The main thing is that we managed to stabilize the situation and transfer it to a peaceful course. Now the main thing is not to destroy the beginning process of normalization of relations, but to move in this direction. We welcome the efforts of Russia aimed at this, - Aliyev answered diplomatically.

EUROPEAN EGOISM

Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Council of Heads of State, once again spoke about the fate of Russian fertilizers. The head of the country accused Europe of selfishness.

- It turns out that sanctions (against fertilizers - Ed.) have been lifted only for EU member countries. It turns out that only they can purchase our fertilizers. But what about the developing, poorest countries in the world? Taking advantage of the presence of the Deputy Head of the UN Secretary General, Ms. (Rosemary) DiCarlo, I ask colleagues in the European Commission to influence them to remove these obviously discriminatory restrictions, the Russian President urged.

By the way, after the end of the council, DiCarlo really approached Putin and talked to him for quite some time.

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Clean Kitties

Cats are normally very clean animals. They spend a great deal of time grooming themselves. They groom to remove much of their scent. This helps them as they hunt prey. A prey animal can’t smell the cat easily

Most people would think a cat has very little smell. If you put your nose right in their fur, it tends to just smell clean and fresh.

A cat who can’t groom because of injury or health problems can start to smell. Some of these cats will require that you bath them to keep them clean

My mom had a cat, Cookie who lived to be 25 years old. During her last couple years, she had trouble grooming herself. My mom would gently bath her a couple times a week. Then mom would carefully brush her. My mom loved that cat.

I don’t have a picture of Cookie but I found this picture online and it looks very similiar to Cookie. Cookie crossed the rainbow bridge about ten years ago. My mom has a new black cat named Herman now.

How have we not went to war with China yet? They brought fentanyl over here. Covid started there.

Flying

Flying isn’t hard. The plane wants to fly—punch the power at the end of the runway, and, chances are it will take off and fly without a whole lot of input on the controls.

Landing is hard at first. I think I made 20–30 approaches before I finally put wheels on pavement by myself.

Navigating can be tricky, but I’ve only gotten lost once so far.

So what’s hard?

This.

That’s your view out the windscreen. A beginning VFR (Visual Flight Rules) pilot like me, flying into a cloud bank, statistically has less than 3 minutes left to live.

Not only can you not see where you are or where you’re going, you literally cannot trust your senses to tell you which way is up. I scoffed at this idea when I first heard about it, but when it came time for me to put on the foggles (special glasses that restrict your view to the instruments) I just about threw up—my body thought we were leaned over 20 degrees, even when my instruments said we were dead level—and I had to trust the instrument. I had to actively ignore a built-in sense my body had that had been keeping me safe for 40+ years.

Learning to tune in the right radio frequencies, and correctly follow a pair of wavering needles down to within 200 feet of the ground—that’s hard. Especially when you already know what 200 feet looks like, and you’re praying you’ll see the runway any second now, before you slam into it.

Being able to do this is called instrument flying, and it’s a huge part of what makes scheduled airline travel possible.

Are China and the United States of America moving toward a new kind of cold war?

Me and my wife adopted Aurora this year. She’s 5 (6 in a month!) and has been such a sweet cat. The PetSmart where we found a cat named “Jackie” whose cage had been labeled “male” with a note that said “I don’t like other cats.” Obviously, a cat who has a “no cats” policy is a deal breaker for most of the people who are adopting cats regularly, since they already have cats. Luckily, we didn’t have any cats so this wasn’t a deal breaker for us.

When I saw that she’d been there for over a month, it made me really sad. In hindsight, I think she’d been moved between different locations for much longer than that. The employee let me hold her and she grabbed me so tight and didn’t want to let go. My heart melted and we brought her home that night.

At that time, we still thought she was a he and so we gave her the name “Augustus.” A few days later, while looking at her medical information, we noticed that her sex was clearly labeled “Spayed Female.” After a good laugh, we renamed her “Aurora.” She was shy at first but now she loves to curl up in our laps and enjoys plenty of pets.

I honestly don’t see any other explanation for why she remained unadopted for so long. She did hiss at the other cats in the caged area but she may have just been anxious because of the environment. It’s sad to see how much suffering can be caused by a seemingly helpful note. I don’t know for sure but I suspect that she would be able to adjust to living with another cat now that she’s comfortable.

Violence In California Reaches “Epidemic” Levels As Our Society Rapidly Deteriorates All Around Us

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I can’t understand why anyone would still want to live in California.  Yes, there are lots of high paying jobs and the weather is very nice, but crime is completely and utterly out of control.  As you will see below, a new report that has just been issued is warning that violence in the state has now reached “epidemic” levels.  The police are doing what they can to try to contain the violence, but at this point they are vastly outnumbered by the predators.  Sadly, this is the end result of literally decades of cultural rot, and what is happening in California is going to happen to the rest of the nation if we do not take urgent action to turn things around.

Originally, I was going to write about something else today.  Tens of thousands of rail and port workers are threatening to go on strike, and this could definitely cause some substantial economic disruptions…

America is bracing for chaos as tens of thousands of railway, port, and hospital workers look set to strike over the winter – plunging the country into further disruption.

As many as 60,000 railway workers, 15,000 nurses, and 22,000 West Coast port workers are plotting mass walkouts as they seek better working conditions.

Several US freight railroads said they were preparing for widespread strike and service interruptions Friday, a deadline set by two holdout labor groups in protracted talks with railroad carriers about better benefits.

But even though these strikes could cause severe short-term problems, they will eventually be resolved.

So in the greater scheme of things, they really aren’t a major concern.

On the other hand, our cultural decay is a massive ongoing crisis that isn’t going to go away.

As I mentioned earlier, a brand new report that was just released is warning that violence in the state of California has risen to “epidemic” levels…

The Golden State is losing its luster. A troubling new report labels physical and sexual violence in pandemic-era California a statewide “epidemic.” To put it simply, violence is on an alarming rise.

According to the new annual report from the California Study on Violence Experiences across the Lifespan (CalVEX), violence statistics have seen a significant increase since COVID-19 emerged. The report, conducted by scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, reports more than one in six Californians (18%) experienced either physical or sexual violence in just the past year.

If you live in one of the biggest cities in California, this isn’t news to you.

Once upon a time, the state was a place of great beauty and great tranquility, but now it has been transformed into a crime-infested hellhole.

I was particularly alarmed by the numbers on sexual violence in this new report…

While more than 1.5 million adults in California admit to committing acts of sexual violence in the past year, men were more than two times as likely as women to report that they perpetrated sexual violence and intimate partner violence.

Women also showed greater mental health impacts and life disruptions due to violent experiences, with 82 percent of women reporting anxiety or depression as a result of physically aggressive, coercive or forced sexual behavior.

Of course much of this violence is being fueled by illegal mind-altering drugs.

Some of these drugs are so immensely powerful that they literally put people into catatonic states for an extended period of time…

I will never understand why people would willingly do that to themselves.

Today, we are facing the biggest drug crisis that we have ever seen in American history, and addicts will often do whatever it takes to get another fix.

Sadly, this is one of the factors that is contributing to skyrocketing rates of shoplifting all over the nation…

We are all painfully aware of the huge rise in shoplifting and even violent robberies of stores. We watch the videos of thugs brazenly raiding stores, and read about the organized crime rings that have sprung up to profit from the trend. Shoplifting has become a big, if criminal business. Chances are that if you use eBay to purchase a wide range of products at reduced prices you have unwittingly purchased stolen goods. No good way for eBay to stop the practice.

One homeless man that originally came from Alabama recently admitted that he regularly shoplifts in order to fund his heroin use…

There have been homeless addicts in the streets of San Francisco for years, but now we have reached a point where they are seemingly everywhere.

The following is what one reporter witnessed during a recent journey through the city…

I saw complete hopelessness in the eyes of haunted souls dragging themselves down the street looking for their next fix.

I saw men and women of all ages hunched over on the sidewalks with open wounds all over their bodies.

I saw the filthy tent cities stinking with human excrement and strewn with needles and pipes.

I saw children staring in horror at people dying right in front of them.

At one time, such activity was limited to the bad portions of the city.

But now addicts that have been drugged out of their minds are pulling down their pants and crapping in the streets right in front of some of the most expensive real estate in San Francisco.

This has made the wealthy people really angry, and Mayor Breed says that she is finally going to “get serious” about this crisis.

Of course “getting serious” doesn’t mean arresting a bunch of people and throwing them into prison.

That just wouldn’t be very “progressive”.

Instead, authorities in San Francisco are getting ready to launch a “soft-touch” program that will seek to “interrupt” drug trafficking…

City supervisors released a resolution for a vague ‘soft-touch’ initiative called ‘San Francisco Recovers.’

And here’s the catch, and it’s a doozy: the plan is being touted as, ‘a way that nobody’s going to jail but we’re doing an effective job of interrupting the drug market and drug scenes.’

Is this a sick joke?

Yes, it certainly sounds like a sick joke to me.

Good luck with all that.

If major cities such as San Francisco actually want to have a chance of turning things around, they need to send the police out to round up all the drug dealers.

Unfortunately, police forces in many of our biggest cities are rapidly getting smaller.

In fact, a whopping 122 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in 2022 alone…

The liberal city of Seattle is losing police officers amid a major spike in crime, 770 KTTH reported.

“We’re screwed,” former King County Sheriff John Urqhart said, according to 770 KTTH.

In total, 122 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in 2022, including six that left in August, 770 KTTH reported, citing a police source. Since the city council voted to defund the police department in 2020, nearly 500 police officers have left the force.

I wouldn’t want to be a police officer in a major west coast city at this point either.

They are underpaid, the politicians treat them with tremendous disdain, and they are often hindered by absolutely ridiculous regulations which keep them from doing their jobs effectively.

We like to think that we are so “advanced”, but the truth is that if you compare video footage from major cities on the west coast from decades ago to video footage from today there is absolutely no comparison.

Our society is melting down right in front of our eyes, and if we stay on the path that we are currently on there is no future for our country.

But the politicians insist that people like me have it all wrong.

They continue to tell us that things are better than ever and that a glorious future for our nation is dead ahead.

You can believe that if you want, but the truth of what is really happening to our society is on display for the whole world to see.

America is dying, and we are quickly running out of time to turn things around.

My Video about being a Rufus!

I put it up and only got 25 views! Sheech!

Please check it out!