I’m slowly on the mend.
Posts will be a tad on the weak side until I am up to par.
Please all take care. All is good on MM side here.
And for today, we have…
…the American proxy nations of Japan and Australia are running around raising a ruckus. Same games. Same bullshit.
Enjoy this post, and make yourself some eggnog.
Artifacts retrieved from site of first ever ancient naval battle
In November, 2013, archaeologists announced the recovery of a treasure trove of artifacts off the coast of Sicily from the site of the first ancient naval battle ever discovered, including battering rams, helmets, armour and weapons dating back 2,000 years.
They are the remnants of the Battle of the Egadi Islands – the last clash from the first Punic War which took place in 241 BC – in which the Romans fought the Carthaginians in a battle that culminated from more than 20 years of warring as the Romans struggled to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea.
While the Carthaginians were much more powerful on the water, the Romans lay in wait trapping the Carthaginians and blocking off their sea route in a sudden attack. Up to 50 Carthaginian ships were sunk, killing up to 10,000 men.
The Roman victory set them on the road for Europe-wide domination. The priceless horde of artefacts had lain undisturbed on the seabed at a depth of 100 metres for more than two millennia.
Another Food Processing Plant BURNS!
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A “Pilgrim’s Pride” food processing plant in Mooresville, West Virginia, burned last night. This brings to over a DOZEN large food processing plants to suffer a large fire within the past year. It seems as though someone wants to affect the US food supply – and they are.
’Tis better to give
I knew I was not supposed to be quite so excited. I was too old for that. At age eleven, the oldest and my mom’s “grown up” girl, I had to keep my cool. I was in middle school after all. But every chance I got, when I was alone, I checked each present under the tree. I read every tag and felt every package, guessing at the contents within. I had examined each gift so often that I could tell which present went to which person without even looking at the tags.
It had been a tough year for my family. Whenever my mom looked over at the tree and scattered presents, she would sigh and warn us, “There won’t be as much for Christmas this year. Try not to be disappointed.” Christmas had traditionally been a time for my parents to spoil us. In years past, the presents would pile up and spill out from under the tree, taking over the living room. I had heard the phrase “giving is better than receiving,” but thought that whoever had said that must have been out of their mind. Getting presents was the whole point! It was the reason I couldn’t get to sleep on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas morning, we eagerly waited in the hallway until Dad told us everything was ready. We rushed into the living room and let the wrapping paper fly. We made weak attempts to wait and watch while other family members opened their presents, but as the time passed we lost our self-control.
“Here’s another one for you,” said Mom as she handed me a package. I looked at it, confused. Having spent so much time examining the presents before Christmas, I recognized this one. But it had not been mine. It was my mom’s. A new label had been put on it, with my name written in my mother’s handwriting.
“Mom, I can’t…”
I was stopped by my mother’s eager, joyful look—a look I could not really understand. “Let’s see what it is, honey. Hurry and open it.”
It was a blow dryer. Though this may seem but a simple gift, to me it was so much more. Being an eleven-year-old girl, I was stunned. In my world, where receiving outweighed giving by light years, my mom’s act of selflessness was incomprehensible. It was a huge act. Tears filled my eyes and I thought in disbelief about how much my mom must love me to give up her Christmas so I could have a few more presents.
I have always remembered that Christmas fondly. It had such an impact on me. As an adult with children in my life whom I adore, I can now understand my mom’s actions. I see how she was not “giving up her Christmas” as I had thought, but was finding an even greater joy in her Christmas because giving truly is better than receiving. My mom’s simple act meant the world to me.
—Jennifer Yardley Barney
USA Unemployment
Based on the criteria in place a quarter century ago, today’s US unemployment rate is between 9 percent and 12 percent; inflation is 7 or 10 percent; economic growth since the recession of 2001 has been mediocre, despite a huge surge in the wealth and incomes of the super rich, and we are falling back into recession. A picture of our economy today, ex-distortion, would reveal a nation in deep difficulty, not just domestically, but globally. Numbers Racket. Kevin Phillips.
China calculates GDP by summing the value of what it produces. If it builds an airplane it adds the airplane’s wholesale price to its gross domestic product. If it builds a dam, it adds the dam’s cost to its gross domestic product. America calculates GDP by summing the cost of the airplanes it makes–then adding the imputed cost of services Americans provide for each other.
Most American GDP is generated by people taking in each other’s laundry: rent, tuition, healthcare, commissions, fees, and jailing millions of people. Are accounting, consulting, real estate commissions really ‘products’? Is Bitcoin? (Is prostitution? Britain says ‘yes’).
Services account for 61% of America’s GDP and 11% of China’s largely because of price inflation. Medical costs are 7% of China’s GDP and 19% of America’s because CT scans cost $2,000 in Kansas City, while a full physical in Shenzhen, including CT, cost 580 yuan, $92. My US cellular service, vastly inferior to Shenzhen’s, costs five times more. My San Francisco barber’s $85 haircut is indistinguishable from a $2 Kunming trim.
A priest and a nun are caught in a blizzard.
They find a deserted cabin and take shelter. They find a sleeping bag, a bed, and a pile of blankets. The priest, being a gentleman, offers the nun the bed and takes the sleeping bag for himself.
As they get tucked in for the night the nun calls out, “Father, Father I’m cold!”
So the priest gets up and puts another blanket on the nun. “Is that better Sister?” he asks. “Yes Father, much better,” she replies. So he gets back in his sleeping bag and starts to nod off when she again calls out with, “Father I’m still cold!”
So once again the priest gets up and puts another blanket on her, ensuring she is tucked into the bed well. “Is that better Sister?” he asks.
“Oh yes Father, that’s much better,” she says.
So the priest gets himself back into the sleeping bag and this time is just starting to dream when he wakes up to her call of, “Father, Father I’m just so cold!”
The priest thinks long about this and finally says, “Sister, we are in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard. No one but you, myself, and the lord himself will ever know what happens here this night. How about, just for this night, we act as though we were married?”
The nun thinks on this for a minute, she can’t help but admit to herself she’s been curious, and finally answers with a tentative, “OK Father, just for tonight, we will act as though we are married.”
So the Father replies,
“Get up and get your own damned blanket ya cow!” and rolls over to fall asleep.
Cranberry Orange Muffins
“I love the taste of Cranberry, and these muffins are an excellent combination of cranberries and oranges!”
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 3⁄4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1 egg
- 3⁄4 cup orange juice
- 1⁄4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
Directions
- Combine dry ingredients.
- Stir in cranberries.
- Beat egg, orange juice, oil and orange rind.
- Add to dry ingredients all at once.
- Stir just to moisten.
- Spoon into greased muffin cups.
- (fill 3/4 full).
- Sprinkle tops lightly with a bit of sugar.
- Bake 400F 15-20 mins until lightly browned and firm to the touch.
A mysterious gift
My husband has had dementia for almost a decade. He has almost no short-term memory. He can no longer read, use a phone, or use a credit card. Six years ago when the Christmas catalogs came, I saw a tablecloth I wanted, but it was sold out. On Christmas morning, there was an unwrapped box under the tree. Somehow my husband had found the right catalog, the right tablecloth, called them, and convinced them to find a tablecloth to send in time for Christmas. I won’t ever know how he did it, but it was the best gift ever.
—Roberta Sampere, Dolgeville, New York
NATO is Running Out of Weapons to Send to Ukraine – or Defend Themselves!
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Months before Russia launched its counteroffensive against NATO’s crawling encroachment on its western borders, the political West started sending massive amounts of weapons and munitions to the Kiev regime. Now . . . they’re running out!
Initially, the deliveries primarily included tens of thousands of man-portable missiles for various purposes, including ATGM (anti-tank guided missiles) and MANPADS (man-portable air defense systems) weapons. Even then, it already became clear that NATO’s stocks couldn’t provide enough weapons for a long-term conflict, while it would take years to ramp up deliveries by expanding production lines. This was further exacerbated when the Kiev regime started asking for more advanced weapons and systems amid mounting battlefield losses.
Many NATO member states were (and still are) forced to send weapons and munitions which were already in short supply for their own militaries. This is particularly true when it comes to former Warsaw Pact member states of the belligerent alliance, many of whom were forced to give up their Soviet-era weapons. Old NATO powers promised to send their weapons to replace these older arsenals of the alliance’s Eastern European members, although this process proved to be quite slow. On the other hand, the Kiev regime’s ever-growing demands are putting additional pressure. As NATO’s current production capacity simply cannot meet these requests, the Neo-Nazi junta’s battlefield prospects look grimmer by the day. “If this does not happen, we won’t be able to win — as simple as that,” Dmytro Kuleba, the Kiev regime chief diplomat warned during a recent meeting.
On November 26, the New York Times reported that approximately two-thirds of NATO members have effectively run out of weapons by sending them to the Kiev regime. Even the more prominent alliance members with big MICs (Military Industrial Complexes) are having major issues keeping up with the Kiev regime’s demands.
According to an unnamed NATO official, 20 out of 30 member states are “pretty tapped out” in terms of additional weapon and munition supplies to the Neo-Nazi junta. While members such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy still have the ability to arm the Kiev regime with basic weapons, even they are refraining from sending specific weapons systems requested by the junta.
The demands include various types of strategically impactful weapons, including surface-to-surface guided missiles such as ATACMS, a weapon with a 300 km engagement range. The US officially rejected such demands, supposedly “out of concern” the missiles could be used to attack targets deep within Russia. However, the more likely reason is that the Pentagon is fully aware of the fact that it would take years to replace its current stocks of such missiles and it’s not very keen on expending them all without certain replacement. The same is true for many other types of weapons and systems which are equally needed to maintain optimal military power.
Artillery is especially important in this regard. As soon as the Kiev regime started burning through its Soviet-made stocks, many of which were also destroyed in Russia’s long-range strikes, NATO was forced to provide both artillery pieces and shells. As the alliance’s post-(First) Cold War doctrine shifted toward a more interventionist style of warfare, artillery became less important, resulting in ever-shrinking stocks.
According to various reports, the enormous demand for artillery munitions is putting tremendous pressure on NATO members trying to meet the Kiev regime’s requests. At present, the Neo-Nazi junta forces are firing at least five thousand shells per day, but the US, by far the most heavily armed NATO member state, can only produce 15,000 shells per month. Camille Grand, a defense expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told the New York Times that “[a] day in Ukraine is a month or more in Afghanistan.”
On the other hand, the soaring demand is extremely profitable for the Military Industrial Complexes (MIC) of the political West.
“Taking into account the realities of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the visible attitude of many countries aimed at increased spending in the field of defense budgets, there is a real chance to enter new markets and increase export revenues in the coming years,” according to Sebastian Chwalek, CEO of Poland’s PGZ, a corporation that owns a number of weapons manufacturers.
However, the US MIC has been experiencing by far the largest windfall in this regard. Arms industry giants such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon already made billions in the opening months of the Ukrainian crisis.
Back in May, during a visit to a Lockheed Martin plant, US President Joe Biden stated that the US would ramp up weapons production, but that “this would not come cheap.” However, most US officials and experts agree that this is not only a question of funding, as it will take years to increase production in order to meet the current demand, which is expected to grow exponentially in the foreseeable future.
“If you want to increase the production capability of 155 mm shells. It’s going to be probably four to five years before you start seeing them come out the other end,” according to Mark F. Cancian, a former White House weapons strategist and current senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The US and NATO have already stated that they’re committed to fighting a long proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. In October, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin openly admitted this is the plan that Washington DC and its satellites have. He said that the US and NATO would “boost Ukraine’s defensive capabilities for pressing urgent needs and for the long term.” However, as the US is profiteering from the crisis, especially at the EU’s expense, the bloc is becoming increasingly frustrated, a feeling even the most senior officials in Brussels are now ready to express more freely than ever before.
The Christmas spirit strikes again
I always dreamed of pulling off the surprise prank of a lifetime. You know, the kind you see on TV, or laugh about late at night with friends? Well, thanks to a little determination, some luck, and a generous helping of Christmas Spirit, my dream became a reality.
My family is Canadian, although my sister moved down to Australia a few years ago to study speech pathology. She was graduating just before Christmas, but due to my own scholarly schedule back home, I would not be able to make it down in time for her graduation. She was understandably disappointed, and I felt guilty that I wasn’t able to be there for her on this most special of occasions.
While I was talking to my supervisor the week before my sister’s graduation, the conversation drifted toward Christmas plans. When I mentioned that I would be missing my sister’s graduation by less than forty-eight hours, she commented, “Well, if you want to go, I have no problem with it, so go ahead!” I couldn’t believe my luck! I nearly jumped for joy. “Just make sure you get permission from admin,” she added. My heart sank. The administration at my school was notorious for denying any sort of time-off requests, and last-minute pleas would undoubtedly draw nothing but ire. I almost didn’t bother asking, because I knew it would be a waste of time and I didn’t feel like a thorough chastisement. Plus, I knew the answer already: no. But something in me decided to try, just in case. Maybe it was the hope that the Christmas Spirit would somehow permeate the administrative office at this time of year.
When I returned home to find the Associate Dean’s reply in my inbox, I steeled myself for disappointment. I gritted my teeth, opened the e-mail, and started to read. And re-read. And re-read, just to make sure I’d understood. Approval? I could actually go? I rubbed my eyes—there must be a mistake. But no. I was flabbergasted. There was no logical explanation. I couldn’t believe my luck! The only explanation I could possibly come up with was that the Christmas Spirit had been lurking in the heart of my Associate Dean when she’d read my request.
Immediately, I called the airline. Miraculously, even during the busy Christmas season, I was able to change my ticket to arrive the day before my sister’s graduation.
With news this fantastic, I was bursting to tell my sister. But, fingers on the dial, I paused. Wouldn’t it be so much more fantastic if I could surprise her? I pictured myself just showing up, knocking at her door. What a state of shock she would be in! I laughed gleefully to myself as I pictured her face when she opened the door and saw me. She loves pranks and practical jokes of all sorts. Pulling off a prank like this would certainly be the ultimate gift, and if I were successful, she’d probably be more excited about my unconventional arrival than even my attendance at her graduation.
Slowly the idea evolved in my mind. For a surprise of this grand a scale, I needed a much more dramatic arrival than just a ring of the doorbell. For me, Christmas surprises are epitomized by presents. Or at least boxes. What if I could arrive in a box? I started to plot. Then, brilliance struck. Getting delivered in a box to my sister’s house by couriers! I knew if I pulled this off, my presence at her graduation and my grand arrival would be the best Christmas present I could ever give my sister. No one appreciates a prank like a prankster!
Although I was leaving in less than seventy-two hours, I frantically jumped on my computer in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and started Googling courier companies. One of the first I came across, and the only one willing to go along with my Christmas surprise, was CouriersPlease. At first the branch manager said no, pointing out that Christmas was their busiest season and he couldn’t spare a courier for this rather unorthodox request. But he suddenly and inexplicably warmed up to the idea and actually volunteered to dress up and deliver me himself. The Christmas Spirit strikes again!
Upon arrival in Australia, the manager met me in full uniform, but that wasn’t all. He’d brought one of his couriers, plus a CouriersPlease van along for the ride as well! They even had a reinforced box prepared for me that they’d already tested at the office. I’d thought it would be easiest to walk up to the doorway, and then jump in the box while they rang the doorbell. But no, they insisted; my sister might see me through the window and they certainly didn’t want to jeopardize my Christmas surprise. Instead, they parked a few hundred meters up the street, where they loaded me in the box and carried me all the way up to my sister’s, where they rang the doorbell and announced they had a delivery for her.
I couldn’t see the look on my sister’s face as she opened the door to couriers with a surprise delivery, but I could tell from her voice that she was more than a little perplexed. This soon morphed into utter disbelief and shock when the box was opened and she saw her older sister sitting inside smiling up at her. She was at a complete loss for words, and I will never forget the look on her face as she opened those flaps on the box.
It was such a gift to be able to attend my sister’s graduation, and to show her my love by giving her the most unique, unconventional Christmas present in the history of our family. It was a memory both she and I will cherish forever. It also served as a lesson for me: never, ever underestimate the power of the Christmas Spirit. It can move hearts, minds, and yes, even people in boxes.
—Heather Thompson
How can trade policy changes impact costs?
Welcome to Geo-politics 101.
Let’s suppose you went to a local restaurant, sat down, and ordered a Denver omelette and a cup of coffee. The price of that meal will depend on the cost to make the meal, and the ingredients involved.
- If the cost for ground coffee goes up, the cost of that cup of coffee will be more.
- If the cost for eggs, go up, so too will the cost of the omelette.
- If the cost of electricity / gas for the stove goes up so will the omelette and the coffee both.
This is how tariffs work. This is one of the techniques that the United States uses to “suppress” other nations.
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- If the cook cannot get eggs, no omelettes can be made.
- If the cook cannot get coffee, no coffee can be brewed.
This is how sanctions work. This is one of the techniques that the United States uses to “suppress” other nations.
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- If the cook stays home, there is no one to make the food, and the restaurant must close.
- If a customer goes in and starts breaking plates, and throwing food everywhere, the store must close.
- If the customer goes into the bathroom, and makes a mess, the restaurant will need to close the bathroom.
This is how NED color revolutions work. This is one of the techniques that the United States uses to “suppress” other nations.
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- If all the chickens get sick, eggs will be harder to get, and so the cost of the eggs will go up.
- If the cows are sick, the milk will get harder to obtain, and the cost of the omelette will go up.
- If the cook is sick, there won’t be anyone to make the omelettes, and the restaurant will close.
This is how bio-weapons work. This is one of the techniques that the United States uses to “suppress” other nations.
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- If someone shoots the cook. No one can make the food.
- If someone burns down the restaurant building, the restaurant goes out of business.
- If someone shoots and kills the chickens, and the cows, there will be no food that can be served.
This is how wars work. This is one of the techniques that the United States uses to “suppress” other nations.
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Now, let’s summarize these key ideas and concepts with a simple mind-exercise.
We can observe that the United States has used all of these techniques over the last 100 years against many nations. Mostly it’s been accomplished through a great combination of techniques above. The harder it is for a nation to suppress, the more complete the techniques used.
In a similar fashion, we can see that the hardest nation of all to suppress is China. What techniques do you all suppose that the United States is currently using against that behemoth?
“POINT OF NO RETURN” – Kremlin: Russia and the West Have Reached the “Confrontation” Stage
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The relationship between Russia and the West has reached the confrontation stage, and the sides will have to live in this environment further on, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Pavel Zarubin’s Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.
“Well, we are not moving. We have already arrived at a station named ‘Confrontation’, and we have to be reserved, strong, to have underlying strength, because we will have to live in the environment of this confrontation,” he said when asked where the relationship between Russia and the West is moving.
UPDATE 8:41 AM EST —
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said just moments ago…
"US hostile actions & [1] arrogant disregard for Russia’s legitimate demands for security guarantees, incl [2] non-deployment of strike weapons near the Russian border, [3] non-expansion of NATO, [4] return of its military potential to 1997 level, have brought relations between the USA and Russia to a point of no return."
Rebecca died for the Nazis. A female name has been added to US losses in Ukraine
From HERE
Recently, an interesting trend has emerged – in line with the increase in the number of US financial injections into the Kiev regime, the number of American citizens dying in Ukraine is also growing.
Volunteer for military conflicts
This time a female name appeared on this list. 28-year-old resident of Tennessee Rebecca Maciorovsky was killed during the fighting in Ukraine. The death of an American woman in social networks is confirmed by her friends and acquaintances.
The Colorado native grew up in a religious family. Her parents gave her a home education, not trusting public schools. From 2014 to 2021, Maciorowski trained as a nurse and received a professional diploma with a specialization in general surgery.
During her studies, she trained in the ranks of volunteer organizations, acting in the conditions of military conflicts in different countries of the world. According to other sources, Maciorowski gained experience as a military medic directly in the ranks of the US Army.
“Extreme tourism” with a fatal outcome
In 2022, through structures recruiting mercenaries to participate in hostilities on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Maziorovsky came to Ukraine, entering the foreign group of the Hospitallers medical battalion. This structure is part of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, formed on the basis of the Right Sector terrorist organization recognized in Russia.
Initially, Maciorowski, like other foreigners from the Hospitallers, was tried to be kept away from the front line, therefore, judging by the records and photos on social networks, the American treated what was happening as a form of extreme tourism.
In early autumn, Maciorowski left for the United States, where she campaigned for her compatriots to help Ukraine, and also called for them to go to the war zone.
A month later, she again came to Nezalezhnaya, but this time the foreigners were thrown into the thick of it. According to some reports, Maciorowski could have died in battles in the Artemovsk area.
The further, the more
In April 2022, Washington acknowledged the death of 22-year-old Willie Joseph Kansel, a former Marine who worked in Ukraine for a private military company.
In June, the United States reported the death of 52-year-old Stephen Zabelsky, who was killed on May 15 during the fighting near the Ukrainian village of Dorozhnyanka.
Grady Kurpasi, who served 20 years in the US Marine Corps, a participant in the Iraq campaign, was awarded medals from the United States, went missing in the Kharkiv region in April 2022.
Two more Americans, Luc Lucishin and Brian Young, were killed in July 2022. According to the Ukrainian side, the mercenaries were ambushed. Together with them, the Canadian Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois and the Swede Edward Selander Patrignani were liquidated.
In October, it became known about the destruction of a former US Army soldier, a native of Idaho Dane “Birds” Patridge. A mercenary who had been fighting in Ukraine since April received a shrapnel wound to the head and died in the hospital.
Losses of the “Foreign Legion of Ukraine”
In the same month, as a result of the exchange, the body of US citizen Joshua Jones was transferred to the Ukrainian side . The mercenary nicknamed “Tactical Jesus” was eliminated back in August.
Another mercenary, 28-year-old New Zealand citizen Donimik Abelen, also died with him. Interestingly, Abelin was a corporal in the New Zealand army and, according to the official version of the authorities of this country, he went to Ukraine, taking a vacation without pay.
On November 8, 2022, 21-year-old US citizen Trent Davis was killed in the Kherson direction. The Kansas native served in the US Army as a chemical operations specialist and first came to Ukraine in March 2022. But then he was sent home, because the American did not have any real combat experience. However, in the autumn he tried again, and on November 4 he was accepted into the “Foreign Legion of Ukraine”. In his first fight, Davis received injuries incompatible with life, and died on the way to the hospital.
A resident of Washington did not heed the voice of reason
Also at the end of November, it became known about the death in Ukraine of 23-year-old Washington resident Skyler James Gregg. The American left for Square in April, having no combat experience. Nevertheless, he was included in the “Foreign Legion of Ukraine”. Two months later, Gregg was wounded during shelling near Kharkov. He ended up in the hospital, but after being cured he returned to the ranks of the militants. At the end of October, the American again came under shelling, and this time it ended fatally for Gregg. The fact that he was no more, relatives were informed only a month later.
US officials are extremely reluctant to comment on the deaths of compatriots in Ukraine. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, by June 2022, at least 89 Americans had died in the battles in the NMD zone.
What you can be completely sure of is that this list is constantly growing.
Pepper’s last gift
Whatever life threw at us each year, come Christmas our family had one constant tradition: our dog Pepper opened our presents for us. When our beloved Black Lab mix had been a gangly adolescent puppy, we had only given her unbreakable gifts to unwrap—things like pajamas and steering wheel covers. She proved to be so careful that we soon gave her any gift that wasn’t edible. Every time, Pepper found the seam in the wrapping paper with her snout and held the present down gingerly with her forepaws. Her front teeth pried up the lip of paper with the utmost care. Then she removed every inch of wrapping paper before stepping back to lie in the midst of our gathering. She never bit or scratched the gifts themselves.
Friends and relatives who joined our family celebrations never believed Pepper could be so delicate until they witnessed her talents. Watching our sweet dog unwrap gifts always warmed the holiday, which was often a little bittersweet because college, studying abroad, or work commitments often kept my two sisters and me away.
One year, everyone made it home for a Christmas together. I was back from Ireland, Kaci flew in from Arizona, and Kara visited from college. Mom’s jubilance kept her busy baking cookies for us all. Our Christmas season should have been perfect.
It couldn’t feel perfect, though, because Pepper’s health was deteriorating. Her life had already been longer than we expected—she was fourteen—and yet her mind was still sharp. Her enthusiasm for life made us feel better. But her body could not keep up with her spirit. She’d already shown the usual signs of deafness and stiffness. That year, her hips and back legs started giving out on her. We knew we would soon have to make a difficult decision.
It was likely Pepper’s last Christmas, so we decided to make sure she enjoyed it. On Christmas Eve, we gathered around the tree to open an early present. We each took a turn and then called Pepper to open one more. But her tangled legs could not navigate the boxes and shredded wrapping paper on the floor. She stumbled over the obstacles, and soon she disappeared into the next room. She crumpled back to the floor, as out of the way as she could get.
We were heartbroken. Could Pepper even participate in her last Christmas?
Pepper stayed on the periphery of all our holiday activities. Throughout the day, we gave gifts but did not feel very giving. We shared stories over cinnamon rolls that tasted bland. We played games by the tree whose twinkles had dimmed.
That evening, Kaci said what we’d all been thinking: “I wish Pepper could have helped open presents this year.”
We all put down our mugs of spiced tea. “Maybe she still could,” Kara said.
“But there’s none left,” Mom reminded her.
Kara jumped up and left the room. We heard her opening drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. She returned with a box of dog biscuits, scissors, and a roll of tape.
“Hand me that green paper,” Kara told me, pointing at a large sheet at my feet. She cut a small section from the paper and wrapped a single dog treat in it. She held it up as if she had just struck gold. “Now there’s a present for her!”
I knelt on the floor next to Kara and wrapped another dog treat. Kaci and Mom joined in, too. Soon, we had four elegantly wrapped dog biscuits in a row on the floor. We cleared the floor of discarded wrapping paper. We tucked our legs under us as we perched out of the way on the furniture.
“Go get Pepper,” we urged Mom. We all bounced like eager children.
Mom went into the next room. “You want to open a present, girl?” she coaxed. In a moment, Pepper stuck her head into the room. Her ears were fully perked with anticipation and curiosity.
She skidded on stilted legs to the row of presents. She sniffed all four in order, and looked back and forth between them. She’d never had such a wide choice of gifts before.
Soon, Pepper selected her first Christmas gift. She nimbly turned the present with her forepaw, just like she was a spry young dog once more. She tugged every last scrap of paper off the dog treat before she chewed it with her customary grace.
Our family swelled with glee.
Pepper licked the last crumb from the floor. She eyed the remaining three presents, then turned to Mom as if asking, “May I please open another?”
“Go ahead, girl!” Mom encouraged.
For the next few minutes, Pepper opened each of her Christmas presents. While she did, she reminded us of the sheer joy of being together. Our family felt whole—not because we were in the same room, city, or country, but because our love bonded us together.
In the new year, Pepper let us know it was time to call the veterinarian. Her passing, while tearful, was peaceful. In its own way, her passing was also a celebration of life, because she gave my family so much love and laughter.
Long after I forgot each of my presents, I still cherish Pepper’s final Christmas gift. She taught me that no matter where we each spend the holidays, and no matter what the passing year brings, the smallest act of heartfelt giving can unite our family through our love. For me, that knowledge is the longest-lasting gift of all.
—Zach Hively.
Cancel Culture Adopts “Technical Glitches” To Shut Off American Christians
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Not to put too fine a point on this . . . WHO is it that primarily runs the media? It ain’t Irish names doing it. It just so happens to be people who literally HATE Jesus.
https://youtu.be/DVQTX-zePSQ
Now, as you watch TV from this moment on, you’ll be more aware of how they’re using “technical glitches” to silence American Christians.
The Christmas cassette
In June 2003, I buried my 26-year-old son. The following Christmas was the worst of my life. I was consumed with grief to my very core. As I awoke early Christmas morning, I decided to write a few Christmas cards, belated or not. I went to the drawer where I stored the boxed cards. The drawer would only open slightly; something was jamming it. The cause of the jam was an unlabeled cassette. I had no idea what was on it or how it had gotten there. I popped the cassette in the player and waited to hear whatever mystery it held. Soon I heard my own voice. In a whisper, I say, “It’s Christmas morning, and Kyle is still sleeping.” Kyle awakens and sleepily comes to the realization that he gets to check the tree. His childish voice goes on to name his toys from Santa. The last words on the tape are both heartfelt and heartbraking. They are three-year-old Kyle saying “Merry Christmas, Mom!” I know my son made this Christmas miracle happen so I could have a smile in my heart that morning.
—Connie Owen, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin
A Wall Street Bank Is Warning That Millions Of Americans Will Lose Their Jobs In 2023
Is your job secure? Over the past couple of years, American workers generally didn’t need to be concerned about job security. Even if someone got fired unexpectedly, it was just so easy to find new employment because there simply was not enough able-bodied workers out there. But now everything is changing. Some of the largest corporations in the entire country are starting to conduct mass layoffs as the U.S. economy steadily slows down. Unfortunately, it appears that a lot more pain is ahead. In fact, as you will see below, one of Wall Street’s biggest banks is ominously warning that millions of American workers will lose their jobs next year.
Stories about mass layoffs are hitting the news at a fast and furious pace these days. For example, we just learned that a factory that makes Jeep Cherokees in northern Illinois will be laying off 1,350 workers…
The company, which employs about 1,350 workers at the plant in Belvidere, Illinois, said the action will result in indefinite layoffs and it may not resume operations as it considers other options.
Stellantis said the industry ‘has been adversely affected by a multitude of factors like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the global microchip shortage, but the most impactful challenge is the increasing cost related to the electrification of the automotive market.’
I was very sad to see that happen.
Those that work in our automotive factories are some of the hardest working people in the entire nation.
Other types of workers are losing their jobs in very large numbers as well.
Earlier today, I came across a story about layoffs that will affect 1,800 employees that worked in phone kiosks inside Costco stores…
Over 1800 employees were laid off at Wireless Advocate which operates the phone kiosks inside Costco Wholesale stores.
A local Costco representative said staff is just becoming aware that all their phone kiosks abruptly ceased operations at all Costco Warehouses on December 5, 2022.
If you lose your job, I would try to find another one as rapidly as possible, because the longer you wait the more people you are going to be competing against.
As I mentioned earlier, even some of the largest corporations in the U.S. are now laying off large numbers of people. In a previous article I discussed the layoffs that are coming at Amazon, and now it appears that those layoffs will be even larger than originally anticipated…
It appears that Amazon plans to fire 20,000 people, which is twice as many as previously estimated. Workers from distribution centers, IT professionals, and corporate leaders will all be let go by Amazon across a number of areas. According to those with knowledge of the situation, Amazon layoffs will happen in the upcoming months. Staff at all levels are likely to be impacted because Amazon workers are ranked from level 1 to level 7. The NYT originally revealed that Amazon plans layoffs in mid-November, citing sources who said that as many as 10,000 workers would be let go.
Sadly, the truth is that we are still only in the very early stages of this new crisis.
Many more layoff announcements will be coming in the months ahead, and at this point a division of Citibank is projecting that the U.S. economy will lose approximately 2 million jobs next year…
The group said in its latest outlook report published this week that the economy could lose an estimated 2 million jobs in 2023 as the jobless rate climbs to 5.25%.
“We believe that the Fed’s rate hikes and shrinking bond portfolio have been stringent enough to cause an economic contraction within 2023,” the economists said in the report. “And if the Fed does not pause rate hikes until it sees the contraction, a deeper recession may ensue.”
If we actually lose that many jobs, it will be catastrophic.
Meanwhile, Americans are steadily getting poorer.
From January to September, U.S. household wealth plunged by a whopping 13.5 trillion dollars.
Part of the reason this is happening is because home values are starting to fall quite rapidly.
And they are going to fall even more if the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates.
Unfortunately, Fed officials just keep telling us that more rate hikes are coming.
Homebuilders are being hit extremely hard as well. They started lots of new houses when times were still good, and now they have lots of inventory and very few buyers…
If a homebuilder cannot sell their ballooning inventory of unsold new houses to households, at current prices and mortgage rates, amid plunging sales and soaring cancellation rates of signed contracts – topping out at 45% in the Southwest and at 38% in Texas – despite aggressive incentives such as mortgage-rate buydowns to stimulate sales and prevent cancellations, well, whom are homebuilders supposed to sell those houses to?
Thanks to the Fed, the entire housing market is a giant mess at this point.
Hundreds of thousands of homeowners are now underwater on their mortgages, and the early payment default rate has risen to heights that we saw back during the peak of the last housing crash in 2009…
Digging deeper into the month’s data, Black Knight found that, while still relatively low among conforming loans, the early-payment default (EPD) rate – which captures mortgages that have become delinquent within six months of origination –– has risen among FHA loans for much of the past year to reach its highest level since 2009, excluding the months in the immediate wake of the pandemic.
Economic conditions are already really bad, and they will soon get a whole lot worse.
Signs of trouble are erupting all around us. For instance, I was deeply alarmed when I read that Orlando International Airport is experiencing a very serious fuel shortage…
The Federal Aviation Administration is warning pilots that Orlando International Airport (MCO) is running low on fuel, and that could mean hiccups in the days ahead for travelers.
In an official notice, the agency said that the airport could continue having supply issues through about 7 p.m. Tuesday, and suggests that airlines should be prepared to operate flights into the airport with enough fuel on board to fly back out.
I have never heard of an entire airport being short on fuel for an extended period of time before.
Hopefully this is just a temporary setback.
But what isn’t temporary are the long-term economic trends. They have all been going in the wrong direction for a long time, and now a moment of reckoning has arrived.
Enjoy the next few weeks while you still can, because it appears that 2023 is going to be a very painful year.
A Christmas present, delayed
I was ten the summer my dad helped me buy my first ten-speed bicycle from Father Allen. I put up $60 of my grass cutting and snow shoveling money, and my dad put up the other half. I would pay him back in installments over the next six months. Although it was the kind of bike you’d expect a priest to have (dull silver, slightly worn, no baseball cards in the spokes), it was my ticket to the adult world.
I spent that summer and autumn riding as if to put Greg LeMond to shame. My sister Liz, a prisoner of her five-speed and banana seat, never had a chance to keep up. We’d always been stuck with hand-me-downs from our older brothers and sisters, a few of whom had notoriously bad taste in bikes. Now, however, I was able to ride to every corner of town, sometimes even as far as the beach. In those heady days before one acquires a driver’s license, a good bike is a magic carpet.
Just before the Christmas deadline to pay my dad back, we were hit with several snowstorms. This allowed me to shovel enough driveways to pay off my debt. I was now officially a bike owner; it was a feeling unlike any other.
It’s important to note that while my mom and dad were fantastic parents, they couldn’t be trusted with the awesome responsibility of buying appropriate Christmas presents. They were too quick to pass off gloves, sneakers, and shirts as “presents.” And while we might say a prayer over the Baby Jesus in the manger on our way to church, He seemed too busy at this time of year to leave presents under the tree. We outsourced our requests for the really good presents to Santa.
For her family of seven kids, my mom developed a system in which she decorated the outside of seven large boxes with different types of wallpaper. We each had our own box that contained six or so presents, and we’d close our eyes and reach in to grab one when it was our turn. This cut down on hours of wrapping and satisfied my dad’s Naval sense of order.
The downside was we opened one present at a time so everyone could “appreciate” each other’s gifts. Neither Liz nor I “appreciated” this system because we went last. After the obligatory “oohs” and “aahs,” each of us held up our present for family review, a process that averaged about five minutes or so. This meant Liz and I had to wait about forty-five minutes between each present, so patience was in short supply—when one of us pulled out a belt or package of underwear, we seethed the entire time.
My dad, a master showman, liked to keep a few of Santa’s better presents for the end. On that fateful Christmas morning, he gave me a used portable record player. I was ecstatic—I was finally untethered from the “family stereo” that all of us fought over.
Alas, my elation was short-lived after my dad called my sister to the kitchen. “We have one more gift for you,” he said as he opened the door that led to the garage. There, on the steps, stood a brand new ten-speed Schwinn. I didn’t hear her screams of joy—all I could hear was the sputtering engine of the lawnmower, the endless scraping of the metal snow shovel on concrete. I’d endured far too many hours of indentured servitude for my used bike; that Santa could give Liz this sparkling machine less than a week later was a sign that he was losing his touch. Could Mrs. Claus be putting something in his food?
I slumped onto the floor. My ten-speed chariot had turned into a pumpkin in the time it took my sister to hop on the gleaming leather seat.
“Let’s go for a ride, Rob!” she sang, my dad holding the bike upright as she put her feet on the pedals.
“Too snowy to ride,” I muttered, pushing the record player farther away from me. The symbolism seemed lost on my dad.
I seethed for the rest of the day, then the rest of the week. My dad was not someone to whom we complained about presents (not if we ever wanted to see another, anyway). Santa always seemed to lose interest after Christmas, rarely accepting returns or trade-ins. That left the Baby Jesus, but He wasn’t answering my prayers—I could tell because Liz’s bike had yet to crumble into a pile of rust flakes.
After a few weeks of watching me pout, my dad finally pulled me aside. “Everything okay?”
“It’s not fair,” I whined. “I worked so hard for my bike, and it’s not even new. Then Liz gets a brand new bike as soon as I make the final payment. She didn’t have to do anything for it.”
My dad smiled. “She didn’t have to do anything for it because it’s not really for her,” he said, and then left the room.
What did that mean? I didn’t want her bike—it had the girly bar that sloped down to the ground and a flowery white basket on the handlebars. I could turn it in for a new set of action figures, I figured, but she’d been on it every day since Christmas—no way they’d let me take it back now. I eventually got over it, chalking it up to elf error (the naughty and nice list can be cumbersome).
By spring Liz and I were riding all over town together now that she could keep up. Sure, I’d lose her on the steep slopes, but I always let her catch up when we went downhill. Initially, the youngest children in a large family form a bond out of necessity—older siblings can be taxing, and there are only so many locked doors one can hide behind. Sometimes, you need someone else in the foxhole with you.
As we grew, Liz and I became true friends. We biked down to swim at the local pool, then put in seven miles to take the free town tennis lessons together. We planned secret parties when my parents went on trips and played a game of “Who can leave less gas in the tank” when we finally got our drivers’ licenses. I relied on her to put names to faces when we were at parties, and she treated my best friends as her personal dating service. We ended up at the same college, and even graduated the same year.
Still, I wasn’t smart enough to figure out what my dad meant until years later. That brand new bike was not a gift for Liz—it was a gift for me. He’d given me the gift of my sister’s company, the ability to stay together rather than drift apart in the face of my ability to travel. He gave me my best friend.
It’s a gift I’ve treasured every day since.
—Robert F. Walsh.
NATO escalates full blown war with Russia, Putin warns retaliation
The arrogance of US and EU and their deceit is shocking.
This is a MUST WATCH video.
New Poll Finds Covid Vaccines Are Not Safe – Estimated 12 Million Americans Report Major Side-Effects
.
Major polling company Rasmussen polled the American people with a simple four question survey and found:
- 32% were not vaccinated.
- 7% of those surveyed had a major side effect.
A 7% major side effect rate is unprecedented.
We know from the V-safe data that this effectively means that the side-effect was so bad, they had to seek medical attention.
If any drug had that kind of safety profile, it would be immediately pulled from the market.
Would you take any drug with that kind of side-effect profile? Of course not. It’s off the charts! However, because we were told it is a safe and effective vaccine, people do what they are told despite the lack of safety. That’s how science works.
Note that people who were killed by the vaccine were unable to participate in the survey, so the actual numbers are slightly worse.
Rasmussen also admitted that Google censors unfavorable results! In short, they admitted that it’s worse than they are “allowed” to tell people (see their tweet). Wow.
in their own words: “We asked… and the answer is not good.”
(Hal Turner Remark: In other words, all of us so-called “misinformation spreaders” were right all along. They should have listened to us.)
Will this change anything? Of course not. Everyone will continue on, as if this never happened. The poll will be ignored just like all the data (including polling data) showing the vaccines are killing hundreds of thousands of people.
The survey
Here are the results that YouTube is allowing them to share. Watch it now before YouTube censors it.
Incredible discovery of boat wreck in Croatia dated to 3,200 years
In March, this year, marine archaeologist and researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, Giulia Boetto, announced the incredible discovery of a boat wreck in Zambratija Cove, Croatia, which was just dated to 1,200 BC.
The unique and rare finding is a Bronze Age sewn boat, a type of wooden boat which is literally sewn together using ropes, roots, or willow branches.
The boat measures 7 metres in length and 2.5 metres in width and is a sewn boat, which was a technique of shipbuilding practiced in the Adriatic until the Roman era. The remains of the boat found in Zambratija Cove are incredibly well-preserved for its age, with stitching still visible in some areas and the frame largely undamaged.
The different types of wood used to construct it have been identified as elm, alder, and fir, and tree ring dating is currently underway, which will provide the date the tree was cut to the nearest year. Ms Boetto said that they hope to finalise a 3D model of the boat and, eventually, a complete reconstruction.
Photo from heaven
My daughter and only child, Talena, was killed by a drugged driver in 1994. It nearly destroyed me, but I kept going somehow. I had a favorite picture of Talena from when she was about three—Christmas Day, me sitting on the floor and her sitting on my lap. The bond between us was so beautiful. Somehow, I lost that picture after she died. A few years later, on Christmas Day, I opened a book and found the photo inside. I know she sent it to me as a present from heaven.
—Dayle Vickory, Orange Park, Florida
Hospitals Are Overflowing With Patients As Multiple Pestilences Sweep Across America
Winter hasn’t even begun yet, but cold weather diseases are already spreading like wildfire all over the United States. The flu has returned in 2022 with a vengeance, new strains of COVID are reportedly starting to emerge, and RSV has hit some areas of the nation extremely hard. I don’t ever remember seeing anything quite like this, and the weather is only going to get colder in the weeks ahead. Normally, most people would be able to fight off such diseases fairly easily, but at this point so many have weakened immune systems after everything that has transpired over the last few years. As a result, millions of Americans have been getting really sick, and CNN is reporting that U.S. hospitals “are more full than they’ve been throughout the Covid-19 pandemic”…
Hospitals are more full than they’ve been throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. But as respiratory virus season surges across the US, it’s much more than Covid that’s filling beds this year.
More than 80% of hospital beds are in use nationwide, jumping 8 percentage points in the past two weeks.
Please take the time to read those two paragraphs again.
At no point during the past several years have our hospitals ever been as full as they are right now.
And this has happened even though the proportion of COVID patients in our hospitals has been steadily shrinking…
Back in January, about a quarter of hospital beds were in use for Covid-19 patients. But now, only about 6% of beds are in use for Covid-19 patients, according to the HHS data.
We are being told that some of the new strains of COVID that are now emerging represent a potent threat, but obviously it isn’t COVID that is causing the massive surge in hospitalizations that we are currently witnessing.
Instead, confirmed cases of the flu are absolutely exploding right now. For example, just check out what is going on in Massachusetts…
Illnesses caused by the flu are surging in Massachusetts, according to the latest weekly report from the Department of Public Health.
The report issued Friday, which covers the week from Nov. 27 through Dec. 3, included 5,462 cases that were confirmed by laboratory testing. That’s nearly double the 2,846 cases confirmed during the week covered by the previous report.
Sadly, we are seeing similar numbers nationwide.
In fact, the number of Americans admitted to the hospital with the flu roughly doubled during Thanksgiving week…
The number of people admitted to the hospital for flu during the week of Thanksgiving was nearly double the number of admissions during the week before. And the latest surveillance data probably does not reflect the full effects of holiday gatherings, as it captures only through November 26, two days past Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, RSV continues to rip across America at a breathtaking pace, and very young children are being hit particularly hard.
In some cases, hospitals are actually transferring sick kids out of state because they are so overloaded with patients…
To cope with the flood of young patients sickened by a sweeping convergence of nasty bugs — especially respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, and coronavirus — medical centers nationwide have deployed triage tents, delayed elective surgeries, and transferred critically ill children out of state.
Unfortunately, it appears that this is just the beginning.
Winter will officially start later this month, and so it is likely that things will only get worse in the months ahead.
That is not good news at all, because we are already facing significant shortages of key antibiotics all over the country…
“We are so busy we can’t keep up with the phone calls and sick kids,” said Dr. Josie Stone, a pediatrician with Advanced Pediatrics of Boca Raton. While most of the respiratory illnesses Stone sees are viral, children often get complications such as ear, sinus and throat infections that require antibiotics, she said. With children all over the country suffering from the same complications, South Florida pharmacies have a limited supply of many of the most common antibiotics.
The antibiotics in short supply include Amoxicillin and Augmentin to treat ear and skin infections as well as Azithromycin (referred to as a zpack) used to treat certain bacterial infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia. It also includes medications such as Albuterol to treat asthma or breathing problems.
As I recently covered in another article, the official FDA website says that more than 100 prescription drugs are in short supply right now.
Of course this is something that is not just happening in the United States. Over in Europe, shortages of many important drugs are also becoming quite widespread…
Countries across Europe are reporting shortages of antibiotics as demand for the medicines rises and manufacturers grapple with supply-chain snags.
Amoxicillin, cephalosporins and other widely used antibiotics are in short supply, data from various countries show, raising concerns among doctors and officials about the availability of drugs that are relied on to treat conditions ranging from ear infections to pneumonia.
If supplies of drugs just keep getting tighter and our hospitals just keep getting fuller, it is probably just a matter of time before authorities in many areas will want to impose new health restrictions.
In fact, officials in New York City are already “strongly urging” residents to wear masks.
I thought all of that was behind us, and I don’t think that any of us want to go back again.
Hopefully, the flu and RSV will be the worst diseases that we have to deal with this winter.
Because the truth is that we have been perfectly primed for more outbreaks, and a truly killer virus could easily sweep through the general population.
As I keep warning, we have now entered an era of great pestilences, and if you are expecting the government to save you from what is coming you are going to be deeply disappointed.
No matter what authorities have tried, multiple diseases just keep spreading all around us.
What we have been through so far is just the tip of the iceberg, and so many people are going to die in 2023 and beyond.
Swedish divers find 11,000-year-old underwater relics
Earlier this year, Swedish divers made a unique and rare discovery in the Baltic Sea – Stone Age artifacts left by Swedish nomads dating back 11,000 years.
Researchers uncovered a number of remnants that are believed to have been discarded in the water by Swedes in the Stone Age, objects which have been preserved thanks to the lack of oxygen and the abundance of gyttja sediment, which is sediment rich in organic matter at the bottom of a eutrophic lake.
It is extremely rare to find evidence from the Stone Age so unspoiled.
Buried 16 metres below the surface, the team uncovered wood, flint tools, animal horns and ropes. Among the most notable items found include a harpoon carving made from an animal bone, and the bones of an ancient animal called aurochs, the ancestor of domestic cattle, the last of which died off in the early 1600s.
Archaeologists are continuing the dig, and are now particularly interested to see whether there is also an ancient burial site in the region.
Biden Opens Africa Summit With Sanctioning African Leaders
The Biden administration is holding a summit with some 40 leaders of African countries. The New York Times headline of its reporting on the summit is revealing:
Biden Is Bringing Africa’s Leaders to Washington, Hoping to Impress
“Bringing Africa’s Leaders to Washington”? Why not “invited African leaders to Washington”? Isn’t this reminiscent to the millions of Africans who had been “brought to America” in past centuries?
The U.S. is late in fostering better relations with Africa:
NAIROBI, Kenya — In Russia, Africa’s leaders were feted at a seaside resort where military aircraft for sale were parked outside the summit hall. In China, they dined with President Xi Jinping, some of them one-on-one, and received promises of investments worth $60 billion. In Turkey, they won support for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.Now they are headed to Washington for a major summit hosted by President Biden — the latest diplomatic drive by a major foreign power seeking to strengthen its ties to Africa, a continent whose geopolitical clout has grown greatly in the past decade.
There is little hope that the U.S. will do better than other nations:
As the planes of over 40 African heads of state descend on Washington, a question looms: What can Mr. Biden offer that they want?“The U.S. has traditionally seen Africa as a problem to be solved,” said Murithi Mutiga, Africa director at the International Crisis Group. “But its competitors see Africa as a place of opportunity, which is why they are pulling ahead. It’s unclear if this conference is going to change that.”
What the leaders from Africa demand is first of all respect:
Africa’s top diplomat says that, first of all, they want to be heard.“When we talk, we’re often not listened to, or in any case, not with enough interest,” President Macky Sall of Senegal, who is president of the African Union, said in an interview in Dakar last Thursday. “This is what we want to change. And let no one tell us no, don’t work with so-and-so, just work with us. We want to work and trade with everyone.”
There is no serious attempt to really get into better relations with African countries:
There will be initiatives to tap the African diaspora for new ideas in higher education, creative industries and the environment and for collaborations with NASA on space programs. A guide for summit delegates, obtained by The New York Times, predicts that Africa’s “space economy” will grow 30 percent by 2024 — an opportunity for the U.S. to help with technologies to solve problems related to climate change, agriculture, security and illegal fishing and mining.But there is little sign that Mr. Biden intends to launch a signature policy initiative like previous American administrations.
In short: it is a sales show and at least partly aimed at one of Biden’s constituent groups – ‘diaspora Africans’.
There is not much to expect from the meeting but empty words and not so empty threats. Yesterday, the day before the first summit meeting is supposed to take place, the Biden administration set the tone by … sanctioning African leaders:
The Biden administration on Monday slapped corruption sanctions on the son of Zimbabwe’s president as the U.S. prepares to host a major summit of African leaders in Washington.The Treasury Department announced it was hitting four Zimbabwean people and two companies with penalties for their roles in undermining democracy and facilitating high-level graft. Those sanctioned include Emmerson Mnangagwa, Jr., the son of the previously sanctioned Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
…
“We urge the Zimbabwean government to take meaningful steps towards creating a peaceful, prosperous, and politically vibrant Zimbabwe, and to address the root causes of many of Zimbabwe’s ills: corrupt elites and their abuse of the country’s institutions for their personal benefit,” Treasury said in a statement.“The goal of sanctions is behavior change,” it said. “Today’s actions demonstrate our support for a transparent and prosperous Zimbabwe.”
I fail to find a participants list for the summit at the State Department’s Africa Summit page. But I am pretty sure that Zimbabwe as well as ten plus other member states of the African Union will not be present. It would be interesting to learn who those are.
Sanctions are typically reviewed by the National Security Council before they are enacted by the Treasury. That the White House let these pass at this time means that the move is intentional.
Those who are coming will notice this well timed action against the leadership of one of their fellow countries. It is likely supposed to intimidate them: “Watch what could happen to You!”
But times have changed. I doubt that they will fall for such a cheap trick.
Posted by b on December 13, 2022 at 12:37 UTC | Permalink
Catch
Following Christmas dinner, my family was relaxing around the kitchen table. We had all enjoyed traditional turkey, sweet potatoes lightly glazed with brown sugar, and a final wedge of pumpkin pie topped with a dollop of ice cream. The good cooking smells still lingered; the oven remained warm. My sister, our chef, was basking in the compliments—“Fabulous meal,” “I really couldn’t eat another bite,” “Everything was wonderful.” Dad had risen from his chair and was contentedly standing nearby.
My nephew, never one to sit still for too long, began dribbling his new basketball around the table and throughout the kitchen. Upon nearing Dad, he stopped—almost uncertainly. With shaking, wrinkled hands, Dad had reached out for the ball. He did not speak, and the boy, confused, looked up and over at us. It took some convincing, but the ball was gingerly passed over.
I watched my father closely to see what he would do. A playful smile appeared on his face. The twinkle in his eyes shone brighter than any Christmas lights. Holding the ball and reaching forward, Dad bounced it on the floor then caught it.
This action was repeated. Nodding approvingly, he then turned towards our assembled group. Gently tossing the ball away, Dad began a game of catch.
The ball continued to be passed through eager pairs of outstretched hands. Cries of “Over here!” rang through the warm kitchen. Dad’s active participation in this game was remarkable to me, since he had advanced Alzheimer’s disease. This dementia had robbed him of many memories and the recognition of people, places, and points in time. Despite this, Dad clearly recognized the ball and what you could do with it.
In my younger years, playing with Dad was rare. To his credit, Dad worked hard and provided for us. He was very private and never showed nor shared much emotion; his game of choice was chess, which he did eventually teach me how to play. As an adult, I had become a caregiver and watched helplessly as Dad declined. Connecting moments between father and son had been few and far between before he took the basketball.
I’m not sure how long we played catch. Watching the clock was not important. Dad gleefully led us until he began to tire. What I do know is that our game ended all too soon, and it was time to face the reality of dirty dishes piled high on countertops. The moment, though, will certainly last forever. On this Christmas, Dad gave me a special memory—one that I will always treasure.
—Rick Lauber.
Bacon and Egg Empanadas
Ingredients
- 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 3⁄4 teaspoon seasoning salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
- 2⁄3 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 5 eggs, beaten
- 1 (7 1/3 ounce) can refrigerated jumbo flakey biscuits
- 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 egg white, slightly beaten
- 1 -2 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Stir together the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until blended; stir in cheese.
- Melt butter in a 9 inch skillet over medium heat; add eggs and cook without stirring until eggs begin to set on bottom. Draw spatula across bottom of skillet to form large curds. Continue cooking until eggs are slightly thickened but still moist. (Do NOT stir constantly).
- Remove from heat and let cool.
- Flatten each bisquit into about a 5 inch circle.
- Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the tops of dough circles, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges.
- Top evenly with eggs and bacon.
- Fold dough circles in half over mixture, pinching edges to seal.
- Place 2 inches apart in a 15 x 10 jelly roll pan coated with pam.
- Brush top of doughs evenly with egg white.
- Press sealed edges with the tines of a fork.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake at 375 14-16 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove empanadas with a spatula onto a wire rack.
- Serve Warm.
- Leftovers store in a ziplock bag after completely cooled, then place in the refridgerator.
- To reheat wrap in paper towel and microwave at 50% power for 1-2 minutes.
- *These are good for OAMC*.
Sam Bankman-Fried *** arrested *** in the Bahamas
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities this evening after the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York shared a sealed indictment with the Bahamian government, setting the stage for extradition and U.S. trial for the onetime crypto billionaire at the heart of the crypto exchange’s collapse.
Bankman-Fried was expected to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. His arrest is the first concrete move by regulators to hold individuals accountable for the multi-billion dollar implosion of FTX last month.
Bahamas Attorney General Ryan Pinder said that the United States was “likely to request his extradition.”
In a statement, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said, “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.”
“While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere,” continued the statement.
Bahamian regulators and FTX’s attorneys had been engaged in a bruising battle in chambers and in the court of public opinion. Earlier Monday, FTX attorneys accused the Bahamian government of allegedly working with Bankman-Fried to spirit away FTX assets from company control and into into crypto wallets controlled by Bahamian regulators. Bankman-Fried’s arrest by Bahamas law enforcement, as well as his expected extradition, suggest that close cooperation between the Bahamas and the U.S. will continue to evolve throughout the bankruptcy proceedings.
FTX’s collapse was precipitated when reporting from CoinDesk revealed a highly concentrated position in self-issued FTT coins, which Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund Alameda Research used as collateral for billions in crypto loans. Binance, a rival exchange, announced it would sell its stake in FTT, spurring a massive withdrawal in funds. The company froze assets and declared bankruptcy days later. Reports later claimed that FTX had commingled customer funds with Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, and that billions in customer deposits had been lost along the way.
Bankman-Fried was replaced by John J. Ray III, who had overseen Enron’s bankruptcy. Ray is also scheduled to testify before Congress this week. In prepared remarks released Monday, Ray said that FTX went on a “spending binge” from late 2021 through 2022, when approximately ”$5 billion was spent buying a myriad of businesses and investments, many of which may be worth only a fraction of what was paid for them,” and that the firm made more than $1 billion in “loans and other payments…to insiders.”
Ray also confirmed media reports that FTX customer funds were commingled with assets from Alameda Research. Alameda used client funds to do margin trading, which exposed them to massive losses, Ray said.
Sharing a legacy of love
When my mother died at the age of eighty-four, my four sisters and I were heartbroken. How could we ever get over the loss of this warm and loving woman, a talented artist who enjoyed life in spite of its challenges and always doted on her husband, daughters, and grandchildren?
For weeks after, my sisters and I would meet for dinner, laughing and crying over old memories. When it came time to sell the home my mother loved, we spent many days in disbelief, clearing out her belongings. I remembered reading an Ann Landers column years earlier that discussed how many siblings fight bitterly over the possessions left by their deceased parents. I thought, “How lucky we are that will never happen to us.” Somehow, we easily and peacefully divided Mom’s belongings—furniture, jewelry, and household items—among ourselves and a few charities. Although I expected there might be a tug of war over her paintings, that never happened. Pretty good considering there were five daughters and four grandchildren. No conflicts, squabbles or disputes at all. Until we discovered the old nativity set in a box in Mom’s closet.
I remembered Mom telling the story of how she acquired the manger. An old friend who did carpentry work gave it to my mom and dad as a Christmas gift when they were first married. My sister, Eileen, however, remembers it differently. Mom told her she found the crèche in a garbage can belonging to Mrs. Bingham, the elderly lady who lived across the street from us.
Unlike some of the ornate versions found in today’s stores, this manger was crafted from dark wood and completely unadorned—just a roof, a floor, and a railing surrounding it. Though beautifully crafted, there was one flaw: one side of the double gate in front was lopsided. Mom filled it with three figurines to start—Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus. For many years after, she continued to add others—the Wise Men, shepherds, angels, and animals. As kids, we loved the annual rites of the Christmas season, especially taking the nativity set and decorations down from the attic and carefully putting them in place. When the sisters all married and grandchildren came along, they added new characters of their own to the stable, including a set of the three little pigs.
After Mom’s death, when the nativity set emerged, no one was prepared for the battle that would follow. My sister Joanne was the first to claim the manger, insisting it was the only one of Mom’s possessions that she really wanted. Her wish was granted. But when my niece Mandy found out, she called from her apartment in California to voice her objection. She was clearly emotional as she repeated a decades-old promise made to her by my mother: “Nanny promised me that I could have the nativity set when she was gone,” she cried. “The nativity set belongs to me.” Joanne felt strongly that as Mom’s daughter, she had first dibs. Neither she nor Mandy would budge.
When the disagreement showed signs of becoming a full-blown family feud, we realized something had to be done. Enter the family arbitrator, my sister Eileen, who somehow saw through the fog. But as Mandy’s mother and Joanne’s sister, could Eileen handle this dilemma fairly? Temporarily, she set aside the emotion of the dispute, and thought logically. The nativity set was just a wooden stable, not an irreplaceable masterpiece of art. The beauty was in the eye of the beholders, the perception of two people who coveted a simple item owned by someone they loved. Couldn’t a copy be created? Of course! She would order the wood from the lumberyard and get someone to build a second manger.
The following day, Eileen went to Centre Millwork and stood in line behind several contractors ordering lumber from a young man with a crewcut. He was wearing a tag with his name, Brett, written in green magic marker. When Eileen’s turn came, she had to shout over the sound of buzzing saws. She pointed to the nativity set in her arms and told him the story, explaining that it was causing a major rift between her sister Joanne and her daughter Mandy. Brett took the stable from her, held it up with one hand and laughed, “They’re fighting over this?”
“Yes,” Eileen explained. “I know it seems crazy, but it was my mother’s and they both loved her very much. Is there any way you could measure and cut some wood so we could have a duplicate built?
Brett said, “Leave it here. I’ll see what I can do.” Eileen left, hoping he could come up with a minor miracle. That’s what it would take to satisfy the two women in her life that were squabbling.
A few days later, she received a phone message saying that her order was ready. When Eileen arrived at the hardware store to pick up the wood, she couldn’t believe what she saw — two identical stables sitting side by side. Brett had not only cut and measured the wood, he had built a second manger. “I know you wanted them to look the same, so I added a couple of dings and flaws that were in the original. Hope that’s okay.”
Sure enough, the new stable had the same lopsided front gate. “Okay?” Eileen said in tears. “You have no idea what this will mean to my sister and my daughter. To the entire family. I don’t care what this costs. Your work has saved the day.”
“That will be $3.75 for the materials,” Brett said. When Eileen insisted on paying him more, he said, “I didn’t do it on company time. I built it at home so I won’t charge you for the labor.” He pointed to the new manger. “I hope this helps your family have a merrier Christmas.”
Eileen left Brett with a large tip and a big hug of thanks. When she got home and called Joanne and Mandy about her creative solution, they were very happy and extremely relieved that the problem was resolved. One phone call later, Joanne and Mandy had agreed that Joanne would take possession of the new stable as well as some of the old figurines—including Mary, Joseph and the infant. Mandy would get to keep the original—just as Nanny promised.
—Kathy Melia Levine.
John Mearsheimer: We’re playing Russian roulette
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Until the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Professor John Mearsheimer was mainly known in academic circles as a leading scholar in the “realist” school of foreign policy. That is to say, he takes an unsentimental view of world affairs as being a muscular competition between great powers for regional hegemony.
But with the Ukrainian “Maidan revolution” in 2014 and then the Russian invasion this February, he became a figurehead for the millions of people worldwide who have misgivings about the wisdom of Western actions in Ukraine. A single lecture delivered in 2015 entitled “Why is Ukraine the West’s fault” has been viewed a staggering 28 million times on YouTube.
His central argument, that by expanding Nato eastwards and inviting Ukraine to join the bloc, the West (and in particular the United States) created an intolerable situation for Vladimir Putin which would inevitably result in Russia taking action to “wreck” Ukraine, is politically unsayable today. His critics denounce him as a Putin apologist; his supporters, however, believe the invasion was proof that he was right all along.
“The Russians invaded Ukraine with 190,000 troops at the very most,” he replies. “They made no effort to conquer all of Ukraine. They didn’t even come close. There is no way they could have conquered Ukraine with 190,000 troops. And they didn’t have the troops in reserve to do that. When the Germans invaded Poland, in 1939, they invaded with 1.5 million troops. That’s the size army you need to conquer a country like Ukraine, occupy it and then incorporate it into a greater Russia. You need a massive army. This was a limited aim strategy.”
In which case, what was that limited aim?
“What the Russians have said they have wanted from the beginning is a neutral Ukraine. And if they can’t get a neutral Ukraine, what they’re going to do is create a dysfunctional rump state… They’ve taken a huge swath of territory in the East, they’ve annexed those oblasts that are now part of Russia. And at the same time, they’re destroying Ukrainian infrastructure. They’re wrecking the Ukrainian economy. It’s sickening to see what’s happening to Ukraine.”
This assessment of the situation on the ground is very different from the reports we hear every day of Ukrainian successes and Russian retreats. The underdog nation, by most accounts, is performing astonishingly well against the aggressor.
Mearsheimer concedes that he was surprised by how poorly the Russians have performed, but that doesn’t seem to have affected his assessment of the realpolitik. I put it to him that the progress of the Ukraine war thus far can be seen as a repudiation of his “realist” theory of international affairs. The smaller power is outperforming the greater, in part through the sheer moral conviction of its people defending their homeland — evidence, surely, of the intangible moral element that is missing from his coldly “realist” world view?
“The key word here is nationalism,” he responds. “There’s no doubt that when the Russians invaded Ukraine, nationalism came racing to the fore, and that Ukrainian nationalism is a force multiplier. There’s also no doubt that nationalism is not part of the realist theory of international politics that I have, but nationalism is consistent with realism. Nationalism and Realism fit together rather neatly. But the point you want to remember is that Nationalism is also at play on the Russian side. And the more time goes by, and the more the Russians feel that the West has its gun sights on Russia, and is trying to not only defeat Russia, but knock Russia out of the ranks of the great powers, the more Russian nationalism will kick in. You want to be very careful not to judge the outcome of this war at this particular juncture. This war has got a long time to go and it’s going to play itself out in ways that are hard to predict. But I think there is a good chance that in the end, the Russians will prevail.”
Bleakly, Mearsheimer now believes that the opportunity for peace has been lost, and that there is no realistic deal that could be reached in Ukraine. Russia will not surrender the gains made in Eastern Ukraine, while the West cannot tolerate their continued occupation; meanwhile, a neutral Ukraine is also impossible, as the only power capable of guaranteeing that neutrality is the US, which would of course be intolerable to Russia. As he puts it, succinctly: “There are no realistic options. We’re screwed.”
He believes that escalation is likely, and the chance of a nuclear event is “non-trivial”. He lays out his rationale for why the Russians might well go there, step by step:
“If the Russians were to use nuclear weapons, the most likely scenario is that they would use them in Ukraine. And Ukraine does not have nuclear weapons of its own. So the Ukrainians would not be able to retaliate against the Russians with their own nuclear weapons. So that weakens deterrence. Furthermore, if the Russians use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the West, and here we’re talking mainly about the United States, is not going to retaliate with nuclear weapons against Russia, because that would lead to a general thermonuclear war.”
Western restraint cannot be relied upon in this scenario, he concedes, and the chances of catastrophic escalation remain strong, which is why he considers the current rhetoric among Western leaders about defeating Russia “foolish”.
The British are “major cheerleaders” for the policy, by his assessment, pushing the United States into stronger action. “I think the British are being remarkably foolish, just like I think, the Poles, the Baltic states, and the Americans.”
Sweden and Finland meanwhile, with their Nato membership bids, are only making the situation more dangerous. The idea that Russia is poised to invade either Finland or Sweden is a “figment of the West’s imagination” and their membership of the security pact will only heighten Russia’s sense that it is being deliberately encircled. He believes their applications should be rejected, and that nobody should have the “right” to join a security pact like Nato.
Mearsheimer’s logic all points in the same direction: if there is no peace deal now possible in Ukraine, the only logical outcome is ongoing fighting; ongoing fighting will logically lead to escalation, particularly if Russia appears to be losing; and escalation may very well eventually take a nuclear form, at which point a great power nuclear conflict becomes a real possibility.
A more positive eventual outcome than this, of course, will falsify his theory and prove him wrong. I ask him, if the Ukraine conflict ends less badly — perhaps with Russia withdrawing or accepting a fudge, Ukraine strengthened and no nuclear event — will he admit he was wrong?
“Of course,” he says. “International Politics operates in a world of what I would call radical uncertainty, it’s very hard to figure out what the future looks like, it’s very hard to make predictions… Is there a possibility that the Russians will cave at some point? I think there’s a small possibility. I also think there’s a non-trivial chance that this will lead to nuclear war. And when you marry the consequences of nuclear war with the possibility, in my mind, that means you should be remarkably cautious. Let me illustrate this by this analogy. If I have a gun, and the barrel has 100 chambers, and I put five bullets in that barrel. And I say to you, Freddie, I’m gonna pull the trigger and put the gun up to your head. But don’t worry, there’s only a 5% chance that I will kill you… The question you have to ask yourself is, are you going to be nervous? Are you going to be scared stiff? …The consequences here involve nuclear war. So there only has to be a small probability that John is right.”
The common critique of this line of argument is that it becomes hard to see how the behavior of a nuclear power could ever be curtailed. The bully could always wield the threat of nuclear disaster to get away with a new atrocity. And that logic also leads to disaster. So where would Mearsheimer draw the line? His answers are unambiguous.
First, he believes without hesitation that the existing Nato countries must be defended, notwithstanding the risks. “The Baltic states are in Nato. Poland and Romania are in Nato. They have an article 5 guarantee. If the Russians were to attack those countries, we would have to come to the defense of those countries, there’s no question about that. I would support that.”
More surprisingly, on the subject of China and Taiwan, which you might think bears a resemblance to Russia and Ukraine as a smaller Western-backed entity in the orbit of a rival regional hegemon, he takes the opposite view.
“I have a fundamentally different view on China than I do on Russia. And therefore, my thinking about Taiwan is different from my thinking about Ukraine. I believe that China is a peer competitor of the United States, and that it threatens to dominate Asia the way the United States dominates the Western Hemisphere. … From an American point of view, that’s unacceptable. And I think that’s correct. I think the United States should not want China to dominate Asia, the way we dominate the western hemisphere. So we’re going to go to great lengths to contain China. And for purposes of containing China, it is important for us to defend Taiwan.”
Mearsheimerism, then, is not quite what either his followers or his detractors might think it is. It is not an anti-war doctrine (his branch of “Offensive Realism” specifically sees aggression as a necessary part of great powers’ survival); nor is it fundamentally skeptical of American power. He supports American power being projected in its interests, but believes that the war in Ukraine is a distraction from the real threat, which is China, and worse, will drive Russia into the arms of China when it is in America’s interests to drive them apart.
A father’s blessing
My stepfather, Marlin, bought a dancing Christmas tree in the mid-2000s as a gimmick decoration. Marlin passed away in 2014. My sister, Stacy, had taken possession of it along the way. Stacy got engaged to her longtime boyfriend on Thanksgiving night. Marlin had met him. The tree was unpacked, but had no batteries. Later that evening, with all the ladies sitting around talking, the tree lit up and started to dance! The empty battery pack was in hand and the only conclusion we could reach was that Marlin was sending his blessing and dancing a jig.
—Norman Powers, Sheffield, Alabama.
2,000-year-old intact Roman medicinal pill found in submerged shipping vessel
In June, 2013, a team of Italian scientists conducted a chemical analysis on some ancient Roman medicinal pills discovered in the Relitto del Pozzino, a 2000-year-old submerged shipping vessel which sank off the coast of Tuscany, revealing what exactly the ancient Romans used as medicine.
The Roman shipwreck lay near the remains of the Etruscan city of Populonia, which at the time the ship foundered was a key port along sea trade routes between the west and east across the Mediterranean Sea.
The Relitto del Pozzino was excavated by the Archaeological Superintendency of Tuscany throughout the 1980s and 90s, revealing a variety of fascinating cargo including lamps originating in Asia minor, Syrian-Palestinian glass bowls, bronze jugs, ceramic vessels for carrying wine and, of particular interest, the remains of a medicine chest containing a surgery hook, a mortar, 136 wooden drug vials and several cylindrical tin vessels, one of which contained five circular medicinal tablets.
The tin vessels had remained completely sealed, which kept the pills dry, providing an amazing opportunity to find out exactly what substances were contained within them.
The results revealed that the pills contain a number of zinc compounds, as well as iron oxide, starch, beeswax, pine resin and other plant-derived materials. Based on their shape and composition, scientists have suggested that the tablets were used as a type of eye medicine.
Eggnog
“This is the real deal, a custard based eggnog that is absolutely better than any storebought or pudding or icecream based eggnog. The egg yolks are cooked and there are no egg whites, so there are no worries about raw eggs. (I have removed the optional directions for including the egg whites, because we like it better without them.) Prep time doesn’t include the overnight refrigeration.”
Ingredients
Directions
- Combine milk, cloves, cinnamon and the first portion of vanilla in a large saucepan. Heat on low for five minutes. Slowly bring to a boil.
- In a large bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar. Whisk together until fluffy.
- Slow whisk the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, a little at a time.
- Pour back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes, or until thick. Be careful not to let it boil.
- Strain into a large pitcher, cover and let cool for about an hour.
- Stir in the cream, nutmeg, and second portion of vanilla. Stir in rum, if desired.
- Refrigerate overnight before serving.
Thanks for your effort today mate. Love the Egadi Islands relics man, history is so cool 🙂
You are welcome. Take care. -MM