Thank you, whomsoever asked this beautiful question.

Working as a delivery rider for a popular pizza restaurant it was fascinating how the regular customers seemed to be at polar extremes. There was hardly a middle ground. The regulars were either exceedingly pleasant i.e. the ever smiling, courteous customer who knew you by name, empathized with you, were patient and just radiated warmth and kindness. I would refer to them as the sweethearts.

Or there were the ones who saw fast food personnel as a cheap means to vent their personal frustrations, felt entitled (because they believed the company would not survive without them), always tried to ‘beat the system,’ always cheap, petty and discourteous and always naturally doing something aggravating to everyone around them e.g. taking up two parking spaces, refusing to sit and wait for the order (standing impatiently by the cashier with folded arms and sullen face) and giving details as to all the operational flaws they’ve witnessed with the restaurant whilst preaching how they would fix these flaws if they owned the restaurant. I would refer to these as the soul-eaters.

Unfortunately I can only distinctly remember the experiences with soul-eaters. Here are three fascinating accounts.

The Coffee Boys.

Every Saturday night a group of preppy young men, all between the ages of 18 — 20 would come to the restaurant. There were usually five of them and they would occupy an entire table. They would sit at this table for more than an hour regardless if they had long finished their meal, denying that space for other diners. What was the meal they each ordered that merited leasing the table for such an extended period of time: One cup of coffee.

That didn’t bother any of us. It’s not our restaurant, the company has no policy against such an obvious loss-incurring action and we were trained that the customer is always right. What made them unlikable was how they went about ordering their single cup of coffee.

The ringleader, the most preppy of them all, would do the ordering. Despite being just some 18yo kid just off of cricket practice, he would speak to you as though he’s the son of the owner of the restaurant.

‘Things are pretty slow for the hour huh…..Susan?’

‘Patrice…… Are those cookies fresh or are they from the morning batch?’

‘Looks like you need a new shirt huh…… Phillip?’

He would always call out your name from your name tag, not as a show of courtesy, but in an authoritative almost passive-aggressive manner.

After a minute or two of his condescending conversation, he would request 5 coffees with cream, literally the cheapest item on the menu. The cashier would pour them out in cups, neatly cover them with lids and place them on a tray. The words ‘thank you’ or even subtle gesture of appreciation would never emanate from him as he would eye the cups, lift a cup to his face, remove a lid, sniff at coffee and take a sip in a manner as though he is the ultimate connoisseur of generic fast food coffee.

‘Ummm. Maria?’ he would say to the cashier after taking his sip. The cashier would nod and come to him. He would then continue, ‘Something is up with this coffee…I think you need to check your coffee machine.’

Then a hullabaloo would ensue with different members of staff tasting the coffee, not finding anything wrong. The manager would come out and taste the coffee and find no fault with it. However coffee-boy is not satisfied until he sees the coffee machine opened up to reveal that there is indeed sufficient powdered coffee and creamer in the machine. The five original cups of coffee are discarded and the cashier has to keep adjusting the machine and pouring out coffee, giving coffee-boy a sample to taste until he finds it is just right. Five fresh cups of coffee are then poured and he goes to his gang to occupy the table for over an hour after having caused over $50 worth of wasted coffee and cups.

The Church Group.

Once a month, on a Sunday night a large group of people who just finished worshiping at a nearby church would come into the restaurant. Their orders would be large, usually ranging between 4 — 6 family sized pizzas.

They were courteous, patient and would attempt to be friendly. However they never failed to infuriate us all whenever they came. Firstly they would always come just a few minutes before closing time to place a big order. Though they could’ve easily called pick up an hour in advance, they preferred to come when we’ve already washed up the dishes and mopped the floor, anxiously waiting the closing time.

‘I’m sorry but we’ve closed off dining for the night as we are about to close. You could only have the order as a take-away.’ the cashier would tell them.

‘Oh well,’ the pastor of the group would say, ‘Well then we’ll have to forget about the order.’

He’s saying this but he knows that we cannot refuse a large order no matter how near it is to closing time. He knew that if the head office got wind of our branch refusing a $500+ order, we would be reprimanded. He knows all this but he is pretending to show humility for his church congregation.

The cashier would acquiesce and remind the pastor that in ten minutes time we would be closing. The pastor would smile and assure the cashier that they wouldn’t be long. Staff would have to reheat the ovens, gather all the dough and ingredients that were neatly packed away in the chillers and grudgingly prepare these pizzas, knowing fully well that the order would be finished beyond our closing hour, after which we would have to wait for the church group to finish their meal.

The restaurant would close at 10 pm on a Sunday. The church group would get their meal at around that time. Even though we’ve already tucked away the chairs and neatly aligned the tables for the next day, the church group would drag about a couple tables and join them together. Anything that is request-able you bet your bottom the group would request it; more napkins, more cups with ice, more condiments, turn off the air condition please, OK its too warm now, can you turn it back on, mini boxes to carry home leftovers, plastic bags, can this pizza be warmed over? etc, etc.

While they are eating, the pastor, though he knows that he promised he will not stay long is encouraging members of the group to share tame, inoffensive church-based jokes and stories.

All of us would and listen as Mrs. Nora recounted the time when she sent her grandson to get Communion bread but he didn’t remind her that he wasn’t a confirmed Catholic yet; how she gave him a good licking that evening when they returned home. The pastor howled with laughter.

We would then interrupt their laughter to explain to them that we were ready to lock the building. The pastor would act surprised and apologize for losing track of time. We would wait another 10 minutes as they scrambled to distribute leftovers and gather their belongings. They wouldn’t even bother to help tidy back the area because they are now suddenly concerned about overstaying their time. They all apologized and thanked us for being so patient with them. We would then have to clean up all their spills, stains, used napkins, cups, pizza boxes and trays, re-wipe the tables, re-mop the floor and reposition the tables and chairs.

We would lock the restaurant and when we exited the building the church group would be outside hanging about near their vehicles, continuing their conversation. Most of us didn’t have vehicles and would struggle that late hour to get a taxi as the streets would be near-deserted.

None of the church group members would even consider offering us a ride as they left the restaurant in their cars.

The Pool Guy.

Lastly, there was a guy who would come in every day after work to place the same order of a mini pizza with chicken. I can’t remember his name but he would always mention to whomsoever was cashing that he was ‘building his pool.’ That pool must’ve been deeper than the Atlantic Ocean because for years he would always mention that pool that he was building.

I can say without the slightest doubt that pool-guy was an asshole. I’m not even going to try to be subtle about it. He was a certified piece of s**t. Of all the scummiest people I’ve met on this Earth, he ranks in the top 5.

Pool guy was a short hairy guy in his mid to late 30’s with a head full of graying hair. He always had a disheveled, resentful look as though he just woke up from a sleepless night with a terrible hangover. He was always making threats, harassing or trying to intimidate the mostly female workers to get some sort of preferential treatment i.e. being served before everyone else, getting more toppings on his pizza etc. Such tactics were common on an everyday basis but what set pool guy apart was that he naturally wanted to piss you off and provoke you to the limits of what is legally allowed.

Pool guy definitely had some personal problems in his life and saw the restaurant as a means to vent his anger and frustration. Pool guy seemed as though he couldn’t overcome certain obstacles/people in his life so instead he would channel this anger into abusing a bunch of hapless, minimum wage earning women in a fast food restaurant. His tactic was that he would enter the restaurant and with no common courtesy he would gruffly order his mini pizza with chicken. He would remind the cashier at what time he placed his order and would subtly threaten that waiting makes him angry and we really don’t want to see him when he’s angry.

He would then stand with arms folded, hearing distance away from the cashier, refusing to take his seat until he got his order. Most of us knew that he didn’t really care about the order. He got his thrill in harassing and psychologically abusing the more timid female staff at the front counter.

‘Go check on my order,’ he would demand every couple of minutes, ‘I’m waiting too long.’ Nothing thrilled him more than when his order took longer than the standard 15 minutes. Now he had an excuse to abuse.

‘Where is my order?’ he would shout. If no one answered him he would use this as an excuse to become vile. ‘ Like there’s only stupid, slow and uneducated people working in here?’

or

‘If I was your ‘child-father’ (baby-daddy) you would’ve moved faster.’

or

‘You could be a disappointment to your family but don’t disappoint me here today.’

The most pathetic thing about pool guy was that he would never dare behave like that in the presence of other customers. He would step away when a queue of customers were around and when they dispersed, like a rat coming out of his hole he would return to provoke and insult.

There was never a single moment where he displayed a likable side to him. When he was in a good mood, he wouldn’t threaten and abuse but he would instead rant about his achievements in life. He claimed that he owned a fleet of trucks and his family were of great wealth and status that they practically owned the entire North coast of Trinidad. He would talk about how he traded in his cars every five years, that he spent over 5 million on his house in the past three years and how he was thinking of widening the pool that he had under construction and choosing a different set of tiles than what he originally intended

I never met another delivery rider who didn’t feel like punching pool guy’s face in after being forced to listen to one of these boastful and selfish conversations.

Funny enough, we got word that his niece was to be employed at the restaurant. The day she arrived at the restaurant pool guy mysteriously stopped coming. His niece explained to us that he was the most detested member of the family. He did not own a fleet of trucks but rather worked loading goods on and off a truck for a major cosmetics retailer. Also, he lived, not in a $5 million dollar+ house but in a tiny annex at his parents’ house which was next to her parents. By no means did the family own any property at the North coast let alone the entire North Coast.

We asked if he had a pool and to our surprise she said yes, his family did indeed have a pool.

However it was nothing like he described. It looked more like this:

 

.

Roasted Tomato and Herbed Cheese Galette

This versatile, fresh and flavorful recipe can do it all: serve as a tasty main dish or get wows when you’re hosting a brunch! This galette, which is just another name for a simple, free-form pie, is also as pretty to look at as it is easy to make. The secret to this recipe is roasting the tomatoes, which enhances their sweetness, and helps even less-than-perfectly-ripe veggies taste delicious. Roasting is quick and easy, requiring minimal chopping. Just don’t skip the draining step, as that’s the key to avoiding a soggy crust. We bet that once you try this combination of buttery crust, herby cheese and sweet tomatoes, you’ll agree that this recipe is a keeper!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 crust from 1 box (14.1 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™ Pie Crusts (2 Count), softened as directed on box
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg white, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

“Prelude to WW3, nuclear weapons will be used.” Medvedev calls West’s security guarantees to Ukrain

"Us vs. Them"

New Zealand DROPS COVID Mask and Vax Requirements

New Zealand is dropping mask and vaccine mandates in sweeping COVID changes.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has declared it “time to safely turn the page” on New Zealand’s Covid-19 restrictions, scrapping all but a handful of remaining rules.

New Zealand, which once eliminated the virus through the toughest pandemic rules in the world, has made relaxations similar to Australian or European conditions.

Mask-wearing will no longer be mandatory in public places, and the last vaccine mandates will be ditched in two weeks under sweeping changes announced by the prime minister on Monday.“

For far too many people, this is too little, too late.  For them, the damage is already done; either from losing jobs due to Vax Mandates, or from getting sick (or dying) from the experimental vaccines themselves.

Ma and Pa Kettle pancakes

What are the steps taken by China to reduce poverty?

想致富，先修路 or, if you want to get rich, build roads first.

This was a popular slogan that was introduced in the early 1980s. Almost every Chinese has internalized this as a key national strategy towards prosperity and a better life.

China has held firm to the belief that if you connect people, wealth will naturally flow downstream and create virtuous cycles of opportunity. In engineering parlance, we call such a system positive feedback.

China connected in stages, starting from the coast. As she grew richer, she took on ever more ambitious projects in the challenging interior, from cutting through mountains, to spanning deep valleys, to bridging huge rivers. China already occupy many of the world’s top 10 records for the highest/longest bridge/tunnel/rail etc.

Once the connections arrive, modernization begins in the various cities, towns and villages served by the transport system.

All this can only happen with tandem growth in the electricity grid.

China from space, 1993

China from space, 2010

Villagers are given land and modern houses built as like-for-like replacements. Life is so good in some rural areas residents are reluctant to change their hukou for the city.

This is what has happened over and over again throughout China in the past 4 decades. The development was necessarily staged, because of the continental size and the abject low base she started from.

How did China eradicate so much poverty? She made money and spent it on the poor in a clever and efficient manner.

In other words, she pumped trillions to fill the gaping hole caused by poverty, and there is a ways to go before the poorest inland provinces reach parity with the coast.

I applaud the Chinese for their insistence on a Chinese interpretation of human rights focused on maximum community benefit.

Note: I had a friend ask if the Chinese are being extravagant building all these beautiful bridges and tunnels in challenging topography. The answer is no. The Chinese are trying to connect as many people as possible by equalizing geographical disadvantage.

Can I ask You a Personal Question? | Columbo

One of my very dear friends has a lovely daughter. Ronnie is beautiful, talented, and a very successful 40-year-old woman.

Eight years ago when she was 32 she met a great guy at work who was a year older than her, but had a great position within the company.

Falling In Love, Moving In Together, And A Marriage Proposal

Since they were both single, they started hanging out, eventually fell in love, and moved in together.

Everything was going great until they had been together two years and he surprised her by proposing to her on her 34th birthday.

She turned him down.

Even though they had discussed they were moving towards marriage, she decided when he proposed that she wasn’t finished shopping.

Shopping?

The Grass Just Has To Be Greener

Yes, for a much better partner option.

She decided maybe she could find a different guy who was more successful, made more money, was more exciting, fun, and perfect in every way.

Ronnie wanted everything and more in marriage and decided there just had to be someone much much better out there for her to find in the future.

When she turned her guy down he was shocked and heartbroken. He immediately moved out and stopped having any contact with her.

It was awkward at work so Ronnie left the company and got a new job elsewhere.

Guy #2

A year later she met another guy and they started spending time together. Guy #2 wasn’t nearly as great a catch as her ex-boyfriend.

She eventually dumped Guy #2 because she was disappointed in him. Ronnie didn’t believe he was worth her time or patience to cultivate a relationship.

Ronnie moved on quickly thinking she could definitely do better in love.

She wanted instant gratification. Her perfect guy was out there and she would find him without wasting all her time on someone unacceptable.

Searching For The Elusive Green Grass

From Guy #2 she quickly made her way through Guy #3, #4, and #5.

Each guy was much worse than the proceeding guy. All of them fell very far short of her very first ex-boyfriend who had proposed.

At least that is what she thought because she didn’t give any of the guys a real chance. If they didn’t seem like an easy relationship, she was out in an instant.

Although it had been a few years since she turned down his marriage proposal, she got up the nerve and contacted her ex-boyfriend.

To her shock, he had met someone else, gotten married and they were expecting their first child.

Ronnie was devastated.

Not only had she lost out on a great guy, but she also hasn’t found one even close. Now that she’s 40 the pickings are getting very thin.

She hasn’t been involved with another guy for a while and recently told me she has given up.

Then she said “I should have accepted that marriage proposal. I was an idiot.”

Ronnie didn’t let love grow into that perfect relationship she fantasized about.

When it was too late, she realized she had quit and walked away from the guy who really was the best one for her.

You know what they say, you snooze, you lose.

Not An Isolated Case

Sadly, Ronnie is not an isolated case.

I personally know at least 10 other women in the same exact or similar situation.

All of these women, all in their mid to late 30s, have had very good relationships with men and women.

They all walked away thinking they could do so much better.

They couldn’t and they didn’t.

Many People Don’t Have The Time To Commit To Love

Why? I don’t think any of them really understand what love is all about.

They don’t want to make some of the sacrifices love and commitment required.

It’s not all fun and games, excitement, thrills, and chills.

Love takes time.

It means investing in another person and sticking with them through the good times as well as the bad. It also means learning to love someone unconditionally.

Life isn’t always fun and games. Commitment can be very hard work. But it’s worth it in the long run.

Not everyone will agree, but I personally believe this is one of the biggest things wrong with relationships in today’s society.

Tucker Carlson: This is what the collapse of civilization looks like

Nation Hal Turner 12 September 2022

.

Denver, Colorado Emergency Management held a distribution of “Bug-Out Bags” to citizens on Saturday, from 10:00AM-2:00PM. They will do another one on . . . September 24.

Denver is one of the safest cities in America when considering natural disasters. They don’t get earthquakes, Hurricanes, Tornados, floods, not even wildfires. So why is Denver Emergency Management doing this?

These distribution events fall under the DenverREADY: Preparedness Program which is part of the National Preparedness Month movement, the theme of which is: Protecting your Legacy: The Life you’ve Built is Worth Protecting.

The brief video below provides details and critique – because what’s in this bag . . . won’t help you much at all. False sense of security.

.

.

The Harry Potter Feud with my mom.

We were visiting my hated aunt and uncle the summer I was sixteen or so. I couldn’t relate to the cousins my age, so I got delegated the task of entertaining the under-tens. We played with stuffed animals and barbies for a bit, and once they got bored and wandered off, I poked through the books. There it was, an innocent little paperback titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I’d barely heard of it and I thought, Heck, I’ve got a few hours to kill. If it’s boring I’ll forget about it.

So I started reading.

Now, I will say that a couple chapters in I was marginally sure my mom wouldn’t want me reading it if she knew what it was about. I’d long since learned never to ask her questions about fantasy books, and to lie when she asked me about them, because invariably she’d tell me I wasn’t allowed to read them. So I was prepared to lie about the content.

The story was interesting. Not what I’d call compelling, but I was at the end of my teenage years and it was about an eleven year old. I continued reading after dinner. After lights out I removed myself to the hopefully abandoned living room to finish it up. Mom was there, but ignored me when she saw a book in my hand. I was two chapters from finished when she asked the dreaded question: “What are you reading?”

Well, surely the title wouldn’t hurt. I wasn’t all that invested, so I looked at the cover and said, “Something called Harry Potter.” She couldn’t possibly object, knowing nothing of it.

I was wrong.

Mom immediately flipped out, stating it was evil and sinful and I wasn’t to read it. I was sick and tired of this shit. I said, “Too late! Two chapters left. Just let me finish the ending or it will keep me up all night wondering.”

She had to relent. We weren’t in her house and obviously her sister let her kids read it. It was a losing battle all around. However, within me a spark of defiance had been born. Mom didn’t like it? Alright, I was going to look for the second book.

And thus… book two, and then book three, borrowed from my neighbor and read at her house. Book four, purchased the day it came out by my sci-fi-reading dad and sneakily given to me when I came home. The fourth was what cemented my obsession. I started reading fanfic, and if you know anything about the Harry Potter fandom, the fic is prevalent.

I was there for the midnight release of the fifth book, in costume. I made my own wand out of antique spoon handles and epoxy. I dared to keep the books at the house, hidden. I went to the sixth book’s midnight release in costume with friends I’d made via the fandom and college (I was living at home through college).

Then, the disaster. Mom found the books. She lectured and yelled, and guilted me with religion until she had me crying and throwing the books out myself. I’m still heartbroken about that. Those weren’t just books. They were connections and memories to events, friends, and my dad/co-conspirator.

My dad was going through a hard time. He was finally sober, but had back pain gained on the job and they forced him to retire a year early and then decided to stiff him his benefits. Marijuana helped with the pain, so he was frequently stoned. He and I got along really well in that time, and one day I confessed about the books getting thrown out. He’d provided the money for half of them, and he was pissed.

“That bitch!” They were only together still for the sake of my younger brother. “C’mon. Get your shoes. We’re going to the used bookstore.”

About $70 later I had all six that were out, in hardcover, and my dad smoked weed in the car. I confessed I was Bisexual (this has changed a lot since then) and he said “Cool” and then helped me find guys and gals walking by that were hot.

I’ve been to every midnight movie showing in costume. Dad drove me to the final book release. I was moved out by then, but he wanted to take me. I’ve built so many memories and made wonderful friends because of the fandom. I write my own fanfiction and YA stories now. I have my own little Harry Potter shrine pride of place in my room.

But in the end it isn’t just for my prime fandom. It’s for my late dad, and its thumbing my nose at my mom. It’s my declaration that I grew up and learned to make and do for myself. And guess what, mom? It never turned me to practicing witchcraft. However the attitude I received about this and many other things made me stop being a Christian.

A Chinese boy wanted to meet his girlfriend who was 2500 km away. He decided to meet her un-announced. He thought she would be surprised and would be happy seeing him.

He traveled 2500 km all excited to meet her. When he reached her college, a classmate of the girl said she had gone to the nearby mall for shopping. So, he dresses himself like a teddy bear and goes to the nearby mall.

There what he found!!…..”his girlfriend was in the arms of another boy

The man put on the bear’s head again to hide his tears. The girlfriend then chased after the man as he walked away from the two without saying a word.

He didn’t stop.. he wept and kept going!

I know what she said; "It's not what you think". -MM

Zoe

This is Zoe a few weeks after I got her. She was about six months old.

It took me five years to be able to adopt another cat after I lost her predecessor. She’s a good girl.

She spent her first two or so months on the street and while her foster is a nice lady she didn’t do much in the way of socializing her. Her kitty instincts are a little awkward. her idea of hunting is just waving her paw in the air in the direction of a toy.

She is horrifically and deservedly over spoiled.

But when you wake up to stuff like this its easy to understand.

UPDATED 10:15 PM EDT — Russia Launches MASSIVE Missile Barrage – Hitting POWER PLANTS for first time

World Hal Turner 11 September 2022

.

2:04 PM EDT Sunday, September 11, 2022 — Within the past three hours, Russia has launched (and continues to launch) a massive barrage of cruise missiles against Ukraine. For the first time, they are hitting Electric Generating Stations. Blackouts are now reported in many areas of Ukraine.

Sources inside the war zone caught video of Russian naval vessels, surface and submarine, launching “Kalibr” cruise missiles in almost every direction!

UPDATE 2:27 PM EDT —

Power stations hit, multiple western Ukrainian cities lost power.

Poltava, Sumy, Kremenchug and Kharkov lost power as well

UPDATE 2:29 PM EDT —

Reports coming from Ukrainian sources that, IN ADDITION TO THE CITIES LISTED ABOVE, Dnepropetrovsk, AND THE ENTIRE OBLAST OF ZAPOROZHYE have also been hit with total electrical blackouts.

This targeting of electric generating plants is a major change from how Russia has conducted itself for the prior 6+ months.

(HT REMARK: This . . . this right here . . .  is going to turn the Ukrainian people against the Kiev regime.  I suspect it will do so, fast.)

 UPDATE 2:33 PM EDT —

Images are beginning to come in showing burning power plants.

MORE:

Kharkiv Combined Heat-and-Power Plant (CHPP) No. 5 (Kharkiv CHPP-5), one of the most powerful CHP-plants in Ukraine— located near the village of Podvirky; was also hit .

MORE:

Dergachev city administration reports missile attacks on critical infrastructure.

Heating and power out

UPDATE 2:38 PM EDT —

The high voltage transmission lines have been knocked down in the Sumy region – the head of the OVA Dmytro Zhyvitsky has announced.  He says “Russia’s Navy is obliterating Ukrainian infrastructure.”

(HT REMARK: For 6 months critical infrastructure was not obliterated, broadcasting systems were not shut down. Even major transportation hubs were not destroyed. It looks like the gloves came off…)

BULLETIN

2:45 PM EDT —

Public water supplies in Kharkov and in Dnepropetrovsk are now OFFLINE.   No running water.

UPDATE 3:00 PM EDT —

Ukrainian residents ordered to disconnect devices from the ELECTRICAL GRID as power equalization efforts begins amid Ukraine’s struggle with remaining reserves. 

UPDATE 3:07 PM EDT —

Electric trains stop across ALL Ukraine as power goes out amid hits on critical infrastructure.

Ukraine’s air raid alarm map warning system . .  HAS STOPPED WORKING

MAP OF DESTROYED POWER PLANTS 

Ones marked in color RED

I have received an **initial** report saying the power plants showing in RED below are either offline or destroyed:

UPDATE 6:01 PM EDT —

In addition to Multiple major power outages there are major water stoppages being reported, by Ukraine, In Kharkov, Kyiv, Kremenchug, Pavlograd, Poltava, Dnepropetrovsk & Sumy regions

POWER PLANT FIRE UPDATE – 6:05 PM EDT

In the UPDATE 2:33 PM shown above, we reported that Combined Heat and Power plant (CHPP) Number 5 in Kharkiv had been hit by a cruise missile and was on fire.

UPDATE 10:15 PM EDT —

Power outages have now spread to the neighboring countries of Moldova at the southwest of Ukraine and to . . .  Poland at the northwest of Ukraine.  Border crossing areas at the Poland Border appear to have no electricity.

In addition, INTERNET CONNECTIVITY has plummeted throughout Ukraine as shown on the chart below:

What is the scariest thing ever discovered by archaeologists?

The meat pits of ancient Rome

For centuries, tens of thousands of Romans who could not afford a wake were thrown into open pits near Porta Esquilina.

Some of these pits known as carnaria (“flesh pit”) or puticuli (“places of decay”) were discovered in the late 19th century by archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani. His story is worth quoting:

“The Esquiline cemetery was divided into two parts: One for those who could afford to be buried separately… and one for the slaves, beggars, prisoners, among others, who were thrown into the loathsome mass of the mass graves.
This last part of the cemetery had about three hundred meters; There were found a few thousand puticuli about four meters square and nine meters deep, of which I found and examined something like seventy-five. In many cases the contents of these pits were reduced to a uniform mass. , dark, slimy, pestilent, greasy;in some situations the bones stood out and could be identified. The reader will hardly believe it when I say that men and beasts, bodies and carcasses and all manner of refuse from the city ended up in these dens.” ( Ancient Rome in the light of recent discoveries (Boston, 1898), 64–5)

Next, Lanciani reports, an apartment building collapsed into a mass grave:

“During the foundation of a house, on the corner of Via Carlo-Alberto and Via Mazzini, the builder began to fill the ten-foot-deep trenches below street level. Suddenly the southern part of the ground gave way, and half of the area was swallowed by a ditch 9 meters deep. After examining the circumstances of the catastrophe, it was concluded that the southern portion [of the building] was built in the area of ​​a cesspool, with thousands of corpses, which when in contact with the air after twenty centuries, they were reduced to dust or nothingness, leaving the moat open.

According to measurements taken at the time, this mass of human remains was at least fifty meters long, thirty meters wide and nine meters deep . Given each body half a cubic meter of space which is more than enough, there were no less than twenty four thousand bodies in that relatively small space.

The tens of thousands of corpses thrown into the pits outside the Esquiline gate were mixed with the excrement and all the waste generated by about a million inhabitants of Rome. Even after two millennia the smell of this mixture was overpowering.

Kiki

When I was 16 or so, I came home from school and made some soup on the stove in a big pot. I sliced carrots, onions, potatoes, celery, and various herbs. First I let them caramelize: then I deglazed it with some wine followed by a lot of hot water. Excited about my work I turn down the heat so I could let it sit for a while.

Anyway, I went to my room ready to play some games on my pc. Stoned and easily distracted as I was, I forgot about my delicious soup. So, when I was watching a movie, my cat started meowing at me, however, more intensely than usual. The meowing was a very high pitched more aggressive tone.

At first I thought she was hungry, so I said: “Kiwi, come on, you just had some food 3 hours ago.” Then it hit me. When I opened the door to my room, I was standing in front of a black cloud that filled my entire apartment.

First thing I did was open my window and lock my cat in my room, then I went to the bathroom next to my room and made myself a mask from a wet towel. Afterwards I ran to the kitchen, took the red glowing and smoking pot off of the stove, opened the balcony door, turned off the heat, breathed some fresh air, and ran to the living room. There I opened the remaining windows to create air flow. Luckily no one called the firefighters.

So this is Kiwi; she is 20 years old now.

Nauru!

What is so strange about this island, you ask? Y’all better buckle up for this one…

Nauru, the third smallest State in the world, is literally a giant pile of sh¡t. No, no, let me explain…

You see, Nauru is an island largely made of phosphate rock. What is phosphate rock? Phosphates are a key ingredient in agriculture and are mined extensively around the world. One of the ways phosphates are made is through the excrement of birds and bats.

And oh boy, Nauru was just littered with phosphates!

You see, Nauru was sitting on top of a pile of excrement gold and everyone knew it. So, in 1968, when Nauru gained independence from Australia, A LOT of mining began. So much so that Nauru was briefly one of the richest countries in the world during the 70’s and 80’s.

Big deal. So what? Well, this is Nauru from far away.

Looks nice? Let’s take a closer look…

No, that isn’t some dystopian hellscape…

That’s what left of the island’s interior because Nauru got a little mining crazy…

However, after years of very intensive mining, there is almost no phosphate left on the island.

But at least Nauru used the money to invest in its people and left them with a high standard of living, right? Think again.

Nauru made a series of terrible investments and its elites squandered billions on vanity projects. Within 40 years, Nauru went from being extremely rich to quite poor. But at least the locals have some beautiful industrial art to look at..

These structures were used to transport phosphate into ships for export.

Sadly they are now useless rusting hulks.

Oh, but that is not the end of the story!

Nauru is famous in other ways. For instance, Nauru’s approximately 10,000 people are among the most obese in the world with over 70% of adults considered obese. And the island became (in)famous for having one of the most prevalent rates of adult diabetes in the world. This is because Nauru must import cheap, nutrient poor, food since the island’s land is unable to grow much of anything.

But the weird doesn’t stop there, my friends…

Nauru is now an importer of refugees.

Nauru is so poor it had to make a deal with Australia.. in return for debt relief and cash payments Nauru now hosts the infamous Australian migrant detention camps. So when refugees from South East Asia flee to Australia and are caught they are promptly shipped out to Nauru.

As you can see, these migrants are quite content with their new home.

And that’s all folks.

The Stage Is Being Set For A Massive Global Rice Shortage

September 11, 2022 by Michael

.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.  For months, I have been writing article after article about the rapidly growing global food crisis, but even though drought is devastating so many other crops all over the planet I thought that there would be plenty of rice in 2023.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  As you will see below, some of the biggest rice producers in the entire world are being hit really hard, and rice production is going to be way below expectations this year.  Of course rice is one of the primary staples that poor nations depend upon, and so this is a really big deal.  If there is a serious shortage of rice in 2023, that is going to have enormous implications for all of us.

An announcement that India just made should be front page news all over the globe right now.

India usually accounts for over 40 percent of all worldwide rice shipments, but now they have placed severe restrictions on all future exports this year…

India banned exports of broken rice and imposed a 20% duty on exports of various grades of rice on Thursday as the world’s biggest exporter of the grain tries to augment supplies and calm local prices after below-average monsoon rainfall curtailed planting.

India exports rice to more than 150 countries, and any reduction in its shipments would increase upward pressure on food prices, which are already rising because of drought, heat-waves and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Did you catch that last sentence?

150 different nations depend on rice from India.

So where are they going to get their rice?

Normally, India exports more rice than the next four largest exporters combined…

India’s rice exports touched a record 21.5 million tons in 2021, more than the combined shipments of the world’s next four biggest exporters of the grain: Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States.

Europe certainly isn’t going to make up the difference.

Italy is the biggest rice producer in the European Union, and it is being projected that rice production in that nation will be down about 30 percent this year due to the endless drought that Europe is currently experiencing…

The unfavorable weather has already taken a serious toll on the rice industry. Estimates say farmers are expecting to lose around 30 percent of their yields this year, and the industry has already hemorrhaged around $3 billion as a result of the drought. Many of the most stricken fields are in the regions of Lombardy and Piedmont, which together produce around 90 percent of Italy’s rice.

Rice production is going to be way down in the United States as well.

California usually produces about 20 percent of all U.S. rice, but this year a severe lack of water for agricultural purposes is making things exceedingly difficult for rice growers in the state…

Rice farmers in Colusa County, 60 miles north of Sacramento, received 18% of the federal water shipments to which they are entitled, far less than normal and too little for many to grow the crop at all.

“Even in a drought, rice farmers have been able to get a fairly high percentage of the water they had rights to,” said Tim Johnson, chief executive of the California Rice Commission. “Now they are experiencing drought at a level they’ve never seen before.”

What we are witnessing is truly unprecedented.

I know that this may be hard to believe, but it is being reported that “about 300,000 out of the 550,000 acres committed to rice growing in California will go without harvest” in 2022.  The following comes from Zero Hedge…

New satellite imagery shows a large swath of California’s rice fields has been left barren without harvest as fears of a ‘mini dust bowl’ emerge due to diminishing water supplies.

Kurt Richter, a third-generation rice farmer in Colusa, the rice capital of California, told San Francisco Chronicle that fields upon fields of the grain have already transformed into a “wasteland.”

A report via the US Department of Agriculture shows about 300,000 out of the 550,000 acres committed to rice growing in California will go without harvest. This could potentially drive up sushi prices nationwide because most of the rice produced in the state is for just that.

Of course many other crops are being hit extremely hard as well.

California normally produces approximately a third of our vegetables and about two-thirds of our fruits and nuts, and the lack of production this year is already starting to show up on our store shelves…

High temperatures in the Western U.S. are hitting the produce industry, damaging crops, shrinking shipments, and leaving fewer leafy greens and fruits on supermarket shelves.

A California grower said some of his lettuce leaves are turning brown and melting in the fields because of crop diseases intensified by the high temperatures. In Pennsylvania, a retailer said its stores went a week without having strawberries to sell. A New York distributor has substituted honeydew melons for watermelons, which have become scarce.

Supermarkets say they are giving less shelf space to products with weather-induced discolorations, bruises or burns. Stores are cutting prices on poor-quality items to avoid getting stuck with them, and increasingly receiving products from Canada, Florida, New Jersey and Ohio instead of California, long the go-to source for U.S. grocers.

This crisis is only going to get worse in the months ahead.

I have been encouraging my readers to get prepared for a very long time, and I hope that you have taken that advice.

All over the planet, agricultural production is going to be way below original projections this year.  For example, just check out what is happening to olive oil production in Spain…

In July, temperatures broke records to top 40 degrees Celsius (104.5 degrees Fahrenheit) across parts of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. By early August, sweltering heat and a lack of rainfall had pushed almost two-thirds of land in the European Union into drought conditions, according to the European Drought Observatory.

Olive oil producers have been hit hard. Kyle Holland, a pricing analyst for oilseeds and grains at Mintec, a commodities data company, expects a “dramatic reduction” of between 33% and 38% in Spain’s olive oil harvest that begins in October.

Spain is the world’s biggest producer of olive oil, accounting for more than two-fifths of global supply last year, according to the International Olive Council. Greece, Italy and Portugal are also major producers.

For a lot more data points on the rapidly growing global food crisis, please see my previous article entitled “A List Of 33 Things We Know About The Coming Food Shortages”.

None of us have ever faced anything like this.

The food that will not be harvested in the months ahead will not be on our store shelves in 2023.

Food prices are going to rise to absolutely ridiculous levels, and the head of the UN is already warning of “multiple famines” next year.

This is not a drill.  Food shortages really are coming, and our world will be changing in wild and unpredictable ways.

A purrrrfect cat

When my sister was 17 she was hit while out running and left in the street.

Nearly 2 years later she had miraculously recovered and one day we went to the local Humane Society.

She decided that she wanted a cat of her own, but after playing with all the cats and kittens, none felt right. On the way out we caught a glimpse of the back room where there were a few kittens in cages. We asked why they were segregated and the volunteer said the tiny grey kitten had been found near his mom’s body, hit by a car and left on the side of the road.

I never saw my sister pull out money so fast.

But there was another problem. He had a severe eye infection. At best they hoped he would be able to see shadows to navigate. I am legally blind, with an eye condition that gets worse as I age.

Well fuck, now I’m taking out money too.

Long story short, not too long after the adoption my sister abruptly decided to move away for school, and couldn’t take the kitten with her. Plus he had been bonding with my cat.

He is now 7 years old. I think he can see more than shadows but I do need to thoroughly clean his eyes every day. We trip over one another a lot. He is a fat lazy spoiled indoor housecat.

He was destined to be here. Among his people

**EDIT** to add a few more photos. Including his dapper oil painting🤣

It’s in the cards

When I was 19 – 20 I dated somebody who I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

I was madly in love with this woman—she made me happy, but I was quite controlling, and lacked trust in her. In retrospect, this lack of trust stemmed from the fact that she kissed another guy (at a bar) while she was dating somebody else in her previous relationship. I’m not justifying my behaviour; it was cruel, selfish, and toxic.

In my mind, a huge step in self-improvement is being honest with your short-comings in the past; recognizing where you fell short, and actively identifying that behaviour as negative behaviour is a HUGE step. I was controlling. I was possessive. I was toxic. But we were toxic for each other.

Anyway, continuing with the story.

At one point during our relationship I became somewhat fascinated by Tarot cards. Now, I don’t really believe in divination, but this experience… freaked me out. A lot. I am a man of science, reason, rationality… the thought of these cards actually doing anything made me laugh, but what happened really freaked me out.

One day I asked the cards “Give me one card to describe my girlfriend.”

The Devil card showed up.

“Huh,” I thought to myself, looking from the card, to her. “Weird. Let’s try this again. Give me one card to represent my girlfriend.”

Again… The Devil card came up.

I was shocked. Once could have been a fluke, twice… yeah, probably also a fluke.

I raised an eyebrow.

“Weird,” I repeated. I looked at her, and her eyes were as big as saucers. “I don’t know why this card keeps coming up.”

Then the card showed up again. And again. And again. No matter how many fucking times I shuffled, no matter HOW MANY WAYS I SHUFFLED, that same card came up. I even spread them all out on the floor, messed them up with my eyes closed, etc. My heart felt like it sunk into the pit of my stomach.

I didn’t really pay much attention to it afterwards. I just concluded that it was, logically, my subconscious mind paying attention to that card, because her lies and deception is what I feared most.

The strange thing was, though, is that for the entire month that I was interested in tarot cards, she had been talking to her ex on a daily basis. I found that out after she cheated on me.

That will stick with me for the rest of my life. The card really did represent her—at least, her at the time. It was almost as if it were a warning from the universe. Almost.

The scientific and rational part of me is also saying that it was merely blind chance; just a sheer, high improbability. The chance of me getting the devil card five times in a row is (1/78)^5, so about 0.0000000346%! I have higher chances of winning the lottery.

The non-scientific, non-rational part of me asks…

Was it?

Princess Xixi

My Princess Xixi here does not bother much about food.

When I feed her she quite often does not even touch it until later, by next mealtime the bowl will be empty, but it is not the first thing on her mind, She would quite often just smell the food and come straight back onto my lap.

I had to go into hospital for 4 days, and she hardly ate anything, just walikng around the house and crying, she looked everywhere, did not even sleep much. Kept my wife awake as she has a very loud voice when required.

When I came home she was in raptures, never left my side for days thinking I would disappear again.

So no! Food is not the only thing for them.

“The Man Who Fired the Gun is Still in This Room” | Columbo

[...] our attempts in this direction failed, however, due to the fact that this substance has a terrible odor, which spreads in an astonishingly short time and contaminates whole parts of the city.[...] The intensity of the odor of this substance exceeds, according to our perceptions, everything that has become known in this respect from strong-smelling substances."

To illustrate the intensity of the odor, the authors describe an attempt to produce thioacetone from 100 grams of acetone. The experiment took place in Freiburg, Germany. In doing so:

"[...] the odor spread in a short time to distances of 3/4 kilometer to far-flung parts of the city. Inhabitants of the streets adjacent to the laboratory complained that the smelling substance had caused fainting fits, nausea and vomiting in some persons.[...] Extremely small quantities of the sulfurous body are thus sufficient to pollute millions of cubic meters of air."

Over The Past Week We Have Gotten Several Steps Closer To A Nuclear War With Russia

Most Americans are unaware how close Russia and Ukraine came to ending the current war in April.

Last March 27, Ukraine president Zelensky told his people “Our goal is obvious – peace and the restoration of normal life in our native state as soon as possible.”

He was hinting at what went unsaid: Ukraine and Russia, brokered by NATO member Turkey, reached a tentative fifteen-point peace plan to end the month old war.

Key points were Russia withdraw from all Ukraine except for breakaway Donbas and Crimea. Ukraine would pass on future NATO membership, pledging neutrality between Russia and NATO. Donbas and Crimea would undergo political transition based on self-determination to be recognized by both combatants. Ukraine security would be guaranteed by neighboring countries but no foreign troops would enter Ukraine.

The Ukraine military’s stunning offensive gained momentum Monday, reclaiming several more northeastern villages and forcing the retreat of overwhelmed Russian troops from the region.

A Russian-installed official in the Kharkiv region said Ukrainian forces outnumbered Russian troops by 8-to-1 and had broken through to the Russian border. Vitaly Ganchev told the state-owned Rossiya-24 television channel on Monday “the situation is becoming more difficult by the hour.”

The Rossiya-24 news channel on Monday interviewed Vitaly Ganchev, a Russian-appointed official in the Kharkiv region, who said that Russian troops in the province had been outnumbered “eight times over.” He also said, without providing evidence, that Ukrainian forces had been bolstered by “Western mercenaries”.

A shocking new video is believed to show a massive explosion at a Ukrainian power plant after a Russian missile strike which plunged the region into darkness.

The video shows the blast at Kharkiv’s CHPP-5 power plant, which is followed by a devastating shockwave that ripples out in all directions, rattling the house the person filming is standing in.

Other videos show strikes on several power stations, which collectively shut off power to almost one third of Ukraine.

Large clashes broke out between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces along the border between the two countries on Monday night, according to Azerbaijani and Armenian Defense Ministries.

Azerbaijani artillery and UAVs reportedly targeted sites in Vardenis, Goris, Sotk and Jermuk in eastern Armenia.

A former president and prime minister of Russia on Monday dismissed reports of Ukrainian gains and warned the Kremlin might ultimately demand “total surrender” of the Kyiv regime. Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of his nation’s Security Council, alluded to Zelenskyy’s refusal to conduct a dialogue “with those who put forward ultimatums.”

“The current ‘ultimatums’ are a warm-up for kids, a preview of demands to be made in the future,” Medvedev said. “He (Zelenskyy) knows them: the total surrender of the Kyiv regime on Russia’s terms.”

Sounds to me like President Biden has committed American ground troops to fighting Russians directly in Ukraine. Yikes! -MM

American satellites are being destroyed in orbit. Russia?
-MM

The American “Galaxy 11” communications satellite has partially collapsed/broken-up while in orbit.  Fragments from the satellite pose a danger to other, existing satellites.

Information about this satellite:

Satellite Name: Galaxy 11 (G-11)
Status: active
Position: 93° W (93.1° W)
NORAD: 26038
Cospar number: 1999-071A
Operator: Intelsat
Launch date: 21-Jan-1999
Launch site: Guiana Space Center
Launch vehicle: Ariane 44L
Launch mass (kg): 4488
Dry mass (kg): 2775
Manufacturer: Boeing (Hughes)
Model (bus): BSS-702
Orbit: Inclined
Expected lifetime: 14 yrs.
Call sign: S2253
Beacon(s): 11701V, 11702V, 11701LHCP, 11702LHCP
Details:

24 C-band, 40 Ku-band transponders

No word yet as to why the satellite is breaking apart, or whether its orbit is deteriorating.  If so, there is also no word about where, or when, it might come back to earth.

Other countries with satellites are very perturbed by this because they say that pieces from the U.S. satellite now pose a collision danger with THEIR satellites.

The Taiwan Policy Act of 2022

The Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 promotes the security of Taiwan, ensures regional stability, and deters People’s Republic of China (PRC) aggression against Taiwan.

It also threatens severe sanctions against the PRC for hostile action against Taiwan.

The Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 creates a new initiative to bolster Taiwan’s defense capabilities,

• providing almost $4.5 billion in security assistance over the next four years and
• designating Taiwan as a “Major Non–NATO Ally”;
• reforms bureaucratic practices and procedures to bolster support for Taiwan’s democratic government;
• provides additional support for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations and in multilateral trade agreements;
• takes concrete steps to counter PRC’s aggressive influence campaigns;
• creates a Taiwan Fellowship Program; and
• establishes a robust sanctions regime to deter further PRC aggression against Taiwan.

Download HERE

Just Like In September 2008, Many Investors Fear That A Dangerous Chain Reaction Is Starting On Wall Street

Do you remember the panic that swept through Wall Street in September 2008?  Well, a lot of people believe that it is starting to happen again.  And once selling starts to spiral out of control, it is going to be incredibly difficult to stop.  On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,276 points.  That was the seventh biggest single day decline in history, and on a point basis it was actually larger than anything that we witnessed back in 2008.  Investors were bitterly disappointed by the monthly inflation report, because it showed that everything that the Fed has done so far has not worked.  It appears to be inevitable that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates in a desperate attempt to get inflation under control, and that has put Wall Street in a very sour mood.

The widespread selling that we saw on Tuesday was more than just a little bit frightening.  The Dow just kept plunging throughout the day, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq actually performed even worse than the Dow did…

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1,276.37 points, or 3.94%, to close at 31,104.97. The S&P 500 dropped 4.32% to 3,932.69, and the Nasdaq Composite sank 5.16% to end the day at 11,633.57.

Just five stocks in the S&P 500 finished in positive territory. Tech stocks were hit particularly hard, with Facebook-parent Meta skidding 9.4% and chip giant Nvidia shedding 9.5%.

This was the worst day for stocks since the early days of the pandemic.

But one bad day does not make a crisis.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

But when you compare the current behavior of the stock market to how it behaved just prior to the crash of 2008, the similarities are astounding.

If you doubt this, just check out this chart.

It certainly isn’t going to take much to spark a massive rush for the exits.  If a bad inflation number can cause the sort of stampede that we witnessed on Tuesday, what would happen if we received some really bad news?

Not that I am downplaying the severity of the inflation report.  Consumer prices have now been going up for 27 months in a row, and what is happening to food is especially alarming…

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that prices on all items in the United States increased by 8.3 percent from August of 2021 to August of 2022, with the price of gasoline rising 25.6 percent, the price of electricity rising 15.8 percent and the price of food rising 11.4 percent.

The report indicated that the 11.4 percent year-to-year increase in the price of food was the highest in 43 years.

If you have been to the supermarket lately, you already know that food prices have risen to very painful levels.

And some of our most important staples such as milk, flour and eggs are leading the way…

Americans browsing the supermarket aisle will notice most food items are far more expensive than they were a year ago. Egg prices soared 39.8%, while flour got 23.3% more expensive. Milk rose 17% and the price of bread jumped 16.2%.

Meat and poultry also grew costlier. Chicken prices jumped 16.6%, while meats rose 6.7% and pork increased 6.8%. Fruits and vegetables together are up 9.4%.

The “experts” at the Fed don’t seem to understand that hiking interest rates won’t fix this.

We are in the early stages of a historic global food crisis that is going to be with us for a long time to come.  The biggest reason why food prices are increasing so aggressively is because there simply isn’t enough supply.

So the Fed can try to hammer demand as much as it wants, but people are still going to have to buy food and hiking interest rates is not going to help us produce any additional food.

If anything, higher rates may put a damper on food production.

This is a totally different environment from the early 1980s, and those that believe that higher rates will tame inflation like they did back then are just being delusional.

But just like we saw back in 2008, higher rates will crush the U.S. housing market and the economy as a whole.

During a recent interview, billionaire John Catsimatidis asked the Federal Reserve to stop raising rates because if we stay on the path that we are on it will “destroy the rest of the country”…

So I call upon the Federal Reserve…If we keep raising interest rates, we’re going to destroy the rest of the country.

Somebody has to stand up and say it doesn’t have to happen. And they’re going to destroy the rest of the country. And there is a recession, it could turn into a depression.

Are you willing to go through an economic depression just to get the inflation rate back down to acceptable levels?

If not, that is too bad, because the Federal Reserve is not accountable to you.

And we are already starting to see signs that higher rates are having a really negative impact on hiring plans…

Based on the latest data from U.S. small businesses (SMBs), the demand for labor has declined again, with nearly two out of every three (63%) putting their hiring on hold because they can’t afford to add staff, and 10% of that group is laying off workers.

This decline is quite significant, as it’s 18% higher than it was in July (at just 45%). Beyond that, the percentage reducing their staff jumped 6% to 10% this month from just 4% in July.

Just like in 2008, vast numbers of Americans will lose their jobs in the months ahead.

Are you sure that your job is secure?

Economic conditions are rapidly deteriorating all around us, and our short-term problems could get a whole lot worse if 100,000 railroad workers decide to initiate a work stoppage on Friday…

President Biden and senior administration officials are working with others in the transportation industry, including truckers, shippers, and air freight, for “contingency plans” if a rail shutdown materializes at the end of the week, a White House official told Bloomberg.

The administration is trying to understand what supply chains could be disrupted the most — and how to utilize other forms of transportation to ensure commodities and consumer goods continue to flow across the country.

More than 100,000 railroad workers could walk off the job on Friday if freight-rail companies and unions don’t reach labor agreements.

Let us hope that such a work stoppage can be avoided.

But even if it can, there is no short-term hope on the horizon.

Our current crop of leaders is the worst in all of U.S. history, and they have us on a path that leads to national economic suicide.

So many of us have been pleading with Fed officials to stop raising rates, because higher rates will absolutely cripple our economy.

Unfortunately, they don’t really care what any of us think, and they have made it quite clear that more extremely foolish rate hikes are dead ahead.

I would encourage you to brace yourself for a full-blown national economic meltdown, because that is precisely where the Fed’s policies will take us.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea S4Eps05 Sealed Orders

Yesterday, as reported by the Hal Turner Radio Show via global shortwave, the country of Azerbaijan commenced military attacks against its neighbor, Armenia. Heavy Artillery, Mortar, and Rocket fire came from Azerbaijan into Armenia.

As seen on the map above, the red dots indicate the areas attacked; all of which are inside Armenia proper and **not** in any disputed land area. This is a deliberate attack on Armenia by the Azerbaijani military. Nothing to do with a “border clash.”

This new clash comes just shy of two months after a historic deal between Europe and Azerbaijan for natural gas supplies.

Azerbaijan To Ramp Up Gas Exports To Europe By 30%

On July 18, it was announced “Azerbaijan will increase natural gas exports to Europe this year by 30 percent as the EU seeks to lessen its dependence on Russian energy amid the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said that over the eight months of this year, Baku “supplied to Europe 7.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas.”

“The overall volume of (gas) supplies to Europe in 2022 will amount to 12 billion cubic meters” — a 31 percent increase compared to 2021, he said.”

So here it is, just two months or so later, Azerbaijan is now flush with cash, and starting new military hostilities with its neighbor.

It is no small aside that both Armenia and Azerbailjan are on Russia’s southern border.  In fact, this morning, Armenia publicly announced it will seek Russian military help under the CTSO Treaty, to deal with Azerbaijan’s latest military attacks.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSO)  is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia. The CSTO consists of select post-Soviet states. The treaty had its origins in the Soviet Armed Forces, which was replaced by the United Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and then by the successor armed forces of the respective independent states.

Similar to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty (CST) establishes that an aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances.

This outbreak of hostilities seems like a NATO tactic.  It __could__ serve to force Russia into a second military front, the first being its ongoing Special Military Operation in Ukraine.

And since Europe is now desperate for Azerbailjan natural gas, one can expect Europe to turn a blind eye to Azaerbaijan’s militarism, because Europe needs natural gas.

What makes this new outbreak of hostilities very worrisome is how easily it could mushroom into NATO v. CTSO.

A world war . . .  starting in . . . Armenia and Azerbaijan?   On its face, in normal times, such a thought would be ridiculous.  Today, it is quite possible.

And so it goes . . .

The Church – Under The Milky Way

Brazil bans sales of iPhones without USB power adapters

Unethical to sales I complete products , as most old and news customers customers world have expect a charger to be included in the box. The looting civilisation is simply too creative in the method of looting.

Brazil bans sales of iPhones without USB power adapters - BBC News

In a statement on Tuesday, Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security said it has fined Apple 12.275 million reais (£2.04m).

Apple will appeal against the ban.

The company told Reuters in a statement it would work with Brazilian authorities to "resolve their concerns," but added it has previously won several court rulings in Brazil on the issue.

.

Lost In Space – Dr. Smith Vs The Robot

"The one-time success at the front [Last week] is only beautifully shown in the press. The death toll along the entire line of clashes has exceeded ten thousand {Ukrainians], the wounded fill all hospitals, there is a shortage of ambulances. The [Russian] Allied forces put the Nazis in one fight by the hundreds. And then the political situation deteriorated. There were rumors in Ukraine that it was Russia who "retreated" to make a camouflage maneuver before something grandiose.

While the "patriots" were waiting for a respite, Russia hit the power facilities. Earlier, Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny reported to Zelensky about the formation of a large naval group of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, including amphibious assault ships.

The West fears that the failure of the grain scam is to blame. 

First, Putin pointed out at the WEF that Russia and poor countries were deceived in the grain deal. Then Erdogan admitted it. The UN Secretary General also had to admit this, although an attempt was made to wriggle out. In the USA, they said that everything was fine, but soon their experts still recognized the lack of proper effect from the increase in grain on the market.

Ukraine and more of its sponsors, apparently, have been given a tough ultimatum: either grain goes to Africa, and Russia opens an international food market, or the Russian Navy again blocks Ukrainian ports, but this time with the landing of [Russian] troops with the destruction of the entire port infrastructure. In parallel, the entire Ukrainian infrastructure will "lie down". How this will approximately happen has already been shown. It could be said that it was a hint about the consequences if Russia's interests were ignored."

                -- Sergey Lavrov

The Kiev camarilla gave birth to the project of "security guarantees", which in fact are a prologue to the Third World War. Of course, no one will give any "guarantees" to the Ukrainian Nazis. After all, this is almost the same as applying Article 5 of the North Atlantic Pact (Washington Treaty) to Ukraine. For NATO, it's the same, only side view. That's why it's scary.

Our sworn friends – Western bosses of various calibres, to whom this hysterical appeal is addressed – must finally understand one simple thing. It directly concerns the hybrid war between NATO and Russia. If these idiots continue the unrestrained pumping of the Kiev regime with the most dangerous types of weapons, then sooner or later the military campaign will move to another level. Visible borders and potential predictability of the actions of the parties to the conflict will disappear from it. It will follow its own military scenario, involving new participants in it. It has always been so. (Emphasis added by HTRS) 

And then Western countries will not be able to sit in their clean houses and apartments, laughing at how they are carefully weakening Russia with someone else's hands. Everything will catch fire around them. Their people will grab grief in full. They will literally have the earth burning and concrete melting. We'll get a lot of it, too. It will be very, very bad for everyone. After all, it is said: "From these three plagues, from fire, smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths, a third part of the people died" (Rev 9:18).

But while the narrow-minded politicians and their dim-witted think tanks, thoughtfully twirling a glass of wine in their hands, talk about how they can deal with us without entering into a direct war. Dull idiots with a classical education.

     -- Dmitry Medvedev

The Red Boat

A man was asked to paint a boat. He brought his paint and brushes and began to paint the boat a bright red❤️, as the owner had asked him.

While painting, he noticed a small hole in the hull, and quietly repaired it.

When he finished painting, he received his money and left.

The next day, the owner of the boat came to the painter and presented him with a nice check, much higher than the payment for painting.

The painter was surprised and said “You’ve already paid me for painting the boat Sir!”

“But this is not for the paint job. It’s for repairing the hole in the boat.”

“Ah! But it was such a small service… certainly it’s not worth paying me such a high amount for something so insignificant.”

“My dear friend, you do not understand. Let me tell you what happened:

When I asked you to paint the boat, I forgot to mention the hole.

When the boat dried, my kids took the boat and went on a fishing trip.

They did not know that there was a hole. I was not at home at that time.

When I returned and noticed they had taken the boat, I was desperate because I remembered that the boat had a hole.

Imagine my relief and joy when I saw them returning from fishing.

Then, I examined the boat and found that you had repaired the hole!

You see, now, what you did? You saved the life of my children! I do not have enough money to pay your ‘small’ good deed.”

So no matter who, when or how, continue to help, sustain, wipe tears, listen attentively, and carefully repair all the ‘leaks’ you find. You never know when one is in need of us, or when that care and kindness may return to you in surprising ways.

Along the way, you may have repaired numerous ‘boat holes’ for several people without realising how many lives you’ve saved. ❤️

Make a difference….be the best you…